A few things you may not know about Janice

Since several of you have written about things you may not know, I thought I'd take the challenge.

As a child I would wonder what people in the car next to ours were thinking. What were their lives like? Did they go on vacations, traveling across the western states like my family? How many people were in their family? Where were they going?

I love finding "pretty" or "unusual" rocks. My first rock find was with my dad and sister. We went for a hike before our house was built on Royal Ridge Dr. It must have been early spring as the rolling hills surrounding our property were covered in lush green grasses. The first thing we discovered was the carcass of some animal. Icky. As we wandered the area I discovered a rock that turned out to be quartz. That rock remained in my bedroom until a few years ago when I decided it needed to come "home" with me to Utah. It now resides on my dresser. I think that a rock polisher would be fun. But when I look it up on the Internet it sounds expensive and I am not great at reading directions and understanding what they want me to do to make it work. My sister, Sharon, is the queen of understanding directions and putting them into practice.

I love thunderstorms, so long as I am indoors. I have a healthy respect for lightening. My mother's brother was struck and killed by such an event. I feel the electricity and excitement in the air. My neurotransmitters are triggered and it spreads from there to every part of my body.

I love the smell of rain especially in the spring when the lilacs are in bloom.

I love the smell of fresh bread. I have fond memories of the farm in Granger (now called West Valley) and Aunt Helen making a fresh batch.

I love the ocean. There were many times when mom would take us to the beach as kids. She would get so hot that she would retreat under the boardwalk at Santa Cruz. There were hermit crabs and shells to discover. I didn't care much for the return home ritual which involved trying to wash all the sand off. Let's face it, IT HURT! You know there are hidden crevices that cannot be fully cleaned without a full shower. The sand dried you know where. We drove home down that scary Highway 17 with all its curves and narrow lanes

Speaking of narrow lanes, I about had a heart attack on our trips to Utah. Back in the "olden days" you had to drive up Donner Pass. It was extremely windy and very narrow. I was in the car on the back right side so I had quite a view of the drop off. I feared that we would go over the edge. I found myself on the floor in a ball. My way of dealing with this stress. As I write this I wonder why I didn't move over to Sharon's side. We didn't have seat belts then so it would have been easy enough to do. Some other kid would have planned ahead and set their kid sister up by sitting on the left side of the car in the first place. I was either kind of dense or I'd like to think that I didn't want Sharon to be in danger.

I love the mountains. I feel the most spiritually connected and at peace there.

I loved dad's lumpy cream of wheat and our game of who had the most lumps.

I love my family. Mom's funny sense of humor and the twinkle in her eyes. Dad's calm voice when things were going wrong. Sharon's sensitivity, intelligence and athletic abilities.