Narodna - Peace Gardens 2013

Contrary to what the lack of update might imply I've been quite busy. I recently spent about two weeks in Vietnam and there will certainly be some posts about the trip coming up. I am sorting through around 800 photos and videos. Plus I have to filter out which ones are suitable for a public blog versus the private journal. On a much more manageable scale were the half dozen pictures I took recently here in Salt Lake City at the Peace Gardens. Every year they hold a little folk festival and Narodna signs up to perform. We wound up representing several different countries being dressed up in Russian costumes and performing Russian, Israeli, and Slovak dances. Here I am in costume.

The peace gardens is a collection of gardens featuring different countries with architecture, artwork, and plants from the country. Adrian pointed out there was a Vietnam garden and so I wandered over. As I passed under the archway into the garden I saw a flag I wasn't expecting. 

The flag I had seen during my trip to Vietnam as well as previous times I had looked up info on Vietnam on the web I had always seen the red flag with a yellow star and instead I see a yellow flag with 3 red stripes. A quick Google search on my phone and I discovered that this is the flag of Southern Vietnam before the war. On the other side of this monument was a map of Vietnam. On it were displayed 3 cities: Hanoi, Hue, and Saigon. Not 'Ho Chi Minh City' as it is officially called today.  Looks like whoever put together the peace gardens doesn't want to represent the communist influence.

DOMA section 3 and Prop 8 stricken down... now what?

Yesterday was one for the history books.  The Federal Supreme Court of the United States has ruled on both DOMA and Prop 8. Legally married same-sex couples will have access to federal rights and California will soon allow same sex couples to marry once again. So Michael and I needed to ask ourselves... should we get married? We have said in the past that when it comes to the effort and expense to get a marriage license would only be worth it if there were some legal benefits to it. When it comes to a declaration of our love and commitment to each other we don't need a piece of paper.

The Human Rights Campaign has put together several infographics and resources that help to sift through the legal jargon and break it down for us non-lawyers/politicians. A nice list is here. So I've started going through the list and so far it looks like even if Michael and I get married we won't directly benefit from these rulings while living in Utah. The IRS, Social Security, and FMLA will still look at the state we live in. We have no children. Neither of us are federal employees. Neither of us have Medicaid/Medicare. Neither of us are in the military or are veterans. FAFSA might give us less aid since we'd have a combined income. *Facepalm*

If I were a political cartoonist I might draw something showing a drag queen with a sash labelled Ms. Gay Rights (or just "Human Rights")  taking a huge leap forward but Michael and I are left behind holding her extravagantly long train.

This is a great victory but we are far from done. I actually feel more conscious of marriage inequality now than before. Maybe it's because it feels so much more... concrete? Tangible?  The day we get married was always "someday" which is so nebulous. Now that it's closer to becoming a reality I am beginning to ache for it.

Pizzeria Limone - Italiana Salad

I tried out Pizzeria Limone with my brothers and my sister-in-law. The restaurant website describes it as a "quick service GOURMET Pizzeria". It's a casual chic establishment with moderate to cheap prices and utilizes a wood-fired oven and thin crusts to dish out quick and tasty pizzas. This was shortly after they figured out I was diabetic and my siblings were helping me figure out smart choices when eating out. My first reaction was, "Wait, a pizza restaurant? Won't that be all carbs?" My eldest brother pointed out that most good restaurants will have salads and he happened to enjoy the salads here before. Here's the salad portion of their menu:

My brother recommended the Italiana...

Blink Blink. "Is there a salad under there?"

Perhaps it isn't the most low-calorie salad out there but it certainly was yummy and still full of vitamins. It was good reminder that salads can be incredibly diverse and with very interesting combinations of sweet, crunch, and savory ingredients. It was large enough that I took half of it home. To cut down on the carbs I discarded two of the four pieces of bread. It's a pity since it somewhat defeats the purpose of going somewhere with a wood-fired oven. 

