Having a Senior Moment (Benson, AZ)

I received an email from my friend a few days ago.  She wanted to let me know that she had a great time visiting me and mentioned photos of her visit.  Talk about having a Senior moment.

I had totally forgotten to post photos of our visits to Cottonwood and to Phoenix.  For some reason, I thought I had already posted to my blog about our visits with my friend and with Dan's sister and her husband.  We had a great time visiting and catching up with everyone. So, for this post I'm doing a little backtracking.

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Below are a couple of photos of from the trails above the Verde Valley RV Campground near Cottonwood, AZ.  My friend and I did a very early morning walk.  It got up into the high 90s, but the mornings were wonderful. 

You can see the tops of the rigs among the trees in this one.

We also visited Tuzigoot National Monument.  We did not stay long as it was getting close to noon and getting very warm especially out in the sun.

After our stay in Cottonwood, we moved south to Phoenix to visit Dan's sister and her husband.  We had a delicious homemade lunch for Mother's Day and a tour of their house.

Dan had no problems getting us reservation at the Usery Mountain Regional Park.  We stayed a few nights enjoying the quiet beauty each evening.

The Saguaros were blooming, but were so tall that I had to use my 500 mm lens to get close-ups.

I managed to get a couple of good photos of one bird enjoying the flowers.

There must have been something moist inside the flowers because his beak was dripping when he pulled it out.  If this bird had lips, I would swear he was smacking his beak.  Must have been some tasty juice in those flowers.  I wonder if it was fermented.  He had no problem flying a straight line. 😄

Dan caught this photo of Max chillin' after an early evening of exploring our site and chasing lizards.

Whew! They say it is a dry heat, but I am worn out!

I might joke about being forgetful, but I will never forget those who gave their lives for our country.

Home of the Free

On The Cutting Board

Not much luck finding a good location to take photos of my finished quilts.  In the meantime, I am finishing up two more Happy Campers.

I'm also working on a new pattern called Twitter by Meags & Me

Okay, I do believe I have covered everything this time.  We leave Benson next Tuesday, so I better get back to my quilts and mug rugs. Have a Safe Weekend

Bloomin' Desert (Apache Junction, AZ)

The desert is starting to bloom, but I can see many buds just waiting to open.  I'm sorry we won't be here to see them flower.  We hiked the Wind Cave trail.  It took a couple of hours to get to the top.  

We had people passing us going up and then coming back down the trail.  How they could move so fast and not stop to enjoy the views....well, it is beyond me.

I'm a pretty slow walker since I like to look around, and of course, I keep stopping to take photos.  

Despite the fast walkers and runners, I had a great time looking for new flowers as we climbed up the side of the mountain.  I saw lots of lizards and no snakes....which is fine with me....

Only one cactus was blooming but there were plenty of wildflowers blooming.

This is the view from the Wind Cave.  Once we were there, it was hard to believe how far we had hiked from the parking lot.  Usually, we don't get a view of you were there and now you are here view.  Look how far away it is!  While we stood there, two hummingbirds were flying over our heads.  We were a little surprised to see them up there since we had not seen nor heard many birds along the way up the trail.

That evening, Dan discovered the full moon was in a perfect position with a tall saguaro behind our motorhome.  I took one look at the moon and went for my camera.  I rarely see a moon halo and I found it difficult to photograph.  Only a couple of the photos show the moon and the halo.  Here's one of my better photos.

We leave for Cottonwood, AZ on Monday.  I hope everyone had a great Easter Weekend with family and friends.  I know we had a great week of visiting with Dan's sister and her husband.

Happy Easter!

A Mountain of Superstition and Witches (Apache Junction, AZ)

We moved to Usery Mountain Regional Park.  Less than 15 miles from our last location, but what a difference!  We and the cats are enjoying the wide open spaces and all the critters.  I woke up to coyotes yapping right behind our motorhome.  Max was looking very alert out the window.  I looked but no such luck of seeing the two daybreakers.

Superstition Mountain

Some of the cactus are starting to bloom, but I can see that there are many with buds just starting.  I have taken a lot of photos and I'll post more in April.  Due to downloads to my new computer, we are almost at our broadband limit for this month.  We have almost another week and of course, I don't want to go over our limit.  I posted our site on our travel blog Too2ManyCats.

We move to Cottonwood, AZ on Monday.  

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy) by Deborah Harkness


This is the offical description of this book:
The All Souls Trilogy follows the story of Diana Bishop, a historian and reluctant witch, as she solves the mystery of Ashmole 782, falls in love with a mysterious vampire named Matthew Clairmont, and learns how powerful it can be to accept who you are.

Sounds intriguing!  I haven't read too many witch or vampire books.  As a matter of fact, I haven't read any since Anne Rice's Lestat and the Mayfair Witches were published.  So, this is my first witch/vampire story in quite a long time and I enjoyed Deborah's concept of a world filled with four creatures: humans, witches, vampires and demons.

Actually, I listened to this book on my iPod.  The story starts out slow and I was a little worried that this 24-hour long story was going to feel more like a 48-hour drag.  Soon, I found myself not wanting to turn off my iPod because I wanted to know what would happen next to the main characters Diana and Matthew.

Born a witch, but refusing to practice, Diana has a Ph.D. in history and researches alchemical texts.  While doing research, her power pulls up a missing spellbound manuscript that holds secrets about demons, vampires, and witches only to put it back before reading it.  Soon, Diana is being hounded by three of the creatures.  Demons and vampires want to read the contents while the witches want to keep it hidden.

Enter Matthew Clairmont, many centuries old vampire and a genetic scientist.  An unusual wine-connoisseur vampire that rarely feeds on warm bloods and walks around in the daylight.  Romance soon follows, but wait...a vampire and a witch in love?  It's bad enough that Diana has produced a lost text, but now she is involved with a vampire which is frowned upon by both sides.

As Diana's powers improve and her love for Matthew grows, the story becomes more interesting.  I like the concept of this new world of creatures that includes a little history, science, alchemy, and magic.

My favorite part was the house owned by Diana's aunt.  It had a mind of its own with closing doors, producing items that had been gone for years, throwing temper tantrums, or building rooms for unexpected guests.  Not to mention, it is filled with ancestral ghosts that only the witches can see.

There are sex scenes and no swearing.

Oh, and if you do decide to read this book, buy Shadow of Night.  The first one really leaves you hanging at the end.  As a matter of fact, I was a little put out with the ending and I was happy to see the second book has already been published.  But, I have been left hanging at the end of the second book too.  The third in the series has not been written yet and has no publishing date as of today.  You can bet I'll be on the lookout for it!

Happy Trails!