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| from the bean museum permanent collection |
that's how out of the loop of chronometric time i am right now. love when that happens.
but it did spur me to think about what's going on around here right now, and there's quite a bit. see, in order to properly embrace the charm of provo (here's the first post on cool things in provo), you have to get down with the high, the low, the medium, the stark, the thrilling, and the mundane. oh, yeah, and of course the wonderfully ludicrous.
every year i become more utah: last year i learned to butcher an antelope, this year i'm getting a hunting license, and realizing where utah culture, avant-garde art, and locavore vibes come together.
but i'll start with the ludicrous.
1) the monte l. bean museum is provo's answer to a natural history museum. now, this place can be a little creepy at first, especially if you have a sensitive nose (or any other "sensitive" senses, for that matter). the smell of formaldahyde is overpowering as you enter, and you might be creeped out by the mostly dead animals on display, and you might not want to inquire too closely about how they were acquired. and you might not want to ask if a "liger" is real. nonetheless, my kids have had some good times there--holding snakes, going on scavenger hunts, attending saturday safari with enthusiastic byu students, getting a tour of their dead insect collection (it's stunningly cool.) this brings me to one of the best things about provo: sometimes we don't have a huge variety of resources available, but what we have is usually free or very low-cost. the bean museum is quirky but surprisingly fun and with some really cool educational stuff for all of us. you can go to family home evening events, date night, birding expeditions, live animals shows, etc., etc. i'm a fan.
2) the byu museum of art. we're attending the islamic art show opening beauty and belief this friday night.
3) the provo peaks ice arena. it's cheap, it's fun, the kids love it, it was an olympic venue, and you can learn to figure skate for pennies.
4) main street movie company. home to richard dutcher, known as the father of mormon cinema. i learned screenplay writing from him, and i'm attending the main street movie company's oscar party this sunday night. (little brag: i have a full-length and a short screenplay nominated for a utah academy award.)
5) my voice teacher. she's completely amazing, she lives next door to me, she sings in the mormon tabernacle choir (aka the mo-tab), and she charges 12.50 for a lesson. that's right. most pro teachers charge close to a hundred. i don't even feel right about this.
6) provo mushroom society. mushroom foraging.
7) byu international cinema--free showings throughout the week of international films. lectures by byu faculty. during my brief (depressed) time at byu, i kind of skipped class a lot and went to international cinema instead. girl got a good education that way. i want to see the danish film in a better world this saturday at 11 am if i can squeeze it in. love a saturday brunch movie. oh, yeah, and did i mention it's free?
8) provo mayor's blog. i follow this blog closely. i love it, and the insight it brings to the mayoral process and city government.
9) byu english department reading series. i'm going to hear darrell spencer read this friday. he was the beloved creative writing teacher of julie, guest blogger shanon borg, and me. and a lot of our other friends, many of them who went on to be writers.
10) the center--a division of provo parks and recreation. lula has taken pottery and ceramics there several times. get this: it's 35.00 for six weeks--90 minute classes twice a week. including firing and glazing. now that's ludicrous.
legwear: bare legs and cowboy boots. it was so warm today i rolled down the windows while driving. feels like spring.
inspiration: breathing a lot deeper than ususal.
looking forward to: plans for le weekend.
It kind of amazes me how much interesting stuff is going on down in Provo, although when I was there I loved it and I was heartbroken to leave it (even though I only went to the S-L-C). I love love loved the international cinema series--so much! what an awesome thing. And I had piano lessons from the best piano teacher ever, Robert Smith, at BYU. Of course this was years ago. Thanks for the reminders though.
ReplyDeletei wish provo was just a little closer to slc. alas.
DeleteI can't believe Darrell's reading's this week! I'm so totally jeal. Please, please tell him "hello," and that I love him still.
ReplyDeleteAnother rad Provo post. Thanks, Lara! The Chamber of Commerce owes you big time.
Great Post. I've never done some of these things. You've inspired me to try some new activities.
ReplyDeleteYour posts make me want to move back home and become a full-time nanny. Good career move, you think?
ReplyDeleteif only full-time nanny was a thing here. or paid nannies, for that matter. . . .
DeleteI wrote an awesome comment about the Bean that disappeared evidently.
ReplyDeleteIn essence, I could not have survived the young kid years w/o the Bean. The I'm just going to plant my massively pregnant body here while you run around because I can see you from just about every angle in this place years. The here's a dollar go spend 45 minutes pondering which piece of flair you want from the gift shop before we go to Ream's for an ice cream cone years.
I feel like I've lived those years from both sides, and they were kind of the best.
Delete:). marni, sadly they put the clamp down on unaccompanied children in the gift shop. what are they trying to do to us?
DeleteThey were the best li'l Eva, and I miss them so much! Even typing that made me all misty and nostalgic. Lara, I thought that Provo was still the last unaccompanied kid paradise!
ReplyDelete