Natural Beauties

I never would have thought the desert could be so beautiful and colorful. Every time we go down to Arizona I am amazed by the variety and color of the plant life there. It is incredible. Here are a few samples from our latest trip.

I believe this is prickly pear in bloom. Look how the tops of the paddles (I don't know what they're really called) are filled with a line of buds. The color is amazing. I didn't photoshop any of the colors on these pictures.

Here's some tiny little red buds on one of the cacti we saw.

This is the whole plant that the previous picture is from. I zoomed in on a leaf just left of center low on the plant.

This beauty was growing with lots of others along the side of the highway.

And here's a delicate yellow one. The needles on this cactus were longer than the other one I called prickly pear. I don't know if it's a variation of prickly pear, or something entirely different. I need to read a book on Arizona plant life.

And here's the whole plant.

A close up of the fuscia blossom of the prickly pear above.

And one of the cutest brother/sister pairs we know - Mark and Beth - Lloyd's niece and nephew, who kept us entertained on our trip.

Later today or tomorrow I'll post pictures from the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, and the aquarium at the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the Strip.

Home Again

Got home half an hour ago. Will write more when I get my pictures downloaded. Had a lovely vacation but a looooong drive home.

Fun in the Sun

We're sitting here watching Little Miss Sunshine after a busy day spent outdoors in the hot Arizona sun. It's been fun.

We have Lloyd's niece, Beth and nephew Mark, here with us now enjoying a week of R&R.


We spent the morning on the golf course - it was Beth's first time playing golf, but Mark is one of Lloyd's regular golfing buddies. I, of course, golf only when I'm coerced into it. We played best ball so it was fun and fast.

Lloyd gave Beth a few pointers in stance, stroke, and hitting the ball before we started our round. She's a quick learner.


Mark let her drive their golf cart sometimes, which added to her enjoyment of the game. Lloyd and I were in the other cart just ahead of them.

Beth and I left after nine holes and went to the Paradise Cafe for lunch while the men played another 18 holes, with a lot more competition and drive than when we girls were playing.

Beth and I wasted no time getting into the pool when we got home. It was soooo nice. It was a hot day and the water was warm and buoyant.



We were soon joined by Beth and Mark's mother and stepfather, Cath and Clyde. Then Lloyd and Mark came home and joined us.



This is Clyde - he's a lot of fun - crazy and loving and fun to be around.


Our nephew, Mark. He was the last one in the pool, and after he was in for awhile the wind came up and chilled the air considerably and he didn't want to get out because he knew he'd be cold. Tough up Mark!


Cath and Clyde had fun clowning around in the pool. It's so nice to have them over - they have a place in Sun City but the're not always in town when we come down here.

We ended our day by going to Macayo's Mexican Kitchen for dinner - so good. Tomorrow will be another fun day.



This one's for you Mickey - prickly pear in bloom.

On The Road Again

Thursday afternoon Lloyd and I headed out on a road trip. He has a seminar he has to attend in Las Vegas next Thursday and Friday so we decided to drive to our place in Arizona for a few quiet days, and then head home via Las Vegas.

We're using Lloyd's Dodge Laramie for transportation. This is the first big trip for the truck so we'll see how well it performs. So far, so good. It's a very comfortable truck with lots of power.

The drive from Edmonton to Phoenix is very beautiful, once you get south of Great Falls, MO. We weren't expecting all the varied weather though.


We wanted to leave the last vestiges of winter behind us in Alberta, but unfortunately we kept running into it. This picture was taken in southern Utah. The clouds were low and seemed to cut the mountains in two.

These unusually colored yellow mountains were in the Panquitch, UT area. Here's an interesting link Lloyd found about this mountain, called Big Rock Candy Mountain. Interesting stuff.
http://geology.utah.gov/surveynotes/geosights/candymtn.htm





The first place we ran into snow was in the mountains south of the Bryce Canyon, UT area. It seemed the farther south we went, the colder it got, but I think it was because we kept getting so high in the mountains. It wasn't so bad when we got to lower land.

These beautiful red cliffs were peppered with caves and holes. They were really beautiful but in most places there's no place to pull over and take some proper pictures



We were able to stop at the Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell) in Page, Arizona. It's a spectacular site. The gorge is just beyond the swirly rock formation.


You can see the cars driving across the Glen Canyon Dam.

The scenery for the next 25 or so miles south of the dam was incredible, scary and beautiful. I'm glad Lloyd was driving though - it's a rapid descent to the bottom of the plateau to the desert floor of the Navajo Nation Reservation.

