Provo River Falls

How could we live in Utah for over 14 years and NEVER know about Provo River Falls? I only happened to find out about it because a friend at Ballerina Farm, posted about it!

So the very next day we went on a little explore up through Heber Valley to find it. The falls DID NOT disappoint! The winter snow run-off is wonderful! Such a rich blessing to this parched desert land!

I grew up in a little valley in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California so getting *back to nature* always feeds my soul!

We hiked around a little from the top of the falls (above) all the way down to this log *barracade* (you shouldn't go around that!)

But it is easy to see from down here (notice that the city mouse is still at the top) that there is also a *hand rail* one may use to get down to the bottom... although that is not how I went. I used nature's natural stairs down the face of the rocks AWAY from the water (raging river of death! sharp rocks at the bottom? bring it on!)

The minute I got down to the bottom and past this monolith, a distant relation to Stonehenge (see side view above)...

Instead of being this...

I was instantly this...

ANN, JOANIE, ELSIE, SUE

BURNEY FALLS CALIFORNIA

1957

The mist coming off the falls brought tears to my eyes, and joy and thankfulness to my heart. I was instantly revitalized and this darling little 5-year old ballerina again.

Gordon is always so patient with me when I am getting my nature (or photographic or potty or whatever) fix.  I so appreciate that about him!

I took my shoes off and put my toesies in the freezing water that instantly is TOO COLD!

And after a respectable (and respectful) amount of time, I bid farewell to this new *best friend*!

And, we will be back...

Joanie's Rock Garden

Do I have a story... (I love stories!)

I have a thing about rocks! Not a new attraction, mind you, I've had it for years. I have special rocks ferreted away all over the place. They range in size from OH.My.Stinkin.Heck to tiny ones that float (yes, there really are rocks that float!) And, you will notice, I have a label/tag *rocks*.  Different, but there you are!

In June when I was cleaning up flower beds, fighting with the sprinkler system and the like I got the great idea to take an otherwise ugly corner in the little island situated between the driveway, sidewalk and front porch and create a rock garden.



But before I tell you about the rock garden, now in beautiful full bloom I have to... 

*back up the story truck*!

I've blogged before about this particular rock.



When I stopped to take this photo last March 19th the thought occurred to me that perhaps I'd like to take some Feather River rocks home with me! I tried to figure out how to get this one home! (bwahahahaha... don't be ree-Dic-u-Lous!)

What about this one? OK! (heavy sigh)



I finally had to settle for these (decomposed granite) that had come crashing down on the road in the recent winter storms...



I brought them home and put them in the garage to wait until I decided what I would do with them.

You know that I love to create: sewing, quilting, painting, crafting, gardening... but usually I just do what I like! I don't think much about the symbolism of my creation. I can only think of a couple times that symbolism is what has driven a project. This project: my rock garden didn't start out to be symbolic but when I finished I realized that there was so much symbolism there I couldn't ignore it!

Hens and chicks were in this ugly, little corner when I move here and managed to survive with minimal attention. These sweet little survivors would get to take center stage right there with my Feather River rocks. That was the start...



As I'd just re-potted my house plants I had my Shamrock plant: which dates back to my Joanie O'Kelley days. I had a bunch of little light pink bulbs left and decided to add some of these. Also Aloe Vera that used to grow in a protected corner in my Palmdale garden.



DeLoris and I had been plant shopping and I found this beautiful tri-colored Sedum... another tenacious survivor.



I wanted some height so I added a pot with petunias, of course, and a beautiful geranium that called to me. Then I filled in and around the bed with my plenteous supply Hobble Creek rocks (that literally grow in my soil here. Truly, rocks percolate up through the soil because of the freezing/thawing process... so they must GROW!)



Then, last Sunday, our Relief Society lesson was President Uchtdorf's Conference address The Merciful Obtain Mercy (aka *Stop It*). As an object lesson Noelle gave each of the Relief Society Presidency a large rock to hold... for the whole lesson! Colleen Lee started to doodle on her's writing key phrases from the lesson on her rock.



I KNEW I had to have that rock for my rock garden.



So, what of the symbolism?

• ROCKS = My Savior, Jesus Christ.  He is my sure foundation! (And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. Helaman 5:12)
• HENS & CHICKS = Those wonderful, eternal family ties! (My Celestial children, my parents!)
• SURVIVORS = I am one!
• FEATHER RIVER ROCKS = my roots.
• SHAMROCK PLANT = Not just luck... but the CHOICE to be happy even when things go terrible wrong.
• ALOE VERA = that wonderful healing balm.
• PALMDALE (a protected corner) = a place where my roots grew deep!  I still have roots there!
• DeLORIS = my friends, who are also survivors, who help me on my rocky road.
• PETUNIAS = this sweet smelling flower will always remind me of my dear Mom!  I must have them in my gardens.
• HOBBLE CREEK ROCKS = my new home... I'm so grateful for all of the wonderful, bounteous blessings that have come to me here.  Yes, more roots that just seem to connect right back to my Greenville days of small town, mountains, and seasons.
• *STOP IT* =  The constant need to forgive AND be forgiven.

