Out and about….

 

This morning I was out and about heading over to Tracy’s.  Just got to visit for a short time and then headed out again. I made a few stops along the way home and took some pictures of….just whatever caught my eye.

Suburban Quail…

 

 

Lilies on pads…not sure what all the gunk was on the pads.  The flowers were gorgeous!!

 

 

Look at that sky…could it be anymore blue???  Lovely day (until the wind started) 

 

               I love the American Flag and take a picture of it every chance I get.

 

 

Art made from recycled materials by local school children at a park in Goodyear….

 

Something has hatched…fowl or reptilian???

 

Quotes:

“My days are gone a-wandering.”  Francois Villon

“Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe.”   Anatole France

Enjoying this while I can…

This is the time of year here in Arizona when the flowers are so beautiful. It won’t be long though and the heat will become too much for them to withstand. So I’m going to enjoy them while I can…

Cat’s Claw bloom…

Hibiscus….

  Prickly Pear….

Bristle Brush…that’s the only name I know this one  by.

30 Days of Music: Day 6 - “Car Crash”  Matt Nathanson

What do you notice at yard sales….

Okay yesterday was the big bi-annual yard sale in the Estrella Mountain community.  My girl friend, Annie, and I started out about 7:30 in the morning and went to 12:30 0r so.  It’s a beautiful community and we had such a great time.  I didn’t find anything to buy, but Annie scored some good bargains.

Here’s what I notice when I go to yard sales…

This is where the dove’s nest was. If anyone recognizes what kind of “tree” this is, I would love to know. It reminds me of what I know as a Crown of Thorns, but I’ve never seen one this big.

I’m pretty sure I might do better at finding bargains, if I paid as much attention to the sales as I did other things. But I had fun and that was what the day was all about.

30 Days of Music: Day 5  “In My Dreams” Josh Turner

Following in the Footsteps of the Barrymores…

As I mentioned earlier this week, my daughter’s theatre class had their spring play coming up.  Last night we went to the final performance. The name of the play was Murder in the Knife Room. The kids did such a fantastic job!! It was hysterically funny and very unpredictable.

I so appreciate the family and faculty that support our children in their artistic expressions.  It brings such a richness to their lives.

30 Days of Music: Day 4 - “Pages” 3 Doors Down

What the morning brings….

I love stepping outside in the morning to see what the world has to offer.

This one is actually a missed moment…a few minutes before a humming bird had been working this aloe vera plant.  I missed him.

 

Yellow is sunshine…

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

30 Days of Music – Day 3 - “All We Are” Matt Nathanson

Needed: Air Traffic Controller….

The backyard is hopping with new life.  All the available “units” in the old birdhouse are taken and parents are busy, busy, busy trying to keep everyone fed.

 

Day Two of 30 Days of Music:  “It’s the Only One You’ve Got” 3 Doors Down 

30 Days of Music…

A very talented young writer who I have come to know through my blogging, Maha,  has done me the honor of tagging me with:

30 Days of Music: 

I am to answer the questions she gave me, make up my own, tag three other people, and for a month, choose songs I like.

Here are the questions she posed to me:

*If a movie based on your own life is to be made, what will be the name of that movie, and who’s gonna play you?

“Mistakes I Have Learned From…Hopefully”  and I guess I would want Sandra Bullock  to play me because I like her mix of smart, funny, girl-next-door cuteness. Not that that describes me…but I am wishing here, right?

*Why did you start blogging?

I wanted to find a place to express my creativity…whether in words or photography.  I’ve found that it gives me a great feeling of satisfaction and I am loving meeting so many new people and seeing so many different perspectives.  We all have more in common with each other than we think, but I find the differences stimulating.

*What is the one thing you want the most?

Oh, gosh, this is a hard one….I want the world to become a better place, a kinder place. I want people to be able to live in peace without fear.  I want my children to have a world to give to their children.

*What would you do with a million?

