stupid bats...

Remember that bat bridge I once heralded as an awesome local wonder of Austin? Well, I still think it is pretty cool....sometimes. The thing is, it has almost always proved to be a great place to take out of towners to show how Austin "keeps it weird". Turns out though, that the bat bridge can have an off kind of night.

We took some great friends of ours who were new to the area to check it out. We described the novelty of it with such wonder and intrigue. We made of night of it - stopping at Big Top Candy Shop on South Congress before hand and then spouted off all the trivia about the bats we knew as we walked and ate Aussi licorice and gummy alphabet letters. It was a great time.

Then we got to the bridge. We waited. We waited. We waited. It was getting pretty dark. The sun was well down (the cue to the bats to come out). The bat watching tourist boats were lined up all in a row. It got darker.

Matt got mad. "Stupid bats! What the heck? They're not coming out. We should just go...stupid bats..."

I stayed optimistic. "Come on Matt, it always takes longer for them to come out than we think. We just got here kind of early and so we just feel like it has been a long time."

Darker. Bat boat annoucers running out of jokes to make, trivia to say...

Then a dozen bats flew out with the reek of guano. The guy next to me says "Oh ho...Here We Go!" Much anticipation. Everyone leans over the bridge waiting for more.

Darker. Then another dozen bats. This repeated itself until our friends convinced us that it was a-okay. The candy and company was good enough to call the evening a success. Matt and I felt a bit dumb still.

It got so bleak even the bat boats started to head in toward the docks. We headed home.

Luckily our friends are talented folk with a good sense of humor. They documented our experience together by doing what they do best.

It says it all really.

How did Abraham do it without Craigslist?

Life has sped up to what seems like warp speed since coming back to Austin. So much to do to move out of the country! No wonder not many people end up doing it.

I have started to get over the scary, sad "I am going to miss everything I can't bring with me phase" into the "let's purge this apartment and never look back!" Of course I will look back with nostalgia to the experiences I have had but having a good and proper Exodus of sorts is pretty healthy to do every once and a while. In the words of a dear, spiritual friend of mine this is "my Abraham experience". Perhaps I am overdramatic to claim such things but it is really quite liberating. Gets you to thinking about how there is very little we take with us after this life. So few things are important besides experiences, relationships and what we learn. Yep. I am waxing biblical now but this experience is making an impact on me - what can I say?

And oh the wonders that craigslist can bring when you are ready for an "Abraham experience"! We are shedding stuff so quick it gets a little addicting and I have to remind myself that some things really ought to be kept around for when we return. The thing is, I am having a hard time planning more than a year, a month, a week in advance - which is an unusual thing for me indeed. It is a truly an immortal experience to rid yourself of so many things and just start to lean into the curve a bit. Less stuff can somehow make you feel a bit more powerful. Without stuff, all I have to worry about is me and Matt and I have taken care of me for a long time now - even a 1/4 a century; Matt and I have figured out all kinds of unexpected, difficult things in 3 1/2 years. I can do that! Even in a different place.

In other news, housing has had some hiccups. Turns out the most likely scenario for Matt and I to find a place is going to have to be when we get there and can represent ourselves "in person" at the apartment viewings. I started to hyperventilate a bit when trying to come to terms with a scenario of staying in a hostel for a week, navigating bus routes through a city I never been to and trying to keep up with 12 credit hours worth of coursework. Again, I am learning to take a deep breath, lean into the curve and get a "what the Hell - why not?" kind of feeling. Yep. I am pretty much getting invincible right now.

I still could use some extra prayers for our visas though....

Matt giving his bass some goodbye chords. I started to feel a bit sad he was giving it up (his first instrument). I asked him if he felt sad and he just responded by saying, "I just want somebody else to play it." Then I realized this was the first time he had played it in a year and there many worthy financial causes in Scotland to look towards!

When has the livin' been easiest?

First off, did I mention that I had some terrific times with my fam for 2 full weeks of August? Let this collage (compliments of Picassa) show you how easy livin' was in the ol' SLC and Reno.

Maybe I am just imagining things but it really seems like this has been the best summer of my life. Is this too bold of a statement? I remember a wise Redfish coworker once pointed out that "summers are sacred". This thought has the potential to be a very true thing indeed so I don't take my aforementioned statement lightly. Still I think that this has very well been just about the best summer ever.

