hodge podge day

Silly, silly people - we just don't learn.  On June 6, we say that the weather has turned and summer is here ... and on June 11 (and 12 and 13) it's in the mid- to high 50s and raining.  With 1-3 inches of snow accumulation in the mountains.  I've been wearing long pants, fleece and wool socks all weekend.

Because of the chill and the weather - rain and thunder storms on and off all weekend - H and I were a bit at a loss for what to do this weekend.  Hiking is less fun when there's (a) no view and (b) a good chance you'll get hit by lightning; similarly, there's no point in taking a scenic drive when you can't see the scenery.  Today we just hunkered down and did home stuff, but yesterday we at least got out and about, even if it was a hodge-podge sort of a day.  For example:  post office; then ATM; then H's work so he could email a file back east; then back home to get the security badge that would let him inside his office building; then back to H's work where he could actually go inside to email a file back east.

After those chores were taken care of, we went to the Downtown Farmers Market, happening at Pioneer Park (which must annoy all the homeless people to no end, having all these booths and people milling about while they're trying to sleep) every Saturday morning between June 12 and October 16, and also Tuesday afternoons from August 3 through October 12.  It's a big market, with lots of booths of local produce, meats, eggs, preserves and baked goods, arts and crafts, drum players, hula dancers and food vendors.  Even on this cool and dreary opening day it seemed well attended and I can only imagine how crowded it will be in nicer weather.  Living as far south as we do, I probably won't go to the Saturday market much, because we'll want to be out doing stuff on Saturday mornings, not driving all the way back in town. I will, however, most likely patronize the Tuesday afternoon sessions after work, so that's good.

We went to get our history on with our next stop: This Is The Place Heritage Park.  TITP is a Sturbridge Village for Mormon history: a "living history" museum with both relocated and replica historical buildings, populated with period-costumed volunteers brimming with information and stories on how this part of the west was won by Brigham Young and his followers.  We spent a couple of hours there, going into every building we could, talking with mountain men and tin smiths and firemen and pioneer women, everyone cheerful and friendly despite the cold and wet winds that were gusting to 40 m.p.h.

After pausing for a couple of Full Suspension ales and some pub food at Squatter's, we headed south.  Amazingly, I was able to convince H to swing by the IKEA in Draper - not because we really need to buy anything, but because I'd never been to one and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  He was a good sport about it - mostly because it was a rainy day and we really didn't have anything else on the agenda - and we traipsed through all the showrooms, and then through the "Marketplace" and the Self-Serve Warehouse, before escaping.  It's overwhelming, really, and I can only see going there with something specific in mind - there's far too much for a browsing sort of shopping trip.  That being said, I loved some of the lamps (although they were really too modern style-wise for our house).

That was it, that was our day out.  We went back home, took B for a little walk in between rain showers, and then watched the US v. England game which we had taped.  It was fine, and we did some stuff that we wouldn't normally have done ... but I really hope not to have too many more weekends like this.  I miss the mountains!