For the love of Trees

I think that love of trees are in my genes. Mom when she was little (6 months to 11 years) lived at "The Cedars" in Ballarrat, Australia. You see above a picture of the cedar trees which my Mum loved so much as a child. She tells a story of climbing up high into the cedars and I wrote the below poem about her story.

Climbing the Cedars

She climbed up in these cedar trees

She climbed so high she felt the breeze

She felt so grand as she climbed higher

The view was a sight, she was inspired!

However when she looked around

She discovered that she couldn’t get down

A little voice from high above said,

“Help me for I’m filled with dread!”

“I’m up so high and I can’t get down.”

“Is anyone here or are you all in town?”

Mum came out and looked high above

“Hold on tight!” she said with love

“Where is Coral?” Grandfather asked

“When I find her, I’ll take her to task.

“I know that she is only ten”

“But she’s been in my tools again.”

Mum said, “Finding your tools will have to wait.”

“She’s up in the tree again, in quite a state!”

Brother Laurie helped her down, he saved the day

Coral dried her tears and ran off to play

By Carol A. Ayraud

We planted this Maple tree in Flagstaff and it is alight with a red fire for a short time in the Fall. Arizona really does have seasons contrary to popular ideas. When I was a kid we lived next to one of our Phoenix canals which had a lot of Cottonwood trees which turned yellow in the Fall and rained white cotton seeds in the spring. Mom and Dad planted a lot of trees. We loved the fruit trees best. We had 2 Apricot trees. I used to sit up in the Apricot tree for hours, reading and eating the best tasting apricots ever. They spoiled me for store bought apricots which are tasteless. Right outside my window was a Tangerine tree, next there was a pink grapefruit, next to it a naval orange, then 2 plums and a pecan.
Aspen trees in the Fall
I like standing below, looking up into the tallest branches of a tree. I think that some of my best pictures are from the ground looking up.
These are Arizona Cypress in a side canyon of Oak Creek
This is a Ponderosa Pine. One tree in the largest stand of Ponderosa pines in the world.
Gum tree in Australia from the bottom up
There's a track winding back to an old fashioned shack on a road in Kangaroo Island. Actually, I grew up singing, "Road to Gundiguy". We liked the verse, " There's water in the petrol tank and sand in the gears, she hasn't seen a quart of oil in over 40 years, but Oh Lord, how we roared in that old fashioned Ford On the Road to Gundiguy." You see Eucalyptus Trees elsewhere in the world. Well they all came from Australia. Did you know that there are over 500 different kinds of gum trees? Koalas eat only 48 of these Eucalyptus and the trees supply all their food and water!

Snow, Rain, moon glow and baby bun

I'm having trouble keeping up with my life! Our friends Julie, Jeff, Jacob and Jack joined us in Flagstaff last weekend for a snow day. We had great fun and our snow hill preformed famously. The snow was somewhat icey and the older kids had made bumps and holes that sent us flying. We used a shovel and filled in the holes so we had no broken bones. Which made me happy since I ended Friday at work with taking care of a 14 year old with a dislocated elbow and broken arm. That was my 2nd broken bone last week! That was enough for a few days! I took Monday off. Extra time to play in the snow and time to go with Faye and Javier to see the baby via ultrasound. It was the most amazing sight! The little bun's heart was beating! Arms, legs, nose, chin, spine and even ribs were clearly visible. She is cute as a button. Yes, I said she. The doctor said, "It's a girl!" He sounded pretty sure, but will check again next month. I am excited!
This is Jack 3 years old, fearless and funny!
We celebrated Jeff's 40th Birthday and Julie made a snow man cake with was enjoyed by all.
This is the snow on our porch. As you can see it is up to the railings. The other end where the icicles were flowing off the roof, we had a mini glacier a foot or 2 of pure ice!
Back to Phoenix with the full moon closer to the earth and so larger than it's been for a long time. I was driving home and saw it soon after it rose. Ran into the house told Jules, I'm going to take pictures of the Moon. I then drove around the neighborhood looking for a wonderful shot and didn't really find it till it was a little higher and so not as large appearing, but in reality still the same size. On the Phoenix end of my life, we got 2.8" of rain over 24 hours the end of the week before last. Arkansian's and Brisbanian's may scoff at this but when you remember that it was almost half of our normal yearly rainfall it is a lot! There was flooding everywhere and lots of snow in the high country.
Here is Jules digging our way into our Flagstaff homestead
These 3 pictures are Oak Creek Canyon under snow, Love those reflections. Both the blue skies and trees are shown in the reflections.

Grand Canyon and snow

After Christmas we went up North to experience snow. Here are some pics from the Grand Canyon. I never tire of seeing the canyon in different weather conditions. I dragged Jules to all my favorite northern Az spots to see them under snow. He puts up with it and humors me. I am always overjoyed by the depth and varied beauty found in the canyon. Did you know that many native Arizonians have never been to the Grand Canyon? People often have beauty under their noses and miss seeing it. We miss so much just because we don't look or are too busy to see.
Yours truly
Jules at the entrance to Hermits Rest, one of the many buildings at the canyon designed by Mary Colter at the end of the West Rim Road to provide a resting spot and refreshments for travelers. It is still this and more, with a concentration on selling stuff. Such it is everywhere in our day and age!

