Signs of the times…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                              How much can it cost??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                Demanding change…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                   Too much debt and not enough income…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                              Americans losing houses at unheard of rates…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                               Fannie and Freddie who???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  Public schools can’t provide quality education….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  Let’s save the planet…

 

It’s a sad state of affairs that these signs were so easy to find.  I’m going to challenge myself and get out and find some positive to offset this negative. May take me a bit longer though.

QUOTES:

“It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.”   Harry S. Truman

“As sure as the spring will follow the winter, prosperity and economic growth will follow recession.”  Bo Bennett

“You cannot spend your way out of recession or borrow your way out of debt.”  Daniel Hannan

Sorry…

Sorry, I’ve been an absent blogger these last few days. So much to do right now.

I have been working on something to post, but calls and emergencies keep pulling me away.  I’m looking forward to some downtime today….maybe.  :)

Don’t write me off. Please  keep checking…I’d miss you all more than I can say if you stopped coming by to visit.  I’ll leave you with this picture of something you know I love….flowers.

Playing with water….

Tracy and I headed out again this evening to try and get some photos of the moon coming up behind the mountains.  We were thwarted once again.  So we consoled ourselves by playing with some water shots.

 

We had so much fun and met so many nice people out enjoying the evening.  We’ve decided we’ll give up on the moon shots until closer to the next full moon.  But you never know with us…we’re kinda wild and crazy when need be.

 

QUOTES:

“Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.”  Lao Tzu

“In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.”  Leonardo da Vinci

Things that thrive in the desert heat….

 

I was thinking about this the other day while complaining (yes, I WAS complaining) about the heat this time of year.  As I sat melting into my car seat, I thought about all the things that actually do well in this weather.

Tumbleweeds definitely are thriving this time of year.  They grow anywhere that someone looks away from for about five minutes.  Really, that’s how fast they spring up in the yard some days.

 

 

Cotton is in it’s element right now….growing like weeds….tumbleweeds.  The blossoms are just starting to set on, but this field will bake in the sun until sometime in November before they harvest the fluffy white cotton.

 

These pretty Black-eyed Susans are all along the roadways out here in the “country”.  They sway and dance in the heat and wind.

 

Okay…I know….he would thrive anywhere and really doesn’t have anything to do with my post, but I didn’t get over to get a picture of my cousin Bill in his pool.  And let’s face it…this picture is worth looking at again.

QUOTES:

“It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts.”  Robert  H.  Schuller

“Cheerfulness is the atmosphere in which all things thrive”  Jean Paul Richter

Friday night and the moon…

 

 

 

 

 

It kept going behind some clouds. I played with lots of different settings and had a lot of fun.  Going out again tonight with Tracy to play some more.

For sunsets, moons and rainbows….

 

…I have a deep abiding love.

“When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator”  Mahatma Gandhi

 

“Every one is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody”  Mark Twain

 

“Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear.”  Unknown

Guest Photographer Part II….

These shots were all taken by either my brother, Richard, or his wife, Lisa.  I enjoy sharing my family’s photos with all of you. I think they’re very talented people.

                                         

Clouds building in the sky over their house….

 

 

These are some of the wild burros that live around Lake Pleasant north of Phoenix. Don’t you love the little baby?

 

 

Notice the unusual halo around the sun?  This is a recent sunrise on a flying day out west of Goodyear.

 

Clouds are a favorite subject of my brother.  These are so dense and ready to rain…yeah, right.

 

This is a precious little baby hummingbird….waiting patiently for someone to feed him.

Birth of a constellation….

No, just some more shots of the moon.  I’m playing with all kinds of settings on my camera and really having fun taking shots of the moon.

It kept playing peek-a-boo behind the clouds tonight.

 

You can even see some stars in some of these shots.

 

This is one I took while up in Strawberry. I played with it in Windows Photo Gallery and like the watercolor look it has now.

Mary Beth I hope you were able to see the moon tonight and got some good shots.

Ideas are sexy too….

