Autumn Leaves

Oak Leaf

I found this beautiful oak leaf today while walking in the woods. 

I wasn't sure I'd be happy with the picture

so I took it home with me and tried to find a background that would truly bring out its beauty.

I finally laid it on the bed on top of a black T-shirt.

Ready for Christmas

Timpson, Texas

If you love barns, visit Tricia's Barn Charm HERE.

The Last Daisy

Mom and I found this last, lone gerbera daisy in a flower bed.  Some of her petals were a bit askew and appeared to have been chewed on by something but she still made a beautiful picture.

Red Trees, Red Dirt

This is a scene from one of my mom's pastures.  Notice the red dirt road on the left behind the barn?  I think it complements the red of the big oak tree.  It was very cold here today.  A high of 46 degrees with high winds out of the northeast that froze my fingers and nose as I took the trash up the lane to the road for our Friday pickup and to get the mail from the mailbox.  It's a real treat to have trash service.  Up until just a few years ago mom burned her trash and hauled off the items that couldn't be burned.  She actually still likes to burn certain papers ~ she refuses to get a shredder.  I actually have gotten her a pair of shredder scissors for Christmas.  We'll see if she uses them!

A Walk Through the Woods

I arrived at my new home in Texas on December 11 where I will be living so that I may care for an elderly mother.  She will be 90 her next birthday and is still quite independent (and stubborn) but needs some help in maintaining her daily lifestyle.  It is quite a change compared to what I've been used to for the past 30 years.  No longer will I have the luxury of running to the grocery for a single loaf of bread or the lettuce I forgot to buy when I went earlier today; no longer will I have 25 different movies to choose from at a nearby local theater; no longer will I have a choice of an abundance of stores at one of the many malls; no longer will I be able to say, oh, I'll just gas up the car tomorrow.  Instead I'll be saying things like look at the billions of stars in the sky; look at the hawk soaring above; can you hear the sounds of silence; I'll get to know the joy of one-store shopping at America's largest retailer; I probably won't have to stand in line behind more than one or two people at the bank and within a few weeks' time they'll be calling me Scooter (my childhood nickname and the only name most people in these parts have ever known me by) and ask how my mom has been feeling lately; and perhaps the most fun of all, I'll have endless subjects to photograph. 

Yesterday Mother was feeling cold and she cranked the indoor temperature up to 83, so I went for a long walk down a country road and into some woods. 

Goodbye Arizona

Today the sun set on my days in Arizona and the evening sky was all ablaze as if just for me.  Or at least that's the way I thought of it.  I leave early tomorrow morning to return to my roots in the piney woods of East Texas.  My mom, who will be 90 her next birthday, is finally reaching the stage of her life where she needs a bit of help.  Not much, mind you.  She still walks twice a day with her dog, goes to church three times a week, visits her younger friends in the nursing home after getting her hair done every Friday afternoon, and is known to mow her yard on a frequent basis on her riding mower/tractor.

I shipped my computer earlier this week and it arrived on Thursday.  I will be having satellite Internet installed on Monday, so I'll only be gone a couple of days.  I'm looking forward to this next chapter of my life, but I have to be honest.  I will definitely miss these gorgeous sunsets!  (All I did to this picture was crop it and hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button.)

Kirk ~ 20/100 Strangers

My daughter, Em and I were standing behind Kirk and his two absolutely adorable little girls in a line waiting for pictures with Santa.  We couldn't help but notice Kirk's brilliant million dollar smile and his snazzy clothes so he was the perfect subject for a stranger photo.  Kirk and his daughters (age three and five if I recall ~ sorry if I'm off a couple of years, Kirk!) recently moved to Phoenix from California.  In addition to holding a Doctor of Divinity degree, Kirk is a senior solutions specialist for the Federal Housing Bureau.  Happy Holidays to you and your beautiful little girls, Kirk, and thanks for being No. 20 in my 100 Strangers Project.

Autumn Leaves

Last year I searched to find autumn leaves in Phoenix.  This year they seem to be everywhere, bright brilliant splashes of gold dotting a landscape that is usually populated by palms, eucalyptus, mesquite, acacia, and palo verde.  There are even more red leaves this fall.  I don't know why this year is special but I'm glad it is.  What is ironic is about the time all the leaves fall off (probably around January 1) is about the time the new leaves start sprouting.  Winter doesn't last long in the desert Southwest.

