At home last week

 I spent a lot of time last week recovering/resting/organizing, etc.  Adam left again for Nashville.  I had a sore throat all week. 

I also decided to paint.

I had this little chalkboard that I glued driftwood from Mukilteo Beach to years ago.  I also had a black globe that I got from IKEA.  I think it was also a chalkboard. I had them at the Home Place, but last time we were there, I decided we needed more color. 

Here's an old picture I found of them (that end table is now red--slowly adding color):

I painted apple blossoms on the chalkboard.

I meant to paint stripes but it ended up being more of a checkerboard on the globe.

It wasn't exactly my vision for how it would turn out, but it is more colorful and I enjoyed the process.

I told Adam painting is the new rearranging furniture for me.  I used to move things around in Washington and paint rooms when he traveled.  Now I just paint some poor unsuspecting objects.

We lived with smoke for a few days;

Not being able to see the temple is our air quality/visibility gauge.

We met Emma for dinner one evening in South Jordan, halfway between us.  I wanted to hear all about her trip to Spain.  The kid taking our order looked like my cousin Cory.  I am not exactly sure where Cory lives, but it seemed like it could be close enough that his teenager would be working at JCWs in South Jordan.  When I saw his name on the receipt, it confirmed that he was indeed Lear, Cory's oldest son.  I said, "I'm your dad's cousin."

He looked a mixture of suspicious and startled.  I don't know how I was expecting him to react, but he didn't seem excited about it.  I said, "My name is Thelma.  Tell your dad I said hi."

He asked, "Thelma, like my great-grandma?"

I said yes.  He didn't seem any more thrilled, but a little more believing.  I went and ate my burger and heard about Spain, but I was happy to see a fellow kinsman.