wednesday wanderings

Each time we hike Silly Mountain Natale eyeballs the trail that leads goes further around the mountain. And each time I tell her that one of these days we'll plan the day so we can go on a longer hike.

Today was that day.

Instead of hiking Silly we drove to the back of Gold Canyon and hiked the Hieroglyphic. After hiking for over an hour she did start to wonder why we were going such a long way and wouldn't it have been better to just stay on Silly Mountain. Her tune changed quickly when we reached the rocks where the ice-cold water cascaded through the canyon. Our socks and shoes came off quickly and all three of us had a wonderful romp 'round the water covered playground.

counting

It was slow in arriving...due to illness...but we finally celebrated the 100th day of school. The girls had a great time doing counting activities all day long.

 

q for queen

 We have been reading about Queen Esther for the past couple of weeks. Today we tossed the school books aside and had ourselves a fancy dress-up Purim party. After watching a movie of Esther's story the girls dressed in queenly dresses, chose a scarf to go with their outfit, and had their hair fixed up with flowers. I then presented them with "jewels" for their fingers and the queen-look was complete. 

We traveled to Scottsdale to join the local Messianic dancers as they celebrated Purim with a roomful of elderly Jewish men and women. The girls had a great time dancing, marching in the Esther parade, participating in the retelling of the story of Esther and finally eating a plateful of sweet treats. Everyone was tickled to have the little Esther's join the party and a wonderful Purim was had by all.

 

butterfly shadows

A scrolling line of metal 3D butterflies was one of the few items left in our house from the previous owners. I recently relocated the piece near my front door. Just the other day as the sun was setting I noticed the pretty shadow pattern they cast.

Farmer Gilbert

I had heard about the farmer's market in Gilbert but never had a chance to visit. Yesterday they combined the regular Saturday morning market with folk music and art fair for a jolly good time. We walked through the market and historic downtown street admiring the wares while enjoying the live music and happy people.

 For my favorite farmer's marketeers

I took a photo of this display because the dark bushel baskets with chalkboard signs

made such an aesthetically pleasing display.

I took this pic with my favorite Whoopie Pie loving niece in mind...

you know who you are.

We stopped and people watched this rolling marble fountain that seemed to draw in young and old alike to touch its smooth, wet rotating sphere. Then I discovered, to my delight that it made a wonderful reflection for lots of photo fun.

 

 Later we found a spot in the shade and watched the children play in the spray-ground. Amy would have been right in there with the little ones but I just enjoyed the moment through the camera lens.

These twin girls watched the other children playing at first, hesitant to venture in themselves. 

I chuckled as I watched the dynamics of their relationship;

the one in the pink was constantly pushing her sister to go out in front of her.

 
Finally they both became comfortable enough that they left caution behind and enjoyed playing with the water.

out of africa

I found this wonderful batik cloth at the second hand store. When I bought it I was thinking of the dining room table but discovered the size was more suited to the bed. It's given a fun new look to our bedroom.

 

v for valentine

Natale and I had a fun

Pre-Valentine's Day together.

makes me chuckle

No falling off the cliff?

ping pong perfect

Early Saturday morning we headed south to Sierra Vista for the third annual Ping Pong tournament. Jay had arrived home at 10 PM on Friday night after a long week working out of town. Because he was tired I drove most of the three hour trip. As we passed Tucson we encountered blizzard conditions with wet snow blowing sideways and covering the road signs. As my driving became more focused I tried to recall the last time I had driven in snow....it's been a long time. 


I knew before we arrived at the table tennis club that I wasn't going to be using my camera as much this year....just didn't have the desire to focus on table tennis shots again. I took a few photos but spent more time just watching Tim and Jay play their matches. That is until Tim pulled his new Rebel T2I camera out of the backpack and asked if I wanted to try it out. Ha-ha! Wood Eye! 

I had fun playing with the camera both at the club and again Sunday afternoon at the Frisbee Golf course. Sadly, I have none of the amazing shots to share with you.

Late in the afternoon I accepted Jay's offer to paddle a few balls back and forth on an empty table. Silly me, I should have known what would follow. I received basic table tennis instructions from John, the kind senior table tennis player (he received the silver metal in the 70 and older age group) and I'm quite sure he'll be checking up on me next year to see if I followed through with the strokes he taught me.

99

Wednesday was Natale's 99th day of school. On Monday we will celebrate the 100th day of school. I had Natale help me plan some of the many fun activities we will do to celebrate the monumental occasion. 

picnic weather

The weather has been delightful this week....beckoning me outside into the sunshine. After our morning work Natale and I visited the garden, made salad together and picniced on the front porch. I laughed when we sat down and Lily grabbed the "cauliflower bone" I had given her in the morning. She waited until picnic time to eat her treat. 

jr asparagus

I have two assistant gardeners in my greenhouse.

They love helping with the watering

and playing in the dirt. 

They each have their own garden tub.

When they come on Monday morning

they will discover tiny tomato plants

where they planted seeds two weeks ago.

bluish-gray

The gray weather

was making me feel rather blue

until this

rainbow 

showed up on my doorstep 

in the hands of a smiling six year old.