Dec 27

At 4:45 AM my alarm goes off.  I sneak out of bed, turn on the coffee, and tip toe through a short workout.  The house groans.  I accidental kick the cat- twice.  I do side lunges over the sleeping dog.

At 5:35 AM without any alert from me her bed is empty and the light is on in her room.  The downy blankets puff like punched dough, fleshy and oozing.  The bathroom door is closed.  Watery light crawls out across the wood floor.

But the house is quiet.

At 6:00 AM BC is up carrying coffee, yawning, squinting.  The News begin to talk into the darkness.  Sharp voices and blue light breaking the day open.

Snow.
Coffee.
The smell of bagels toasting.
The front door opening and closing.  The scraping sound of the trash cans being drug to the curb.

Right before 7AM she appears upstairs; slippers, sweats, the straps of a leo hanging.  "My hair," she points to the lemon curls as she shuffles by.

BC stomping snow from his boots announces into the house he will be driving us.  The News and the snow both continue falling.

This is all for her.  This is the stuff not including on the order slips or on the monthly statements.  Two days after Christmas and we are headed into the gym for a 5 hour workout.  I will work the desk alone returning calls.  BC will drive us there and back.

We are team Beach... and she is ready to go.

Naught or Nice Meet BDSJ 2018

Beach Ries Level 9

Yurchenko Tuck Full on Comp Surface (9.25)

Naught or Nice Meet, BDSJ 2018

Beach Ries Level 9 

Floor (9.425)

Naught or Nice Meet, BDSJ 2018

gingerbread houses on the farm

rest stop

You were in my dream last night.  I leaned against you.  I could feel the soft worn cotton of your black and gray flannel shirt; unbuttoned I slipped my hand inside.

I leaned against you, away from the night.  A wet sky dripping across the openness of the desert.

Between us was the knowing.  The weathered fence line of a friendship that leans deep.

Even as you spoke I felt your hand agree to this arrangement as it came to rest on my side.

Around me, two conversations going on at once.  The one waltzing in the night between 4 people (5 if my silence was to count) and the one unspoken between you and me.

It's not a mistake that I know this table well.  It's at a rest stop.  A tiny patch of shade off a two-lane highway among the sage and salt grass.

It's what I fell asleep thinking about.  The desert in the winter.  The sound of the morning under my feet when it is too cold to be out.  The metal smell of water stubbornly cold and refusing to warm to the flame.    

I fell asleep running between twisted junipers on a long straight road as I tried to assure myself that I am ready for what is coming my way.

Today is the last calm before the on coming storm.  In my head I slide back and forth between pressing against the glass and hiding at the back wall.

I have a plan for how to make the next month work for everyone around me.  I am the only variable unaccounted for.

But I can still feel you breathing; white cotton t-shirt beneath the black and gray, dirty dark Levis, thin ribs, thick sun kissed skin, and rough, strong hands.

The look in your eyes as you mid word cast a single glance down at me.  It is a look I have seen pass between us at least a hundred times.  Even though we have, the look doesn't age.

A rest stop.  At nightfall.  A table nothing was brought to.  Out on the desert's edge.  And the idea of you sitting beside me.

meanwhile in the bowling alley pro shop

So BC sucks at Christmas.  Birthday's too.  And remember that date night we dug potatoes?

 I try not to take it too personally.  I meet him half way by buying him a few small gifts, filling a stocking with fair trade dark chocolate, and buying myself something to open on Christmas morning so Beach doesn't feel bad and I have something to look forward to.

This year he requested no gifts at all for him because he was the only one of us to get a ski pass.  I agreed but... I couldn't exactly not get him something.

He works super hard.  He's a really great guy even if he is never on time to anything and fails most major holidays (oh, and doesn't read my blog).

I am a rule follower- well, rule bender?  So what I did was I didn't buy him a present, not really. I found (okay and bought but it was $3!) a bowling ball (named Scott) in a kick ass blue bowling bag from a local thrift store.

See BC has his own bowling ball which he picked up the same way, second hand somewhere.  And no joke he carries it in a woven woman's purse!  Yep, so many great jokes. The last time we went bowling he was complaining that it was 2lbs too heavy but it was hard to find a 12 pound ball that fit his big old fingers.

He's right it is hard. That ball I picked up for $3, no way would it fit his fingers.  So, I took it to the pro shop at a local bowling alley.  Yeah, even after the phone call with the lady who told me, "Ma'am, that's just-s a weird question" when I asked if they could make the holes larger for me without me knowing the exact size needed.

Long story short.  The skeptical bowling ball man who reluctantly agreed to make the finger holes as large as my thumb and the thumb hole "proportionally matching" (my words) he didn't charge me.  It was rumored to be only about $5 to have the holes enlarged but he said he didn't want to mess up my deal about not buying a gift.

I really hate Christmas but I love these moments.  

Little lights of kindness shining in the dark.

       

a little art into Bio study

the professional pics

A few of the pics from the professional photographer at the crossfit gym.  There are a ton more great shots but since it is for an ad campaign I'm only posting my absoluted favorite ones here.  Link to mine: HERE

breaking news in the land of photography

Dear Beach Ries-

Congratulations! Your image, Power Plants, was selected by our team of judges—all professional photographers— to be featured in the Nature All Around Us exhibition at the Natural History Museum of Utah. The exhibition will open in October 2019 in conjunction with the Museum’s 50^th anniversary and run through May 2020. We are excited to share your vision of nature in your community with all the guests who visit the exhibition.

Once again this kid proves that she sees what others miss.  When she submitted her photos to the Nature All Around Us contest at the NHMU this summer she was sure this was the one.  And just like with the Utah State Fair photos, she was right!  We are so proud of her.  Photography final grade: A+