4 posts from June 2008

Just some photos of old friends and classmates that I met with and spent some time catching up, when last I was in Arizona (February 2008). The first is Norm and his wife Mary. I have known Norm almost my whole life. I remember playing with him when we were five years old.

The second photo is of one of my best friends from High School. He and I had a lot of the same interests, especially in art. Travis is a professional artist and an art instructor down in Tucson, Ariz.

I also visited a friend from my 4th grade, Christian and his wife Leslie, but have those photos stored on Laura laptop. I will get those someday and put them up here too.

I have had these photos on my computer for quite some time now, it feels good to finally get them posted.

I loved these sunglasses that are perched on my head in this photo. But now they are gone. Last Saturday we went to Lagoon, which is only about 4-5 miles away from our house for an afternoon of family fun.  For those who are not familiar with Utah, and specifically the Salt Lake area, Lagoon is a permanent amusement park that was built in 1896. At that time, it boasted shady groves and a small lake, (man made? I don't really know,)  from which it got it's name. It has grown since that time, and includes roller-coasters, bumper cars, other amusement rides, some of the smaller kiddie rides, a miniature steam train and track, an informal zoo and many outdoor pavilions which host concerts and the such. Later in the eighties, they added a water park called Lagoon-a-Beach and more water rides.

We decided to purchase a season pass for the family. And we plan to haunt Lagoon this summer.

 

So we showed up that Saturday, got our season passes and entered the grounds as if we owned the place, at a nice leisurely stroll, knowing we could come and go at our pleasure. And promptly lost my glasses on the third roller coaster ride we went on. When I was a kid, we called that roller coaster the Collosus, but in order to add new life to the ride, they renamed it "Fire Dragon" It is a ride I remember as a kid, because it does a loop de loop, not once, but twice. In a word... "thrilling". As as we were on the coaster train I got a seat to my self. Normally you have 2 people to a seat but I got a seat alone. As we were on the ride, after the double loop, the ride jolted left - my body jolted right and as I corrected myself my glasses left me <sigh> for good. I didn't see it but I imagine it sailed gracefully off.

For me, it put a damper on the whole day. Now I can't walk by that ride without scanning the ground hoping to find my sunglasses. As if they would have been thrown clear from the ride and are just waiting for someone to pick them up. 

I kept visiting the Lost & Found to the point that the young woman working that booth would see me coming and start shaking her head to let me know that "Nope, no new sunglasses had been turned in since the last time you checked." Something in me is eternally optimistic so I kept going back. They could be there right now, as you read this post. She was sympathetic but I don't think she really felt my pain. I am pretty sure my family did though, as I kept directing them back to the sad little shack where my hopes would be dashed again. 

Now I resigned to the fact that they are gone. 

It's tough. 

I guess I will just have to deal with the loss, one day at a time.

And I need a new pair of sunglasses.

I have started painting again, I gave one of my paintings to my friend Rich for his birthday. I am hoping to continue painting / exploring through painting as I am inspired by the landscapes around us.

That and I need to go camping again.