Seasons Change
Worked on getting out some Spring and Easter decorations today. I took down the Valentine's decor off my branch too. I'll have to post that later if I have a chance.

Here's the branch with Easter Eggs.

I realize that since the outdoors don't change much here with the seasons, I'm forced to change things inside just to have some variety of color and view. I get bored when things stay the same too long. It's the decorator in me. Fortunately, Terry doesn't seem to mind too much.

I also rearranged the living room after the holidays. Here's the new view. This one also shows what the branch looked like with our Christmas cards on it.

Shredder likes the new arrangement because she can sit on the back of the sofa and soak up the sun in the morning. Now I have my eye out to get a new slipcover for the sofa. Pottery Barn has some now that are quite a bit cheaper than the standard ones. I'll probably look for some kind of a neutral so I can change all the accent colors as much as I want. The red is a bit limiting, although I've found ways to work with it over the last few years.

Garage Cleaning & Coffee Cup History

As is the tradition in the Hann household, Monday holidays are reserved for big projects at home. Not that it's a requirement, but it just seems to work out that way. So, I didn't mention it, but sometime last year (we think it was Memorial Day) Terry and I painted the inside of the garage before it got too hot to be in there.

We knew the garage needed a thorough cleaning and organizing, but I wanted the walls to be painted and in better shape before we got everything organized and put away. Besides, I KNEW that it would probably be decades before we ever did anything with it again.

So, nearly 9 months ago we pulled all the stacks of boxes, decorations, yard tools, camping gear, old paint cans and junk away from the walls and painted everything. We used a couple of cans of "Oops" paint so it doesn't all match exactly, but it's close enough for a garage and looks MUCH better than the old dirty white paint that was probably done when the house was built. The photo at the top is pretty much what it has looked like since then. We had just enough of a path from the front to the back to get thru if we needed to, but really no space or order to accomplish anything in there.

Since last May, we somehow just couldn't find a full day to work on the next step, which was the organizing. Finally we were motivated to get some things together for our nephew, Daniel's fund raising yard sale (which is this weekend) so on President's Day we were able to get to it.

The 2nd pic is what it looks like now. We add more shelves and got rid of some stuff, and were able to get about 99% finished with just a few more racks to hang, but it looks and functions so much better. We're actually thinking that we may be able to park a car in there soon! Wow!

So this brings us to the coffee cups. Some of you know that I used to collect coffee mugs back in the 70's and 80's before many of them were broken in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. I never counted exactly how many I had, but it was probably somewhere in the range of 200. I used to have many of them hanging on pegs around the top of our kitchen and dining room and many fell during the earthquake. It was quite a mess!

So after that, since we still lived in earthquake country, I decided to collect something a little less breakable (like birdhouses). Now I don't really collect anything specifically (except pictures).

Anyway, when we were cleaning the garage, I decided to go thru several crates of coffee mugs to see if I could whittle down the collection that I kept. I decided to just keep mugs that had personal significance, like belonging to someone who had passed on, or had historical significance, with dates or memorable info on the mug (like the ones I'll blog about). I have several others that I'll post later, but since I've been so long winded today, I'll start with just one.

This is from a restaurant named Sambo's. Do you remember it? It was a coffee shop, like a Denny's or Bob's Big Boy-type place. The tops of their walls were covered with murals from the story "Little Black Sambo". (Did you have that book growing up?) I don't remember the specifics of the story, but I seem to recall that it wasn't very politically correct, which apparently led to the end of the restaurant chain.

I was amazed to discover that the original Sambo's wasn't really even named after the book and that the founding restaurant is still open in Santa Barbara. We'll have to visit sometime.

The Sambo's I spent the most time in, was the one that was on Indian School and around 28th Street in Phoenix. That's the one that was closest to our church, "Open Door Fellowship" (now in a different location) and the outreach ministry "Hand in Hand". Large groups of high school and college age kids would migrate to Sambo's. We would drink gallons and gallons of coffee mostly and sometimes scrape together a few bucks to get a salad or fries. If we were really rich, we'd actually get a burger! I'm sure the servers dreaded having to wait on us, because we were all poor and no matter how much we wanted to, never tipped very well. We had some deep and meaningful conversations there and I got to know many who are still my friends today, including my husband (before he was even my boyfriend).

