Flagstaff Snow Day!

Sometimes my heart just aches to experience the changing of the seasons. After growing up on Ohio, with the full range of sights, sounds, and smells of the season, I just miss it so much that I need to get somewhere out of town. I especially feel the tug in the Fall and Winter. We get our own share of Summer and enough of a feel of Spring that I don't miss that too much.

The last few weeks there have been so many reminders of snowy winter, especially last week with all the snow that they got in northern Arizona. I started thinking about a road trip to Flagstaff probably on Thursday, but the storm continued thru Saturday which made it dangerous to drive up there before last Sunday. So that morning we got up and decided to hit the road.

It was a perfect day! The roads were totally clear, the traffic was light and the sun was shining as we headed up the mountain toward Flagstaff. This was our first glimpse of the snow in the distance.

We drove thru Starbucks in Cottonwood on the way up and Terry picked up an apple fritter with his coffee. He didn't want me to take a picture of him eating it (he's supposed to be watching his carbs, you know.) But I think this is incriminating enough.

Next we started to see snow on the ground by the road...then we really got into snow country! Look how heavily it was covering the trees.

Look at this gorgeous shot (below) of the mountains coming up from the south of Flagstaff.

Not sure if you can tell (below), but we're actually parked in the road. The off and on ramps were plowed, but not the road that they lead to. There was a 6 foot pile of snow in front of the car from the plow blocking the road, so if there was anyone living down there, they wouldn't have any way to get out unless they had a snowmobile or something.

This is the sign that goes across the road. I'm not thinking that anyone's going to get anywhere in that direction on something with wheels.

Here's Terry starting up the hill. You can see that it was thigh high in most places.  Fortunately it was pretty good packing snow and there were a few paths that were packed down enough that we could walk on them without sinking down too deeply. There were a couple of times that I "fell in" and Terry had to pull me out so that my camera wouldn't get in the snow (which happened once). It's so funny because there's just no leverage to push yourself up, since your hands sink down in it too.

It had been so long since we'd been in the snow that we forgot to bring extra pairs of pants.  Fortunately, we didn't get too wet and we did have dry socks, so we were o.k.

It was so sweet to hear the crunch of the snow under our feet!  I love the SOUND of Winter.

And look how amazing the trees were!

We watched showers of snow coming down from the branches very regularly.  Fortunately we weren't beneath any of them.

Isn't it cool that there were icicles hanging from the tree's needles?

When we first got there, the only people around were a couple with their little boy.  I'd guess him to be around 5 and he was having a blast...so were his folks.

Then just before we left we were joined by a young family from Phoenix with 3 boys who had NEVER seen snow!  What an exciting day that must have been for them.  And the littlest one couldn't have been more than 3 years old.  As they were trying to climb the hill he kept sitting down in the snow and his mom kept telling him to stand up.  Then the dad suggested that maybe he couldn't stand up with all the clothes bundling him up.  He was SO adorable!  That's him coming down the hill on the sled all by himself.

It brought back some great memories of our snowy adventures with the kids in years past.

After playing in the snow there for a bit, we started driving toward town then decided to head toward Lake Mary to see if we could get there. Our prospects didn't look good...

Herbs Gardening Class at the Desert Botanical Garden

I just signed up for this class at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and I'm so excited!  I've heard that it's relatively easy to grow herbs here in the desert climate, but they surely don't last on my window sill in the kitchen.  I'm looking forward to finding out the secrets of planting them (and keeping them alive) outside.  I will mostly plant in pots to start with, if that's workable.  When I'm finished with the class and my herbs are thriving it will be exciting to use them for cooking.  Fresh herbs are SO much better than dried ones!


Herbs from Garden to Kitchen

Take your herbal knowledge to new heights–from growing herbs in your garden to dazzling your senses in the kitchen. In three sessions you will learn herb gardening for success in the desert, herb varieties and their uses, and delicious herb-inspired recipes and menus for healthy cooking. Open your senses to the bounty of herbs that grow in the desert. Also included is a wonderful informational and instructional manual prepared especially for this series by your instructor Catherine The Herb Lady. Limit 20.

Session 1: Edibles in the Desert - Learn to garden for success in this introductory session designed to get you growing.  From planning to planting, ‘The Herb Lady' will teach you about our ‘flip- flop' planting times, give you the scoop on soil, and why "location, location, location" is as important in growing herbs as in buying real estate. You will also learn about one of  most important tools for desert gardening, bugs both good and bad, and more.

