Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

On Christmas Eve we lit luminaria in our backyard. Made for a beautiful ambiance.


On Christmas Day we took a hike to a spot where there are petroglyphs and other evidences of ancient people living here. In this photo you can see holes in the rocks, the result of years of grinding seeds.



Jenni was either just contemplating the petroglyphs, or just trying to stay warm. The temperature was about 60 degrees, but the wind was blowing strongly, making it feel much cooler.


The land we hiked on is owned by the State of Arizona and is leased to cattle ranchers. I asked these cows for some eggnog, but they didn't seem to understand what I was asking.


Mica is our desert dog. She loves to be out running free.


On Christmas Eve we lit luminaria around our backyard. It provided a beautiful ambiance.

2007 Year in Photos

We've had a wonderful year of family events, travels and hiking. Some of our highlights are represented here.

Dominica

Today is a real, legitimate, actual day of rain. It's been raining for the last three hours. We have decided to stay in the cottage overlooking the sea and just read today. We could go out driving, but that's what we've been doing for the past three days. We've seen an incredible amount of the island. It is truly a "nature island" as advertised. The tropical trees and flowers are incredibly beautiful. There are rivers and waterfalls everywhere. While we've had rain and clouds the first few days here, we've also had plenty of intermittant sunshine. If it clears up later today we'll do a little hiking on some "farmer paths" near here.

Butterfly Festival at the Desert Museum

On Saturday afternoon we visited the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. This is the time of year for several species of butterflies to be "out and about". These are all native butterflies and are attracted to various plants throughout the Museum grounds. I'm most happy that my camera takes the picture immediately when I press the shutter button--otherwise I'd never had gotten these photos. Butterflies aren't in the habit of posing for pokey photographers!

Run Down Crime

Jenni participated on Saturday in a 5K run/walk for the Tucson Police Foundation. A collegue from work is a volunteer with the foundation, so she wanted to support his efforts. I tagged along and took pictures. If you want to see a bunch more photos, email me and I'll send a link to a website where I've posted a 3.5 minute slide show of the whole race.

Madera Canyon Picnic (not)

I had invited several couples to go up to Madera Canyon for a hamburger cookout this evening. But rains blew up from Mexico and we had to change our plans. Thirteen of us crammed into my house. It was impromptu, but it worked. From an "enjoy your friends" standpoint it was very successful.

These people all are full-time residents of Green Valley, and have Dutch, or Michigan connections (with the exception of Otto & Marilyn DeBruyn who were here checking on their property before winter arrives). They are a subset of a larger group that meets frequently for noon picnics at Madera Canyon during the winter months. But they don't get together as a group during the summer.

New Camera

I bought a new Nikon D40 camera. It's a step up for me from my Canon A510. The greatest benefit, in addition to increased resolution, is that the shutter release is instantaneous with when I press the shutter. My old camera was driving me nuts--I was getting lots of tails of dogs. "It was a whole dog when I pressed the button!" But the dog moved and all I was getting was the tail end.

I took the camera to work yesterday and here are a couple of shots from during the day.



Oliver is my brother's cat. Cute, huh?

Madera Canyon Picnic

We decided to take a late afternoon ride up to Madera Canyon and cook hamburgers. They have a number of picnic sites with charcoal grills. This is a dog-friendly park, so we took Mica (she did have to stay on the leash, which dampened her enthusiasm. We were there till just before sunset. I took some nice pictures of Mt. Wrightson. I've never been to the top, although Jenni has twice. It's a 12-16 mile hike depending on which sets of trails you take. Too much for me. My brother, Tom, has climbed to the top, also. I like looking at it from a distance.




This was the sunrise this morning from our backyard. Because of the moisture in the atmosphere the sunrises and sunsets for the next month or two should be "Arizona's Best."


Mica, the dog, and Panda, the cat, really enjoy each other's company. Yesterday I took Mica to the office with me. Here was 1.5 minutes after we got home--Panda came to greet us and wanted to play with his friend.

Dinner with the Boss

Last Thursday we hosted Jenni's boss, his wife and another co-worker and his wife for dinner. I cooked a beer can chicken. With six people, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of meat, so I ordered a chicken from a local butcher shop. It came in at 7-3/4 lbs.! It was huge. It took two hours to cook on the grill, but it turned out delicious.

I also made mushroom risotto--which is very fussy to make, but delicious to eat.