19/100 Strangers ~ Vera

Today after soccer I went with Em and his mom to the barber shop for a haircut.  There I met Vera, the manager of the Clean Cut Barber Shop, a small neighborhood establishment.  Vera was born in Russia and came to the United States 10 years ago.  She has a beautiful smile and a lovely accent and she gives a great haircut!  Thanks, Vera, for being No. 19 of my 100 Strangers.  Happy Holidays!

Desert Wash

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the desert, a wash is  a depression or channel formed by flowing water.  These waterways are often called dry washes because generally the word "wash" refers to the dry bed of an intermittent stream. However, during times of rain a wash can become a raging river even after a small intense rainfall of less than half an inch.  A wash runs behind my daughter's home and it is quite lovely, replete with flora and fauna.  This particular wash floods a well-traveled street when it rains, causing nearby residents giant headaches when trying to get out of the neighborhood to go to work and/or get their children to school.  It often means a detour of five miles just to traverse a one-block area.  But in dry weather, the wash is a beautiful ecosystem.  I walked through a good portion of it today and here I share some favorite photographs with you.

The bed of this wash is covered with sand and smooth stones ranging in sizes from pebbles to giant boulders.  The banks of the wash are dense with desert trees, shrubs, bushes and grasses because the water that flows through the wash during rainy seasons waters provides water to the roots of these plants for many months.

 

 
The photos above are a sampling of some of the desert plants I encountered on my walk.  Sorry but I just wasn't quick enough to shoot (no pun intended) that bunny rabbit who ran across my path at about 80 miles an hour.  He was just a blur!  I hope he wasn't being chased by a coyote!

Aquarium

Prickly Pear

Hibiscus

Walking Through the Desert Botanical Gardens

18/100 Strangers ~ Brent

Brent is a giant of a guy.  And he has a smile and a laugh that's equally gigantic.  I spotted him at my local farmers market sporting this ridiculous turkey hat, which actually gobbles and wiggles its legs.  I'm convinced he makes it do those things by wiggling his ears or vibrating his eyebrows.  He promises soon to be wearing some type of Christmas chapeau complete with lights.  Brent and his partner own Sweet Earth Art.  After visiting their booth at the market I thought the business was just the beautiful dichroic glass jewelry that was on display but after visiting their website I discovered they also have original art, mirrors, lampshades and even offer party showings complete with standup comedy by Brent's partner, Nick!  For more zany pics of Brent and Nick be sure to visit sweetearthart.com.

Weeds and Seeds

Monarch Butterfly ...

... at the Desert Botanical Gardens

Falling Water

Biomythic Masks, the works of artist Gwynn Popovac, are on special display at the Desert Botanical Gardens.  Bloggie friends Tracy and Magpie and I spent the day there and between the three of us probably took over a thousand pictures!  Tonight I'm too tired to give you the lowdown on these masks but stay tuned to another day and I'll show you more and tell you about them.  By the way, "Falling Water" is the name of the pictured mask.

Another November Rose

I decided to post another rose photo today because several of you in your comments made mention of the fact that we were lucky to still have roses or it was wonderful to have roses before the frost came, et cetera.  Here in the Arizona desert, we are just beginning our rose season.  In the past three to four weeks our roses have started blooming again after the summer's heat and we will continue to have blooming roses through the winter and the spring until probably July when the temperatures once again top 110 degrees.  Many people are surprised that roses do so well in our desert climate but we generally have roses in bloom about nine months of the year.  I never tire of photographing them and they are an abundant source of subject matter.

November Rose

Bubbles and Contrails

I promise this is the last of the State Fair pictures.

Swinging

I might be able to take this ride at the State Fair 

 As long as somewhere along the way you don't go upside down!

Ferris Wheel

Arizona State Fair

Staging area for the rodeo competition.  Midtown Phoenix highrises can be seen in the background along with Camelback Mountain to the far left.

Good job, Podner!

 

The Beauty Parlor

Girl on a Gray

Today was a day when I really wished I had better equipment.  One of the purchases I intend to make after the sale of my house is a new camera.  Now whether or not that will be soon or after the first of the year I'm not sure, but I'm determined it will happen.

Today I went to the Arizona State Fair.  It was 92 degrees ~ hot!  I had to stand in line for half an hour just to get in.  Of course I got in free because today was free day ~ or else I could have chosen senior day for a $2 admission.  Parking was $10 unless I wanted to walk two more blocks and save $5.  I decided to be the big spender and shelled out 10 bucks to park close so I could stand in line longer!

