I Feel the Earth Move ...

There was apparently an earthquake earlier this evening.  I was just getting off work and didn't feel a thing ... so, I'm dedicating this song to all my friends who felt "the earth move under [their] feet."

Transportation to Church

Here's an Indonesian children's song I recall from time to time:

Pada hari minggu ku turut ayah ke kota

(On Sunday, I follow father to town)

Naik delman istimewa ku duduk di muka

(Riding a special delman, I sit in the front)

Di samping pak kusir yang sedang bekerja

(Next to Mr. Driver who is working)

Mengendali kuda supaya baik jalannya

(Handling the horse to walk well)

Tuk-tik-tak-tik-tuk tik-tak-tik-tuk tik-tak-tik-tuk

(Clip-clop-clip-clop ....)

Tuk-tik-tak-tik-tuk tik-tak suara s'patu kuda 

(Clip-clop-clip-clop ... the sound of horse shoes)

As children, if we were good during the week and got up early enough for church, mom would treat us to a delman ride to church. We'd sing this song and substitute the word "kota" (town) with "gereja" (church).  Dad was the branch president, so he was usually in church hours before we had to be there and seldom rode with us.  I wish there is a picture of my family riding a delman, but there isn't one, so here's one I found on the internet of some random family riding one instead.

On the rare occasion that we did go to church together, the whole family would pile on the family Vespa scooter and make the hour long trek to church.  Again, I don't have a family picture of this, so I had to search online.  We basically look like this family ... Dad driving, me and my brother between his legs and the handlebar, mom sitting side-saddled with my sister straddled between her and dad.  If it rained, we would all be under a giant poncho with only dad's head visible.

Oh the good old days ... these days, you can't go a mile without a seatbelt strapped on in a car that seats seven people and not worry that you'd get fined if you're caught by the cops.

DDD: 2010 "Shake" Your Funky Chicken Tour

Last October, I really wanted to see the fall colors up in the mountains and canyons, so I got Janeen to come with me on a Saturday and put a few miles driving around a few counties on a road trip.  As always, food is an integral part of my road trips, so we stopped at the Spring Chicken Inn in Wanship and then off to Granny's for their famous milkshake in Heber for dessert.  Word got back to our friend, Tracie, who would have loved to join us, so we recreated the road trip (minus the canyons) today and made it part of our Diners, Drive-ins & Dives outing.  Also, some time during the trip, we decided to name ourselves the Dive Divas. I think the name suits us and our mission to find the best DDD foods within driving distance of SLC.

Linner at Spring Chicken Inn + some shopping at the outlet mall in Park City + milkshakes at Granny's in Heber for dessert = "Shake" Your Funky Chicken Tour.

On this first gorgeous day of spring, the restaurant was hopping!  It was apparently the busiest day for them in months! We had to wait for a table and a few more minutes for service and since everything ordered is made fresh, a few more minutes before we got the food.  Thank goodness for the heavily buttered roll and Pepsi to hold me until the food got to the table pipping hot.  I didn't want to deal with the bones in my chicken so I opted for the chicken fried chicken meal with country gravy and my two sides of homemade fries and green beans and carrots (got to get the veges in there).  Really, the only time a fried, sauced, battered chick is A-Okay!

We had to laugh at this sign.  Either they're quite clever at Granny's or a bad speller was in charge of the sign.  I was very happy with my Rocky Road milkshake with brownie bites added in. YUMMY!  Everyone else seem to have the same idea ... when we arrived the parking lot was pretty empty, but by the time we left the line was out the door.

Sukiyaki

Here's another song I've been whistling ... it reminds me of Hawaii ... Kyu Sakamoto's version is definitely the one to listen to. The lyrics tell the story of a man who looks up and whistles while he is walking so that his tears won't fall. The verses of the song describe him doing this through each season of the year. The English lyrics of the version recorded by A Taste of Honey are not a translation of the original Japanese lyrics but a completely different set of lyrics set to the same basic melody.

Yellow Bird

I've had this song stuck in my head for days.  It was a song on a cassette tape that mom and dad used to play when we were in Indonesia.  The video isn't the best, but the Mills Brothers sounded great.  Enjoy!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Top of the mornin' to ya ...

 ... and the rest of the day too!

Winna, winna, lobsta dinna!

I can't even remember the last time I had a lobster dinner, so when my Indonesian friends and I went out to dinner at Red Maple, and the lobster was the "buy one, get one" special, we had to get it.  There were three ways we could have it and we opted for the lobster in ginger sauce.  It had a good flavor, the only thing is ... I don't know how to properly eat lobster. It was very messy trying to get the meat out and eating the head was quite an experience.  I can't eat anything that is gawking at me ... and when I got into its head and saw greenish looking stuff ... I had to stop.  I guess I'm a princess and I'll have my lobster next time already cracked, opened and shell peeled off ready to eat.

The Creation

My friend, Julie, is teaching the Relief Society lesson this Sunday on the creation.  She asked me if I had any stories I can share about the topic. What? Does she think I've been around that long? Okay, okay, she didn't mean it that way ... but it did bring back a memory from my days in Primary ...

So, I was about 11-years-old and therefore one of the older kids in Primary.  During a particular Sharing Time the teacher did an exercise where each child would go up to the microphone and name something God had created in question form and the rest of the Primary would answer by practically screaming, "God made the [whatever]!"  Example:

Q: "Who made the birds?"

A: "God made the birds!"

Q: "Who made the trees?"

A: "God made the trees!"

So it went on ... After a while it started getting pretty hard naming some of God's creations without it being a repetition.  So then a younger child excitedly went up to the mic and he yelled out, "Who made the babies?" ... Ummm, some of us just had the talk about the birds and the bees and we had to pause ... good thing some of the younger kids were not armed with the knowledge yet and proceeded to answer, "God made the babies ..."  Well, yeah, I guess ... with the help of mom and dad ...

Say what?

With so many cell phone towers around these days, calls that break up isn't as frequent as it used to be.  I had a conversation that went something like this about a decade ago with a boss ...

Boss:  ... run a conflict check *%!# me on the U-*%!# *%!# -iac Fou-*%!# -tion.

Me:  What was that? You're breaking up on me!

Boss:  *%!# conflict *%!# for me on the U-*%!# *%!# -iac Fou-*%!# -tion.  You know, the *%!# -eeders!

Then the call was dropped.  I'm racking my brains? I'm pretty sure he wanted me to run a conflicts check on some foundation, but which one? I think the first word is "Utah" ... second, [something]-iac ... and the last word I'm sure is "Foundation" ... then what did he say, "you know, the [something]-eeders"? I don't know where my mind was but my best guess was that he had said "Utah Nymphomaniac Foundation? You know, the breeders" .... could there be such a thing?

Turned out he said, "Utah Hemophilia Foundation. You know, the bleeders."  Wow! That made quite the difference!

When I eat an orange ...

You know how the membranes of peeled oranges harden when you leave it out for a while? I swear it's the best way to eat them ...