Flagstaff and Willie Nelson

Written, 7/9/2012        I am up in Flagstaff sitting on the porch watching the birds as I type this.  I came up and spent a couple days with Faye, Javier and family.  The family consists of the 3 boys Nathan, Niko, Maceo and little Jules and last but not least the 2 dogs. 

 That makes for a fun, crazy, hectic time.  Each evening we went out on the golf course and tried to hit the golf ball into the hole.  We got a hole in about 20 or 25.   We lost balls in the bush, but have many because the boys find them all the time. Jules would run up and down and roll down the tees.  Every”body had fun.  Jules expressed it nicely by saying every now and then, “I am so happy!” and doing her little happy dance (picture Snoopy from Peanuts).   

Nathan, golf pro

Maceo, notice the great form

 The boys thought they might make money washing and reselling the balls they found.  I told them how we gathered lost balls from the golf course in Brisbane when I was 11.  Some of them we found in the bush, some in the pond.  The golf clubs someone left here have a gadget with a pole that extends made to lift balls from water.  So, they took that to the nearest pond and found that the water was very murky.  Niko reached in with his hands and then Nathan saw the sign that says this is reused water which you cannot drink or get in.  Then they were totally grossed out and that put an end to their plans.

Niko golfer supreme

Jules rolling down the hill

Me with one of my many near misses

A nice little breeze has just come up and there are fluffy clouds interspersed with blue, blue sky.  We got a really nice heavy rain yesterday which was awesome.  Beats Phoenix and our 110 to 112 weather by miles!  Now I’m here by myself and am enjoying the quiet.

I’m looking at a hummingbird (Black-Chinned I think- need to get a better look at the male), a Nuthatch, either a Hooded or Scotts Oriole, Hairy Woodpecker, Stellar Jay, Ringed Turtle-Dove and a Blackheaded  Grosbeak.  The Rufous  Hummingbirds which arrive in July aren’t here yet.  Hope they arrive before I leave on Thursday.   OMG, they just arrived as I am sitting here!   They are so fun to watch with amazing swooping, circular flying patterns.  However, the male tries to keep the other hummers away.

 

Stellar Jay

Grosbeaks

Male Rufous Hummingbird, on guard duty!

 I think we will get another rain today, it has started to thunder.  Right after the thunder, I heard the train whistle as it goes by just north of here.  The train is one of my favorite things about Flagstaff.  It is just so pleasant a sound and reminds   me of other times, other places.  Growing up in South Phoenix, we always had to cross the train tracks when we drove into town.  There were no bridges over the tracks back then.  Sometimes we would be stuck for quite a time (10 minutes or so I would guess) while we waited for a train to pass.  We would always count the cars.  I think that the long ones were up to 200 cars long.  Julian and I would always take Rowan and Dilly to watch the trains go by when we were with them in Flagstaff.  They would get so excited to see the trains.  

Elisa and Bill playing Mexican Train Dominoes

My friends Elisa and Bill came up on Tuesday to take me to see Willie Nelson.  He was playing at Fort Tut Hill (Coconino County Fairgrounds) at a new outside music venue in Flagstaff .  The show was just awesome.  He played nonstop for almost 2 hours playing song after song after song,  Whiskey River, On the Road Again, Hello Walls, Always on My Mind, My Heroes Have always been Cowboys, Blue Skys, Crazy, Funny How Time Slips awaym etc.  He is 79 and his "Little Sister on the keyboard" is 81.  She plays a great honky tonk piano!