The creation of the following picture was an absolute fluke.  As I was leaving the fairgrounds I discovered the youth rodeo was in progress so I went to the arena and watched from afar beautiful young cowgirls competing in the barrel racing.  My little point and shoot was no match for these beauties but I zoomed her out and waited for an opportune moment.  Just as this young rider came swooping through my viewfinder I punched the shutter, only to hear the crowd groan with pain and dismay.  When I looked up I saw the aftermath of what I had poorly captured with the camera:  the horse sliding, throwing the rider.  I almost got it, although it is a blur.

I totally missed the next scene ~ the girl being dragged by the horse with her boot caught in the stirrup.  At this point the crowd is standing, yelling "Noooooo!"

But a rodeo hand appeared on the scene and helped the rider to recover and get disentangled from a thousand pounds of horseflesh dragging her in the dirt.

In the flash of two seconds, it was all over and done with, but a cowgirl never leaves her hat on the field.

It's That Time of Year Again

House sale update:  The sale of my house is set to close tomorrow!  Yeehaw!  The buyer's rep did a walkthrough yesterday afternoon and today reported that all requested repairs had been done to satisfaction and also expressing appreciation at how clean the property was left for the new owner.  So today after many months of hot weather when it was just too miserable to travel around and take pictures and then another month of preparing for the house sale and then another month between contract and close of escrow and with the advent of reasonable weather I ventured out the entire afternoon and searched around the city for photos.  After running into a couple of traffic jams I found myself at a nearby nursery where there's always photo subjects.  In the next few days I'll show you some of the color that Phoenix dons in the fall.

This was the scene at a local nursery today midafternoon when most people are at work!  Can you imagine what this place looks like on the weekend?  This is the time of year that Phoenix comes ablaze with color ~ geraniums, petunias, snapdragons, cyclamen, snapdragons, and pansies.

Mums

17/100 Strangers ~ Dave the Garden Guy

Look at who showed up at my yard sale today!  If you're local in Phoenix, no doubt you know Dave the Garden Guy, one of our most popular organic gardeners and also one of the stars of  Channel 3, azfamily.com.  Even though the early morning sun was blinding as I looked east, I thought the tall thin guy with the starched plaid shirt and blue jeans walking into my carport looked familiar.  I hope Dave can count as a stranger since we had never met before.  He was on his way to the station, which is just a mile down the street, and stopped by to look around at all the goodies.  He quickly spotted the antique pecan cracker and decided it was worth the $5 price tag.

15 and 16/100 Strangers ~ Tony and Shay

Today I had huge yard sale in anticipation of selling my house and moving to Texas via Southwest Airlines.  I have friends who say, "Why are you selling this?  It's so neat.  You've had it so long."  My reply is always something like, "If it's not worth paying storage fees for it and if I can't take it on Southwest Airlines, I have to get rid of it."  After all, I'm moving from a three-bedroom house into a 12 by 14 room with little if any closet space at my mom's which will house me, my wardrobe, my computer equipment and supplies for my proofreading job, my toiletries, my files, and my camera.  So the goal today was to sell everything possible. 

Early in the day I watched this pickup truck come cruising into the cul-de-sac thinking that someone had hired a new lawn service.  I loved the name of their business. 

I went on about my business of helping my helpers.  I had realized about 9 a.m. after the hordes of yard salers descended on my driveway that I still had lots of garden tools and equipment out in back.  I was trying to get back there but kept getting stopped by questions of "Kathy, will you take a dollar for this,"
Kathy, do you have a toilet lid for sale," "Kathy, do you know when this baby blanket that is priced 25 cents was crocheted?"  I had taken out one rake and was returning with a shovel when someone yelled, "Stop those guys!  They were looking for more garden equipment."  They had purchased the rake and were leaving for greener pastures because they had been told there was no more garden stuff.  I quickly escorted them into the back yard, where they proceeded to buy all the rakes, shovels, hoes, a pick axe, a wheelbarrow, fertilizer, loppers, and drip irrigation supplies.  They evidently had been driving through the neighborhood looking for trees to trim since Shay had a new saw that he wanted to try out and just happened on my yard sale.

Tony and Shay were good guys to pose for me by their trailer.  I never even noticed Tony's shirt until I started editing and cropping the photo.

