December Birthdays..and Some Decorating

I haven't posted much yet...today was the first day I removed the memory card from the new camera to save the pictures onto the computer so I can use them!  Still have a lot to learn about the settings! :-)  But, we are getting there.  December and January are birthday months for most of us!  It makes it even more hectic as Christmas approaches!

The cake I made our daughter.  The gumpaste lilies were a little rushed, but turned out ok.

Our grandson always has carrot cake, his favorite, and his Mom always makes it for him.  This year I made a fondant Smaug the dragon for the top, and sprinked it all with edible glitter to represent the treasure.  He and I just finished reading The Hobbit and we plan to go see the new movie soon.

Another angle of Smaug

Close-up of his face.

Grandson with the cake right before his Dad lit the candles for him to blow out.  He brought his new Abomination toy with him to be in the picture. :-)

Our daughter made this wreath and was inspired by one she saw on Pinterest.  You can see their tree in the background as the door is open, but I am waiting till all the presents are under it before I take its picture for a post.

The orange pomanders she made.

And this was a huge project for the two of us!  We decided to make salt dough fruit.  In the past we had made apples and dipped them in red parrafin/crayon for these trees, but this time she wanted to make all different fruits and do them all white.  We didn't have enough white crayons and added a few light grey and greyish blue crayons to the mix, and the color turned out beautiful!  We sprinkled them with a little glitter and used silver sprigs of greenery to put between them and were very happy with the results!

A Little Catching Up

A month and a half ago nearly our daughter, grandson and I decided to go to the Tucson Botanical Gardens.  We wanted to catch the butterfly exhibit which is only open from fall through spring because in the summer it is too hot to go into the greenhouse enclosure.  It was warm and humid in there when we went, but we didn't mind at all!

There were so many varieties of butterflies to see!

I didn't get a lot of pictures but managed to take a few.

This particularly large butterfly really captured our attention!

Our grandson likes to take photos with his DS.

As we strolled around the grounds we saw some wonderful displays of desert flora...and discovered this bird's nest just above our heads.

This is a gorgeous hibiscus that was in the butterfly greenhouse.

One of the plant-life displays.

Our daughter and grandson at a Chinese garden area.

One of the lovely tile benches that could be found throughout the Botanical Gardens.  It was a delightfully laid-out gardens, rich in plant-life with artistic touches everywhere.

A tree and cactus growing together.

 On another occasion I walked outside my home to enjoy a gorgeous sunset.  All of the pictures in this post were taken with the manual camera, and I have to say I am finally beginning to do a little better with it! :-)  Even so, that new digital is going to start getting a workout soon and the manual will just be a backup.

Notice the hawk soaring among the pink clouds!

U is for UNBELIEVABLE!!!

I am very excited to announce that my hubby and I are getting each other this joint gift for Christmas! :-)  I picked it up at Costco and it's still in the box ( it's a Coolpix P520) but I know we will open the box and start getting familiar with it before Christmas so we can take LOTS of pictures!  Hey, no more weird photos from me!!!!

If anyone has this camera and can offer any suggestions, comments, advice or critiques, they will be much appreciated! I'll be linking in with ABC Wednesday as soon as it's open...great link!  Thanks to the hosts for making it possible...it's one of my faves!  Check it out!

Random Five Friday

I'm not going to link in, because it's just getting later and later, and besides this isn't going to be much of a post.  I  promise I will link in next time.  But, I had to touch base with all you wonderful people out there who I have been missing so much!

1.  My company left and yet I haven't gotten back to really blogging, or getting caught up with everyone, because I have been sewing like crazy!  I apologise...but I will have a really lovely quilt to share with all of you soon!

2.  The two sunrise photos above were taken on two separate mornings, rare successes in the continuing saga of my camera woes.  In fact, I had two entire rolls of film that were NOT loaded properly and therefore did not take the pictures, and I lost so many shots I wanted of our trip!!!!  But, I am going to get the shots off our daughter's phone soon so I can start sharing the trip with you all.  Just haven't gotten around to it.  Well, needless to say, I am much more careful about loading the film now!

