Idyllic Mapleton

A funny phenomenon comes every mid-August as hundreds of BYU students (official count) find themselves lost in the transition between Summer and Fall housing by the ever-manipulative Provo landlords who require early check-outs and late check-ins (I wonder what they are doing in the in-between time Heaven knows they are not steam cleaning). I myself thought that I'd skirt that issue this year by avoiding a complex and living in a house - owned by my parents.

No such luck.

Renters still came- a germaphobe family of renters, no less- and the cleaning check was worse than that of any apartment I've lived in (Thank you to the people who have lived in the house within the last 3 years who left their crap for me to clean up, btw. And lucky DI/garbage man who now gets to deal with it). Worse yet, with my boxes packed up I found myself homeless. Lucky for me, there are some perks to being kicked out on the streets by your landlords (parents). In my case, I can't move into my new place til later this week so in the interim I've been holed up at my sister's. Much better than a friend's couch (or floor) I get to enjoy:

• My sister. Pick your favorite member of your family and I'll bet you my sister could take that person in a fight. Maybe not a literal fight (though she's feisty enough to hold her own) but in overall awesomeness and soul-sister quality. (Enjoying time with her husband also counts as a perk.)
  
• Her girls. Kaylee and Riley. Man has not seen pure, uncontainable joy until he sees toddler in their tree swing. It helps that they love me. Yes, I'm that aunt.
• The view. One window looks straight up Mapleton canyon, another sees Utah Lake (and is far enough away to not deal with the stink). My bedroom window faced a nice string of nameless to me Wasatch Mountains that stretched all the way to Payson. Morning light along the ridge was great motivation to wake up early, if the neices rumblings didn't do the job.
• The land. Paul the Farmer came regularly to work with Alfalfa fields and orchards of the not-so-next-door neighbor Dorothy. We saw baby deer and peacock. My personal favorite is the pond on the property (you know how much I love floating). Me and Kaylee took the old metal rowboat for a spin. I read as she played Cinderella and counted butterflies. Does it get much better than that?
• The neighborhood. And by neighborhood I mean the stretched out community of Mapleton. People walk in the morning (not wearing spandex), yield for pedestrians and the junior high kids I saw flirting as they walked down the street were dressed like junior high kids (go figure!). It is a very unassuming and comfortable town.

The soundtrack for the week has been anything that might be played with a banjo or item found in an early century kitchen (you know, spoon, jug, washboard). Ricky Skaggs (and the Kentucky Thunder for some songs), an assortment from O Brother, Where Art Thou (aka Soggy Bottom Boys) and a guy named Chad Jensen (I think a friend of Doug's?) who is all instrumental and all rockin' in a hick bluegrass kind of way. Makes me miss the Seattle Folklife Festival (link to an equally rockin' spoon musician).