I have wonderful memories of those times when we could just sit and chat for hours on end till well into the night or the wee hours of the morning. What a precious season that was...

Maui Reunion -

Last night we got together with the group that went to Maui in December. It's mostly co-workers and spouses and a great group of people.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner, then had the most fun looking at a slideshow of all the photos that everyone took and reminiscing about how much fun we had on the trip.

We also had a chance to present the Uhlmanns (our hosts for the Maui trip) with a photo book as a thank you from all of us. I had the privilege of putting it together for them. It took a long time, but was well worth it when we saw how much they seemed to enjoy looking at it. They were genuinely surprised that we had made a personalized book just for them. I think Steve enjoyed seeing some of his photos in the book since he enjoys photography as well.

And the surprise for me was that the rest of the group gave ME a thank you gift for putting the book together. It was so sweet of them, but TOTALLY unexpected.

I posted a link on the right side of my blog that takes you to the site where you can preview the first 10 pages or so of the book (which is 90+ pages in all). Once you get there, if you click on "full screen" view you'll get a better look at it.

I will say that I enjoyed the process of creating the book and want to do more in the future. It may even replace my scrap booking to some degree. Blurb.com has very easy and intuitive software with dozens of templates available. I think I even read that you can create your own templates if you can't find what you want in their selections. I ended up creating two different books because I thought the first one that I made was too small when it arrived. The second one was easier because I already knew which photos to use and just copied the text and templates generally from the first one.

I did have a little trouble with the file crashing at one point, but Blurb was very helpful and able to repair the file so that I didn't have to start over again, which was a lifesaver. It took a little while to get it fixed, but they upgraded my shipping on the book order so that it still got to me in plenty of time for the presentation party.

Now I need to make a few revisions to the file to make the book specific for Terry and I. I'll add pics from our anniversary and free time excursions and take out some of the "thank you" content from the other. That should be so much easier than starting from scratch though.

Phoenix Hiking -

It's perfect weather right now for a hike! Current temperature in the mid-fifties. This morning Terry and I took a hike around Lookout Mountain which is near 16th Street and Greenway. It was about 2 1/2 miles around the base, and a pretty easy hike. Terry wanted to hike to the top but I knew I'd probably die if I tried it since I'm so out of shape. He accommodated me and went with the loop. I really love to hike, but am always tempted to take my camera and Terry prefers to go with speed when he walks for exercise. We'll have to figure out a way to meet in the middle. I was thinking if we do a hike like this again, we could do a moderate one, then Terry could hike to the top while I play with my camera...we'll see if that works.

Terry just bought a new book of hikes in and around Phoenix so we'll have to see what cool places we can find. Anyone want to join us on a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon?

We need to get more hiking and walking in now before it get too hot. I need to make it a priority. I am horrible at setting aside time for exercise. I really hate exercise for exercise sake, but if we have nice scenery, then I forget about the exercise and it's worth the time. I know in my head that I need to exercise and my doctor says that I need to as well, so it's really crazy that I just can't make the commitment. I just always seem to find things that I enjoy more.

I'll be posting more today, trying to catch up a bit, so be sure to look at all my posts.

Happy 25th Birthday Kevin!!!

...and Happy 4th Anniversary in the Air Force!

O.k. so I've been sorting thru old photos today and found a few fun ones to help chronicle your quarter century birthday. As most of you know, Kevin is our only son. He is our baby, although clearly not a baby any more.

Here are just a few of the things that stand out in my reminiscing about Kevin's life.

Kevin, you were born 2 weeks past your due date...almost on Leap Day, Feb 29th, but God answered my prayer and allowed your arrival to wait one more day. I woke up in labor around 3 in the morning on March 1st. Whew!

You scared us a bit when you had a fever the day you were born (not typical) and the doctors decided that you needed to stay in the hospital for an extra WEEK while they sent me home. Even though I KNEW that you were fine and that God was in control, I was scared to death that there was something seriously wrong and that I'd never be able to bring my dear little boy home from the hospital.

You were actually a big boy at 9 lbs 2 oz at birth and after a long uncertain week, you got a clean bill of health and came home. We were ecstatic!

