Road Trip….

 

Recently my BFF, Annie, and I went on a road trip in search of some paintings on the side of a high cliff her father  told her about.

 

Not even 10:30am and we’re already knee deep in adventure.  We found someone’s ass roaming along the roadway.  We pulled over  to try and alert this fellow’s owner, but  no one was home. Neighbors, we first mistook for gun runners, did stop to round this guy up. We were glad to be on our way again…believe me.

 

We stopped at this “hot” spot in Tonopah.  It has quite a history and has been visited by movie stars, gangsters, and even presidents in the long ago past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annie is pretty sharp-eyed and spotted this coyote when I pulled over to take a picture of the mountains. He didn’t stay around long.

 

We stopped at a watering hole for some range cattle and climbed around on the loading shoot.

  

 

We finally found the painting on the cliff.  These shots don’t do it justice.  I don’t know if it had anything to do with the fact that I was wearing my sunglasses or not.  The cactus I estimate to be 10 to 12 feet tall so you can guess how tall the painting is.  It is of the Madonna with an outline of an unfinished painting of Jesus below it.

This is a smaller painting that is lower on the cliff and to the left of the tall Madonna.  These were both quite a hike up the hillside and we didn’t get up close to them.  But from what Annie could find out they’re said to be painted by a man who lives in Oatman.

After we spent an hour or so there, we headed on into Aguila.  We made a quick stop in the small cemetery just outside of town.

 

It was very interesting and peaceful.  There was an area near the grave of a young boy that looked like he must have liked to go camping.  There were lanterns hanging the the tree, with a campfire built, and a table set up.  It was eerie in a sad way.

 

   

But only Annie and I could be checked out by the cops when we were spending time walking around a cemetery.

 

We made our way to Wickenburg to have lunch at Anita’s (our favorite Mexican food restaurant there).  We also went looking for a diner we had spotted in a really low, low budget horror film entitled, The Graves, that was shot in Wickenburg.  We found the diner, but not anyone that was proud of the fact that the movie had been filmed in Wickenburg.  Please, oh please, don’t bother renting the movie…you will be disappointed.

 

 

So, there you have it….our road trip.  Only Annie and I could experience an ass, hot springs, coyotes, cattle, painted Madonna’s, cemeteries, policemen, and diners named Screamers on our road trip. 

A Paler shade of light….

 

This was the sunrise a couple of days ago…

 

This is the sunrise this morning….

 

As I watched the day slowly grow lighter (as in full of more light),  it made me think of the line “a lighter shade of pale” from a wonderful song.  Which in turn made me think of several things,, but the last was something I wrote in English class in the eighth grade.  Why do I remember this?  Because I had a great teacher and she was always pushing my buttons. 

The final sentence of an essay entitled, “Morning’s Light”, was       

“And away over there was the mist of the lake, and away and away the retiring night that was not as yet full of light, sliding gray over the dark black horizon.”

I got a B+ on that essay…I still have the graded copy….don’t ask.  But the only thing she had to ding me on was the fact that she felt  “But once it’s full of light, it isn’t night.”

I would like some input from my writing friends on how they feel about this grave miscarriage of justice.  I’m strong and can take criticism.  I mean I’m not the kind that will remember what you say forty years later or anything. ;)   

Frost on the….

 

Spalding???  Yes, it’s still pretty chilly around here in the morning.  I was on my out the door to take Mom to a doctor’s appointment and I spotted what looked like a pumpkin in the yard.  Okay…it really doesn’t look like a pumpkin, but that is the first thought that popped into my head….frost on the pumpkin.

 

Although the sunshine is weak, it’s warm enough to melt the frost on the east side of the ball.  I must admit, I’m ready for some warmer days.

Breaking in the New Year right….

 

We had a fun-filled family celebration to ring in the New Year. Hope you did too!!  Welcome, 2011!!!

It’s been so cold….

 

 

frozen, locked in time

and space

waiting for your warmth

to set me free

I’m a Pepper, You’re a Pepper….

 

This little guy has been hanging around my yard the last few days. After much research, Lisa and I think it’s an immature Vermilion Flycatcher.  We’re not 100% sure whether it’s a male or female. I’m leaning toward male.

The moon going down…

 

on the year 2010.  Hope everyone has a safe, happy and blessed 2011!!!

 

Funny signs…for MB….

 

One of my blogging friends, MaryBeth, at Day4Plus sometimes posts signs she finds that are amusing or funny.  On a recent trip with my bud, Annie, I spotted these couple of signs and they made me think of Mary Beth and smile.

and…

 

 

This one I took through the windshield at the house where we were trying to raise someone to let them know their donkey was out on the street…but that’s another story.

Christmas babies….

 

 

 

This baby loves her new baby….lots.

Sixteen long, yet short, years ago….

 

Yesterday was Nicole’s Sweet Sixteen birthday.  She is so much a validation of all I hold important.