This is Hermits Rest. You walk through the door to a huge fireplace under a stone arch. Most of the buildings at the Grand Canyon have large fireplaces, being built when that was the only source of heat. It is fun to be here in the winter and enjoy the fires built in these large fireplaces.

The horizon line is the North rim, much higher than the south and covered with snow. You cannot get to the North Rim in the winter because it is snowed in and the road is closed. I think you can get in on cross country skis!

Twas the night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and under the tree
CC and Santa sit side by side you can see!

The presents are tossed round the room far and near
In hopes that the Boys soon will be here.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter
We looked out the window to see what was the matter.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But three funny boys dressed in summer sports gear.


Away to the backyard we flew like a flash
Dined on 2 kinds of soup our holiday bash!

More rapid than eagles the boys ran to see
Who could hit the ball harder, well as it happened it hit camera man, me!


Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Let it Snow!

These pictures were taken last time we were in Flagstaff. I think there is at least 2 feet of snow there now! I've had the last 2 days off and it has been great, time for a little cooking, baking, partying, bird watching, relaxing, reading and shopping. Thank heavens very little shopping because parking is crazy out there. We saw the movie Julie, Julia last night and it is so, so funny! So, if you haven't seen it, go check it out as it is now in the video stores. It's about Julia Child and a woman Julia who decided to cook every recipe in her book 524 or so in 365 days and blogs about it. Two true stories put together. I think I would like to read the book.
Bare aspen tree against a blue Flagstaff sky. I love taking pictures looking straight up at trees. I think I'll put a bunch together on a blog one of these days.
Kids sledding with the greatest view of the Flagstaff area. I bet they didn't even look at the view, probably lost in the sledding experience. Isn't it wonderful being lost in the moment, enjoying yourself so, so much that you are not aware of anything else. Those are little miracles I think. I try to remember those moments sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I think that we remember more when more senses are involved. I wonder if any studies have been done on memory and senses?
Clouds tend to come and go very quickly in the high country. The whole sky can be clear and a half hour later the whole sky can be cloudy. There are often clouds hanging out over the peaks even on sunny days like you see in this picture.
This was a snowy day and the sky looks snow gray. This was taken when we walked around the golf course after snow. There was a few inches of fresh snow on the ground, still easy to walk around the golf cart path.
Merry Christmas to you all if I don't write again before Christmas!

Tis The Season! Let there be light!

I decided that today I would put up the lights outside. I thought I had learned all the lessons from other years and would get them up in a snap! I even told Jules to watch the game, that I could handle it. I flew through putting up those lights as the hummingbirds buzzed and dive bombed around my head. I got to the last string and realized 2 things. First the last string had a section burned out and 2nd I didn't have enough lights to go to the end of the house.
So I thought, I'll just run down to Ace and get another 2 strings of lights. I did that came back and spent a half hour unwinding all the icicles from one string. I went outside and plugged in the new string and realized that the lights instead of being a warm yellow color were a harsh white light. I call Julian to see, he takes one look at the lights and says these are LED, green lights to save the planet. So I disconnected it and reconnected the broken to see if I could fix it. Jules says, you know you can get just as big a shock from that little broken bulb, I don't know why you do this with the lights plugged in. I say because I don't want to get them all up and realize that some of them are burned out (a lesson learned from other years). Or get them up and realize that I put them up backwards and couldn't plug them in (another lesson learned from other years)
So, I said, I'm taking these back and getting the old kind. So, I take them back to Ace but of course they don't have any old kind. So I return them and go somewhere else to get the old kind. I did find them, got them home tried to plug them in and realized that they had the new plug with one prong bigger, so I couldn't connect them to the end of the light strings. By this time, I'm about in tears, so Jules says, We can take them down move them and connect the new lights up to a different cord. I say that will take so much work. We finally decide to disconnect the first 3 strings and attach them to the end where we are short.
Then of course I didn't have enough because I thought one would be enough just for the end. Anyway we took the lights out of the carport, but will get those back up attached to another extension cord, which will probably be better anyway because last year I kept blowing fuses because I had so many strings connected together. The Christmas smile is back on my face and the lights are magical!

Things I am Thankful For!

Faye and Javier have a bun in the oven, expecting July 24! Faye had bought a 3 pack early pregnancy test kit (on sale and with a coupon of course) just in case she might need it someday! Well, imagine her and Javier's surprise when it said "pregnant" two days in a row and the doctor confirmed the test! They had been "playing without a goalie", but were surprised by joy when it happened so soon. Faye is glowing and family and friends all are happy and looking forward to welcoming this baby into our family!

I am thankful for Moms, Grandmothers and Grandchildren and the love they share.
I am thankful for sons and uncles, nieces and nephews
I am thankful for art and nature
I am thankful for family
Brothers and sisters.
Cuddly pets
Daughters and grandchildren
Flowers
Oranges in my yard and memories of growing up surrounded by citrus and cotton fields
My back yard crops
Hungry hummingbirds
Hungry peach faced love bird and how they make us laugh. Happy Thanksgiving to all!