A Strawberry Days Debut

There is much more to share of Strawberry Days, but most of it will wait until Monday. I was crazy busy yesterday, and in a little while today we are having some family over for a little BBQ, so I'm off to do the next thing. But before I miss another post, I must tell you about what happened today.

My Dear Friend, Lisa, is in charge of the Strawberry Days parade. One way or another--whether by request of the the Strawberry Days association, or, (more likely) a volunteering by the used car lot, some guy named Julio sent about five convertibles to be used in the parade today. When the cars got there, Lisa was horrified.

The cars were dented, dirty, radios were torn out of some, and one had the jumper cables needed to start the thing in the front seat. I'd call them in general disrepair. Somewhere "Julio" missed the memo that these would be parade vehicles. Lisa was most embarrassed that the city officials were scheduled to ride in these yucky cars. Her specific concern was the mayor: who happens to live in her neighborhood and who was going to have to ride in this thrashed car.

I told her, off the cuff, that we had a better looking vehicle for a parade sitting in the garage at home. The next thing I know I am calling GG and asking him if he would mind if the Camaro drove the mayor in the parade. He said he didn't mind, and drove it up to me and he took my car home instead.

A quick change of signage on the cars and the Camaro was number 4 in the parade line up. Another Dear Friend, Sherry, was the designated driver for the mayor's car. Lucky her.

How I Spend My Summer Vacation

This is post number 700, for those of you who are keeping score. That is crazy! I wasn't sure I would make it to number 70, and now look. It will be two years of blogging on June 23rd--not that I am counting. ;)



Besides being the Strawberry Days committee photographer [reading: THIS week is CrAzY], I also volunteer myself to the city recreation swim team. And THIS week, that meant two mornings at the pool at 6 AM to work with this lot of kids.

I work the bull pen--the staging area for the heats of swimming events. In a typical summer rec league swim meet there are 82 events. Broken down within those events are multiple heats, with a maximum of 8 swimmers in each heat. Our team has about 220 swimmers on it from age Under 6 to 18 years old. And a lot of a swim meet is "hurry up and wait" for the kids.

In the bull pen, we give them their lane assignments, (for the littlest swimmers) we walk them and physically place them at the lane they are assigned to swim in, shuffle the kids who scratch an event with the ones who are there to actually swim it, and deal with the poolside drama that comes--and it always does--with the swim team.

This sometimes requires impromptu stand up comedy, or breaking into a song or making up a cheer. I am happy to do what I can to keep these cute kids entertained and mostly happy to keep them swimming while they are forced to wait for their heat to go to the starting blocks.

This morning the thermometer read 43 degrees as we arrived at the pool. No, that is not celcius. That made the water feel fantastic, but these skin-and-bone kids were FREEZING between their races. All the more pressure to entertain them and keep their shivering minds off the brisk morning air and their crackling wet hair. That much entertainment is exhausting to produce instantly, particularly when I am running on only a bagel and bottle of water.

Makes the Strawberry Days assignment look pretty kooshy, right?

And We're Off...For Today

It is Strawberry Days and today's adventure begins with a Baby Contest. This little darling, in her Starwberry Days outfit, was at the Free Berries in the Park Concert last night. Watch out. Tomorrow's post will certain contain photos of the unusually adorable babies from our little town. Oh my. I can feel my uterus contracting as I think of it.

You Get Out What You Put Into It

One of my darling trek kids--Rex, to be exact--is on the seminary council next year. Today, and each Tuesday morning through the summer, they hold a Summer Seminary. Rex called me yesterday to see if I could possibly attend as a "parental presence". The regular teachers were all in a meeting/training, and today's teacher would be a substitute. The Seminary Council thought having a few parents there would keep the rowdiness down and make it less likely to have anyone tearing up the building, etc. I was delighted to be invited. And since The Girl tends to want to go for the social aspect, if not always the spiritual one, I happily agreed.

The lesson was taken from Doctrine & Covenants section 25. The teacher, Sister D, focused in on the idea that as children of God who were given agency right out of the gate, they must choose wisely the music they select in their lives.

She had some great one-liners. [Do they specifically teach that to Seminary instructors somewhere?!] And she did a fine job overall. It was so nice to see over a hundred high school age kids take time out from a beautiful summer day to stop and spend an hour learning from the scriptures.

What I found so unfortunate was that several attendees were not there for the uplifting environment, or even for the social scene. Four young men who were sitting to my left, on the edge of the room, were busy texting, or looking at pictures (one I happened to see was completely INappropriate) or basically dinking around. Too bad for them. They had a small feast presented to them, and they didn't even bother trying the appetizers.

But isn't that the way things go? Young or old, we each have to figure out that we will only ever get out of something what we are determined to put into it. Nothing comes for free.

These boys may have just been there to make up the credit they missed by doing the same things that kept them busy and distracted today--or worse--in the actual school time seminary. I have no idea. They were very keen to sign the roll, though, so that makes me wonder about their true motives.

I felt very sorry for them, that they just missed the whole point of what this good teacher was trying to convey. If they had selected the better part, they would have felt the Spirit testify of truth. If they would have felt the Spirit, they might have chosen better activities, or even thought to pay attention to the teacher and felt more than just the Spirit. They could have the companionship of the Holy Ghost with them always, yet because of what they were willing (or not willing in this case)to put in today, they missed the best option.

Questions like that always make me remember what this good man taught us:

"It is not so much the major events as the small day-to-day decisions that map the course of our living." --Gordon B. Hinckley

Here is to choosing wisely today, and every day.

This Week's "To Do" List

Here is what my "To Do" list for the week is shaping up to be:

1) Get the camera in hand, and keep battery charged all week.

2) Take pictures at Free Family Swim Night:

3) Take pictures at the Free Berries in the Park Concert:

4) Take photos at the Baby Contest:

5) Take some shots at the Children's Parade:

6) Shoot a couple photos at the Carnival:

7) Get a few in at the Rodeo:

8) Get some at the Pie Eating contest, and try not to gag while you photograph that:

9) Take a lot of photos at the Huck Finn Day events:

10) Catch many pictures at the Big Parade:


11) Enjoy the fun of living in a small town with traditions that run deep, deep down.

Video Sunday

This happened during an press junket for their new movie. A snake--I don't care what kind--slithered onto the deck where they were filming. I'd have done the same thing, though not in so high of heels. That was impressive.