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.