You've always been the "active" one. Amy was over two years old and had NEVER tried to stand up in her high chair. The first day I put you in the high chair, I turned around for a second, then looked back and you were standing up...not on the seat, but on the tray! You were constantly moving and exploring and didn't like to sit still for too long. We were amazed when you taught Amy how to climb on things that she had never even considered before! We were busy, but loved your curiosity.

You were (and still are) a sweet and lovable boy with a precious tender heart. We admire how much you love animals and nature and wouldn't hurt a soul. When you were about 5 or 6 years old, we took you kids fishing and you were so excited to catch a small fish. When we got home and Dad started to clean it (to cook it) you were devastated and literally cried for about 2 hours! You thought we were going to keep it as a pet. How heartbroken we were that we had let you down that day.

We remember when you were older, you used to try to figure out how you could go somewhere where you would be out in nature and not see people for weeks at a time. I'm sure sometime you'll get the chance to do that if you still want to. Just be sure you do it safely. You also had the great idea of keeping an RV on every continent so you could travel the world whenever you wanted to. Now that sounds like fun to me too! Can we borrow them?

You have always been so wonderful about showing affection to me and others, even with friends or strangers around. When you were about 7 years old, I told you I was going to write up a contract to sign that you could never stop giving me hugs, because I knew that someday you'd be embarrassed about it. Fortunately, there hasn't been a time that you have neglected to show me that you love me. What a gift! It's so encouraging too, to see how well you get along with your sister and now Andrew, your brother-in-law too. Being less than 2 years apart, You and Amy have always been the best of friends (well except for that short season in jr. high/high school when you could have ripped each others heads off). It's so great to see you love, encourage and challenge each other in life.

And even as a teenager you have always taken time to show an interest in the elderly and children. You are a gentle soul and somehow know just when someone needs that extra little bit of attention and affirmation. You will make an awesome father and husband someday.

You have always been so creative, funny, gifted and passionate about life! From the time you started singing at about 3 years old, in our church Christmas programs. To when you were older and got involved in school plays, talent shows, musicals, and the high school choirs. We especially loved hearing you sing tenor in your Barbershop Quartet.

You have an awesome gift for making people laugh with your off-beat sense of humor. You had everyone in stitches at your high school talent shows, as well as the Saugus High Morning Video Announcements. I was trying to find the video online of when you did "Mr. Roboto", but can't seem to track it down. If you know anyone who has it, let me know. Dad was so thrilled when you followed in his footsteps and learned how to play bass and guitar and played with him at church. He and I always loved going to all of your and Amy's performances. It was so much fun to see you stepping out and expressing your gifts in ways that we had never dreamed of doing when we were your age.

What a fun season of life and what a blessing to have such confident and expressive kids!

We loved the time that you played soccer and basketball too. You had a love for the Suns and Kevin Johnson. That was another exciting season of life! We were and always will be your biggest cheerleaders.

We know that you're cultivating your gift as a promising writer and philosopher as well and still have interest in those areas. Maybe someday we'll get to see some of your works published, but even if we don't we'll cherish the detail and imagination from those stories that you wrote growing up.

We look forward to seeing where all of your passions lead you. Unfortunately your curse is that you get bored easily (like me). I hope that you can follow your dreams and find a way to enjoy all those things that you love so much. You have so much life ahead and we're excited for where you're going.

As of today you'll also celebrate your 4th anniversary in the Air Force. You were not a little boy who played army or imagined being in battle at all. Oh, I take that back...there were the Indiana Jones days and those simulated gun fights and that Star Wars-esque light saber battle that you filmed in high school. But generally your demeanor never indicated to us that you would join the military. You remember how surprised and apprehensive we were when you decided to enlist. After these 4 long years, we're thankful that you have benefited from many things in the experience, like learning Mandarin Chinese, traveling overseas, meeting new friends, and will have the advantage of the new GI Bill for college when you get out in a few months.

We have missed you so much over these last 4 years and can't wait to have you "free" and more accessible. We look forward to exciting and precious times of adventure, laughter and love for you and with you as you continue to grow and mature and find out God's perfect plan for your life.

Sorry this is so long, but we have a lot to be thankful for. We thank God for giving you to us, Kevin to share our lives with and for making you the perfect piece to complete our family. What a thrill ride it has been and it's only just beginning.

