The Wind, She Blows...

Its been a bit windy here in Surprise, AZ lately.

South Mountain Park

Thanks to a good friend, Lloyd and I have discovered a new fun place to visit in the Valley of the Sun here in Arizona.  I'm amazed we didn't know about it sooner.  The Phoenix area is surrounded by old mountains...totally different from the ones we're most familiar with in Alberta, but beautiful regardless.  South Mountain Park provides a view of the entire valley, after a twisty turny road to the top.  It is so amazing that we went back twice in the past month...once with our daughter and grandsons, and again yesterday with my friend, Mickey.

The Ranger Station

Lloyd, Micah, Jenny and Nathan on the foot trail

The road up the mountain is twisty, turny, steep and narrow making driving a bit of a challenge, but we finally made it to the summit.  There's a nice little park up there and a wonderfully cool stone structure called Dobbins Lookout.  Apparently it is a favorite point for taking pictures.

Phoenix, in the distance, down the mountain and far away, as seen from
an opening in Dobbins Lookout.

Mickey, with Phoenix over her right shoulder.

Looks like I'm standing on top of the world.

Micah making his way down to the shelter at Dobbins Lookout.  The
valley was spread out as far as you could see from up there.

Jenny, Me, Micah and Nate in the lookout.

At the foot of the mountain there's an old deserted trading post called Scorpion Gulch...a very interesting spot to explore.

Jenny, Micah and Nate at Scorpion Gulch.  Micah was disappointed
he didn't see any scorpions on his first trip to Arizona

An ancient cactus towers over the buildings, and the boys.

A better view of the trading post and adjacent building.

It looks like it might have served as an inn at one time.

Mickey

We watched as a trail ride set out from the neighbouring ranch.  I
heard a mother saying as they set out, "Dianne you have to relax."
I don't blame the poor girl for being a bit tense.  Hope they had fun.

If you ever come to Arizona, this is a must-see.  Picture don't do it justice.

Birds of a Feather

We've had lots of company here in Arizona these past two months, which has made life interesting and fun and busy.  During our quiet times though Lloyd and I have enjoyed peaceful mornings relaxing in the back yard while being entertained by the multitude of birds who make their homes in our trees and cacti.  The air is always full of birdsong and someday I'd like to be able to identify the birds by their songs.

For the first time since we've been coming here we've been visited by a pair of Gambel's quail...so fun to watch them as they scurry through the yard on their way to somewhere else.  I love their distinctive little black topknots.

Lots of hummingbirds visit our yard.  There's always something in bloom that attracts their attention.

I'm not sure whether or not this is a hummingbird or another
small bird.  He/she built a nest between the spines on our
toothpick cactus.

This hummingbird was very cooperative and perched on the
ocatilla long enough for me to take several pictures of him.

We hear and see the Gila Woodpeckers a lot.  They have pecked sizable holes in two of our saguaro cactus and lay their eggs inside them.  They've also been pecking holes in one of our large palm trees.  Aside from the knocking sound, they have a very nice voice.

There are other birds around that I've been unable to identify.  I think this is a mockingbird.  There are a lot of them around and they make a wide variety of sounds.  I took this picture outside the Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix, but we have lots of them around our neighborhood.

I think this one is a cactus wren.

 and maybe this one is too.

The mourning doves are the first ones we hear in the morning.  They have a lovely soft cooing voice.

We were so excited the other day when a roadrunner scurried across the road in front of us as we were driving down a busy road at the edge of town.  The first one we've seen.  Of course I didn't have my camera ready, and he was too fast anyway, so this picture is from a Birds of Arizona website.

This is another bird I've had a hard time identifying but I've seen him/her in the yard several times.

There's nothing quite as peaceful as sitting out by the pool in the morning listening to all the birds.  I think I'll go out there now and relax.

Have a lovely day today.

The Giant in our Yard

Lloyd and I been in Arizona since early February and have a chance to watch spring come to our yard.  We've picked and eaten tangerines, lemons and oranges from our fruit trees and watched as other sleeping plants revived.

