I spent the first half of June in St George, Utah, helping a family member with a health care situation. I was extremely grateful to return to the lovely pacific Northwest for the rest of the month, enjoying our more temperate climate and the lovely flowers blooming in the neighborhood. I finished knitting a pair of socks, and cheered on the No Kings Day Protests from afar.

Southern Utah, June 4 to 15th.

It was too hot in Utah to do much more than scurry from one air conditioned space to the next. We drove through nearby Snow Canyon State Park one evening, to admire the Navajo Sandstone landscape from the car window. I paid homage to the air conditioning gods and the electric grid, praying that it didn’t go down while I was there.

Snow Canyon State Park –

Birds of St George…

Flying home through Salt Lake City:

Flowers in the neighborhood –

Knitting

I knit not a single stitch while in Utah, but I finished one pair of socks after I returned. I cast on a new pair of socks, and made some progress on a scarf and a cardigan.

Books

Of the nine books I completed in June, by far the most compelling was Figuring, by Maria Popova. It is a long and interwoven biographical tale of several women artists and scientists who made major contributions within their fields, yet have gone somewhat unrecognized. The women include astronomer Maria Mitchell, poet Emily Dickinson, sculptor Harriet Hosmer, writer Margaret Fuller, and biologist Rachel Carson. She includes many intersecting peripheral people, who interacted with her selected historical figures. I found it fascinating to listen to.

I also enjoyed a trip down memory lane as I read Sandstone Spine by David Roberts, a description of hiking across Comb Ridge in southern Utah, a place I did field work 40 years ago.

The rest of the world:

June 14th – While I was roasting away in St George in a care-giver role, millions of people all over the world were marching in No Kings Day protests. I am grateful that so many were able to show up!

Back in Portland, I took a long neighborhood walk on Juneteenth, and a real hike near Mt Hood on June 24th – to be described in the next post…