What to do, what to do….

We had a full moon last night. What a gorgeous sight. I always think of my Aunt Jean when the moon is big and bright. She loved the moon too. She used to send me pictures of the moonlight reflecting off their metal barn roof out at the farm. She just wanted to share the moment with me.

This morning it’s getting Mom off to dialysis, Greg through the shower so I can get Nicole up and through the shower. Then there’s their breakfast, and off to work and school. I’m getting ready to head into town to spend the day with Lisa and I need to be getting ready….but I hear Aunt Jean and that moon calling my name. It’s setting over the White Tank Mountains and it’s oh, so beautiful!!

Well I do have time to set the tripod up…

I need to change my lens….

Do I have time???

What’s that, Aunt Jean???

Oh, heck!!!  I’ll be back really quick…

Okay, so it wasn’t really quick. It took an hour from the point I started to when the moon finally dipped behind the mountain. I have to confess it was cold out there and I kept coming in and out to get me and the camera warm. But I had such fun!! There was a point when I was torn to turn the camera around and get the sunrise…it was awesome this morning too. But I stuck with the moon and I’m glad I did.

Here’s where the sunrise tinted the clouds pink….

 

The flag is over one of the motor homes across the street.

Sorry about the wires…

 

 

Love this one…

 

 

 

What a way to start my morning.

Debunked bear track…

Well, I told you I might be getting yanked about that being a bear track from Prescott. Not so sure if I was being yanked or just trusted faulty information.  Sister-in-law, Lisa, didn't like the look of things and did some checking around. It's kinda her thing....debunking. So take a look at the evidence and I’ll let you all decide.

First here are the pictures of the track. I messed up by not putting something down to give you a size comparison. But believe me, it was easily as big as Greg’s fist.

Here are a couple of options from the internet:

Bear:
Sorry, it’s fuzzy. Ha ha…fuzzy wuzzy was a bear….sorry.
But from this you can see bear’s have five toes.  So this isn’t it.

 

Mountain Lion:
Claws don’t extend while walking. Shape looks pretty good, though.
But I don’t think this is it.

 

Coyote:
This looks good, but the size just isn’t right.  They average 2  1/2 inches long. But there may have been distortion in the gravel/sand.

 
Wolf:
I like the look of this one too. The size is much closer. I don’t know that there are any wolves around Prescott though. (I tried a search and got some really weird stuff.)


This looks almost exactly like what I saw.

This is a wolf….


So, now you guys have to decide.  I’m just not sure. I’m thinking either a really, really big coyote or a wolf.

Reflections….

I love water and how it affects and reflects things.

Water, lights, action….

Tracy loves water…and what a coincidence, so do I!

Tracy loves to take pictures…and what a coincidence, so do I!

So guess what Tracy and I did last Friday evening? You got it, we took pictures of water….then picked Bill up in a bar. (Technically, still a “watering” hole). Here’s how that happened. Tracy and I wanted to take pictures of the geese and ducks at the lake in Litchfield Park and then the  Christmas lights at the Wigwam Resort. Since we thought it might be poor etiquette to just wonder on the grounds and take pictures, Bill made the supreme sacrifice of going and waiting for us in the bar. After the lake shots, we met up with him in the bar to make things legitimate before we headed outside to take pictures of the lights. So see really, he took one for the team…well maybe more than one, but you see how noble he was, right?

Anyway, we ended up getting to the lake a little later than we wanted and we had lost the light for shots of ducks and geese. But they have a couple of fountains there and we had such fun playing with the settings to see what different effects we could get of the fountain. Here are a couple of my favorites.

  These were all done without the benefit of a tripod. We balanced our cameras and ourselves on the pier posts and did the best we could. It was fun and a little crazy. Then I liked the look of this church with the lights on and still enough daylight to see the cross at the top.

I wasn’t as happy with the shots I got of the lights. I’m such a work in progress!!  Here are a couple…  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a concept in my mind of this shot. It just didn’t quite work out like I wanted, but maybe you’ll get the idea….

 

 

Then I like this angle…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the Wigwam was gorgeous…

 

 

For all the Christmas light shots I was using the new 50 mm lens I just got from Tracy. There were beautiful rose bushes all over the place and you know me, I just couldn’t resist taking a shot of one.  No flash…  

I really enjoyed the time. It sounds funny, but when I’m out taking pictures the time seems magical and fun…like when I was a kid…

“Gobble, gobble”, said the….duck?

Well we had such a wonderful Thanksgiving Day it’s taken me two days to post anything about it. You know how  this time of the year can be…busy, busy. We have started a family tradition of going to Prescott for our Thanksgiving meal. It’s not to get away from people, but to reconnect with my little nuclear family. Greg, Nicole and I go to Murphy’s for a fantastic meal and then we pick somewhere around Prescott that we would like to go see. Last year it was Lynx Lake and that was truly beautiful. It was a rainy day last year and we walked part of the way around the lake. The leaves were gorgeous!! 

This year we had spied a sign for Granite Basin Lake on the way into town and decided we would check it out. The road is paved and a nice drive. I just wish we had had more rain this year so the leaves would be prettier.  There are several places to pull off before you get to the “lake”. There’s a place for horses and then there are trails to follow…by foot, bike or evidently mule….                 

