Boulder Utah Trip: Part One

Driving towards the petroglyph site

This past weekend, Nick and I joined my sister Beccah, my brother Jared & Sister-in-law April, and my niece for a lovely trip to southern Utah. When I lived with Jared & April, they started going down to Boulder, and this is the first time I'd been to that area. It was beautiful, that goes without saying. Even though it's November, during the day it was sunny and warm, and when it cooled down at night, we were able to take advantage of the hot tub where we were staying. Nick and I almost didn't end up joining my siblings, but I'm so glad we did.

Before we went down, Nick found a trail that led to some petroglyphs. It wasn't a long hike, but it felt full of adventure. It was so quiet and we had the place to ourselves. 

Closeups of the petroglyphs. We were so close to them we could touch them!

Someone in the past had tried to cut them off of the side of the rock. We were all appalled by this. Luckily they didn't succeed, but the scarring sight of their attempt is sad to see. 

I love this spiral shape.

There was also a panel called 'A Hundred Hands' that was higher up. We couldn't reach it, but it was still really exciting to see. I wish we could understand the symbolism behind these ancient images. 

Lucy and me.

The 'Hundred Hands' panel. 

We were so enchanted by the beauty of the place, and the perfect, blue sky.

It felt so good to be out in the desert, and to be together sharing this wonderful experience.

Nick & I admiring the view.

This was a great spot for shouting...

...and hearing an echo.

The third panel we found, the "Shaman Panel". So much going on here! I love the figures, the bird tracks, the dots leading to the animal. So mysterious and beautiful. 

Nick's Murals & Installation at the Bean Museum

 On the Brigham Young University campus is the Bean Life Science Museum, which houses a large collection of wildlife: birds, insects, elephants, etc. 

When Nick was a graduate student at BYU, he worked on a mural for the African exhibit, painting a good portion of it, and crafting and installing the displays for the animals as well. I knew that he'd done this work, but this is the first time I have gone up to see it. I was really impressed with the display, and thought I'd share some pictures of it:

Not only did Nick paint a large portion of the mural, he also worked on the trees, rocks and plants in the displays. 

The fake water needed a dusting, but Nick worked on this part of the exhibit as well. It was really cool seeing all the different aspects of his work.

Look at that lovely day-time moon.

I was really impressed by these murals that Nick painted, and all the work he did to install the animals in their display. I hope he gets a chance to paint murals in the future. 

I wrote a post about Nick's art last year, but I'll post a link to his website again with his more recent work: Nick Bontorno. 

Autumn Splendor in Provo Canyon

In the space of a few days, I've been able to drive up into the Provo Canyon to see the beautiful autumn colors, once with my mum and once with Nick. One of the perks of living in Provo is how close the mountains are. Within twenty minutes you can be away from the city and surrounded by clean air and the beauty of nature. 

When Nick and I went up yesterday, it was warm with a refreshing coolness in the air. There were a lot of people, also enjoying the colors in the mountains. We were impressed by how beautiful everyone looked, and that so many people were enjoying themselves. There were girls having picnics, couples walking through the woods, families taking pictures together. Both the natural world, and the people around us were dressed so beautifully.

I wore a skirt that I made a few years ago, and never wrote a post about. It was made with the same pattern as another 1910s skirt I made, which I wrote about in this post. There are more pictures of that skirt in my Armistice Blouse post as well. I've made 1910s skirts from three different patterns, but this pattern is my favorite, it is both elegant and practical. 

I didn't plan on wearing that particular skirt yesterday in order to do a photoshoot, it just ended up being a perfect setting for it. 

Early English Tea Cups

 While in New York, Nick and I stopped by a massive antique mall housed in a picturesque old factory building in the town of Oneonta. While there, we found three old lusterware tea cups, two of which had no handles! 

Although handles on teacups were invented in the early 1700s, it didn't become common until about 1810, so these tea cups dated from that Regency era - late 1700s/ early 1800s. I found one with a handle, too, which probably dates from the 1820s. 

Two of the cups I found in Oneonta. Behind them is my circa 1820s tea caddy. 

All three of the tea cups I found. 

After this exciting discovery, I was on the lookout for more. We found another cup, also circa 1820, in a small antique store near Nick's parents house. My mother and my friend Sarah also gave me antique tea cups for my birthday. 

Most of my antique tea cup collection on display

In the 1920s or '30s, reproduction lusterware was made, but these have a modern mark on the base of the cups and saucers. The old cups just have small, minimal hand-painted marks:

An example of the small marks on the base of the old tea cups. Some of them have no marks at all. 

The tea cup & saucer from my friend Sarah, with some tea brewing in my brown teapot I bought in Scotland. 

I've always loved tea cups, tea parties and the like. It's been really exciting to learn more about antique tea cups and to start collecting them. I'm also really drawn to the Georgian & Regency eras and I have several other objects from those eras (books, a dress, etc.). I love to learn more and add to my appreciation of an era. 

Views of New York

Before moving on from our long journey from Idaho to New York and back west to Utah, I wanted to write another post on the beauty of New York and some of the things I noticed and that I'd like to share here. Something I don't have pictures of are the wonderful people we spent time with and whom we miss already. 

A huge old school in Sidney, NY that was for sale. 

 

A silo on Cueball Road

A carnival in Bainbridge. Bainbridge is one of my favorite towns. They have a farm called Frog Pond that sells delicious produce, and a restaurant that sells the most delicious garlic knots. 

The Great American in Greene, NY

Smithville Flats, the town where I used to live.

Skaneateles

A charming new carousel in Saranac Lake, in the Adirondacks. 

Each animal was carved by a different artist and represented native animals and insects of New York 

I'm glad we got the chance to spend so much time in New York, and visit so many different towns. We also went to Pleasant Valley, nearer NYC, where Nick's mother grew up. The road they live on is actually named after their family, which I think is pretty amazing. 

New York is full of endless rolling green hills and thick forests. 

It also has so many small, old-fashioned towns and villages which are beautiful to visit. 

Colonia Theater of Norwich, NY

 Nick and I ended up being in New York for a little over two months. We traveled around quite a lot. We spent a lot of time in the Central New York area (Broome & Chenango counties) but also traveling downstate to Pleasant Valley (near Poughkeepsie) and up to the Adirondacks. We spent this time looking into jobs and houses to see if we might stay, but that didn't work out. It was wonderful to have an opportunity to spend so much time there, though.

Nick was born in the town of Norwich, and we ended up spending quite a bit of time there. They have a wonderful old movie theater that is still running (a bit of a miracle in small towns!). We went to a movie there and I took some pictures of the original elements of the building. 

I couldn't find a lot of information about it, but one source online says the Colonia theater was opened in 1914. It's exciting to think that people have been going to see films there for over a hundred years. 

The Colonia from an old postcard. I wish I knew the date, or could read the posters displayed out front. But it looks pretty early, 1910s or 1920s.

The glorious old marquee, though this replaced the smaller one that used to be on the building (seen in the picture above). 

The old box office, no longer used, but still there!

The sign above the women's bathroom.

The gents bathroom. They were getting ready for the opening night of Jurassic Park, thus the dinosaurs. 

A view of the whole theater. They were putting up the dinosaurs when we left.