Santa delivered me to Salt Lake on his sleigh this year.

At least I think that’s what happened – I went to bed in Seattle and woke up Christmas morning in Salt Lake.

A bow on the door led Emily and Marie to open it and see what Santa had brought. It made for a fun surprise.

The camera is not my friend first thing in the morning.

Jennifer prepared a fabulous meal (I have no idea how she keeps the kitchen totally clean the entire time she prepares the meal… I’m thinking it must be magic.)

Brandon expressed his anticipation for his move to Costa Rica by donning a tropical shirt. They are becoming ‘Location Independent‘ and moving there in less than a week – you can read about why and how they are doing it on his blog.

Ashley and family joined us for dinner and visiting for the rest of the day (and I didn’t take any pics!). But the girls had a blast together. And I got nauseous when I attempted to play Mario Cart with them.

I joined Ashley and family for the next couple of days. Kennedy opened her gifts from me on Christmas night. Justin had to work a graveyard shift at the hospital, so after Kennedy went to bed, Ashley and I stayed up for hours and played on their new Wii. I suck at Super Mario Brothers, but at least I didn’t get nauseous. And I bowled pretty good…. Wii is fun.

Oh – did I mention that it’s been FREEZING here? Not as cold as forecast (3 degrees at night) but still pretty damn cold. These are the frost crystals that form on Ashley’s kitchen window. Cool, huh?

It snowed a bit and I slid all over the road – even in a 4 wheel drive Tahoe. OK, not all over the road – just down the hill, but even so I did NOT enjoy it. But I had to venture out to have a meal at Cafe Rio…

And the Salt Lake Valley inversion has been horrible. I am finally seeing a little sunshine today! I hope it lasts…

But the frost crystals – very cool.

And to finish up, a few more pics of the granddaughters….

Tonight, I’ll be helping out with Ashley and Justin’s New Years Eve party.

How was your Christmas? What are you doing for New years?

I’ve been extremely neglectful of my blog. I’m sorry. I actually have several titillating articles started, but haven’t had the time or energy to complete them yet.

Just returned today from a trip to Utah where I visited with family and took photos of a wedding and a bridal shoot…. once I recover I promise to regale you with fascinating tales of intrigue, valor and humor. Maybe not. How about I just promise to write something soon.

In the meantime, I will leave you with a Kennedyism that had me in tears, along with a picture of the bride.

Ashley, Kennedy and I were in the car, Ashley and I chatting away. Kennedy interrupts with:

K: “Mom…. Mom?…. ”
A: “Yes, Kennedy?”
K: “Mom, do you know how hot you are?”
A: (Ashley and I exchange amused glances)… “Um, no – how hot am I?”
K: You’re as hot as a CORNDOG! You’re SO HOT!

She provides constant entertainment…..

And here’s the lovely bride – Ashley Creger Roberts:

What started out as a rather ordinary day turned into a very enjoyable holiday celebration.

My neighbor, Darren (in the center), who happens to be a chef, invited me up for a delicious barbeque late afternoon. I enjoyed meeting his his nephew (just moved from NY to attend college) & his friend Jordan.

I also got to meet and become friends with David, a friend of Darren’s visiting from Chicago.

David is a landscape designer and we started talking plants and gardens right away… and didn’t stop for most of the night. We plant nerds tend to bond quickly.

We made the drive into Seattle for fireworks over Lake Union…. and, after driving up and down nearly every street, were amazingly lucky to find a parking spot just a couple of blocks from our vantage point above the freeway.

It was a beautiful night and we were gifted with an incredible sunset prior to the fireworks show.

I found what I hoped would be a prime spot for photographing the fireworks and set up my tripod. Darren & David found a less crowded viewing area, so I socialized and discussed classical music with Steve, a local resident. We were surrounded by a very international crowd – I heard several languages being spoken, including Russian, Japanese, French, and what I believe was Farsi.

And then the fun began! This was probably the most artistic fireworks display I’ve ever seen…. simply breathtaking. Here are a few of the 300 pictures I took…

So what did you do for the holiday? See any great fireworks?

I love flowering trees…. 

OK, back to Kauai for a post or two.

There is a wide variety of landscape on Kauai – farmland, forest, beach, mountain, rocky cliffs, red dirt….

And even though we know it’s the tropics, it is always quite surprising each time we come upon areas that are “jungle.”   