Happy Birthday sweet son. We love you more than life itself and can't wait to see you again. August will not come too soon.

I just had to post this.

I've been sorting old pictures all day and many of them made me smile, but this one made me laugh out loud (several times). It's the look on Amy's face.

I know she was sincere in her affectionate gaze at her new little brother. Come on she wasn't even two years old, but you'd think she was going to grow up to be an actress or something.

I JUST LOVE IT!!!

What did people do before photographs? It's so fun to look back at these.

Today I started sorting my old printed photos by subject. I realized that when I look thru old pictures, I usually am looking for a picture of "someone" not a specific event or date. So, I'm sorting our photos in separate boxes that way. Here's the categories I have so far:

Amy (includes activities that they participated in school, church, etc.)
Amy & Andrew
Kevin(includes activities that they participated in school, church, etc.)
Amy & Kevin together
Terry
Me
Terry & I together with or without the kids
Perkins extended family
Hann extended family
Friends
Home & Pets
General (scenery or whatever)

At some point I may sort there even further and I'll scan my favorites, but for now this will help greatly to narrow down the location of photos when I'm searching.

A Trip Down Memory Lane...
I'm starting to work on a short slideshow of the history of our church, Open Door Fellowship. I recently attended our Newcomer's Class, even though I started attending over 30 years ago (with an 18 year absence in the middle when we lived in California).

They didn't have a class like this when I started attending when I was 16 years old, so I went to the Newcomer's Class just to see how they describe this unique family when people are new. It was a wonderful reminder of all the reasons that I love this place and hope that we never have to leave again.

Anyway, one of the Sundays they went thru the 30+ year history (which was fun). While they were talking thru it, I had so many pictures pop into my head of the various buildings that we met in, and the people in those "early days" when most of the attenders were hippy Jesus Freaks (in the 70's).

So I offered to work on a slide show that they can use in future classes just to give people a flavor of where we've been. It doesn't need to be anything too long because the newcomers won't really care about too much detail, but I thought it would be fun to give them some visuals just for the big picture. So, I'm starting to try to track down old pictures.

These are a few pictures that I came across of Terry and I and friends from the "early days" when we were each singing in Christian bands. Terry's band, Glory Road, was more rock n roll, and a little bit country rock. The band I was in, Shira, was more of a folk band. We had tons of fun.

If you notice Terry's pictures, he goes from almost no beard to a ZZ Top-type beard. Isn't he just so cute?

My hair was long, I didn't wear make-up and overalls were my very favorite thing to wear. I would still wear them if I could. They were SO comfortable!

The most awesome thing about all of these memories is that we're still in touch with most of these people on a regular basis. The picture at the top is my precious friend, Sharon and me when we were teenagers. She's also in the center of the last picture with her future husband, Jay on the left of the picture. She is still one of my dearest friends. We also just saw two of the guys from Glory Road a few weeks ago when we went to see John, who is still playing guitar. What an amazing gift in this transitional culture to have such sweet friendships that have continued over more than 3 decades.

I really believe that much of that is due to the environment of grace that has been cultivated in this place since the beginning. Don't get me wrong, mistakes are made and people are hurt because we're human, but the goal is to be able to forgive and continue to love each other, no matter what. I am so thankful to be part of this amazing family of God.

A weekend of choices & checking tasks off the list -
Colors, Books and Technology Day

We're getting closer to the reality of getting our house painted! Yea! We are hoping to get price quotes in the coming days and have picked out our paint colors. Saturday we went to Home Depot and picked up samples of the colors and tried them on the outside of the house. Basically I wanted it to be anything other than the beige/tan color family. If you've been to Phoenix, you'll quickly notice that about 90% of the homes are some shade of beige. For those who know me, you know that I LOVE color and just couldn't settle for beige. Nothing against that choice for others, but I just can't do it myself. Now I'm not going to be too radical on the outside of the house, so as not to upset the neighbors, so it's going to be a pale sage green with white trim and a few splashes of fern green here and there. Or to be a little more specific, go to the Behr paint website and look up these colors: Pale Sagebrush, Icy Tundra and Sea Fern. I think these will be good colors to help bring out whatever green we have in the plants in the yard. I can't wait! Next big project will be the landscaping in the front yard. Looking forward to that one too.

