I am not sure why I woke up at 4:30 this morning. May have had something to do with the noisy truck which went by.Yesterday was a fun day. I took the family up American Fork Canyon for a picnic. Of course that means a car load of noisy kids. And teenagers can be SO LOUD.
In reflection I realized that there are some great calming influences available in the world. I was much calmer after I got out of the car.
Here are some of my favorites:
1. The bubbling of a mountain stream
2. Instrumental music – I hesitate to say classical here because that would be too narrow of a category
3. A good book
4. A walk or a hike
5. Sacred places – a church, a temple, a cemetery
6. A nap
7. Ice cream or chocolate
8. Prayer
What are your favorites?
And to my wife, because it is her birthday today, and we will eat ice-cream-cake after we go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Happy birthday to your sweetheart, Daron.
Calming? Let's see.
In Utah:
A quiet house (quiet translates to empty)
Listening to the waterfall in the fish pond beside my patio
Anywhere up in the mountains away from civilization but particularly Five Mile Pass on the other side of the Oquirrhs.
In Idaho:
There's a small mostly-unpopulated mountain valley north-west of Arco where there's a stream lined with cottonwoods…need I say more?
In Wyoming:
Leidi Lake
The road from Leidi to Squaw Basin
The hiking path around Jenny Lake
Curtis Canyon
And memories:
Memories of my grandfather's
homestead before it was sold
Memories of Jenny Lake seen from Inspiration Point on a clear summer day with sunlight dancing on the waves
Memories of watching water tumble over rocks in the stream-bed east of my childhood home
Memories of little yellow butterflies flitting around puddles on the ranch road on a hot summer's afternoon after a rain