Labor Day at the Men's Shelter

We volunteered to serve lunch at Primavera, a shelter in Tucson for homeless men. Valley Presbyterian Church, where I work, prepares 700 sandwiches each month for them. Two months ago they called our office asking if we could find volunteers to serve lunch on Labor Day. As it turned out several of our staff members decided we would do it together.

So on Sunday Jenni and I used the church kitchen to fry 30 lbs. of hamburger and fix our favorite sloppy joes. On Monday we met with 5 other staff and drove to Tucson. We also served potato salad, chips, brownies, cake and apples. It was all a big hit.

Fun with Photos

I have new software called ProShow Producer. It takes still photos and turns them into videos with lots of cool effects. I'm working on a new show for Valley Presbyterian Church, but in my spare time I'm having fun learning new techniques. Here is one example:




Hope you enjoy watching as much as I did making it.

My favorite cactus in the backyard bloomed again this week. This bloom is open when we get up at 5:30 a.m. By noon it is finished.



We've had several good rains in the past week. Here is an approaching thunderhead. This storm was 15-20 miles away. The clouds overhead were produing a drizzle--and out to the west the sun was about to set and able to shine under the layer of clouds. Voila! A rainbow.


This is a shot from the following day. Overhead were swirling black clouds, but off to the east was this brief blue-sky opening with a growing thunderhead illimunated, again by a low sun in the west.

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

We went to the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum today. We've been going nearly every month since Christi visited in February. It is fun to see how the desert changes through the seasons. With the monsoon rains here, this is the season for green. The ocotillo, the mesquite, the brittle bush, the creosote, everything looks full (not quite like Michigan maples, but come on, it's the desert). Anyway, we had a great walk outdoors at 97 degrees.

There is a humming bird here, just to the left of Jenni's hat. I have several good shots of hummingbirds sitting still on branches, but I wasted 40 shots trying to get one in flight. They would hover around people's heads, but by the time my camera clicked-goodbye.


Jenni was getting a lesson from a docent on the internal structure of saguaro cacti. I just liked the patterns the roof slats made.



Here are two javelinas off to enjoy a picnic, or something. Surprisingly the animals were quite active today. I got a couple a cool shots of horned lizards, but I have to do some work in PhotoShop before I post them here. The blend in so well with their surrounding rocks.

Aidan at Crystal Lake

Our grandson, Aidan, celebrated his first birthday at the cottage on Crystal Lake in June. We had a fantastic time. He was always the center of attention. What impressed me most was how utterly fearless he is.

I produced my favorite photos of the week into a video. Hope you enjoy it.
Ken

Backyard Observations

This morning I went outside and saw a small feather moving across the rocks. I looked closer and saw this little ant carrying home his prize! There can't be too much nutritional value in feathers, can there?

We had a trace of rain last night, leaving these drops on my little grapefruit tree. This is new growth and I absolutely love this color green. By the way, there are three grapefruit on this little tree--we hope to eat them in February.

We have these two plants in our backyard. They bloom like crazy, but each blossom only lasts one day. The don't seem to mind the heat. Last winter they died back in our major freeze, but came back from the roots. Isn't this a lovely color of purple?

Saturday Nights at the Desert Museum

On June 30 we had dinner at the Ocotillo Grill at the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. At 6 p.m. it was still 100 degrees, but we chose to eat on the patio outside! There was a big fan, so it was actually comfortable.

The sunset provides a nice hue to the desert landscape. Ususally we are hiking during the middle of the day, with the sun directly overhead. It was really pretty to see the long shadows form just before sunset.

Mica at Pena Blanca Lake

On July 4, after the parade at Patagonia, we had a picnic lunch at Pena Blanca State Recreation Area. We were the only people there, so Mica had free run. The level of the lake is quite low. We need rain badly.

July 4 Patagonia Parade

The colors of the good old USA were in full force in Patagonia, a small high-desert town in southern Arizona.


The best thing about the Patagonia parade is that both parade participants and spectators have license to throw water balloons, spray water hoses, and in general have a great time.

Crystal Lake

Aidan and his Papi enjoying a sunny day on the beach at Crystal Lake.Sunset time at Point Betsie Lighthouse.
Sleeping Bear Dunes from the Empire Bluffs. The little village of Empire is on the right.
Christi and Jenni taking off for a canoe ride on Crystal Lake.
Jenni sailing the butterfly.


Aidan was a big help for his Nani in getting the sail on the butterfly.Here is a view from in front of our cottage looking east toward Beulah. The 300-foot bluffs surrounding Crystal Lake are very dramatic.