feeling green

Things that are green in our world right now:

Plenty of cactus. Large and small.

The tops of palm trees.

Matching shoes. A fun find at the "shoes on racks" sale that my sister and I enjoyed during her recent visit.

Lush green grass in our backyard. Entire patch can be mowed and bagged in less than 15 minutes.

One of the many plants that are starting to bloom in our yard.

Yard decoration spotted in our neighborhood. I can't wait for Easter.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone.

Hugs and pinches!

the long and short of it

It's spring break.

The weather today was ideal so we went out and bought two long boards. Our street is perfect for beginners.. with just the right amount of slope.

They are basically a skateboard, just extra long.

There were fancy moves.

And old guys.

Cute girls with mad skills.

A few races.

And just a fun time.

Just watch out for the cactus!

The end.

when time does or doesn't fly

Sometimes it seems like we just got here and sometimes it seems like we have been here forever. We have slipped into some familiar routines and we are still slipping on uncharted territory. Our "days off" go by quickly, even though there are many to choose from. Unfamiliar things are now starting to become familiar.

This weekend time flew ahead for most, with the arrival of daylight savings time. One more hour of daylight. The springing forward of your day. That didn't happen for us. The first time ever that we didn't shift our clocks ahead with the feeling that spring is here and summer is not far away.

Arizona does not go on daylight savings time. No "spring forward, fall back" reminder to tell you how to adjust your clock. However, we went to sleep in mountain standard time and woke up in west coast time...never leaving the comfort of our bed. Stop and think about that for a second.

And now think about this. For those of you that know how much of a morning person I am: if you are in Colorado, you are now an hour later than us. If you are in Texas, you are now two hours later than us. If you call me before 8 or 9 am your time...I could be a little grumpy.

Time did not fly with the changing of our clocks.

We have been here three months.

Time has flown.

airport pick-up

We are off to the airport again today. I probably won't see any celebrities and probably won't have my paparazzi credentials on this time. And better than a celebrity spotting and right up there with a sister visit, (well maybe a wee bit better even) is getting to see...this guy!!

This time I will have my mamarazzi credentials on!

*photo taken when he was here with us at the time of the move.

a sister visit

My sister Karen came from Waco, Texas to spend her Spring Break here in sunny Arizona. The sun did not cooperate so much but the break was a good one. We started the week with the pick up up at the airport where I practiced my paparazzi skills. From then on, for some reason, my camera did not come out very much. We think it was due to the fact that it rained just about from the time we were driving home from the airport last Saturday until I took her back yesterday. And it was cold too. But, we did chronicle a few of the things we did which I will share here. A few I will save for later posts.

We did some shopping and dining out. We did a lot of driving around looking for places that I wanted to visit. She was polite enough to call it "exploring", but in reality it was me aimlessly wandering and being somewhat lost. Lucy* did a lot of these..."make a U Turn now" and "take a right here... take a right here", over and over until we eventually made enough right turns to get ourselves back in the right direction. We managed to find where we wanted to go and learned the Phoenix freeway system quite well in the meantime. Next time she comes, I will have hopefully learned my way around a bit better. It was good to have an "exploring" companion with me.

We went to the Phoenix Theater one night and enjoyed A Light in the Piazza. It was very good and the costuming perfect for the 1940's, with all the matching shoes, hats and glove ensembles. The main character was a spunky, slightly dramatic, little southern lady. She exaggerated her hand gestures and facial expressions and zipped around the stage at a very fast pace, always proper in her matching outfits. At intermission, Karen said she thought the actress playing the mother was doing a very good job. I said that she actually reminded me of her. Small, spunky, somewhat dramatic with her expressions and so "matchy, matchy" in the way she dressed. Karen kind of laughed and said "really?" After intermission, somewhere at the beginning of the next act, at a very serious moment,the little lady zipped toward the front of the stage, waving her arms and talking very quickly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Karen look over at me and start to giggle. I knew at that point she had seen the resemblance. Well, that started the "I'm trying to contain this giggle but it's not going to be easy" kind of giggle. You know the one. And I had to work reeeeally hard to keep it in.

This was the only documentation that we got of our days spent out and about dodging raindrops.

We spent some time in my new studio space making some special occasion cards. Karen and her daughter Shawna will add these to the collection that they will make again for their second annual card sale to raise money for the American Cancer Society. They turned out really nice and I was happy to add my craftiness for the cause.

And then it was time to say goodbye. I dropped her at the curb to do skycap check-in. I had good sister time and look forward to it again. I snapped this pic just before I drove away.

And then I said, "Lucy*...take me home." all alone

*Lucy is my GPS navigational device.

paparazzi credentials

My keen eyesight and quick response with the camera have fared me well since moving to this great desert state. I mention desert here because...ahem...it is raining again! We feel as if we are living on a tropical island rather than in a dry desert. Anyway, this post is not about the rain, rather more wild sightings. I've been happy to use my natural investigative talents to bring you up to the minute reports on creatures that we see in our new surroundings. It has been exciting and of course educational. I am relieved to say that I have not seen a snake or gila monster, nor do I hope to. We have, however, had an abundance of earth worms land into the pool after all these great rain storms. And I don't mean a few. There have literally been hundreds. They end up forming a big giant cluster towards the drain, as if it were a worm parade or chlorine convention. yuck!

Along with this latest rain surge that moved in, our first house guest arrived too! My sister Karen flew in from Texas on Saturday night, to spend her spring break with us. We are very excited to have her here and she and I have some fun things planned. The rain is not ideal but we will do our best to stay dry. The four of us went to the airport to pick her up Saturday evening. Not being real familiar with this airport, we missed the ramp for the parking garage so I jumped out at the curb to make my way to baggage claim, while the rest circled around to park the car. I found my way to the far end where I thought she would most likely be coming in. I was watching people filter down the escalator, when a bright pink hat caught my eye. I kept watching, noticing her dark sun glasses, designer bag and lots of bling on her jeans. Then I noticed a little scuffle of activity while three guys tried to get her attention. They were asking her if they could get a picture with her and get her autograph. That is when my natural investigative talent kicked in and I realized, "hey...she's somebody!" I'm good like that. So, with those quick reflexes I dug into my purse and pulled out my camera.

Pink hat. Bling. It's Rhianna. Popular R&B music artist. I found out she was in for a benefit concert. And there I was ready with my camera!

Now my awareness level was way up and I knew I needed to be keeping my eyes open for my sister, so I quickly scanned the crowd. As I did, I spotted this long haired guy pushing his cart with his suitcase on it. I actually thought he kinda looked a little familiar to me so I moved in a little closer. That is when the guys that had been surrounding Rhianna came over to him. "Mr. Cooper, Mr. Cooper, can we get your autograph?"
Yep, a slightly aged, not so much bling, old rock star, Alice Cooper.

And there I was once again, with my camera. There were some teenage girls who had asked him if they could get a picture with him. Three of them stood by him, while the other took the picture. Always ready to help with a camera, I offered for her to join them, while I take their picture with her camera. So I did, and then decided I might as well get in the back of their little line to get his autograph too. And I did.

Then my cell phone rang. It was my sister. She was down at the other end of baggage claim with the rest of the family. They were wondering where I was.

Just one of the paparazzi, ya' know.

under the weather

Our last rainstorm also brought a little of the white stuff. Not snow like we are used to this time of year, but probably the closest thing to it. A little hail. Leah was hoping enough would accumulate so she could scoop it into a pile and pretend that it was snow. Weather conditions were just not conducive to accumulation. I have been under some sort of weather condition myself. I hope to be feeling perky again very soon.