3.  We had a lovely Halloween, and are now looking forward to Thanksgiving! Our grandson dressed as Chef Ramsey with a white chef coat and a cleaver fashioned out of half a wooden pizza paddle.  He looked adorable!  Since his Dad is chef at Union Public House restaurant (and Mom the pastry-chef) it was apropos!

4.  My daughter is coming over today and we are going to make apple butter!

5.  The visit with my friend from Colorado Springs was so nice!  We had a great time...ate out at Union, a Mexican restaurant, Blue Willow and the Chantilly Tea Room.  All were fabulous!  She and I hit yard sales and a craft show and watched a lot of old movies and just visited!  It was great! 

Where Have I Been!?

For anyone wondering what happened to me...my computer crashed!  I have lots to share but I also have a LOT to catch up on with all of you!  I was about two weeks behind before the problem and then it took about three weeks to fix!  Thanks to my sweet niece, who has a computer tech business, all is now well.  BUT....boy, do I have a LOT to share! :-)  Now I have out of town company coming for the next week and won't be able to do much till after the visit ends.  So....hang in there.  Been missing all of you!!!  It's good to be back!

Here is a tease...we went on a long weekend family mini-vacation and this is one of my photos.  This is Montezuma's Castle, which is a paleo-Indian cliff-dwelling site.  It was wonderful!

Random Five Things About Manual Photography

Connecting with Nancy's Random Five Fridays once again!  Love this meme!  Check it out!  And Today's Flowers too, a meme by Pupo, Sandy and Denise...lots of gorgeous blooms to enjoy!  This is a post about manual photography....

1.  I am very tempted for number one to say "It sucks"....can you sense my frustration!?  My hubby is still away, and still has the inefficient little digital, which even as old as it is, beats the stuffings out of my attempts to use either Nikon manual!  Case in point:

I was SOOOO looking forward to showing everyone my cantaloupe!  The first pictures I took of the ripe one, peeled and cut open, juicy on the plate, did not turn out.  So, I waited till I could take pictures of our grandson picking the last "large" one we had from the garden.  As you can see, his face reflects the tug he is making on the vine to pick said cantaloupe.  At least you can see the size.  The ones I took of him smiling and holding it up closer to his face....did not come out!

2.  See this yellowish tint to the picture...indoor shots with no flash, but the indicator said I had plenty of light!  Anyway, this has to be the SMALLEST cantaloupe ever harvested and eaten! :-)  Yep, that's a cantaloupe perched on top of my french toast.

3. Flower shots...only a few have been semi-successful!

A Tucson variety "bird of paradise" You can see the Mexican version, which is orange, in the background.

A close-up....hmmmm,macro doesn't NOT work with this lens!

My plumeria. Out of focus.

Once again....not much luck with macro.  This is my hibiscus.

The two miniature roses our daughter gave us when we moved in. They are in the little metal cart I won at the book fair.

Sweet volunteers that grace my front yard each summer.

4.  I never learned to use a manual camera.  I know that's what my problem is!  I don't know what I am doing.  The thing I hate the most, though, is paying to develop the whole roll and then getting half a roll of half-way decent pictures back and throwing the other half in the trash!  All the shots of a GORGEOUS sympathy bouquet sent by our friends because my husband's Dad died....you guessed it!  Did NOT come out!  And that bouquet was amazing, too.

5.  OK, I think it's high time to buy a new digital camera!  I mean, even the little older one my husband still has with him is far better than what I am dealing with now.  I miss erasing a mistake IMMEDIATELY!  It's like it never happened.  Wish life was like that! :-)  Oh, well.

Healing Nicely

For those who have asked, my eye is doing wonderfully.  Thank you so much for asking!  I don't get on the internet for long periods, because that eye will get red and irritated, but otherwise all is well.  I also had an MRI for a lumbar problem and bilateral neuropathy and have since been going to physical therapy.  I THOUGHT that was helping but since Friday I have been none too comfortable.  Will keep you posted.

Since I have been a terrible blogger, and have not been posting much I thought I would at least make an appearance tonight.  Part of my problem is not getting many photos with the manual camera.  Part of the problem is being over-tired from all the Dr./therapy visits I've been having and other things that have kept me busy the last three weeks or so.  I hope all that will dwindle down.

