Cars make giving talks complicated

So I was asked to give a talk in church today.

In case of any readers who are not Mormons/LDS, in our church members of the congregation are asked to prepare talks for church instead of having one person give a sermon every week. I was a little surprised to be asked so soon upon moving into the area, but I agreed readily enough.

This morning I decided to wait and travel by car to church with my roommates rather than leaving early to walk to church. I usually would rather walk or bike (surprising no one who knows me) but I'd had my roommates get after me (in a friendly way) for not riding together with them so I decided to be social and join the car group.

Except we were getting really close to time to leave and neither of my roommates were stirring. When it got to the point of "leave now or be late" I discovered, to some embarrassment, that one roommate was out of town (I'd forgotten) and one had texted me two hours before to say she was too sick to come to church that day. So I dashed down the stairs as quickly as I could manage in heels to get to my car so I could get to church on time.

Well, despite the fact that I was running close to the wire I made especially sure to look behind me to make sure I wasn't backing up into anything. Apparently I was looking that direction too much because I then heard a sickening "crunch". The side of my car had just come into contact with a concrete pole.

As I pulled out of there, I was hoping that maybe it would just be a little scratch. But to my panicking eyes, a large section of my car was dented inward and scraped white. The damage was only cosmetic-- everything still worked-- but ugly enough to be distressing. And now I was definitely going to be late for church.

I saw a definite look of relief on the bishop's face when I slid into the chapel during the opening hymn, so I'm sure I caused at least some concern with my tardiness. Sitting down, I sighed and thought that this was turning out to be kind of a lousy day.

During the sacrament, though, I felt inspired to make some last minute changes to my talk--mentioning what had happened to my car. The topic of my talk was on fearing God more than fearing man, and I ended up tying the incident to the fact that superficial things-- what we look like, what we own, what damage our cars have taken, etc --don't matter as much as the way we live and how well we cling to the Gospel. I guess it went over well because for the rest of church people kept coming up to me and saying, "I liked your talk, and I'm so sorry about your car."

Actually, after church when I'd had the chance to calm down, I found that the damage to my car wasn't as bad as it had seemed during that first crisis moment. I don't know, here's a photo so you can judge for yourself, but it really could have been worse:

Well, I'd better be OK with it because it is not currently in my budget to fix it and since it's just cosmetic it's not urgent either.

And, all in all, it's ended up being a good day. I really like my ward up here; it's a smaller ward, but I do better socially in smaller groups, and everyone has been very welcoming and friendly. I met a girl who is currently meeting with the missionaries and I sort of invited myself to join in on a lesson this week. We had a "linger longer" (group lunch after church) and I found myself at a table that spent the entire time discussing twilight zone episodes so you know this is a group of people I can feel comfortable with.

So I guess the moral of the story is that, yes, cars do make life complicated, but that doesn't mean that they have to ruin your day.

Taking a Bike to a Car Show

Now, since I'm under a pretty tight budget just now, if I'm going somewhere that's not for work I bike instead of using my car. I've actually used my bike more in these past two weeks than I have since my mission.

Which works out just fine in Boise; this town is super bike friendly. In addition to the Greenbelt, a long walking/biking trail that stretches along both sides of the Boise river, there are bike lanes and bike racks everywhere. You always see people riding bikes wherever you go, and my interactions with these other bikers have been decidedly pleasant. There are even these little "bike fix-it stands" all over the place which have bike tools and a pump attached.
Of course, when I tried to actually use said pump to inflate the front tire on my bike, I had some trouble getting it to work. A toothless older gentleman who may or may not have been homeless noticed my struggling and loaned me a hand pump. A few minutes later, seeing that I was still struggling, he walked back over and said, "You're doing it wrong. It's a girl thing. Don't worry, I have sisters and they can't do it either."
Since he said this while inflating my wheel for me, I decided not to take offense. He then told me to go to Walmart and get myself a pump if I was going to live in Boise and use a bicycle. "Save money, live better. Guess where I work?"

On June 18th, I heard about a Car Show over in Garden City and thought that would be a good free activity for a Saturday afternoon. After all, I have a weakness for vintage cars. According to Google Maps, it was about a half hour bike ride to the location--a bit long for me, but not so terrible on a beautiful sunny day, and I didn't want to waste any gas. (Seriously, I go through a tank a week and I'm still only working half time. I've got clients who live out as far as Caldwell so I try to save gas wherever I can) So I took off. Again, my budget permitted me the generous sum of $2, all of which was in spare change, but I figured I could get myself a snow cone or something from a vendor. So I hopped on my bike and off I went.