A million what??  Laughs, tears, friends, dollars?  I’m assuming you meant dollars.  I would make myself and my family financially secure with roofs over our heads and the ability to achieve our dreams…hopefully. Will a million do that?

*Name one thing you hate about yourself, and another thing you like.

It’s not healthy to say we hate anything about ourselves or others, truly. It poisons our minds.  But one thing I would like to improve is my self-confidence. I like that I genuinely like people…all kinds of people…I like helping people.

*Name five objects you can see in front of you right now.

My constant glass of water; my camera; pictures of my family; my ipod (for walking); and my computer.

* If you had a super power, what would it be?

I’ve always dreamed of flying, but now that I’m really having to pin this down (or because I’m older) I don’t know.  I’ve read all about the downfalls to super powers and how they really become curses…that’s not for me at this point in my life.  So I think the super power I would want would be unconditional love….would that work?

Okay, now I need to make up my own questions and tag three people.  This is harder than you think, people!!

1. Are you where you want to be?

2. What book are you reading right now?

3. How do you relax and renew yourself?

4. How do you want people to remember you?

5. Do you believe in ghosts – yes or no – but explain?

I’m tagging:  Life is a Road Trip, In My Life and Kathy Goes a Ramblin'

Here is my song for the day:  Cave In by Owl City

Thanks again, Maha. It was fun!!! 

Books are the devil, Bobby Boucher….

Well, we know that’s not quite right.  Maybe I need something like Books Anonymous.  I have been reading too much lately!!  Can you do that?  Can you read too much?  Well, yes you can if your housework and laundry are piling up and need your attention.  Some days I just need to get lost in a book and live somewhere else for awhile.

I don’t mind waiting for hours at my Mom’s doctor appointments because I always bring a book with me.  I don’t mind picking my daughter up after school when her play rehearsal runs a bit long….I always have a book with me.  I go to sleep every night reading a chapter or two or twelve. 

Here, Let Me Give You a Hand….

This is a portion of a sculpture entitled “Hands On”  by Kevin Caron that is in a downtown Avondale Park.  This is a teaser for an upcoming post at West Valley Daily Photo.

Quotes:

“Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That's why it's a comfort to go hand-in-hand.”  Emily Kimbrough

“Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark.”  George Iles

“On the other hand, you have different fingers.”  Steven Wright

Sweet, Sweet, Sweet Peas….

 

They remind me so much of my Grandma.  Every few days I bring in a fresh bouquet and they smell like heaven.

Kicking with my peeps….

 

 

 

Happy Easter….wishing you all the love of family and friends.

Planting for Good Luck…

A friend (I should mention she’s from the South) of my Mom’s told us today that we need to plant something on Good Friday so we can have a year of good luck.  Well who am I to fly in the face of Southern tradition and I could use all the luck I can get.

This shot is from last fall when I first planted the lettuce and spinach.  Today I harvested the last of the lettuce and replanted the row.  Then I put in three new rows of radishes also.

I have lots of lettuce to give away if anyone’s interested…just let me know.

I started to plant a pot of Wandering Jew that my friend, Annie, gave me but I ran out of potting soil.  So that’s the first trip in the morning.  So I hope I guaranteed myself a full year of some really good luck!!

Quotes:

“May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light. May good luck pursue you each morning and night.”  Irish Blessing

“May good luck be your friend in whatever you do and may trouble be always a stranger to you.”  Irish Blessing

“Better an ounce of luck than a pound of gold.”  Yiddish Proverb

Graffiti or History….

These petro glyphs  are on the Water Fall Trail in White Tanks Mountain Park.  Were they graffiti from another generation?

“Too Long a Sacrifice…

Too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart.”   William Butler Yeats

This is a quote that I came across on another blog that I read.  Everyday Kris begins his blog with a quote and this one really resonated with me.  I wrote it down and have been reading it daily for quite some time.  I’m glad I did, because what it means to me now is not what it meant to me in the beginning.  I haven’t read the poem that it is taken from and I’m not sure I will because I find I like what it has become for me.