She is still so young and sweet….she isn’t rushing growing up and I’m very thankful for that.

 

She and two of her best friends went bowling to celebrate her special day.  Kayla and Nicole.

 

The bowling alley was playing music and videos from the 80’s.  I couldn’t believe how much of the music the girls knew and really loved.  They were dancing and singing to the likes of Madonna, Billy Joel and John Cougar Mellencamp.

 

The dreaded shoes….

 

Nicole and Brittany.

After they had a blast bowling, we went to our favorite Mexican food restaurant and flirted with the waiter….okay, they flirted…not me.

This sweet young lady rocks my world!!!

Rescue me…

Yesterday afternoon, Nicole, Kayla and I went with my BFF, Annie, to rescue some basset hound puppies.  After Annie’s daughter, Lisa,  recently adopted a rescued basset hound, she and Annie have become foster “parents” for other basset’s in need of rescuing.  These puppies came from a puppy mill somewhere in the midwest.

Now Annie had been told these puppies – three of them – were six weeks old.  She was envisioning carrying them around in a cardboard box.

Turns out the puppies – did I mention…three of them – are twelve weeks old and would have eaten any cardboard box she might have brought with her.

I had the camera, of course, so I didn’t get a puppy to hold.  Kayla, Nicole and Annie all got puppies to hold.  There were two females and one male.   After the three puppies, two teenage girls, and two adult women all got settled in Annie’s Malibu, things were fragrant to say the least.  It was the puppies….honest!

 

Everyone picked their favorite….this little girl was Kayla’s favorite.  She was also the dominant dog and had lots of energy.

 

This mellow fellow – the only boy in the group – was Nicole’s favorite.  She wants to keep him and name him Bayard after the dog in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.  I had to remind her we already have two dogs and that’s plenty.

 

This is the third puppy – the second little girl – resting comfortably in Annie’s arms. 

The puppies are headed to Annie and Lisa’s to meet their foster brother, Baldwin, and foster sisters, Trixie and Wrangler.  Baldwin is the rescued basset,  Trixie is a Dachshund, and Wrangler is the old matriarch of the group who wonders whose bright idea all of this was.  The puppies will be at Annie’s house for about a month while they complete their shots and vet care before being adopted out to other loving families. 

Hopefully, Annie, Lisa  and their house will survive the experience.

Tiptoed in on little cat feet….

 

When it was finally light enough to see outside this morning (and I had finally crawled out of my soft, warm bed), I discovered we had a blanket of fog.

It was early enough the camera wanted to use the flash, so I let it.  

 

 

I ventured out again later and took a second set of pictures.  For those of you who have this all the time this may seem naive, but everything is wet outside.  I’m sure the plants are loving all this moisture. 

It’s not raining, but the trees are so wet they’re dripping.

 

FOG

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Carl Sandburg

 

Maybe our fog came in on little coyote feet….

Rainy Day…

 

Yes, we got rain today in our neck of the desert. 

 

The lady bug, monkey  and I sat in the truck waiting at the bus stop as the rain pitter pattered on the roof.

 

 

Then I spotted the bus coming….

 

And these two red blurs turned out to be my kiddles.

 

Love the rain and spending a rainy afternoon watching the Twilight Zone with my baby girl.

Aunt Dutch…this is for you…

 

On her last visit to see Bill and Tracy, my Aunt Dutch came out to see Mom and my family also.   Yes, Tressie and Pat were here too!!  We were all sitting outside taking pictures in funny glasses and talking flowers.  I was lamenting about my inability to grow Marigolds and my sweet, loving Aunt Dutch laughed at me.  :)  I guess Marigolds are one of the easiest flowers to grow…almost like a weed.  Alas, mine always die. 

Well I hung in there and kept dropping the seeds from the dead blossoms back into my hanging basket hoping for a Lazarus-type miracle.  And lo and behold, I received one!!

I guess I was over watering my Marigolds in the heat of the summer and due to my recent  neglect, my Marigolds are doing wonderfully…..in December!

 

So, Aunt Dutch, don’t give up on me yet.  I’m always learning….trying to anyway.  Here are my Marigolds that I would like to share with you  in your snow-covered  Illinois.

Cali, the reindeer???

 

While on our way to Bill and Tracy’s yesterday, Greg and I spotted this handsome man.  We turned around and talked to his “human” companion and asked if I could take a picture.  He kindly agreed and told us Cali was a perfect gentleman and I was welcome to greet him if I didn’t mind getting licked. :)

 

I didn’t mind at all!!!

Our autumn comes in December….

 

Here in the Phoenix area, our autumn comes later in the year. Instead of snow falling in December, we have autumn leaves falling.

 

“But I remember more dearly autumn afternoons in bottoms that lay intensely silent under old great trees”  C.S. Lewis

“Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees.”  Faith Baldwin

 

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree”  Emily Bronte