Embroidered Mandala

I have started an embroidered mandala in order to practice a couple different techniques. I am playing around with blending colors. I have a couple different ideas on the final design of the mandala. Michael had to point out that it looked like it was cross hairs on a gun scope >.<  I've snipped the yellow threads and for the time being they're just hanging free. I'll probably do something strange and overly complicated with them. 

Osmond Family vs. Marriage Equality.

So the subtitle to the blog mentions food, hobbies, and home improvement which so far I've included. Now it's finally time to throw in the last "random rants" category. Though this is more of a report than a rant. Still I promise not to make this blog too political. This is just something that affects us personally and we would like to share it.

So members of the Osmond family decided to put together a performance at the Capital Rotunda to "Celebrate Marriage" on March 26th as the Supreme Court of the United States hear the Prop 8 and DOMA cases. They were supporting "traditional" marriage and against same sex marriage. A silent protest was very quickly organized by local activists and through the magic of social media hundreds showed up including Michael and myself. As we started it was clear that we easily matched the anti-gay attendees in number. As time went on more and more showed up. Michael Aaron of Q Salt Lake estimated 500 protesters versus 300 of the normal attendees. Below are some of the pictures we took while there.

Downstairs preparing. 

People filing in and taking up 3 floors.

At this point there were a lot of empty chairs which would soon fill up. More on our side would also appear however.

More people coming in through the front.

An anonymous man dressed up as a disgruntled gentleman had my favorite sign: "Harrumph!"

And there's my handsome life partner who just may someday be legally my husband.

And here I am up on the third floor.

 

A pair whom I would assume are a couple dressed up in coordinated shirts and ties (because of HRC's campaign to display red for love a lot chose to wear red for this event). As the event began one donned a great equality mouse head. 

Here's a closer shot of the equality mouse. At this point I realized I should have shown up in drag with something clever on a sign like "All you need is love... and a lot o' hairspray." 

Mormons get a lot of hate from the LGBT community. It's good to see pro-marriage equality Mormons show their presence especially with a LDS-centric event.

The seats are filled up but they're thoroughly surrounded with our (mostly) silent protesting glares. 

Our silence broke at the end of the performance after their closing prayer. "Marriage Equality Now! Marriage Equality Now!" They were supposed to do one or two more songs but we were too loud. Dominique who helped organize the protest spoke with the Osmonds and was told someone pulled the plug on the speakers. This seemed disapointing but someone later said they talked with the sound technician and HE turned it off. Our chanting was being picked up by the speakers so he turned it off to prevent feedback and popping speakers. 

  

Our chants continued as we paraded down through the rotunda and down the front steps of the Capital Building.

We cooperated with security every step of the way.

More Trimming

So the war against the overgrown plants in our yard continues. This is the last of the major trimming that needed to be done. 

Before. Again my parents planted these two bushes really close to each other so they're growing right into each other.

Here's the result. Still need to clear the ground around the base of all of the bushes now. Maybe lay down some wood chips. 

I forgot to take a "before" picture of this one. So here it is in progress. The trimmings created a wreath around the bush. 

All Cleaned up. 

In the long run I actually want to shape the bushes in an organic sculptural sort of way like bonsai. Trimming these down like this kind of sets that back but I needed more instant results. If things go well with the rest of the yard then maybe I can start shaping them by the fall. Then again with me going back to school I might not have the time/energy. More likely something to happen next year.  

Shaping bushes

So it finally warmed up enough again to start working on the yard again. I decided to tackle the next unwieldy rosebush and also the junipers next to it.

Before

After

Sometimes the most difficult thing is just to get started. I kept eyeballing each of the plants and trying to figure out how short to make them etc. Finally I just told myself, "start trimming." Once I started it became more and more obvious where I needed to cut next. The grayish juniper was getting quite tall and as I attempted to trim it away from the shorter brown one I realized it was going to look ridiculous keeping it at that height. So I cut it down by almost half. I think it's a lot more manageable now. I also cleared away a lot of the thatch and leaves collecting underneath each of these bushes. There's much more "breathing room" now. I like it. 