When I first read this I felt vindicated in how I had been feeling.  Some days the path I’ve chosen is hard to walk and comes with very little thanks. I have sometimes felt that my heart was hardening and growing heavy from all my “sacrifice”.  How could I have turned my and my family’s life upside down to do what I felt was the right thing only to continually be left feeling unappreciated and abused?

But as I read and reread this line everyday, God began working on my heart.  Little seeds were being planted and ideas were putting roots in my mind.  Thoughts were beginning to unfurl like the buds in my garden and I was moved from my winter of despair to my spring of understanding. 

My difficulty had been that I was looking at my “sacrifice”…I was looking out from my ego.  When I finally came to understand that I needed to shift my thinking from sacrifice to gift, from being used to giving, my heart lightened.  This all seems too simplistic when actually put into words and it was a hard and difficult process, but I am so happy that my mind and heart have made that change.

Yes, too long a sacrifice can make a stone of the heart. So it’s better to learn to give lovingly, willingly and generously  rather than sacrifice…then your heart can soar.

A Collection of Water…

                                                                             Water reflecting the sky….. 

                                                                               

 

 

                                                        

 

                         Water falling down…..                          

 

                                                                                                                     Water drowning rocks…..

 

                                                                                      Water racing…..

 

                                                                                             Water splashing…..

Quotes:

“Nothing in the world is more flexible and yielding than water. Yet when it attacks the firm and the strong, none can withstand it, because they have no way to change it. So the flexible overcome the adamant, the yielding overcome the forceful. Everyone knows this, but no one can do it.”    Lao Tzu

“Water is life's mater and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Pretty in Pink…

I spotted these beauties at the Estrella Mountain Community College on my way  home from Tracy and Bill’s the other day.  Just had to stop.

The cactus pads have such a lovely blue hue to them.

Look at all the buds…can’t imagine how lovely it’s going to be when they all open. 

Quotes:

“The very pink of perfection.”  Oliver Goldsmith

“Pink is the color of romance and a friend tells me that the girl with the pink dress at the party is the one who is selected for each dance”  Alfred Carl Hottes

“Slow buds the pink dawn like a rose From out night's gray and cloudy sheath;

Softly and still it grows and grows,

Petal by petal, leaf by leaf.” 

Susan Coolidge

Sometimes Gardening Stinks…Literally…

This is my husband’s shoe after a hard afternoon spent taking care of the less attractive aspects of gardening.  He’s a sweetheart to do all the really hard work and leave me to plant and water and enjoy the rest.

 

Time to enjoy things like these sweet lil’ Sweet Peas. Although I enjoy purple in the garden, these are the only ones of all my sweet peas to be something other than purple.  That makes them just that much more special.

 

Or I can enjoy this Asiatic Lily that just kept blooming and blooming.

 

But none of this would be possible if not for my darling husband.  So even though he may come in all hot, sweaty and stinky from the garden – he’s still my hero.

Star Tower….

On my way to pick Nicole up after play rehearsal, I stopped at the Star Tower in Estrella Mountain Ranch.  It’s a really wonderful place and open at night until 11:30.  I’ll have to go some night when the sky is clear and check out the stars.

 

 

“Welcome to the Star Tower.  Your place in the cosmos.  For thousands of years, man has looked to the heavens with mystery and awe. The tower to the sky is a living memorial to the many Native American cultures that have studied the sky from this very location…the Desert Southwest.”

 

 

 

 

 

There’s a winding path that leads through some beautiful landscape and I saw Desert Globe Mallows in shades I’ve never seen before…white, pink and yes….purple.

There’s a spectacular waterfall and the sound from the water is very soothing.

This shot was taken from above the waterfall climbing the spiral staircase that leads to the top of the Star Tower.

   I just couldn’t resist this pop of purple from the Desert Hibiscus. 

It is really a very lovely place….a nice little oasis in the desert (if you can call being on the edge of such a big development, the desert).