PIXIES

Miles and I went to the Pixies show at the Great Saltair a couple of weeks ago.  Its so nice to have Miles for my concert buddy, so I don't have to go solo.

We got there early so we could be fairly close to the stage.  The crowd went nuts when they started played! We were just outside the big mosh pit.

This is my favorite Pixies guitar solo.  Everyone knew the words, too.

Here's a couple of reviews:

http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/blog-17563-10438-concert-review-pixies-at-great-saltair.html

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment2/57536939-223/pixies-song-songs-band.html.csp

Cousin Party

A week and a half ago we went to a party for Melinda's cousins.  Extended family can be a source of great strength.  This is less than half of them.  Their grandpa would be so proud to see them all together.

Cousins.

Cousins, spouses and second cousins.  

Pink Martini

In July we went to the Pink Martini show at Red Butte Garden.  It was really hot but as soon as the sun went behind the trees it was perfect.  It's such a great place to enjoy the outdoors and good music.
 

Our favorite song was Hang on Little Tomato.  It was inspired by an old Heinz ketchup ad. It is such a fun and uplifting song.  

We also loved the songs in different languages. The sang in Spanish, German, Japanese, Turkish, Arabic and Czech.  International Jazz. Awesome.  

Wasatch Wildflower Festival

Saffy, Miles and Ian joined me early Saturday morning so we could go to the Wasatch Wildflower Festival at Albion Basin. 

It was fun because we got the same guide as last year.  I was excited to identify several varieties that I had been wondering about. Last night I was able to correctly label four plants from a previous blog post.

We all had a good time and barely noticed the rain.  Saffy was a great little hiker and Miles and Ian are getting quite good at flower identification. 

Larkspur, Delphinium nutallianum

Sticky geranium, Geranium viscosissimum; blue flax, Linum lewisii and Engelmann's aster, Aster engelmannii

Indian paintbrush, Castilleja spp.

Pearly everlasting,  Anaphalis margaritacea

Sticky geranium, blue flax, little sunflower with sulphur buckwheat, Erigonum umbellatum

False hellebore or corn lily; Veratrum californicum

Beautiful meadow

Brighton Lakes

Miles, Ian and I hiked the Brighton lakes for Pioneer day.  There were quite a few people hiking, but most of them only went as far as Lake Mary, so we were still able to hike in solitude. 

We saw fat ground squirrels, but the chipmunks seemed to be fitter this year. We saw a moose family by Lake Martha, and a some kind of flightless foul.

The wildflowers were gorgeous and we were especially excited to find a patch of snow saved by the entrance of a shallow cave. It's pretty awesome to make snowballs in July.

Fireweed, Epilobium angustifolium

Monkshood or wolf bane, Aconitum columbianum

A meadow of little sunflowers, Helianthella uniflora

Mountain bluebells, Mertensia arizonica

View of the mountains north of the trail

Us

Butterfly on an Engelmann aster, Aster engelmannii

Lake Mary

Coyote min, Monardella odoratissima; Wyeth's buckwheat, Eriogonum heracleoides; little sunflower, Helianthella uniflora

Lake Catherine

What kind of bird is this?  Maybe a snape?

Snow in July.

Showy fleabane, Erigeron speciosus

Lake Mary on the way back.

Lewis' monkeyflower, Mimulus lewisii

Elephant heads, Pedicularis groenlandica

Ski lifts at dusk

Wasatch penstemon, Penstemon cyananthus