This gentleman said they had enjoyed their ride, but were getting hungry. Time to go eat turkey!

 

 

Saying this was a lake was being generous. I’ve seen farm ponds back in Illinois bigger than this, but it was a pleasant place.  Size doesn’t matter, right???? There were ducks and geese, but they weren’t the kind that were used to being fed and would come right up to you. This was wildlife, after all…..

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And speaking of wildlife…both Greg and my brother, Glen, assure me this is a bear track. I could be being yanked, but it didn’t look like a dog print to me…

 

And I don’t think this bear’s name would have been Pooh either!

 

There were other “wild” things at the lake….

 

 

 

 

 

Wild tobacco…                                                                                                         Acorn Woodpecker…

       Mistletoe….and

 this “wild” guy with mistletoe..

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this little girl with cat tails…

 

 

 

 

 

The lake was beautiful and we had a great time.

We spent two hours walking, exploring, playing and enjoying each other’s company 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m so glad we’ve started this tradition and know we’re all looking forward to continuing it. Now for something I just couldn’t resist……

 

Are you likn’ my lichen??

 

 

 

 

 

“Gobble, gobble!!”

Girls are made of sugar and spice….

I haven’t blogged in a few days. Not because there wasn’t anything to blog about but because maybe there was too much to blog about. The holidays, getting ready for visiting family, going to the doctor, finding out I have diabetes….

Well, I guess I must say I wasn’t surprised by the diabetes. What is really sad is that I chose not to take it seriously sooner. The indicators have been there for awhile, but I guess we like to fool ourselves into thinking we’re indestructible. But this doesn’t have to be horrible news. I’m taking it as a wakeup call and I’m glad I received it. My doctor feels with dietary changes and increased exercise, I can get the numbers back under control. She did start me on a low dose of medication, but says that doesn’t have to be forever.  My little family is making a lot of the changes with me and we’ve all lost some weight already. So this can only be a good thing for everyone. I must say, even though it really doesn’t hurt, I hate each time I have to stick my finger.

Tools of the trade….


Silly me…there are adjustments on the finger-sticker thing (sorry, if it has a real name, I don’t know it…maybe I’ll name it Fred). I started out thinking 3 would be good. Not so much…had to go up to 5 before Fred drew any blood.

It’s all going to work out fine and I’ll pay more attention to taking better care of myself and not just other people from now on. But if you get a call from me late in the night asking you to talk me down from a Snickers binge or a Dr. Pepper orgy, please be understanding…..

Is it all in the stars….

Now I rarely follow my horoscope, although I have mine, Greg’s and Nicole’s on my homepage. I read them sometimes….most of the time not. But the other day, Richard, who obviously reads his horoscope religiously, called to rub my nose in the fact that his was better than mine. Oh, will childhood never end??  I hope not, because sharing my childhood with Richard continues to be a joy even today. But since I was on the computer when he called, I checked out what mine had to say for that day….

· Gemini

May 21 - June 21

You may feel a bit restless as you know that something is brewing around you but you can't seem to get hold of it, dear Gemini. This energy is like a river rushing beneath your feet while you are standing on a bridge above it. Something is tempting about the water, yet you can't sum up the courage to jump in. Don't feel like you have to be a part of everything. Perhaps your destiny lies on the other side of the bridge. Keep walking.

Again, I don’t believe in the stars controlling my destiny. I like to delude myself into thinking I still get to do that. But what a really thought provoking statement…”Perhaps your destiny lies on the other side of the bridge. Keep walking.”  I do have a tendency to want to be a part of everything and I do get sidetracked easily. It may seem odd to you, but the line “keep walking” resonates inside me. So I guess that’s what I’ll do for right now…just keep walking on the path I’m on…..

Heroes, hibiscus, and humming birds..

My dad has always been my hero…I guess most girls might say that about their fathers.  But lately I’ve seen sad lives where fathers weren’t heroes….they were something awful and destructive. So I’m reminded all the more just how much I love my father and what he’s meant to me all my life.  The strength he’s been, the shoulder to cry on, the example to follow, the validation he’s given and always the love…always the love. Because maybe some people don’t understand…it’s not just being loved that is important – it’s being allowed to love someone back  that is the real gift.

Yesterday was my Pop’s 82nd birthday and Greg and I went to see him and visit for awhile. Richard was there and we had such a nice time….just doing simple things and sitting and talking. I love to hear the stories Pop tells. They’re like windows into another world. And really, I guess they are. The world has changed so much from when he was a small boy.

We wondered around the yard and looked and talked and shared. What a wonderful way to spend time.

 

Beautiful flowers..

 

 

 

 

 

Promises of sweet, juicy, wonderful things to come….

And this little guy is my Pop’s special friend. He’s still a work in progress and has a ways to go until he’s as friendly as  the little guy before him.

 

 

 

 

This is a bird house that Richard made for Pop…it’s had some repair work done on  it, but the locals still find it appealing. As a matter of fact, there was a curved bill thrasher checking it out while we were there….

 

Richard calls it the “Ted Kaczynski” birdhouse.

 

 

I love my Pop and I’m so very thankful that I’m able to say that. And sharing his little piece of the world with him is always heart-warming and uplifting….I always head home feeling better. He is my hero in every sense of the word…Happy Birthday, Pop!!