Christmas decor is up!

I got the Christmas decorations up today -- what a feeling of accomplishment! Even though I live alone and no one will be staying here over the holiday, I put them up for myself. I love the colors and all the candles and little white lights in the evening.

Since I moved to the sun, I decorate the outside with shiny Christmas ornaments on my yuccas.

I have a tall, skinny tree that tucks into the corner. It's loaded with ornaments that all have special meanings.

I just made these three to send to Juniper and her mom and dad. The pattern is "Emmitt & Ivy Ornaments" by Sweetwater.

I made the snowman out of stacked wool circles and the Hole In the Barn Door quilt block out of flattened chocolate wrappers

Friends made all of the wool mittens and the snowperson ornament.

I made the triangle Santa last year. Every year I made a different ornament.

Here are some more decorations in the living room ...

... and the kitchen  LOL ...

... and the guest bathroom.

After growing up in Pennsylvania and spending many years in other snowy states, it stills feels strange to be decorating for Christmas when I can see a palm tree from my living room! But there is a natural Christmas feel to the lady slipper plant by my front door, with its bright green branches and red flowers that the hummingbirds love.

Have a colorful day

Road trip to see little Juniper

I just got back from visiting my sweet little Juniper in Spokane, where I gave her "mama and dada" my trusty old Toyota Venza. Since I have road trip driving anxiety, my ex flew down and drove it all the way up, through rain, sleet and snow under dramatic skies.

 

Here's the old Venza, at 122,000 miles and 15 years under a stormy northern Arizona sky, and my new sunny sky blue Subaru Crosstrek with the safety features this aging driver needs.

We ate well on the three-day road trip. Above is the colorful artsy decor of the Rocking V restaurant in Kanab, Utah, where I had a molten lava chocolate cake with a toffee caramel sauce and ice cream. Below is me holding a big piece of chocolate cake from Dixie's Diner in Idaho Falls.

One of our first orders of business in Spokane was to visit Michael's for Christmas decorations, where Juniper lugged around two huge stuffed characters.

She's obsessed with her Sesame Street finger puppets and was delighted to see that they could be put on the tree (and taken off and put on our fingers and taken off and put on the tree and on and on)!

I can't get over her curly blond hair, which she inherited from her other grandma.

 

One evening, my daughter's friend visited wearing this very cool coat made from a quilt. She bought it at an art market. She also brought a big pot of her delicious vegetable curry, which we all loved.

Juniper and Dad at work, supervised by Charlie the cat. All three cats curled up on my bed sometimes during the day.

Here's our parting shot on a cold and windy day just before I left for the airport. I sure do miss them. The doll that Jade's holding was Julia's when she was two and now it's Juniper's and she includes it in all activities. LOL

Have a colorful day

We are nature

That's how I feel. Sometimes we forget that we're as much a part of nature as are the wild animals and the mountains.

Every evening I wait for the mountains behind my house to turn pink as the sun slips down to a certain point. The glow only lasts a minute, then I turn around and watch the western sky turn into a brilliant sunset.

During the day, the Sonoran Desert is green under a brilliant blue sky, and it makes me so happy to be out in it. These photos are from this morning's walk at Catalina State Park

In a few days I'll be visiting this little wild child of nature, my curly-haired Juniper whose hair cannot be tamed. When her mom asked what she was doing, she said, "Tidying up." Good girl!

 

Have a colorful day

Blue: Frida and a Crosstrek

There's a new exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens called Frida's Garden, honoring the late, great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and her cobalt blue house in Mexico City, La Casa Azul.

 

The garden is created within the famous "Frida Blue" walls and features a scaled-down version of the Aztec-inspired pyramid. Plantings in the new garden will honor the original, but with a Southwestern twist.

I visited the gardens with my friend Nancy, and of course I wore a blue top!

We ran into this person, who's obviously been hanging around the garden a long time!

I was also due for a new car, and I held out for a Subaru Crosstrek in that wonderful blue that looks like a Tucson sky and makes me so happy. I'll give my 15-year-old bronze Toyota Venza to my daughter. It should get at least another 100,000 miles, taking it up to when Juniper is a teen-ager!

That sky blue also cropped up in my current work.

Have a colorful day