"Da-kay! It's pronounced Da-kay!"

On our LA trip, we noticed that there were tons of tattoo parlors and cigar shops in LA. As we went on our merry way to various destinations, we played a spotting game, just like playing slug-bug, only with tattoo parlors and cigar stores ... "TATTOO" or "CIGARS" were constantly yelled in our rental car.  After a while it got old and we started to yell out random words on various signs. So, near our hotel, there's sushi restaurant in a strip mall and every time we passed it, Tracie and/or Janeen would yell out "Sushi Dake" (pronouncing "dake" like "fake") ... Of course it drove me nuts so I keep yelling back at them, "Da-kay! It's pronounced Da-kay!"

It's amazing what one can find on the internet these days.  Tracie and I related this portion of our trip to Pinky last night and look what she found. Pinky ROCKS!  Yes, there's a donut shop in the strip mall also. I think Tracie is thinking of calling the LA trip memoir, "Sushi Dake and the Donut Prince" ... yeah, it has a nice ring to it.

One Night Stand

I'm stealing this from Pinky's blog because it made me laugh out loud. I guess it's one way of getting some action ...

Getting the finger

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my massages and my massage therapist, Anne, is wonderful at working out the kinks and knots in my body ... still, I get a bit freaked out when she uses these plastic fingers to dig into some of the bad knots ... I wonder if anyone had ever thought to put one of these fingers in a Wendy's chili ... sorry, I just had to add that ...

"Stay out of jail in LA!"

Once I posted on facebook that we were going to Los Angeles for a long weekend, a few people commented that we should stay out of jail.  We saw these t-shirts while at the Farmers Market, so of course we had to take pictures (I mean, "mug shots") of them ...

L.A., Baby ...

Took a 4-day weekend to explore Los Angeles with Janeen and Tracie.  It was a fun weekend in the sun as it rained and even snowed in the mountains in Utah.  I also got to see an old school mate from Hawaii, Melissa (whom I've not seen in over 20 years,) and a former missionary and friend, Susilo, and his wife, Delilah, and daughter, Karina. Wasn't really long enough to explore some areas (museums, be a beach bum, take in a spa treatment or two, etc.), but I guess it'll be an excuse to go back another time ...

Words to live by ...

Thanks, Jim, for the reminder that no one likes a show off ...

When life hands you lemons ...

A few friends on facebook have "liked" a page called "Unless life also gives you water and sugar, your lemonade's gonna suck." My question is, why does life have to hand you everything? Where is your contribution to make your life NOT suck? That's all I have to say about that ...

On a different note, a few years ago, someone put together a potluck party with lemons as the theme. I loved it! What comes to mind when you think about foods that include lemons? Lemondade, lemon bars, lemon pie, lemon cookies ... mostly desserts, right? Oh, I was so wrong! I found a recipe for lemon couscous, someone brought a tasty lemon chicken pasta dish ... I can't remember what all were brought to the table, but there were so much more than just desserts. Lesson learned that day -- when life hands you lemons, yes, you can make lemonades, but why stop there? Even with lemons, you can make a feast.

DDD: Freebird Tour 2010

This past Memorial Day, our DDD Group took a road trip to Brigham City to go to the Bear River Bird Refuge. The last time either Tracie and I went there was a good six years ago or so. We had a ton of fun spotting some pretty awesome fowls. In this bird-friendly excursion, we had hoped to look at some pretty birds, then eat a cow at Maddox. Unfortunately, Maddox was closed, so in keeping with the fowl theme, we at at Roosters in Ogden (where we ordered fowl-friendly pizza, fish and chips and fish tacos) and topped it off with dessert at Farr's ice cream parlor.

On a side note, for some weird reason, Tracie was just captivated by the door knobs of the ladies room at Roosters.

Persistence

Remember the birds' nest outside my door that got knocked down last week? It's back up and I finally got a picture of it with the birds in it. You can tell that there were still some remnant of old nest as it is lighter in color. The darker part is made of fresh mud. Persistent little birds! Despite the mess they make right below on the staircase, I'm kind of rooting for them.  I wonder if there are any eggs in the nest.

How Great Thou Art ...

I can't believe that I shared this picture with facebook a week ago and had not made the time to blog about it. I had actually been thinking about the Koolau mountain range for a while and last week I surfed the internet and found a picture that depicted the mountains as I will always remember them. When Julie taught her lesson on The Creation a couple of months and asked me to help out, I brought a bunch of pictures of nature I had taken throughout my travels and also shared a story about these mountains. I love the water falls that form and cascade down the crevacis of the mountains after a good rain storm. I remember riding the bus into town one day and as I came out of Wilson Tunnel, this vista appeared.  The words of a hymn I love came to mind:

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.

When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur

And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

While the Rocky Mountains that sorround me here in Utah are beautiful, it's a different type of beauty and majesty. I love the Koolau mountain range ... these are the mountains I grew up watching ... I miss those water falls! God is GREAT!