Auto Contrast

I love auto contrast! I do. It improves my photos emensely with just a mouse click.

We were sitting out on the back deck last night watching the clouds try to wring out a few drops. The clouds were interesting, strange.

And with a little auto contrast:

All God's Creatures Sunday

Dog days of summer? Bunny days of summer. Ahhhh...

Chillin', coolin' the belly...but always on guard!

I hope you find a nice cool spot to relax today!

Mediterranean Vegetarian Sandwiches

Hubby is always gathering recipes from everywhere. Not just gathering, but actually making the recipes. He's good like that. Surprisingly, he finds lots of good ones from the newspaper!

Sometimes the recipes that Hubby has for eggplant makes me wonder if I like eggplant. Sometimes I adore eggplant. This was one of those times that I fell in LOVE with eggplant! In fact, we're having it for lunch again today. We used the Japanese eggplant because we think the skin is more tender on them. We added arugula on ours as well, since we have a giant container of it.

Mediterranean Vegetarian Sandwiches

2 thin sandwich rounds

6 slices eggplant, 1/4 in thick

Olive oil cooking spray

2 Tbs red pepper flavored hummus

2 Tbs feta cheese

Place eggplant onto baking sheet. Spray eggplant with cooking spray.

Heat the broiler. Broil the eggplant 4 inches from the heat for 5 minutes or until the eggplant is browned, turning the eggplant over halfway through broiling.

Split each sandwich round in two. Spread half the hummus on each bottom layer. Divide eggplant and cheese between sandwiches.

Friday My Town Shootout

This weeks theme, Water/Lakes/Streams, is brought to us by Nicole. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to seeing lots of water!

Any water at this point would be a very welcome sight! I know many of you are experiencing a lot more water than you want right now. But I don't think there is any water around here, not until the monsoons really get going. It's dry. It's like those old western movies where someone is crawling across the desert, seeing a mirage, dragging themselves full of hope towards that illusion, only to get there and scoop up a mouthful of dust...

So I had to go back into my archives to find photos from monsoon seasons in past years.

Along the trail in Ramsey Canyon.











To check out more water in a much grander scale, go to FMTSO!
Ahhhhh.....Have a refreshing weekend!

Monsoon-ish

Yesterday was the first real monsoon weather of the season.

We watched it move in from the southeast.

I'm not sure if any of the moisture actually hit the ground.
Did I hear a rumble? Or was I wishing it?

A Little Different Father’s Day

I’m sure you started off as a good Dad
Although you didn’t have a good example of one to follow.

I’m sure you loved us in your heart everyday
And that it was just the alcohol that got in the way.

I’m sure we must have celebrated a Father’s day or two
But I sure can’t remember a one.

I must have made you paper gifts in school
That you carried in your mind and heart.

Funny how it took so many years to go back to the beginning
And see you for the fragile human that we all are.

My own inadequacies show up in my memories of you
And my understanding has come full circle.

So on this day of love and respect for the fathers in our lives
I say, you did what you could do. I forgive you.

Happy Father’s Day.

Thursday's Thoughts

One of my struggles these days is figuring out the assisted living arrangement for my mother. She is in an independent living environment right now. In this same compound is an assisted living side.

She’s ready. Her day to day living is getting more difficult for her as her body weakens and her breathing is harder. She has wonderful doctors up there. One of the doctors helped me explain that it’s time to move to assisted living. I so appreciate that. Although we had spoken about it numerous times, it was as if she thought I was pushing her to the end of life. She’s had a couple of mild falls that left her cut and bruised, but it tells me that it’s time for her to have more help. She’s more inclined to make that move after those falls. It’s hard now because she doesn’t feel good and is unsteady.

There are limited funds that may take her through, but may not. I’ve been looking in to programs that might help kick in should she run out of money. For some reason, these decisions get left up to me. But I don’t want the sole responsibility of this particular decision.

I have 4 brothers. My oldest brother talks to my mom frequently but lives out of state. Two other brothers talk to her infrequently (also out of state). The other brother has been out of the picture for many years.

Well, today I laid it out in an email to my brothers. I need help with this. I don’t want to make the decision alone. How about some help researching some programs? We all need to think about the actual move. It is so obvious that she needs the extra help that assisted living will provide. But because it involves what’s left of her money, I think we should all be involved. And truth be told, I can’t imagine that they would not think this is a good move for her. We’ll see. I don’t ask for help very often. In fact when I moved her up there to independent living, I pretty much did most of the packing myself. I asked my brother if he could help me unpack at the other end, but he had plans already, but did come a couple of weeks later to hang pictures.

So, I feel good about asking. I didn’t have to, they probably would have been fine had I just gone ahead and got her moved. But what happens if the money is gone, what would she do then, and I hadn’t asked them? So this is good. Maybe I’ll sleep tonight.

Let the Cloud Games Begin

All God's Creatures Sunday

I love having the water dish outside my window, to watch who comes to drink. Mostly birds and bunnies, but there have been times when the dish is dry just the next morning. Maybe javalina, or deer, or coyotes. Remember the morning I saw a bobcat out there?