It surprises me to realize what a good life it has been these last 2-3 months being that I have worked a respectable amount of time through June and July librarianing summer school in Round Rock ISD. I spent the hottest hours of the day in an cool library reading some of my favorite books like Elephants Can Paint Too, Rattletrap Car, I Stink and loads of other read aloud gems to some very enthusiastic 5 and 6 year olds. A good confirmation that you want to be an elementary school librarian is when you sing "One Elephant Went Out to Play" or "Going on a Lion Hunt" until you are hoarse and still wonder why you are getting paid.

When I got off at 3:30 (such a luxurious time to get off of work), it was often off to Town Lake to take Matt to his rowing class and me to my Deep Eddy Pool. How had we not partaken in these local recreational marvels until this summer?! Deep Eddy Pool is the loveliest marriage of spring fed water into a multi-lane lap pool. It has been just about the only relief around for this Austin summer heat but 2 or 3 jumps into that pool a week was enough to keep my thoughts cool while crossing a Costco parking lot on a Saturday. That is one powerful rush!

Yep. Swimming in spring water, watching Matt row from the docks, reading youth fiction for leisure, attending a handful of Paramount Summer Film Series flicks, lots of Sonic happy hours, being wined and dined by friends saying farewell, having a helluva Cake Dome Party with some great Utah folk and knowing that I have to soak up all the Austin flavor while I can has made for a great "carpe diem" kind of June-August. This summer was just about as sacred as it gets.


For your viewing pleasure, here is Matt stearing for his graduation row last month.

Remember Forever Plaid?

If you care to follow some of our adventures then feel free to check out my new "web log". It took a while to decide on a name. On our hike to Cecret Lake up Little Cottonwood Canyon, Matt, my mom and M. Swirly Patterns all deliberated over the right title. Some of our musings included:

-Temporarily Plaid

-The Sweeneys go McSweeney

-Tea and Cakes

-Writings from the Highlands (problem is, I will be about 2-3 hours from the actual highlands)

The rest we came up with escape me now but I settled on a catchy "Temporarily Tartan: a year of living Scottishly". Not sure what will end up being posted there over BakedGoodsandBads but I thought this new era needed a new look and feel. So a new blog is born.

Nothing says farewell like...

Good cake and good company is the bees knees of farewells. In case you missed the Highland Games Cake Dome Party, let me give you more reason to mourn your absence. If you were there, let me give you reason to already begin reminiscing. It was some great festive fun complete with:

a delicious spread with some tasty shortbread and cake,

a Scottish Pub and Bartender in Tartan Trousers,

some good jokes,

and a riveting "Caper" Toss.

It was a bittersweet kind of Cake Dome Party as it got Matt and I excited for our new Scottish adventures but sad at the thought of how we will miss our great American pals this upcoming year. Still, I believe it has made us one step more ready to say "Guid Cheerio the Nou" when Sept 3rd rolls around. Let us pray for our those visas in the meantime!

What have you selectively forgotten about adolescence?

It never ceases to amaze me about the inevitable but endearing awkwardness attached to visiting the home ward. On the one hand, it is the large part of the community that raised me, sent me off to school with the highest hopes and then excitedly planned bridal showers and put on a well catered reception for me when I finally got married (even though I was the tender age of 22 when that happened, I think that they all gave out a big exhale since before Matt I showed less hope than my hip, American Eagle wearing girls camp peers).

Make no mistake, they did lots for me. But on the other hand, it is always alarming to me how much they remember about the most poignant (and therefore worst) moments of my adolescence. Maybe it is the selective memory kicking in, but I have managed to forget many of my terrible one liners I got so comfortable spouting off at activities like I was the child star of some bad 90s sitcom. They recount my gawkiest, graceless, vulnerable moments with such fondness which I am not sure how they could be going for anything but the ironic amusement route.

I will spare you the details of these stories that make up my mutual activities, girls camp outings and pulpit points I made as a youth speaker. The thing is, if you really wanted to hear any of these stories, you would be better off asking Granite Ward's newest Relief Society president or my mom's old visiting teacher - they honestly know these stories better than I would myself. And although they would tell them to you with the honesty and accuracy that would make you flinch like a replay of The Phone Call, I still have the dignity of not having participated in the talent show lip sync to Hansen's MmmmBop at girls camp.

This picture could be worse I guess - at least I opted out of wearing my overalls on the hike.