Something Old/Something New

The morning temperatures have dropped here making it easy to go driving around (especially if your car has no air conditioning).  I left home a little after 8 and scooted down to the Roosevelt district and reintroduced myself to this property I've been keeping an eye on for some time.  I took several shots, and due to the extreme intensity of the sun none of them were to my liking.  This is as good as it gets.  I was actually able to walk around inside the new wrought iron gate.  I saw the new windows but that was it as far as new.  The rest of it screamed OLD, it screamed HELP ME, REJUVENATE ME, DON'T LEAVE ME HERE TO DIE ALONE!  We bonded, this property and I, but I refused to let myself linger.  So off I went.  However, I seriously contemplated going home, getting the ladder, and returning to rip that TV antenna off the roof of this building.  Of all the nerve ~ a TV antenna on a building like this!

Downtown.  Too much light, too many shadows because there was too much light.  I wandered around with my map of historic properties, many of which seem to have disappeared.  Others were on the wrong side of the light rail tracks and I just couldn't seem to get there from here.

So I headed for west of the state capitol building in search of some old homes but I ran into the aftermath of the Komen Run for the Cure, with thousands (about 30 of them, in fact) of runners, walkers, moms pushing strollers, all trying to cross the street in front of me to return to their cars, which were parked on either side of all streets, making the pathway a one-lane trip to a head-on collision.  I managed to emulate a movie escape route and get out of the neighborhood and decided to go up Grand Avenue, a street in our town that goes against the grain of our perfect north/south/east/west symmetry, along the old railroad tracks, with junkyards, with building materials, and car carriers on either side.  Did I find anything?  Nope.

I got off Grand in Glendale, wandered around there for a bit, back to the neighborhood where I've photo'd good junk and peeling paint.  No longer.  They anticipated my arrival.  They went into neighborhood rehab!

So two hours later I found my way back home, a quarter of a tank of gas later, three lousy pictures of the same building, none of which make my heart go zing, so I'm back to packing!

Hiatus

This blog will be on a hiatus until the end of the year.  There may be an occasional post but it will be sporadic.  For a full explanation, link here to my photo-a-day site.

How Many Pink Roses Can You Fall in Love With?

Just as many as you can find!

The Fanciest Building in Center, Texas

... is the Farmers State Bank constructed in 1904.  The building sits across the square from the front of the Shelby County Courthouse, one of the most distinctive in the US.  (See the courthouse here.)  From what I can discern, the bank is still privately owned, not having been gobbled up by one of the banking giants, and still appears to be financially healthy.  I haven't been inside the bank since I was a child, but soon I'll be able to go back and see if the interior is as beautiful as the exterior.  The gold leaf lettering is amazing and the locals winds have deposited just enough dirt and soot and gunk around the carvings to give the facade a great depth.  Naturally when I originally took the picture I didn't see the spectacular reflection of the clouds in the upper windows.  That was a real bonus when I looked at it on screen.

Looking East at Sunset

We had some pretty dramatic skies late in the day here in the Southwestern desert.  When we think of sunsets, we always think of looking west.  I found this beautiful backdrop showing the magnificence of our planet by looking east, instead of west.  To see the sky I saw when I looked west toward the sunset, CLICK HERE.  (There was very little manipulation done to this photo.  I edited it in Picasa, chose I'm Feeling Lucky, then auto contrast, and then added about 10 percent highlights.)

A Mystery

                                                       Shelby County, Texas ~ July 2010

Why does an obviously vacant building

(bottom of the door is two feet from the ground ~ steps have been removed or disappeared;

weeds are growing up four feet tall in front of the door;

door jambs are bleeding with peeling paint ~

all that says vacant to me)

need eight fairly new-looking electrical junction boxes? 

Maybe there's something going on in this metal building

(although appearing to be dilapidated has no rust)

that doesn't meet the eye. 

Hmmmm.

Ornamental Cabbage

Rust and Weeds

I have discovered that I'm fascinated with rust. I find myself looking for it around every corner. I remember shortly after moving to the desert a friend from the Midwest came for a visit and announced, "Well, you don't see any rusty cars here, that's for sure!" But back in my native East Texas where it rains on average about 45 inches a year, rust abounds.  I found this old cattle trough on Mother's farm this year while I was visiting.  It's totally rusted out and with the weeds growing up through the bottom of it, it's doubtful it will ever again hold water.  East Texas is Rust Mecca!  And it has its share of weeds, too!