Well, today it was a pair of roadrunners.



They know this is a bird haven around here, and they come looking for little birds to eat. Well, little birds and lizards.



On another note, remember the geranium on my front porch?



Well, it hasn't been looking too good. While investigating, I discovered that the irrigation tubing had come out of it, and was laying on the ground. Rats! So I had my face down inside the plant, trying to wind the tube inside the branches so it wouldn't come out again. All of a sudden, a bird flew in my face out of the plant! Scared us both! A mamma quail, sitting on her eggs! Friday morning I checked on her from inside the window. Yes, still sitting.

Another check Friday afternoon...


Wishing you a blessed day!

Friday My Town Shootout

This weeks theme, Public Art, was chosen by Barry & Linda. This should be a fun one! If for some crazy reason you have never checked out Barry's blog, you must. You'll go back again and again!

So, my little town does not have much in the way of public art. I'm not sure why. I'm thinking that there are probably all kinds of things on the fort, but the main gate is being redone, so I chose to not go on base. But here are a couple of things I found around town, and, I have to say, I really like them!

This first one is almost completed. It's a water tower that sits alongside the animal shelter. I love the colors!

The second one is on the side of a big building. I quite fancy this one as well. :)

To see more shootouts, please click here!
Have a great weekend!

A Lucky Shot!

These two played around the feeder for a few minutes before they settled down enough for one split second shot!

Wishing you a wonder-full day!

Life at this House

is pretty good if you're a bunny.

A place to run, and jump, and play.

Or just lounge around in the shade on a hot afternoon.

A St. David Retreat

One morning, not too long ago, I got up in the morning, ready to crawl out of my skin. Anxious, overwhelmed, and knowing I just couldn't sit in the house for one more day. Yeah, these feelings have been going on for a while. I think that's why I cut way back on posting. I felt boring.

I walked in to Hubby's office and said, "Let's get out of here. Let's just go. Let's get in the motorhome and go to St. David for a couple of days."

Don't I sound really fun and spontaneous??? Well, I'm not. I'm a planner. I have to think about things, evidently. Hubby is the spontaneous one. We balance each other. When he wants to do something really wild or crazy, I'm the one that brings reality into the picture. But this time, he had to think about it. For about 10 minutes.


I ask you, who could be all uptight here?


This goose swam around all the time with the mamma duck and the babies. She must be a wanna be mamma!
A very cool thing that we discovered was in the mornings, the trees would be full of so many birds that we don't generally see at home, even though home is only about 35 miles away. Hubby got some great shots! The photos were taken through a window & screen, so they're not as sharp as we'd like.
Vermilion Flycatcher

A Goldfinch admiring herself in the mirror. Cracked me up, she went back there over and over.

A beautiful Cardinal

Yes, we came home feeling refreshed and ready to keep on.

HEAT ADVISORY!

TEMPERATURES... HOT DAYTIME TEMPERATURES RANGING FROM 100 TO 109 DEGREES BELOW 5000 FEET CAN BE EXPECTED THE REMAINDER OF THIS AFTERNOON AND AGAIN MONDAY AFTERNOON.*

IMPACTS... A SUDDEN ONSET OF EXCESSIVELY HOT TEMPERATURES CAN BE STRESSFUL TO ANIMALS AND HUMANS... MAKING IT HARD FOR THE BODY TO ACCLIMATE AND REMAIN HYDRATED.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF UNUSUALLY HOT TEMPERATURES IS EXPECTED. HEAT ILLNESS IS POSSIBLE... PARTICULARLY IN THOSE WHO ARE ELDERLY... IN POOR HEALTH OR ARE OUTDOORS FOR LONG PERIODS OF TIME. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS... STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM... STAY OUT OF THE SUN... AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS. DO NOT LEAVE ANYONE OR PETS UNATTENDED IN A VEHICLE.

You've heard the joke about Arizona heat...but it's a dry heat.
It may be dry, but it's still hot. In about a month, this heat will produce monsoon storms. We're looking forward to that.

Did I tell you that I saw the first snake in the front yard a week or so ago? No, probably not. I haven't posted much lately, have I? Anyway, he was probably a gopher snake, (looks like a rattler, but with a skinny head & no rattle) and was about 2 feet long. He did stop long enough for me to take photos of him, but I won't freak you out with them. :) Unless you'd really like to see them!

So with the heat, we'll have to be extra careful to keep the doors closed. I'm sure they would love the coolness inside the house!

Before....and After

B E F O R E...

and A F T E R...

This is my latest crazy little idea. Why be stuck with just one color on your hat? I have a couple of different hats, but because of their color I can't (or won't) wear them with everything. My answer, just change the hat band! I'm thinking about making a gob of different colors and styles, and maybe selling them at campsites when we're on the road for a little extra change. Not the hats, just the hatbands. What do you think?

I'm in the middle of my Aldara treatment for precancer on my face. Yeah, I'm a real joy to look at right now. Hehehe. But it sure beats anyone cutting in to my face! Way too many sunburns growing up are taking their toll now. Sunscreen people! Or hats!