Purple Sage and White Winged Doves

A few more pictures of  lovely purple sage...

The walkway in front of my neighbor's house, framed by the juniper trees.

The big bush in our yard again....

Do you see the bee's behind?

  

White winged dove on the saguaro in my yard....Don't you love that touch of blue on their face...

Dove with an injured foot that showed up to feed on my porch.  He hobbled around on the ground, but happily I saw him fly away with no problem....

Do you see what a MESS the birds make of my porch!?  It's worth it though to get to watch them!

Can Do!

This is becoming a busy summer!  Now that the rains have come (we had another heavy storm for about 30 minutes today!--and by today I mean Monday, though I likely won't post this for a few days) I see more growth in the garden.  There will eventually be okra and lima beans and other veggies!  I've been harvesting yellow crookneck squash all along, though, and have been canning some, even though the usual method for preservation of squash is to freeze it.  Having my roots in rural Alabama, I watched and participated in canning and freezing during summer.  Dad always planted far more than was needed to eat, and time was spent shelling peas, snapping beans, husking corn....many very time-consuming projects that had to be tackled almost every day.  But, oh, how wonderful it was in the winter months when all the canned and frozen bounty could be eaten!

Just a little of my yield.

Sliced and ready to can.

I cover the squash in the jars with hot water and place in a hot water bath for 40 minutes.  It's much better to use a pressure cooker for  vegetables, but I don't have one!  Still, this is working out for me.

My canning for one afternoon.

I depend heavily on the information in this wonderful book!

Two gallons of purchased organic cherries (oh how I love fresh cherries!) covered in two cups of sugar.

Five pints of cherry compote! (And isn't this the prettiest tea towel!)

And I haven't just been canning!  I finally got my Husvarna Viking Sapphire sewing machine paid for, and I have been sewing up a storm!  Check out my quilting blog piece-fulness from time to time to see what I am making!  The thread stand is handmade of wood, and belonged to my grandmother who was a wonderful seamstress (much better than I am!)  It's a treasure!

During....and After the Storm

It's monsoon season in Arizona and the rains are beginning to come more frequently!  This is a very poor shot of a goldfinch waiting out the storm perched on the thistle feeder on the porch.  It was too cute not to share in spite of the poor quality!  For the shots that follow, be sure to click on them to make them larger!  I am joining Skywatch Friday for the first time in a really long time!  Sorry I have been away so long!  For more great skies all over the world click on the link and thanks to the hosts who make it possible!

The sun sets on our stormy day....

A fifteen gallon container of roof runoff the next morning...and a reflection of the blue sky.

Stick-y Picket

We were lost briefly in the desert for about fifteen minutes and came across this very "make do with what's available" fence.  Not the fancy fare of in-town certainly, but interesting in its own way.  I think the sticks were held together with pieces of wire.  You do see a supporting post now and again to make it all stand up.

This is my selection this week for Fridays Fences, a meme hosted by Janis and Jerry....and you can link HERE!

I'm Just Sick!!!!

We had to travel down LaCholla to go pick up our grandson this morning, and this is what I saw!  There are just no words to describe how disgusted I am!

Drumroll.....

On Friday I posted a length of wall that changes a few times in design as you go over about a half a mile of roadway.  At the very end of that particular stretch of walls is this.....

LOOK!  It's a barn!

Oh, yes, there are barns in Arizona....but they are REALLY HARD to find in Tucson! :-)  And that's my surprise!  I get to join in to Barn Charm this week!  YAY!!!!

So, today I am joining Barn Charm, which happens to be one of my favorite memes to look at, but this is my first (and hopefully not my last!) entry....Thanks to Tricia Hays at Bluff Area Daily for hosting Barn Charm!

A Visit To The Arizona History Museum

When Mary was here visiting her sister (Faith, Fabric & Photos) she mentioned to me that they had visited the Arizona History Museum and that the museum had a great collection of AZ Centennial Quilts as well as other great exhibits.  I wanted to wait till it was very hot and an afternoon inside the air conditioned building would be welcome.  The other day my hubby and I took our grandson, and it was such a lovely museum!  To see the Centennial Quilts, visit the post on my quilting blog, piece-fulness by clicking HERE.  For the rest of the great AZ history exhibits, see below....

Arizona is celebrating 100 years as a state now in 2012! This is the front of the museum.

This is a statue of Father Kino, who brought Christianity to the Tohono Odom Indians of this area, and who is responsible for San Xavier Mission del Bac which yes I promise to post about one of these days!  It's called "The Dove of the Desert" and  it's stunning!

A buggy from days past.....

An early automobile....

A buckboard wagon....

An example of the interior of a home....I loved the way the walls were done.  It reminded me so much of the German design painting on the interior of houses in Texas.....

Our grandson poses with Geronimo's Springfield rifle......

The mining section was really fascinating!  This piece of machinery was ENORMOUS! A lot of copper mining was done in this area and still is....

Our grandson "bakes some bread" in the interactive section of the museum that is located upstairs....

Here's the "outhouse"

We didn't find a spider, but we found a scorpion!  No, he wasn't real!  Our grandson had to take this picture, because I couldn't get close to the floor to do it.....

Loved this hanging baby cradle.

In the general store, we had a game of checkers!

Part of a Tohono Odom living space.....

A pack mule....

Old style bicycles....

A beautiful example of a stagecoach!

There was much more to see, but this gives you an example of some of the exhibits they had.  It's a wonderful museum!