I'm very excited about another change around here as well! We've had our wireless network set up for quite a while, but it's also been unsecured for a long time, so anyone - neighbors, strangers, or whoever happens to drive by - could access it with no resistance. Lately we've had some issues with our computers that have concerned me and prompted me to want to reset our password for the wireless connection to protect it against unauthorized access.

So today I dug out the original disk and jumped into the instruction manual to try to figure out how to set up the password again. Now, you need to know that I'm really NOT good at anything relating to hardware on a computer, especially networking and cofiguration, etc. It's all very intimidating for me because I'm afraid I'm going to click the wrong box and everything's going to crash. Also because when I work on this kind of thing, I inevitably come across one or more questions that I have no idea how to answer. In this case, here's just one example: Please choose the encryption type. How in the world am I supposed to know? Both choices are just 3 random letters that mean absolutely nothing to me. Fortunately there were only 2 choices, so I was able to determine it by process of elimination.

Anyway, it took me a few HOURS and I thought I had totally messed up the whole setup at a few points, but I finally stumbled through the process and got it to work like I wanted. The cool thing is that while I was in there, I figured out how to connect wirelessly to our printer and documents from the laptop to the other computer in the office, so I don't have to go back and forth between computers to print or access documents or pictures that are on one or the other. Spiffy, huh?

Now I still have a few technical things that I need to figure out, like:

• How to get my Outlook to auto-complete my email addresses when I begin to type them. It drives me crazy that it won't do that.
• How to sync my contacts and calendar from Outlook to my iPod touch. (I may be calling Randy or Shawn - our resident iPod geniuses for help)
  
• How to download audio files to my computer, then iPod touch - Terry should be able to help me with this.

So I guess I'll need to have another technology day soon.

Also, my mom has been cleaning closets and is getting rid of some of her books. But, before we give them away, I thought I'd check and see if anyone wants any of the hard covers. There are also quite a few Reader's Digest Condensed books, but I'm guessing that most of the reading purists won't be interested in those. Plus some paperbacks, but most of those are romance novels.

So, open up these pictures and look at the titles. If you're interested in reading any of these books, let me know and I'll set them aside and give them to you when we see you again.

Once we see if anyone wants any of these, we're going to donate what's left to my nephew Daniel's fund raising yard sale in March. He's raising money to go on a basketball mission trip to the Philippine's next summer.

If you have anything you want to get rid of, let us know and we'll have Daniel get in touch with you to pick up your "treasures" before his big sale. Or if you just want to send him a check, let us know that too and we can give you his address.

Sweetheart Dinner

Last night Terry and I went to a Sweetheart Dinner and Dance at Open Door. It was a fund raiser for our Marriage Ministry to help defray the costs of the ODF marriage retreats so that all couples can afford to attend. This is such an important ministry that has impacted so many people. Terry and I attended just in the last few years and would have loved to have gone many years earlier because the teaching is so helpful in all areas of life, but especially in that most important one.

I would love to find a way for Amy and Andrew to be able to attend these retreats. The principles taught there are so foundational to a great marriage, that it would be a worthwhile investment in their lives. Now we just need to figure out a way to get them here from So Cal for those weekends, which is tough because Amy works on Friday nights and Andrew works on Saturdays. Well, maybe someday we'll be able to figure out a way.

The team that leads the ministry is the same team that served us last night, along with other amazing cooks in the kitchen.

We had a wonderful relaxing time, eating delicious food and chatting with great friends. I took my camera, but didn't take too many photos since I wanted to enjoy the evening.

Here are just a few to give you a feel for the evening. As mentioned before, the food was delicious and this dessert was so tasty. I can't remember what it was called, but it was basically a chocolate coated, cream filled eclair with raspberry sauce. Mmmmm...

Travel Stock Photography - now that sounds like a great plan!


Check out this great article about this guy's career doing travel stock photography. Note: there are 3 parts so read them all. The photo here is one of his.

It sounds like a perfect way to start small and work up to something full time, plus you can make your own hours.

