Early Snow, Mountains Revisited

I refuse to title this post "Update", although, as requested (forcefully) by my younger sister, that's essentially what I'm doing. I'd like to apologize for my disappearance the last couple weeks. Midterms and research papers can do that to a person.

To be quite honest, the babble of homework in my brain makes it difficult for me to remember what I've done since I last wrote. People are always asking me, "So what did you do for the weekend?" When I can't answer, they cock an eyebrow and say something along the lines of, "That fun, eh?" So I turned to my camera for inspiration, hoping to find something to jog my memory.

Bingo.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but—IT SNOWED a couple weeks ago. It only lasted the morning, but as I set out for school there was still enough to give me the holiday shivers.

I also went early on a Friday morning to the Provo Temple. It sits at the top of the foothills, offering an awesome view of the valley, the lake, and the mountains on the other side. It was a beautiful morning. I don't know if you've ever really paid attention to clouds before, but the clouds that morning were spectacular. They hung very low over the mountains. There's something about clouds hanging over mountain tops. Every once in a while they'd move just enough to give you a glimpse of the peaks, frosted with newly-fallen snow, before closing like curtains, hiding their handiwork.

I love the statue of Moroni on top of the Temple. I know it's the exact same one on top of every temple, but I love it every time I see it. I like the way his chest lifts towards the sky and his robes billow slightly behind him, as though he's leaning against the wind.

When I came out of the Temple I fully intended to go home, but I kept gazing up at the clouds and the snow on Mount Timponogos, and soon found myself driving past the Temple, further up into the mountains. I stopped to snap a picture, but I couldn't capture the image I was seeing with a photo, no matter how many I took. I wasn't high enough. Then I saw that I could go higher, so I did and found a big boulder to stand on. Better. Then another road appeared, venturing even higher. I followed it. When I arrived at the highest spot I could reach without continuing on foot, I took more photos. I was still dissatisfied, but it was the best I could do. I mostly tried to get an unobstructed view, but I actually kind of like the effect of these wires descending into the valley. I suddenly really wished I could ride them like Kevin in Home Alone. What a rush that would be!



Here's Timponogos. I wish I could show you what it looked like when the clouds parted ever so sheepishly to show the peak, but it was as though they knew I had a camera. So, I took a few more pictures, still hoping vainly to capture the feeling I had while looking down from the mountain.

That collection of slightly taller buildings comprises the approximate center of BYU campus. It was weird being able to see it in its entirety when just walking from one end to the other seems endless.

That fuzzy little white building with the pointy thing on top is the Mount Timponogos Temple. It's actually quite a distance from Provo. I was proud of my poor little lens.

There are a couple more things I've done recently which I'll have to relate later—at the moment I need to pack. In two days I'll be winging my way to California for Thanksgiving! I could do a jig I'm so excited. For now I'll leave you with the following:

Before I forget I must testify to the fact that coasting down a mountain in my tiny little car has to be one of the scariest and funnest things anyone could do.

Halloween

Friday was the perfect Halloween day. The sky was overcast and dark, and there was a chilly breeze. The dark clouds behind the mountains made the perfect backdrop for a spooky night.


One great thing about BYU is that most of the students really get into the holiday. I pranced around campus like a ninny with a silly grin slapped on my face most of the day. There was something about seeing all these funny characters reading textbooks and hurrying to class with backpacks slung over their shoulders that made me giggle. The atmosphere felt light-hearted, more relaxed. It was nice to have a day when everyone wasn't absorbed with academic worries.


I was particularly entertained by this fellow. I loved the way his crown was tipped back on his head, and his grin as he walked along with a bounce in his step and one hand slung in his pocket. He looks like he'd make a good king.

I felt a little bashful as I took these pictures, like a wannabe photographer. Real photographers have chunky black cameras with foot-long lenses and a tripod. No one minds if one of them is sitting on a wall, taking pictures of people as they walk by. In fact, some might secretly hope to be snapped in a photo (laughing casually with a friend, or studiously pondering a book).

But I probably just looked like a creep.


This guy was certainly giving me funny looks.


So I snuck up to the balcony on the fourth floor of the Joseph Fielding Smith Building. The view of the mountains from up there is almost imposing. They have a way of feeling very close to you, like they're watching your every move.


I felt a little guilty spying on everyone from up there, but in a good way, the way I felt as a child when I had come up with a new secret code or established a secret hiding place to read my books and hide my treasures.

This girl caught my eye pretty quickly. I like her ears, and the fact that she's wearing orange.

I like orange.


I don't know what this guy is supposed to be, but his hat is sure funny.


I didn't realize until I'd zoomed in that this young woman isn't wearing a costume. Oops.

I think I had a class with her once...


These two were adorable. As the marriage capital of all universities, it is not uncommon to see children on campus, and they were everywhere Halloween night.


This guy reminds me of a cross between a superhero and a nerd.


I love his cape. It's yellow.


Then there were these two.


I knew immediately that I was about to witness the funniest thing I may have ever seen. Two twenty-something-year-old ninjas actually trying to act like ninjas. It was too good that I had just happened upon them, that I was witnessing it all from that balcony, and they had no idea!

I wish that I'd had a camcorder. They were leaping over things and rolling across the lawn and doing somersaults off of benches like their mission depended on it.


And let me just say, for those of you who don't know, that it is extremely difficult to find two quickly moving, leaping, rolling, somersaulting objects when your lens is zoomed all the way in...or out...or...whatever the correct term is.


I really wish I knew what those two were up to, but it was about this time that a little red battery symbol began blinking in the corner of my display screen, and the bell tower began to chime, and I began to reconcile myself to the fact that I have a job, and it is not to spy on Halloween-happy BYU students.

More on that later.

One last look at the mountains, then.