The Boise Greenbelt is incredible. The river is lovely, and there are so many trees. The whole trail has a smell of green growing things, and during this time of year, the air is full of bits of cottonwood fluff that dance in the sunshine like magical fairy snow.

I tried in vain to get photos of the cottonwood fluff in the air; it's just too small and fast for my camera on my cell phone. But here's a shot of just how thick it can pile up in places--it really does look like snow.

The first part of my trek, following the Greenbelt, was very pleasant. Even though, when the wind started to kick up, I discovered that the cottonwood fluff was a little less "magical" when the wind kept blowing it into my eyes and up my nostrils.

Then I needed to leave the Greenbelt to follow some more urban areas to reach the park grounds. The wind was continuing to pick up, and my path (which was not entirely paved) kept taking me past big dirt fields. Soon the wind was blowing painful grit and sand into my eyes. I had to bike with my eyes closed, just taking occasional peeks to make sure I was still not crashing into anything. (I rode on the sidewalks instead of on the road at this point because I at least have the intelligence to not bike blind where I might be hit by cars) Although the area was flat, fighting against the wind made it feel like I was going up a steep hill. Apparently this trip was going to be harder than I thought. I was hardly going to give up two-thirds of the way there just because I was a little uncomfortable, though, so I kept going, buoyed on by a split-second glimpses of a  distant sign reading "Idaho Expo Center".

As I neared the location, however, I noticed that this wasn't a park, it was a fenced in fairgrounds area. And it occurs to me, "I will be really annoyed if it turns out you have to pay for admission."

Guess what? You have to pay for admission. And it was $10, so my little coin purse was not going to cut it.

As close as I got to the Boise Car Show

I'm not great at selfies, as I've said before, but it turns out they're even harder when the wind is blowing dirt in your eyes.

Apparently a lot of the proceeds were going to charity, so I couldn't even be that annoyed at them. Still, I was all the way out here and felt like I needed something to show for it before I turned around and went home. So I consulted my GPS and figured out that it was only a mile and a half to the nearest Sonic.

I was there an hour before happy hour, but I was still able to pay for a medium Blackberry Slush with exact change. I felt a bit sorry for whoever had to count all the pennies, though.

Half a slushie still in hand, I began the long trek back to my apartment. Except, I noticed a branch off from the sidewalk leading into the trees, and I couldn't resist following. (Much to the dismay of the GPS voice coming from the phone in my back pocket, which kept announcing to me that I needed to make a U turn. I turned it off.)

Rather to my delight, I discovered a nature trail curving around some reservoirs and a section of the river. The sign said that riding bikes was not permitted on the dirt trail, so I'd have to walk my bike or leave it behind. But the map indicated that the far end of the trail would lead me back to the Greenbelt, and I really wasn't in any hurry, so I walked my bike and enjoyed the trail.

I ended up getting a lot of photos since I was going slowly enough that I could stop and pull my phone out. And this area was pretty enough to be worth it, too:

The breeze died down so I was really able to enjoy being out in the sunshine with nothing blowing into my face

I had to use my kickstand to get my hands free to take photos since I was still carrying the slushie cup around until I found a garbage can

A bunch of houses are next to the trail. Mostly I didn't pay much attention to them, but the statue of an alligator in this backyard startled me when I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye

A family of geese

At the end of the nature trail, I found myself in a confusing network of bike trails that make up the Garden City portion of the Greenbelt. With less wind and after my walking break, it made for very pleasant biking. I got lost a few times--but, on the other hand, I also took a few deliberate wrong turns just to see what was on the other side of intriguing bridges. My surroundings continued to delight me even if I didn't stop quite so often to take pictures.

Ugh, I look stoned. I really am terrible at selfies. Maybe I should stick to glamour shots of my bicycle instead.

There we go

I enjoyed exploring, but after a while, I found myself attempting to mountain bike up some unpaved trails and realized that I was well and truly lost. Not to mention, the wind was picking up again and some threatening-looking clouds were rolling in, and I was getting worn out and dehydrated. I tried to use GPS to find my way back but GPS just led me into an area closed off for some construction project. Finally I ended up having to bike back out into urban areas in order to get my bearings before I finally made it back to the spot where I had left the greenbelt just a few hours ago. So, just twenty more minutes of biking to go! ...yay...

By the time I got back to my apartment, I was exhausted, saddle sore, sunburnt, dehydrated, and my eyes were redshot from having yet more dust and fluff blown into them. According to my phone, I walked two miles and biked twenty. And I didn't end up getting to oggle a single vintage car.