Every time I look at my wonderful rock garden, which is almost daily, it makes me happy and reminds me of all of the blessings I have.

230- A Pawth, A Pawth!

Yes... it's a pawth! But the amazing thing is that it was finished in one day! What's up with that? Stuart had all of that sod out in as many hours as it would have taken me DAYS!



My fascination with pawths all began with Monty Python , uh, living in Palmdale on a corner lot. I had a frequent need to leave my house and head across the lawn to go to *P's* house or the Jarvis'.

Back in that day I was still young and spry and could mix concrete 40# bags at a time like a pro! I mixed and molded over 2 tons of concrete into pawths. And the one that headed east across the lawn became known as the P-pawth.

In April at a neighborhood wedding one of our backyard neighbor offered us lots and lots of rock! How could I go wrong with free rock? So along about June Stuart and Kevin-son (as opposed to Kevin-Kay) hauled a ton of rock (weight questionable) from my generous neighbor to my backyard where it has been waiting patiently for me to turn it into a beautiful path.



This was the week! Stuart is finished at BYU and he had a few days off when he would be able to *help* me (read: Stuart does most of the work and I kibitz). He started removing all of the sod... and we aren't talking a small amount either!



Once Stuart had all the sod up (hey, I'm not a total slug, I dumped the sod from the garden cart into a pile!) it was time to level and start laying the rock. Now this is where my expertise came in! I have a good eye for level and love to play in the sand. We did take a small break, however, after I tried to cut off my left index finger with the splitting maul... don't ask... I'm hopeless. When we were about 3/4 of the way finished we were both pooping out... but pushed through to the end.

We were able to find lots more rocks for me to *save* in the little breech between my raised vegetable garden and the garden shed.



We started about 9:30am and were finished by 6pm! Now that is what I call good help!



My original load of rock was just a guesstimate... would you like to know how I came out? This is it! This is all the rock I had left after we finished the job.



Thank you Stuart... I couldn't have done this without you!

161- Funny Story

Yesterday my task-of-the-day was to clean out a smallish flowerbed that runs along the back of the garage. It had iris in it when we moved here but because of neglect it had become totally over-grown with grass. (I salvaged 16 rhizomes that I've transplanted in the new curvy bed.)

By now I've devised some pretty good techniques for weeding... but I don't know that I've ever seen so many root-bound grass roots in my life! It was so root-bound even the worms had moved out! No wonder I'd not been very successful in the past with just pulling weeds out!!

I'd only finished about one-third of the 16" by 16' flowerbed when I hit on what I knew was a ginormous rock. I dug, picked, scooped and forked at that stupid rock and I couldn't get it to budge. Finally I called Gordon to come out and help me. He took the fork and in one deft movement popped that guy right out of there. It was only about the size of a softball (Now you explain why I couldn't get it out! Root-bound? I don't know). Gordon said to give him a call anytime I wanted him to shrink a rock!

Later in the day, after I'd mowed the lawn and was working some grass clipping into that bed I found another rock. Again, dug, picked, scooped and forked... called Gordon. To make a long story short we had to remove one piece of curbing to get this bad-boy out of there. Looks like Gordon used up all his rock shrinking powers on that first rock. (This is our largest find to date...)


Ginormous rock and pretend ginormous rock!

153- New Flowerbed

Have you ever noticed that when you do some kind of fix-up at your house that it just leads to more and more projects? Yeah, me too.

The deck project has morphed into a backyard fix up project. For years we've been unhappy with the skinny little flowerbeds that were here.



This photo taken in March shows how narrow this bed is. Sadly with the cement curbing there isn't an easy way to change the size or shape of the bed without removing the curbing.

(Enter: Shera, Warrior Princess!)

I started yesterday with my trusty spade (aka shovel) and started removing the sod. The soil was just right to lift the sod and then knock most of the soil out of it before I hauled the grassy part out to the trailer. I lifted the curbing using the shovel like a lever. The good news is that it was a mostly sand cement so it broke into manageable-sized pieces just by dropping it on one another.

I wanted a curved flowerbed to add some interest to my very linear backyard. But you know what I found as I was digging don't you? Yep, lots and lots of rocks. Here's the grand-daddy of them all...



And you must remember that even though my feet look cute, pink and polka-dottie... they are a size 9. It took both Gordon and I with 2 shovels pulling and pushing just to get this out of the hole!