One day while waiting at the dentist office for Nicole, I saw this picture in a People magazine. It was an add for cars…I think.  But the caption that went with the picture was “Ideas are sexy too”.  I just loved it…for all the obvious reasons and because I liked the intelligence of the slogan.  I got permission to take the photo and framed it for Nicole’s room.

In case you can’t make out his tattoo, it’s “E=mc squared”….it’s all relative. :)

Did anyone notice what time it was in this shot?  Or did any of you girls even notice there was a clock?

Pot and Pottery….

“All this of Pot and Potter--Tell me then,
  Who is the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?”  Omar Khayyam

While up north earlier this month, I visited a small pottery shop. They did the most beautiful things.


They were very gracious about showing me around the shop and letting me see the back room where all the work takes place.

I strongly suggest that if you’re in Strawberry anytime soon, stop by and check the shop out.

Is the moon made of cheese….

and if it is, where will we get enough crackers and wine to serve with it?

Mary Beth this is in honor of you...thanks for the inspiration.

Parenting can be tough work….

The roadrunner that lives in and around our yard has found a sweetheart and they’ve started a family.  This is one of the parents getting a drink right before Star heard its clicking.

While this parent was in the backyard, the other was with the baby under the truck in the driveway.

This is the baby right after mom or dad gave him some breakfast.

Star decided the roadrunner would be fun to play with. She chased it and it jumped up on the fence out of reach.  The roadrunner didn’t stay away for long and was right back in the yard with Star.

 

The roadrunner wasn’t intimidated at all.  Star wanted to play again and the roadrunner found a place to go that Star couldn’t follow.

 

Star quickly grew bored because the roadrunner wasn’t really playing fair and she came inside and planted herself  directly over the air conditioner vent.  I hope this doesn’t give the roadrunners reason to find a new place to live.  I’d miss seeing them around

Hopeful hopes….

 

Oh, could we please have some rain???  Pretty please….

QUOTES:

“Don't threaten me with love, baby. Let's just go walking in the rain.”  Billie Holiday

“I am a being of Heaven and Earth, of thunder and lightning, of rain and wind, of the galaxies.”  Eden Ahbez

“I love the rain. I want the feeling of it on my face.”  Katherine Mansfield

Shooting Star….

She is so funny!  She stretches out like this and gets almost flat. She can crawl under our bed.  I think she thinks she’s the same size as Millie.

A study in purple….

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You know me…flowers…purple…what’s not to like?

Can you stand another owl….or two?

Went out last night to get a shot of the sunset and happened upon some more burrowing owls.  Some of these guys are pretty young and didn’t like the flash on the camera.  But they’re just too cute to pass up taking pictures of.

This was one of the parents keeping a very close pair of eyes on me.

 

Don’t you just love his eyes???

 

This is my favorite…he’s so ready to run, I mean fly,  at the slightest provocation.

QUTOES:

“He respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right.”  A. A. Milne  (I’ve used this one before, but I love it too much not to put it here again.)

“The Bat that flits at close of Eve
Has left the Brain that won't believe.
The Owl that calls upon the Night
Speaks the Unbeliever's fright.”  William Blake

Hopping down the bunny trail….

This little guy sometimes comes in the backyard to take advantage of the green grass.  This was the day before Greg mowed the lawn, so the grass was tall and juicy. 

“Oh, what big ears you have, Grandma!”   

“The better to hear you with, my Dear.”

And We Have a Winner!!!

We have selected a winner in our recent Caption Contest.  I waited until my impartial judge returned from her trip to Leadership Camp before presenting our entries to her for approval.  This was a blind selection without her knowing who wrote what…..so it’s all fair.  Drum roll, please….

                                           “You throw one more rock,  I’m gonna kick your ass!”

 

Tracy was our winner with Richard being a close second.  Richard’s entry was:  “Who the hell ran over my wife?”.  Can you see what kind of sense of humor my daughter has?  Thank you all for participating. 

Tracy, if you don’t receive your prize in the mail by a week from Tuesday….you aren’t getting one.  :)