Autumn in Utah ...

... Autumn has been spectacular... Some photos from a couple of weekends ago, when I took a couple of hikes and a great mountain bike ride which was as my friend Joe says, "Riding the leaves and shooting the yellow tube"

An unusual day...

Yes, after a glorious, warm beautiful fall weekend (pictures to come!), mother nature was up to her old tricks and dropped the temperature about 30 degrees and gave us our first snow for the season! Not yet sure what it will do for my weekend hiking/biking plans, but I love the snow anyway!!!

And my other amusement for the day... It was another interesting horoscope day.

"Flap your wings, you sweet and sassy social butterfly, you! More than ever before, you are able to relate well to other people from all walks of life. So get out into the world and make sure you have a smile and handshake ready for everyone you meet. Your inner politician is coming out in full force, minus the canned answers and boring hairstyles, of course! You'll get a huge rush out of finding out what people think about everything from the weather to the world."

The interesting part was relating well to other people from all walks of life. Like most people I have my routines and people I spend time with. The nerdy science folks from work, the artsy people at the pottery studio, the fun loving folks In my not really a singles group, group. Well, today I actually went to two different events with people from other walks of life.

First was a financial seminar put on by Charles Schwab, a luncheon at a swanky, or I may say "stuffy" downtown hotel. I rushed out of work to get there on time, only to end up late because there was so much going on at the Grand America hotel that I got within a block of the building and then it took me 20 minutes to get into the parking garage. I walked into the banquet room and felt instantly out of place, and for a change, young. The talk was about retirement planning, but most everyone else looked retired already. With only a couple of exceptions,like the 2 gray haired pony tailed guys , everyone looked kind of preppy, like the folks I went to college with. It definitively seemed like the country club set. Being that "sweet and sassy social butterfly and all" I did try to chat up the folks at my table, but having arrived so late there was not much time to talk before speaker gave their talks. I can't say that the talks were terribly informative, it seemed more like a smooze up to well to do clients, to make them feel better about the crappy stock market of late (LOL), rather than a genuinely educational event. Lunch was good though, and I have to say the Grand America makes a really yummy angelfood cake. I didn't get that excited about retirement planning, but I think my next culinary adventure may be to make an angelfood cake.

Fast forward to the evening. I was invited by my neighbor to join her for a meditation type group meeting. Now this was a group from a different walk of life, for lack of a better description, a group of new age energy seeking types. Now these people are much more my types, as they are casual and not stuffy and very friendly, yet I'm still out of my element a bit a because I am not a "believer". I believe that positive thinking is a good thing, and good intention, living in the moment and learning to relax and not worry things are good skills to live by, but I just can't get behind this notion of putting energy out into the universe to get things back in return. It goes against my scientific brain. I just can't quite believe that somehow telling "the universe" that you will get rich, or healthy or find love will set forth an intention that will be returned to you. ("The Secret" sort of thinking). Granted, good attitude and positive thinking is going to help, not hinder your quests in life.... but I think that if things worked the way the speaker suggests all the folks in the room should be rich, beautiful and happy in about a week... and I just don't see that happening! Despite my skepticism, I do find what others to believe to be interesting, and I met a lot of really nice people. So as my horoscope says, it was a good day to meet people form all walks of life! Now of course, not being a believer means I don't really believe in my horoscope, but I do get amused when it seems so fitting for a day!
Yup,lots of snow on Mount Olympus!