Session 2: Herbs - Anise to Zahtar - Discover the incredible variety of herbs that can be grown right here in our desert. While some are used to beautify, others are aromatic and flavorful, and many are "multitaskers", fulfilling many roles. Learn about gardening with themes, plants that play well with others and some that do not. This session includes an interpretive guided tour of the Herb Garden.

Session 3: Beauty on the Table, Delicious on the Dish - Treat your taste buds in this savory session by sampling some herb inspired recipes prepared by ‘The Herb Lady.' This interactive session will lead you, step-by-step, through a wide range of healthy, mouth-watering menu ideas. All are tasty, some unique, and all guaranteed to put more real food with real flavor on your plate, while minimizing fat and salt.

20th Annual Forever Friends Gathering

January 16th was our chance to get together with some of our dear friends, all of which we've known for 30 years or more. I'm not sure if it's really our 20th year of doing this, but it's been a long time.  It started when we lived in Southern California for 18 years and nearly every winter we'd come back to Phoenix between Christmas and New Year's to visit family and friends.  We always tried to reserve one day to gather with a few of our dear friends that we've known since the late 70's when we lived here in AZ the first time.  Most of these friends were married around the same time as us and had children at around the same time.  Our kids have known each other since birth and hopefully our grandkids will be the same.

This year the Mozingos graciously hosted the gathering.  It's really one of our favorite places to go, because it's like going out of town, even though they're still in the metro Phoenix area.  You'll see why from the photos.

This first pic is the inside of their front door.  They built this adobe home themselves and it has so many gorgeous touches that make it unique.  I just love the character of it.  The sidelight is made from the bottom of wine bottles.  I love the way the light shines thru it.

Most of us arrived by mid-afternoon so we could watch the Cardinals playoff game against New Orleans.  We had high hopes, but if you know anything about football, you'll know that they lost miserably, so the attention soon turned to the delicious food, wonderful fellowship and beautiful weather outside.

We each brought something to contribute to the meal.  Appetizers, drinks, desserts, soups, etc.  I won't go into a lot of detail because I forgot to take pictures of the food before it was picked over, but as always, we had so much more than we could eat and EVERYTHING was amazing!  If you don't want to come to these gatherings for any other reason, you will come for the food.  We are all very good at putting on a good spread.

During half time, many of us wandered outside to get our minds off the game and to see the latest developments in the Mozingo compound.  Some of us were fortunate to get a tour of Rand and Michelle's winter garden.  Brimming with gorgeous greens, turnips, radishes, cauliflower, broccoli and more.  It was fun to see and sample so many delicious healthy treats.  Thanks Rand!  You're a gardening inspiration.

After the tour we all just hung out in the back yard for a while.  I decided this year that I wanted to try to take a group photo at these annual gatherings so that we can look back at the growth and changes that have happened.  Sadly we haven't done it all along, but we still have lots of photos of these times together each year.  And now that I have a tripod and a remote control for my camera, it makes it that much easier.

The Thompson clan was out in force, but the rest of the families were a bit light on kids.  I think our kids would have loved to be there, if they weren't living in other states. We need to figure out a way to do this when they're in town sometimes.  And Emolyn was the only grandchild here, so needless to say she was quite the center of attention.  I look forward to the day when there are scads of little ones running around, experiencing what true friendship looks like and the love, grace and joy that fills these times together.

Shawn, Nicole and Emolyn

This is Jenna and her friend Sarah.  They've been friends since they were born too!

I love this shot of these old friends sharing stories.

Can you guess who they're all looking at?

 You guessed it!  Emolyn!  

Can you tell that her Uncle Tyler adores her?

She's at that perfect age when she'll do all kinds of "tricks" with the prompting of

adults around her. We saw many animal impersonations, ad-lib songs, dancing and so much more.

What a fun age she is!

 

Emolyn's parents, Nicole and Shawn, of course.

 

And here's Aunt Miranda singing with Em.

There was a threat of rain, but fortunately it held off for our get-together.

 Enjoy the rest of these photos.  They are self-explanatory.  I hope you get a picture of this wonderful place, group of people and time together.  It's one of our favorite gatherings of the year.  We wouldn't miss it for the world. 

We decided that next year we want to bring marshmallows, chocolate and Ginger Snaps and make a new kind of s'mores.  Doesn't that sound delicious?  But what should we call them?

Winter Decorating - Looking toward the Future

...that I don't even know where to start.

It's kind of funny that I signed up to Journal my Christmas and only managed to do one post about it. So here's what I'm thinking about doing next year. I'll go thru the list of topics that I got this year and try to write about them thru-out the year. Then when they come around in December, I'll already have the text and will just have to copy it into the blog and add photos. I'm assuming that she changes it up a little each year, but some of the topics have to be repeated, right?  So, I guess that needs to go on my To-Do list so I don't forget to write about Christmas in July. I'm really looking forward to the journaling. It's just way too busy in December, so I need to do some prep work.