That being said, I'm really glad things happened the way they did. I had a wonderful time exploring the bike trails around the Boise River-- I probably had much more fun than I would have if things had gone according to plan.

That evening, though, if I knew of a place that delivered ice cream I would have ordered some, budget be darned. As it was I had hot chocolate and spent the rest of the day sitting down.

World Village Festival

On June 11th, there was a big World Village Festival in Capitol Park, a park over by the state capitol building. Since I heard admission was free, I decided to bike over during the afternoon to check it out.

In retrospect, this photo looks like a glamour shot of a trash can

For someone who came without much in the way of spending money, the smells of the vendors selling food from countries all over the world was downright cruel

No, I am not sure why The Oracle from Delphi would advertise with rainbow tie-dye, but I guess styles have changed since Ancient Greece

Apparently in big outdoor events like this in Boise, they will have a fenced off area called the "Beer Garden" for those who choose to drink alcohol. It seems like a win-win, they have somewhere nice to sit down and feel cool, and the rest of us don't have to sit next to drunk people

There was some really neat stuff for sale here

The Boise Capitol Building. The outside is very pretty; one of these days I'm going to take the tour of the inside.

Apparently the painted fabric is part of some sort of moving art exhibit and the artist wants lots of people to take photos of them in various locations, so I'm assuming she'd be pleased to see them here

I probably would've had a more exciting time if I'd come in the evening, when the big headliner performances were happening. Even so, there were some cute kids doing Irish dancing, a group from BSU doing flamenco dancing, and a guy who played the accordion and the harmonica at the same time, so I had fun.

I looked over my budget before going and decided that I could treat myself to something sold by a vendor with the lavish sum of... $2. There wasn't actually anything I wanted that was only two dollars though, and I really didn't have any money to go over, so I ended up donating the money to an Ecuador earthquake relief fund. I still managed to get a few souvenirs, though. First off, there was a Chinese Christian group that was writing people's names in Chinese characters:

Shh, don't tell him that he spelled my name wrong in English

Also, I totally waited in line for an hour with some four-year-olds at the children's activity tent so I could get my face painted.

African face paint or oddly mathematical measles? You decide!

I stink at selfies but the girl doing the paint did a very nice job

After that I ended up biking around the area for the afternoon. I got some comments from random people on my face-paint so I guess I did the festival some free advertising.

All in all, it was a fun little event and I'll probably go again if they do it next year.

Taking Time to Smell the Roses

I had some time one evening and decided to take a walk up the road to one of the parks near my apartment. Turns out this park is more than just a park--it's also home to six or so museums and this place :

I live within walking distance of a zoo, guys, this is amazing.

Everything was closed this late (and cost money I didn't have anyway, I'm still broke until payday) but the park itself (the Julia Davis Park, did I forget to mention that?) is quite lovely.

I love how many trees there are in Boise; I think it'll look beautiful in the fall.

Now, I had actually heard about all the museums before and I intend to check them all out eventually, but it turns out there is an exhibit that is freely accessible here which I'd never heard of --the Boise Rose Garden.

Apparently it was made as a memorial for a woman who loved roses. There are something like 200 species of roses present and they smell heavenly.

Unfortunately a disease struck most of the flowers last year requiring since heavy pruning, in the past these bushes were much larger. I'll have to come back in a few years after they've had time to grow again.

On my way back to the apartment I couldn't help sneaking a peak at another site I intend to visit soon:

Those of you who know me well (and since I'm pretty sure 2/3 of my readership is my mother, I'm assuming that's all of you) will appreciate my excitement.

Also, I think it's kind of amazing that Boise doesn't have a library, it has a Library!

Another place I intend to check out is The Cabin.

I guess it's some kind of Center for writers. They do writing classes there for various ages and genres, so that's something I'll have to try sometime.

Walking by this building, though, I noticed something behind it...

It's a tiny Park called the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, and it's beautiful.

There are these interesting gizmos all over where you can spin a wheel to get an audio tour.

This link, if it works, is to a video of me attempting to hold my phone in one hand while turning the crank with the other. You could get a pretty good arm workout doing the entire tour.

I'll be talking more later about the Boise Greenbelt, but here's a few shots I took while crossing it between the Memorial and the rest of the way home :

These old train bridges are all over, and I love them.

I love how many interesting things there are in Boise, that even an evening walk is a chance to discover a variety of things. I've only been here a couple of weeks, but I think I'm going to really like it here.