One of my favorite jungle spots is on the north side of the island, along the stretch of road just south (west?) of Kalihiwai bridge.   The picture to the left was taken right next to the road, on one of those famous “Kristin, stop here!” excursions… 

On this one, I believe she actually tried to (jokingly??) enlist the help of a local cop to get me to come back to the car…. didn’t work : )

Oh, there is a more famous stretch of road on the south side of the island (shown here on the right) – actually known as “Tree Tunnel.”  And it is rather impressive, especially since it has had a chance to fill back in a bit after Hurricane Iniki in 1992.   Man, that hurricane wreaked havoc on the island…  

CHICKENS!!!!   (inside joke)

But even though Tree Tunnel is more famous, it simply can’t compare to the tree canopy covering the highway on the north shore.  This stretch of road simply takes my breath away every time I see it.

There is even a beautiful waterfall right along side the road. Nowhere to park nearby, so we roll down the windows to see and hear it each time we pass. Next trip I think we should commit to park and make the trek down the road on foot to walk across the bridge and take pictures.

The day was rather overcast, and it is hard to see how dense and green the jungle is without some sunlight filtering through – but these giant vines growing up the grees are beautiful and impressive.  Thanks again, Kris, for humoring me and my camera…

And this last picture is from the jungle area near Ke’e beach at the end of the road on the north shore.  When Ashley and I stepped into this forest, it was an incredibly surreal, unnatural looking green.  I’m not sure this picture can even capture how green it was – felt like we’d just stepped into the emerald city and even we were green.  

Of course Ashley tried swinging on a couple of those vines, but it didn’t work…

Kauai is known as the Garden Isle – for good reason.

Here are some of the beautiful (and sometimes strange) flora we have encountered…

Hibiscus is everywhere.

I love Bouganvilla… particularly this salmony/pink color. But the deep fuschsia is awe inpiring as well.

Bouganvilla creates fantastic bursts of color along the roadside, climbing walls, pruned into trees, arching over walkways.

Plumeria is just coming into season. We continue our quest to find pink plumeria blooming on a low enough branch to photograph…

I LOVED this funky looking blossom below… we found a tree covered in them. I believe it is called Ohi’a Lehua.

It looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book, doesn’t it?

Along with a bottle brush tree.

(weird, huh?)

This tree looked like it was covered with big yellow rananuculus.

There are many red ginger plants around, but I prefer the pink.

An orchid growing in a plumeria tree.

I love blue flowers…

OK, enough for tonight. Tomorrow is our last day in paradise….

This sleek lizard looked pretty cool poised on his leaf.

And on every one of my last four trips to Kauai I have tried to capture a good photo of these adorable cardinals. They are SOOO cute, make us very happy each time they appear – and they always show up in pairs. Always. Today, I finally got my first good pic of the Red-Crested Cardinal.

And why did I even bother to bring a hair straightener?

I should have known that 15 minutes in Kauai would turn my once sleek hair into an unmanageable lions mane.

Just call me Mufasa (Ashley did…)

I’m exhausted… so more tomorrow.

Be sure to check out Kristin’s blog for details of our lei making.

Today I’ll let the images tell the story.

Well, with a little explanation.

I was a pain in the butt today.

Insisted that Kristin drive down dirt roads (many with DO NOT ENTER signs). She was very patient and humored me.

At the end of one such road, we discovered a very cool old cemetary – all the headstones were in Japanese – some from the early 1900’s.

After another night of mesmerizing rainfall, the waterfalls were just as captivating as the day before.

Every time we looked at the mountain ridge, we’d spot another fall that we hadn’t noticed before.

It’s incredible to think of how many feet these falls plummet, and the volume of water rushing through the several rivers that lead to the ocean.

On our drive to Haena Beach park, I again insisted on stopping so that I could photograph this lovely field of blue flowers. Ashley was particularly fond of the horses.

Across from the beach is the Dry Cave. Pretty cool….

The day was mostly overcast and rainy – but the sun did come out for awhile, and we took advantage of it.

Ashley and J’neil played in the water, posed and we all built a sand castle.

Until it rained us out.

And we’re all jealous of Ashley’s abs….. though she’s the only one who does a half hour of ab-tightening pilates every night before bed…..

My final photo demand of the day was a stop at the taro fields on the wayhome…..

More tomorrow………

It’s snowy and cold today (has been all week) and I’m so glad I work from home.  I have a fire blazing in the fireplace, holiday music playing and am thoroughly entertained by the fat little birds that are hopping around my patio, on the snow and in the feeder.  They make me smile.

I love these fat little juncos…

And chickadees are so cute and pretty…

Sweet, fat little birds.

Sunset over Salt Lake valley….  taken from Margie’s deck. 

I love the moon and Saturn in the upper left corner

Entrance to La Caille

Swans on the pond