The most amazing plant this year, to us at least, was the blossoming of the Argentine Giant.  We planted it about six years ago and it has grown a lot since then but we have never seen it bloom.  When Mickey and I were here last year it was just on the verge of blooming when we had to leave. It bloomed the next day we were told, the flowers only lasting a day or two before wilting in the Arizona heat.

Last year's buds

I've watched it these past few weeks as buds began to appear, taking pictures of its progress and sending them to Mickey back in Edmonton. She will be arriving on Sunday and has been hoping the giant would hold off blossoming until then.  But nature waits for no man, or woman either apparently.

We noticed the buds changing throughout the day yesterday and we're sure it would bloom this morning.  Surprise, surprise!  When we went out last night well after dark there they were! Blooms!  Large beautiful white blossoms!  Apparently Argentine Giants are nocturnal! Who knew? We were so glad we didn't miss them.  They're a bit fuller this morning and even more beautiful.

What we found last night

Close up of one of the larg beautiful blossoms this morning

So that's our excitement for today - Argentine Giant in bloom.
It was worth waiting for.

New Years Eve with Some Grands

Lloyd and I in the past few years have hosted a New Year's Eve party in our home with family and friends.  It was a fun time. This year everyone agreed that it would be good for us all to stay in our own homes and celebrate quietly with their families and not have to venture out on the dark cold roads. (We're getting older, you know!)

So, this year we were available when our son Mike and DIL Avril had a fancy party to go to and we got to have their three kids stay with us for a New Years Eve sleep-over.

Mike and Avril, heading out to welcome in the New Year

Alex, Hannah and Kenny arrived with their parents sporting masks they had made earlier in the day.

They are very creative children

They were excited to have a sleepover with us and wanted to try their best to stay up until midnight to see the new year in for the first time.  That meant that we had to have something to keep them busy for four long hours.

We made goop...fun and easy.

Hannah was the only one who actually got her hands
in the mixing bowl and worked the slimy stuff

The boys and Hannah all liked working with it and stretching it until it snapped, then watching
as it all came together into one blob again.  Magic!

We had individual balloon pinatas.  This was tricky.  Putting the little trinkets in the balloons was more challenging than the instructions on Pinterest led me to believe.  I had them ready before the kids got there so they wouldn't know what was in them.  There were three balloons with prizes in them, the rest were empty.  The kids took turns bashing at them until they each burst one and scrambled for the prizes (have to keep everything fair, you know).

Then we opened up their sofa bed (just in case someone fell asleep) and gave them noisemakers to practice on in preparation for the stroke of twelve.

In the meantime, we watched The Lego Movie, and still no one fell asleep.

We watched the countdown on television and at the stroke of midnight we all shouted and made noise and Papa snapped a selfie of the excitement.
 
The kids were so proud that they managed to stay up and see the new year in.  This was a fun party group.

Twenty minutes later, they were sound asleep, with the old folks not far behind.

I hope you all had a good New Years Eve and will find 2015 to be a happy and healthy year.

Happy New Year!

An Olive Christmas

Last Christmas when our youngest daughter Emily was pregnant, I 'called dibs' on having her and Allan and the new baby at our home for Christmas this year.  Lloyd and I had been looking forward to it every since she joined our family on April 15.

I took many, many pictures of her experiencing her first Christmas and will really enjoy putting them into a scrapbook for her.

Santa Baby on Christmas morning

Examining the gifts under the tree.  

Emily, Allan and Olive

Modelling one of her new hats

Instead of crawling forward, she propels herself backwards.
Won't be long before she's up and running.

Modelling her new scottie outfit

All dressed up for a winter outing

Christmas dinner with Mike's family.  The kids were sitting
at a separate table, except for Olive in a highchair back in the corner.

Papa couldn't get enough of his littlest grandchild.

And neither could Grammie.  Lunch at Five Guys.

Typing her letter to Santa???

 There's nothing like kids in the home at Christmas, especially ones as happy and adorable as little Olive Rosemarie.  She really made Christmas a special treat for us this year.