I also have another idea for making custom greeting cards with photos taken at the gorgeous resorts around AZ. The gift shop at the resort could sell cards (saying things like "I miss you!" or "Wish you were here.") with photos of their own resort. Do you think anyone's doing that already? All I would need is permission to go around and get shots, then they could decide if they want to buy the cards as they go along. I've been thinking about this for a while, but just haven't had the time to follow up on it.

Let me know what you think.

Shredder's Lastest Tricks

We've been trying to figure out what's up with Shredder. She's been doing all kinds of things that we haven't seen her do before. Maybe she's becoming senile or maybe she's just being more adventurous in her old age.

I caught her on the kitchen counter in the middle of the night even when I was sitting in the same room. She's also been climbing up on the bathroom counter. No idea why!

We've seen her fairly regularly drinking out of the swimming pool. Fortunately it's a salt water pool so the chlorine's not quite as strong as in other pools. I hope she doesn't fall in.

And she's been sitting on Terry's lap more, even though he says he doesn't like it.

Crazy cat!

A belated Happy Valentine's Day to All!
As always, it's been a busy weekend! I even had today off to spend with my hubby! Yea!

So have I told you lately how much I LOVE flowers? They just make me so happy. And it doesn't have to be anything really expensive like roses or calla lilies or something. I love most any kind of flower. For Valentine's Day, Terry sent me a bouquet of red tulips and purple iris'. They arrived on Thursday all tightly closed but opened up beautifully over the last few days. They even look better today! I just love them! I have probably taken 100 or so pics of just the flowers in different settings and lighting and looks. Aren't they gorgeous? I LOVE them!

I also received some of my favorite chocolate (the Lindt Intense Orange - Dark Chocolate bars) Mmmmmm!
Saturday we had a quiet day at home and at night we made a nice dinner.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Melting Pot Restaurant which was really nice and a delicious meal. For those who have never been, it's all fondue and you basically prepare your meal yourself. Cheese fondue for dipping veggies, breads, etc. Hot savory vegetable broth for cooking your meats and seafood, then chocolate fondue for dipping all kinds of sweets. They are generally out of our price range, but we had a gift card which helped a lot.

Yes all those desserts were for just the two of us! We had a great meal!

Friday night we went to visit our friend, John Heath play at a local club nearby. We had dinner with him and our other friends, the Brunners before the concert too. I took a few pics and hope to post them soon.

Last night I was working on a new Hawaii photo book and worked on it until 3:30 am, which is unheard of for me. I just really wanted to get it finished so I could submit it for printing. Unfortunately, the program is having some issues right now and I can't seem to complete the process. I submitted the info to technical support, so let's pray that it all gets fixed tomorrow and that the whole thing wasn't lost. This one was over 90 pages, so I will just give up on it if it's lost.

Today Terry and I cleaned the garage. Not the most fun on a holiday, but we are certainly pleased that it is mostly finished and we can actually walk from one side of the space to the other without tripping over various obstacles. It's looking so much better! I'll try to post a before and after soon too. Oh, and I was doing a bit of sorting and came across some great old memorabilia, vintage coffee mugs, and special treasures from when the kids were little that I will also post soon. Just a little more to add to my growing list of pending posts.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Let me know what you did.

Update from Sharon in Kuwait

The wind has stopped blowing. We have had a sandstorm blowing for 3 days. I am told this is called a Shahlam. Here's a link to some pics of a dust storm here last year.

Constant dust, dirt and sand blowing constantly everywhere in everything. This is a regular weather occurrence that lasts 1-3 days.The world as I know it is covered in sand, dirt and dust in my bed, my clothes, hair, skin. I am a bit weakened and rundown from working 7 days a week for months on end. And after what has amounted to inhaling pounds of dust and dirt, my lungs have become a haven for an upper resperitory infection. I cant breathe, coughing,and congested, general unwellness prevails. So, the Shahlam has ended and Inshallah (God willing) I will be leaving here in about 35 days.

I also attended a briefing, which is mandatory for all returning military and deployed civilians. The briefing includes information on financial issues and a chaplain's briefing on readjustment to normal life and suicide prevention. Last month 24 soldiers committed suicide. The highest suicide rate for one month in history. What can someone say about such things? I ask you to think about this issue with your heart and spirit. I think the number speaks for itself. For every
soldier who commits suicide, friends, family, wives and children are left to bear the pain.

