dancing in the sunshine

I was sitting in the living room this morning planning my day. When I looked up I noticed Lily taking a sun-bath. The sun caught her whiskers and made them stand out. I grabbed my camera and...

dancing up silly mountain

Silly Mountain is a more like a big hill. It is located a little over a mile south of our house. I had been to the top a couple of times in the past but not until this past week have I explored the trails that weave back and forth through the hills and valleys south of Apache Junction. Thursday Lily and I roamed and romped, sniffed and snapped, rested and read and generally had a delightful time on Silly Mountain.

dancing with the past

When I shop at Walmart I frequently park so that I enter through the garden section and peruse the selection of plants as I enter the store. This past week as I wandered through the blooms I was delighted to find Cosmos flowers in full bloom. I couldn't pass up $3.50 cents worth of fond memories. About ten or so years before my father died he rediscovered Cosmos. His mother had fields of Cosmos growing on their farm when he was a young boy in Idaho. Each year, for those last 10 years, he faithfully planted and watered Cosmos seeds in our front yard. He was always delighted when the stalk of the flowers became taller than he was.

dancing with the daisies

dancing with the lost dutchman

Lost Dutchman State Park is less than five miles from our house but until today I had never visited there. My friends and I made plans to go hiking at the park when we heard that the state is planning on closing it along with several other state parks in AZ as a result of the poor economy.



The park is North East from our house ...the side of the mountain that is "just around the corner" from our view out the dining room window.


The morning was beautiful for climbing and the wild flowers plentiful (see tomorrow's post).




Lily, being the hiking-loving dog that she is, had a wonderful time...well, except for an encounter with some cactus needles. Good thing I've learned to pack a tweezers when we to out together.


When we reached the end of the trail we found ourselves in the the wrong parking lot....but in that wrong parking lot we ran into a TV news crew doing a story about the community trying to keep the park open. They asked if they could film and interview us. We walked back on the trail while they filmed then set up for the interview. I was relieved that he choose to interview Renalee as she is comfortable in front of the camera and I would have been very nervous.

dancing to the new moon

Last night we celebrated the sighting of the new moon with a picnic on our patio with our house guests. Rob and Sue provided New York Strip steaks and I made carrot cake. Macaroni salad, pineapple and fresh squeezed lemonade rounded off the meal. Note to Julie: Do you recognize the table cloth?

hiking hieroglyphis trail: saguaro shoot