This is for Tuesday Muse.  I hope you will join in for Nancy's lovely meme by clicking on the link!

Obviously not my photo...but I have a lovely story to tell.  At the eye Dr. the other day I met a Lakota Sioux man who is a descendant of Black Elk and also of Crazy Horse.  His name is Red Bird and he is in his sixties.  He told me that when he was a child Black Elk was blind, with cataracts, and very old.  I read Black Elk Speaks many years ago, and I was so impressed to be able to speak with someone related to him, and who knew him. The photo above is of Black Elk with his second wife, and one of his children.

When I was one year old I sat on the lap of my great-great-grandmother, "Lou Ma" Banks.  She was 103 years old at that time.  When she was a child, she had given water from her family's well to passing Union soldiers during the War.  I thought about how Red Bird and I are bridges to the past, each in our own small way, just by being alive to tell of these contacts in our childhood.  How long ago all of that seems!  And yet how little time has really passed.

Me sitting on Lou Ma's lap in 1953.

F is for Fields of Cotton

Joining the delightful meme, ABC Wednesday...check it out!

The fields of cotton here in Arizona were such a delightful perk of moving here from the SE.  This is a field at the U of A Agricultural center that I photographed last year.

 Cotton is a very ancient crop, grown in the Middle East and South America before written language.  Aztec and Inca warriors wore armour made of quilted woven cotton fabric, which was actually very effective against most early weapons...not against firearms unfortunately, as can be attested by the outcome after the arrival of the Spanish to their areas.  Cotton was introduced to Arizona by the Hohokam Indians (who lived here from the time of Christ till about 1400 A.D.) Hohokam had extensive irrigation techniques and a fascinating culture.  They are the ancestors of the Tohono O'odham Indians who are here today. But they also largely "disappeared" from here when other cultures began to encroach upon the area, from 800-1400 A.D. and it is possible that they "moved south" and joined the Olmecs and others in the Mexican-Central American regions that became the Aztec strongholds.  Much of their culture is similar.

Cotton is an important American crop, grown in the South.  Here are some fields in Virginia (photos taken a few years ago).

The reason the foliage is brown in this photo, is because of the modern usage of defoliants on the plants which then lead to easier harvesting of the bolls.  Cotton plants are also taller than they used to be...picking by hand off rows and rows of short plants was backbreaking labor.

If you have never seen a cotton boll...here you are!

A Few Odds & Ends

Our son-in-law was given a box of exotic fruit, which was all really delicious!  I thought I'd do a still-life, since it was all so pretty as well, but it was one of those "wrong lens" issues that day.  Bummer.  Notice the sherbet dish with the little orchids floating in it.

 This is called a Devil's Fruit but it was actually heavenly both to look at and to taste!

One night during summer vacation the Pima Air Museum was having a special event for the kids and I took our grandson and his best friend.

Earlier in the summer there was a special flyover at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base that Russell and I took our grandson to.  That was really neat to see.  Russell used to fly F-111s in the Air Force so he loves to share that part of his life with the Gr-son.

Loved these three flying side-by-side!

I'm a little off-center...they were moving fast for my photography abilities! :-)

over our heads

 Also, in Tucson, you see quite a few palm trees that have been introduced to this environment, but really thrive here.  I think this is a richly-yielding date palm that is just down the street.

Hope you are all enjoying the end of summer and the return to cooler temps...we have actually just had three days of 107-108 degrees and are now going back to 104.  No let-up for us yet!  And though we've had a few spectacular storms, the rainy season hasn't yielded as much rain as usual this year...just mugginess.  Though I faithfully water every day, my garden is suffering!  (I lost a cucumber plant when I didn't water the one day after my cataract surgery!) Usually I would have harvested almost everything by now and be starting soon on a fall garden, but it was so hot here in June  (in three-digit temps which is kind've rare for June!) my young plants suffered then.  I also battled ants in June.  We had a little bit of a break in July which was good.  And I had to replant some things.  I did harvest some small potatoes, red onions and the cantaloupe I will be posting about very soon!