We hit snow again in Flagstaff when we were at an elevation of 7000 but it disappeared as we got down off the mountains again - a very up and down day both in climate and elevation.

It's nice to be here in Surprise again. The air here is incredibly sweet - I love the smell of it. There's always something in bloom. I'll rest for the next couple of days and try to get rid of this cold.

Can't Wait For Spring

The last week or so has seen considerable melting of the snow cover here in Edmonton. It's not fast enough for the kids though. Their north-facing back yard is still mostly knee deep in snow. It was warm enough today that they just had to be out, and if Charlie and Max were out, then Elly insisted on being out too.

Their toys which have been buried under the snow all winter are being rediscovered. This year the car is just the right size for Elly.

If it has wheels Elly needs to push it, pull it, or ride in it.

The swing set still works - Max rediscovered hs 'airplane', although the landing is cold and icy.

Someone (not mentioning any names here) took the top off the sand box a few days ago and the ice melted into a lovely pool of mud. This was Elly's first stop in her re-discovery of the back yard.


And the slide still slides, if you don't mind landing in the snow.

The kids were cold and wet by the time they finally decided to go inside, but they really enjoyed themselves out there. Maybe by this time next week the snow will have all disappeared. One can only hope.

T-Shirts

My daughter Sara is always buying clothes for her kids - I've never known kids with so many clothes. She has a good reason though. Her kids are her models for her portrait studio samples and products. Every holiday and season change has her making new display models for the photo gifts her company produces, as well as portrait samples.

This is Elly waiting in the front of the studio/store while Max gets his Easter portrait done. You can see the ceramic tiles they made and incorporated into the floor. That happy couple is Sara and Quincey in 2002.


But lately the little girls have been wearing the cutest t-shirts and I don't think they've been used as display models. Here are some of them.



Elly's expression makes a lie of the sentiment on the shirt.

Charlie's shirt is very appropriate for her personality.

Looking like she needs a hug

Every schoolkid's sentiment.


And my very favorite one, worn by Elly...




It says "I still live with my parents - for now"

Kids clothes are a lot more fun now than they were when I was a kid - as far as I can remember anyway. There was a fad in the late 1950's that I vaguely remember having fun with when I was 9 or 10. Back then pop bottles had cork liners in them that could be carefully removeed without breaking the cork. We used to take the cork out and, holding the front of the bottle cap against the front of the shirt, we'd press the cork back into the cap with the t-shirt fabric in between. It held them really well. We thought they looked great but it must have bugged our mothers. Those bottle caps had sharp edges that poked tiny holes in the t-shirts. But we were kids and we didn't care.

April Fools Day

Here's the kind of fog I'm living in...I didn't realize it was April Fool's Day until this evening. Too bad really because I could have really messed with Charie and Max's minds today if I had remembered. But that probably would have backfired on me anyway because Charlie would have ended up asking me a hundred different questions about why I was tricking them, why do they call it fools? why is it only good on April 1, etc. etc. That girls thinks too much and every thought she thinks results in at least a dozen questions. She's very serious and inquisitive for a 5-year old.

I did kind of get fooled today though. Sara and Charlie had a lunch date with Brooklyn and Cindy (Brooklyn and Charlie are five days apart in age - close first cousins). Not to leave Max out, I told Sara I'd take him and Elly to Panda Hut for lunch. They like it there because there's a playspace there (It used to be a Burger King and the Panda Hut people left the playground there). There were six other kids playing there when we arrived. Max was hesitant at first but finally went and joined them. Turned out one of the little boys name was Max as well. And not just any Max, but Maximus like our little guy.

After they left Elly decided to go in and play with Max. So in she toddled, clutching her sippy cup like a lifeline. It wasn't long before I heard her screaming. I went to the entry of the play area and asked Max if he could help her come out. Well, he did try, but his version of helping was to grab one of her feet and pull. That just resulted in more screaming. So I had to do it - swallowing my pride for the sake of my poor little grandbaby, I got down on my creaking knees and crawled into the structure that is made for skinny little 3-foot tall mini-people. I got to Elly, grabbed both feet and pulled her through the tube to where I could grab her. She hung on to me (and her sippy cup) for dear life. Have you ever tried crawling on arthritic knees in a kids tube holding a crying 16 month old baby? Don't. Ever. Try it. When I got out, finally, I looked around and there were people at three tables watching me. Needless to say, my dignity remained behind me at the mouth of that trap they call playland. We left as soon as I could get their coats and boots back on. Nice way to fool old Grammy, Elly.

And I didn't even take any pictures.