Back to the Yard

Alrighty, the weather is warming up and this year it's one of our goals to get our yard under control. In previous years with my funky work schedule and the cost of tools and the lawnmower breaking down we were a bit outmatched by mother nature. At least until the fall semester begins (hey I'll be a grad student finally!) I have a schedule that gives me some time during daylight hours to actually work on the yard. I also have some extra incentive to get yard work done this year. My mother has recently passed away and some of my fondest memories with her are from gardening. Let some of her legacy be blooming life. Also some incentive comes from finding out that I am diabetic and exercise/physical activity is part of the plan to save my life. So expect more blog entries about gardening, food and health. 

I went around the house and took some pictures of the various projects in progress. 

My parents started to lay out pseudo pathways and designs with these bricks but a lot of them were actually sort of in the way of mowing. We're clearing some of them out and will be redoing some of the design. Also in the upper left of the photo you'll see large black plastic pots. They're heavy and are growing nothing but weeds. I'm going to empty them and put them away.

These bushes have been trimmed way down. They're a little annoying because they're full of thorns and maybe someday I'll completely replace them. They have some pretty colored leaves through the year however. Additionally I remember reading that thorns under windows symbolize protection. My guess is it comes from deterring robbers. I also plan on clearing out the grass around the bushes so it doesn't grow up through them. 

I need to trim down some of the rose bushes in front (not even sure if they're alive anymore) and trim down some of the major growth seen in the flower beds on this side. The lamb's ears are huge and amazingly still alive. 

I'm thinking it may be a good idea to tear up all the grass in this section and just have woodchips/gravel. The purple smoke bushes are doing well at least. 

More of the same on this side of the front yard.

On this side we have the evil Virginia Creeper vines acting as ground cover. Underneath it all is the dead remains of the bushes that used to be there which aren't much prettier. This is where I wish we had the money to hire a landscaper with a backhoe to just tear it all out.

And here at the corner is more of the dead bush. It is almost presentable as being some sort of natural decoration. Maybe if it had moss and more interesting flora around it would seem more interesting. This is probably not going to be addressed this year. 

The areas along the south of our house are just plain grass. We need to aerate and reseed but otherwise this year we aren't doing much with it. Eventually I want it zero-scaped as well or turn it into a vegetable garden. 

We've done a lot to clear out the invading plants that have infiltrated the bushes along the west side of the house. I think it's Siberian Elm which is known to be invasive. I've just discovered the other invasive tree is the Tree of Heaven or Ailanthus 

I like that this rosebush creates long stems filled with roses but it also very quickly becomes unwieldy. I think it's supposed to grow up along a trellis. It makes me wonder if my parents were intending it to grow up along the sign like a trellis. I will probably just get rid of it entirely.

My parents planted these bushes too close to each other. I am going to majorly trim them down and give them some shape. 

The wild and out of control bushes along the southern wall are finally trimmed down. You can see our balcony again which I am now filling with potted herbs. In front of the basement window will be a bunch of tulips and daffodils. Also along this pathway will be a row of tulips. I've had to transplant some of the plants that had sprouted right in the middle of the pathway over to the side. 

My favorite rosebush is doing the worst right now. I've cleared out the Virginia Creeper choking it and fought back the Juniper bushes but this rose bush suffered from drought last year and was split in half by the heavy snow :(. I remember when my mother bought this and they called it an angel face rose. It had the best scent. 

These two rosebushes used to be double in size. They too were hit by the snow and practically split in half. I know these ones to be particularly hardy so they'll be fine. And no that's not my car. 

From this angle it doesn't look so bad. This is the section of the yard we've worked on every year and I finally feel like it shows.

Over here is a lone rosebush leading into our neighbor's section of the strip. This will likely be the first section to tear up the grass and replace with wood chips or gravel.

I can already see dandelions growing throughout this area. It used to be filled with mint and it will be again.