A Costa hummingbird has become a constant visitor to our patio. He takes a sip of nectar, perches on my dead bush display and waits for us to grab our cameras. Movement in the house doesn't seem to disturb him, so yes...we have a gazillion pictures. The only time he gets annoyed is seeing another hummer visit the feeder. He speeds into action defending his new territory.
What a cutie!
Look what I can do!
Now for my shaker grooming act!
Time for a little snack.
What are you guys doing in there?
This is my formal portrait.
For this photo I fiddled with photo shop and used the artistic poster filter.
Those lazy summer days are over.
School has started for the kids and so have Jennifer's nursing school clinical Saturday classes . The kids come over Friday night, we have a sleepover and we're back on routine. I only wish it meant cooler weather. Heck no, yesterday it was 114 degrees.
Larry, Eunice and I got away from the heat last Sunday and we did a road trip to Flagstaff. Their beautiful perennial sunflowers were in full bloom miles before we reached the town. The temperature was in the eighties and I got my wish to hunt for angels in their aged cemeteries.
Headstones are moss covered beauties, wild flowers abound, gnarled trees have lived long enough to grow faces and walls are weathered and crumbling. Shh.....it's so quiet. What peaceful places to visit.
The sleepy fellow at the bottom of the ancient tree has his tongue hanging out.
Flagstaff's climate is very conducive to growing beautiful summer flowers and the NAU campus had some beautiful beds of blooms but not more impressive than the gas station! Driving east the destruction of forest by beetle, fire and then monsoon rains and flooding was so sad to view. It must have been horrific for those families in the path of it.
Our last stop in the area was to once again visit Sunset Crater National Monument. The terrain around the volcano is so different and striking one forgets where they are. Black cinders and lava flows show off the vegetation colors in a striking contrast to old normal dirt. We love to camp there and soak up the atmosphere for days but not this trip. It's a good thing all the photos we took can take us back there any old time.
Photographs can do that for us. I have a large framed print of "Larry's rock" overlooking the grand canyon and when I worked it was in my office. I frequently used it to escape to my "happy place " for a few minutes. The trigger to use this method was realizing I was head banging the wall.
Little Miss Sophie visited us without her brothers this summer. She and I baked pecan chocolate chip cookies and I'm guessing her favorite part was licking the spoon and eating them!
We played in the pool, Papa took her to the park and she was an angel throughout the days.
I suspect Sophia is going to be the peacemaker in the family. Bruce got in trouble one day probably for getting in the garbage and I must have raised my voice and scolded him. It was then I noticed Sophie was singing me the "don't be sad, be happy" song to make things better.
Sophie will forever be my reminder to slow down, smile, enjoy life and be grateful for our family and time spent together. What's a little garbage mess anyway? She is so sweet.
Luke's solitary summer visit started off with a fishing trip with our friend Jim, his granddaughter Lauren and Papa. They journeyed back to Woods Canyon Lake and Papa promised he would catch a fish! He did carry Lauren's around but sadly not his own. Mostly the four of them caught rocks.
Luke and I baked banana bread one day and we played board games with great grandma Eunice. It was hot but we did walk to the neighborhood park late one day. I never can resist taking a picture of the raised walkway over Ray Rd. We had pool time, lunch out with Larry's women and we merchandised his father's Oroweat bread at Fry's market up the street.
Our Luke is growing up so fast but I suspect it's me growing old so fast that makes it seem so. He is a wonderful person who loves being busy and is a marvelous brother of Sophie and Brayden. He is a talented artist and born teacher. I'm proud of you, I love you and fully enjoy time spent with you. Thank you for the visit!
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