So, not only 24 soldiers committed suicide, if that does not give you pause, 24 families were decimated to the point of despair and lifelong heartache. You must hear this with your heart. Enough Said!

As-salaam Alaaikum ( Peace be upon you/Peace be with you )

Busy weekend!
This weekend was busy with lots of fun things, but busy nonetheless.

Friday, I spent the day with my mom. We went to lunch, then ran a few errands, bought her some shoes at Ross, and stopped to check out a new Goodwill store where I found a top for myself. She thought the prices were too high, plus they had everything generically priced, for example, all long sleeve shirts were 5.99 no matter what the quality. She didn't like that, so we didn't stay too long.

Then while we were waiting for Terry to come over after work, I showed her how to use her new cell phone. She does pretty well for 85. Sometimes she gets a little frustrated and would rather not use a cell phone, but has agreed to carry it with her when she goes out, in case of emergency.

When I picked her up earlier in the day, she let me know that the Glendale Chocolate Affaire was going on this weekend. It's an outdoor chocolate festival that they have every year around Valentine's Day. Since we both LOVE chocolate, Terry and I have talked about going ever since we moved back from California. Mom lives less than a mile from the festival and had never been there herself. Fortunately, I had already set aside the whole day and evening for her, since I wasn't sure what we would be doing, so we decided to check it out that night with Terry.

It was interesting, but I have come to find out that most of these festivals are much too crowded and not nearly as great as they sound. We felt the same way about the Scottsdale Culinary Festival. Just too many people in one place at the same time. Amazingly mom navigated the festival quite handily with her walker. There was a nice policeman that told us we could use the handicapped parking even though she doesn't have a tag for the car, which helped with the walking distance getting TO the festival. Anyway, we bought some chocolate dipped strawberries which were good, sampled several types of fudge, including goat cheese fudge. Terry ended up buying some coconut & chocolate fudge. He also bought the T shirt above as a souvenir. Overall we had a little fun and were glad that we went, but probably won't go back. Once was enough.

Saturday, I went to an all day Nikon Photography seminar. I learned some new techniques and info about my camera and got some great information on multi-day photography workshops offered in the field around Arizona by the "Friends of Arizona Highways". They're a bit pricey, but I'd love to save my money to do one someday. I'm sure it would be a great learning experience.

Today after church, my friend Cathy and I went to the Willo Historic Home Tour in central Phoenix. This is a neighborhood of homes built in the 20's and 30's. A very eclectic neighborhood with all styles of architecture. The tour is also something that I've wanted to do for a long time, but have just always missed it somehow.
I was very pleasantly surprised and will definitely go again...hopefully every year.

These are just a few glimpses into some of the houses.

And I loved watching this little girl playing in the puddles.
Cathy and I already talked about setting aside more time next year and asking some more friends if they want to join us. We didn't have enough time to look at the unique craft booths or even to get to all the houses. The ones we visited were very nice and each one had so much character and gorgeous decorating. Just the things I love to look at. And because the tours are spread out over several blocks, it never really felt too crowded. Very manageable. The weather was gorgeous except for just a few sprinkles. We had a great time!

And just for fun, here's a picture of Shredder exploring a shopping bag.

So, back to work tomorrow. I told Terry that I need a whole week off just to get my house in some kind of order. I've been ignoring it for a while...or I guess I just need to stop having so much fun on the weekend.

Let me know what you're up to. What are your Valentine's Day plans?

In memory of our dear brother Gordon Barr...

Today Terry and I attended the memorial service of our friend and fellow musician, Gordon Barr. He was diagnosed a few short months ago with an inoperable brain tumor and went home to be with his Lord last Sunday morning.

What a tribute it was to his quiet, gentle, caring spirit when the church sanctuary was filled with people. Gordon was not one to draw attention to himself or even want to be up front or in big crowds, but you could tell by the stories shared by family and friends that he had his own private way of touching peoples lives thru a shared meal or witty bit of humor. You could see and hear that those who knew him best loved him dearly and cherished their time with him. What a testimony to God's work through him.

He was an excellent keyboard player and bass player. He wrote much of his own music and loved to tinker on the keyboards. We'll miss seeing him up on stage playing for worship on Sunday mornings.

You can read more about his life and legacy, see photos and even add your own comments here.