For now, I'll catch you up on one of my decorating updates around the house.  While I was taking the Christmas tree ornaments down, I decided to change my branch a little. It started out with the removal of a few more sparkly items and the addition of some heart-shaped ornaments in preparation for Valentine's Day.  Then I decided to add a few more ornaments and such to represent various things that we're looking forward to in the coming year...so I call it my New Year's branch. Here are some of the items on it now.  When we get closer to Valentine's Day I'll add a few more hearts probably.

• In the first photo above, it's obviously a globe turned toward Europe.  That's because the big news is that we're going to Bosnia on a short term mission trip there in May (hopefully).  Did you know that it's across the ocean to the east of Italy?  You can read a little more about our plans in our Christmas Letter, if you haven't read it yet.  Tonight we watched the movie, "Welcome to Sarajevo", which gives just a glimpse into the horrible war there in the 90's.  We're also reading some books about it and learning from those who have been there in preparation for our trip. There will be lots more news to come on that as well.

In this next photo you'll also see:

• The car represents road trips that we hope to take.  We love adventure whether near or far.  Now you have to ignore the fact that the car is sitting in a tree.  We're not planning on anything like that happening!
• The music note is a reminder of the new opportunities that Terry will have to play publicly with his friends Dave and Bob, as well as doing what he has always loved, playing with the worship band at church.
• The mitten behind the note represents my hope to get up to the cold country to see some snow sometime this year.
  
• The little framed ornament says "Be Merry" - just a reminder to be joyful in all things.
• The word tags say "Thanksgiving" (to fill our hearts with it), "lazy days" (to slow down and relax once in a while), and "flowers" (who doesn't love them!)
  

• And you must have noticed that sweet chubby red cardinal sitting on the branch.  We could say that it represents our Phoenix Cardinals football team, or having a chance to get out and enjoy some nature during the year, but in reality I just think he's an adorable little guy and wanted to see him perched on the branch.  Besides, he matches the color scheme. (my branch, my rules)
• On the right of the photo below you'll see a camera.  Guess what that represents?

So needless to say, we're as excited about the year to come, as we always are and maybe a little more so, since we have some new adventures to look forward to.

Be sure to stop by again to hear about the rest of last year too!  It's coming soon, really...

50 Ways to Help the Planet

Amy posted a link to "50 Ways to Help the Planet" recently.  So many of them are very easy, so I thought I'd post some of them here.  For the rest of the list, visit the link above or at the end of this post.  (List is provided compliments of "Wire and Twine")

1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
If every household in the United State replaced one regular lightbulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road.
Don't like the color of light? Use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won't irk you as much.

2. TURN OFF COMPUTERS AT NIGHT
By turning off your computer instead of leaving it in sleep mode, you can save 40 watt-hours per day. That adds up to 4 cents a day, or $14 per year. If you don't want to wait for your computer to start up, set it to turn on automatically a few minutes before you get to work, or boot up while you're pouring your morning cup 'o joe.

3. DON'T RINSE
Skip rinsing dishes before using your dishwasher and save up to 20 gallons of water each load. Plus, you're saving time and the energy used to heat the additional water.

4. DO NOT PRE-HEAT THE OVEN
Unless you are making bread or pastries of some sort, don't pre-heat the oven. Just turn it on when you put the dish in. Also, when checking on your food, look through the oven window instead of opening the door.

 5. RECYCLE GLASS
Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn't recycled it can take a million years to decompose.




6. DIAPER WITH A CONSCIENCE
By the time a child is toilet trained, a parent will change between 5,000 and 8,000 diapers, adding up to approximately 3.5 million tons of waste in U.S. landfills each year. Whether you choose cloth or a more environmentally-friendly disposable, you're making a choice that has a much gentler impact on our planet.

7. HANG DRY
Get a clothesline or rack to dry your clothes by the air. Your wardrobe will maintain color and fit, and you'll save money.  Your favorite t-shirt will last longer too.

8. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

 

9. WASH IN COLD OR WARM
If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.
Only launder when you have a full load.

 10. USE ONE LESS PAPER NAPKIN
During an average year, an American uses approximately 2,200 napkins—around six each day. If everyone in the U.S. used one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year.

The other 40 tips are here.  Take a look and see how many of them you can put into practice in the new year.  How many of these are you already doing?  I think I'm at least at about 50% of these practices and trying to incorporate more every year.  Your grandchildren will thank you for it.