But don't worry... it wasn't alone... it had lots of friends and relatives to keep it company.



Here is what my flowerbed NOW looks like... graceful curves and rocks for accent (what else?). I removed, separated and transplanted the mums that lived in that bed and then transplanted some of my Gerbera daisies that weren't happy where they were under the willow tree.

Hmmm... what next??

147- Heart of my Garden

My first spring here at my Springville house I started playing in the dirt (aka working in the garden). We live in an area called Hobble Creek... keep that in mind.

I started digging up rocks in every flowerbed I went to. It wasn't long before I unearthed a *sign* (like I needed a sign) that this was MY house and I was in the right place... just where the Lord wanted me.

I dug up a heart-shaped rock. It just made me happy. For the last 4 years it has had different flower-bed homes; sometimes hiding under the Feverfew, sometimes in the ivy... but I think it has finally found its permanent home in the rocks by my new deck.



I've been *saving* all my rocks in a funny little breach between my raised vegetable garden and the shed. I've collect them in all sizes and shapes: some as big as my thigh... (I'm not kidding! Look at the ones in the top left of the photo), head size, potato size, flat, round, craggy... yep... all of them. I moved many of them to this new area that used to be flowerbed and lawn to create a nice drainage area by the stairs. I used sand to fill in around them as I did with the flagstone. I am so pleased with the results.



You should see me sitting here smiling my satisfied smile! I just love my new deck! Thank you again Kevin-dear!

Rock-a-don

Growing up in the "way northern" end of Northern California was an experience like no other. I will forever be grateful for the wonderful, slow, safe, happy environment in which I grew up. I'm not sure there are such places anymore... not even in Greenville.

We frequently had to go out-of-town to do, well, just about anything! We went to the dentist in Oroville, 80 miles south down Hwy 70. This is also known as the Feather River Canyon. It is breathtakingly beautiful, but also has its perils!.. like curvy roads, rock slides, deer on the highway, ice slides, you get the picture.

My sisters named the ginormous granite rocks found there rock-a-dons. I always loved that name. It evoked thoughts of prehistoric animals lurking behind each of them!

One of my favorite places in the Feather River Canyon is this rock-a-don. In the winter of 1964-65 we had horrendous flooding in Northern California. It washed out numerous bridges, flooded much of the Indian Valley and caused rockslides in the Feather River Canyon that blocked Hwy 70 for months. This rock was so large they were not able to move it, so they built the new road around it. It is one of my favorite photo spots. This most recent photo was taken in August 2005.

But that isn't where this habit started... the first one I remember was shortly after said floods when Mom and I stopped there to take a photo with our little turquoise blue Ford Falcon. You can see that there isn't any foliage around the rock yet.

The next photo op was in 1981 when Tony, Rebekah, Amanda and I went from Livermore to Greenville for my 10/11 year class reunion (we had such small classes we combined with the class of 1971). It was the last day of July and I didn't have air conditioning in my little Oregon born Rabbit. Shortly after we entered the Feather River Canyon from the south end we went around a sharp curve and that afternoon canyon wind whipped in through the passenger window and whisked right out again with Amanda's favorite blanket! She started to howl, knowing her beloved blankie was lost F-O-R-E-V-E-R! She was very relieved when I made the first safe U-turn and went back to rescue her purple-beauty! We stopped at my favorite rock-a-don for a photo, which turned out to be one of the last of my little family. That whole trip, before the accident, was one wonderful adventure showing my little kids all of Mommie's favorite places. I have always been so grateful for that final time of bonding!


Fast forward 10 years to July 1991 (what am I glutton for punishment???) and our family was returning to Greenville again for my 20-21 reunion. This time there was a whole pack of us (Gordon, Kristi, Ryan, Kevin, Spencer, Camille, Stuart, Rebekah and I)! We wouldn't even fit into one vehicle so I drove the Chevy Astro van and Gordon drove the old gold Oldsmobile Firenza. We stopped for the obligatory photo op. I don't know why there aren't any kids in this particular photo.

We made several stops going up the canyon for the kids to enjoy the rock-a-dons. I love to see how dwarfed they are on these huge mastodons of granite. Below are Spencer, Kevin and Ryan. We had a lovely vacation, learning from our sad experience of 1988 and the vacation from ____ in a borrowed motor home! We rented a house on Lake Almanor. (Ahh, so many memories... fodder for another post!)


And now that brings us back to the beginning... the last day of July 2005... just me and my little red beetle... run away back to California to visit all of my loved ones whom I missed so much in the months after our move to Utah. I guess you could say that these rock-a-dons of granite form a big piece of my emotional foundation, where I grew up- my childhood roots and where I am always welcome to come back and visit... they will always be there... not unlike our True Rock and Foundation.