September

 

September is the last month of the Southwest monsoon season, and we've been having some breathtaking sunsets! We've also had quite a bit of rain, which is good for the desert. I took these photos from my front courtyard -- best sunset view I've had of all the places I've lived.

I'm looking forward to cooler days so I can start hiking again without having to be on the trail at dawn (which I have not been doing). That should happen by October.

Meanwhile, my kids up north are having a more seasonal end to summer. My daughter has picked the last of her raspberries and my son and his wife did their annual trip to Lake Michigan, where it was cool enough for a fire. No fires here in the desert, except for the sky!

Have a colorful day

Monsoon and a mountain escape

We've had some wild monsoon storms the last few days in Arizona. We desperately needed the rain, but not the damaging winds, which toppled big trees in downtown Tucson last week. Here's the view of rain falling over the Tucson Mountains from my front courtyard. The last few nights we've all been waking up to thunder, lightning and steady rain.

 

But the monsoon really hit the Grand Canyon (five hours north of me) hard over the weekend, with a raging flash flood tearing through some of the most popular hiking areas, ripping out bridges and buildings. Dozens of hikers had to be evacuated by helicopter, about 15 are still missing, and there have been two confirmed deaths so far. The water pipeline that supplies the tourist hotels and restaurants on the South Rim was destroyed, so those people also had to leave. It's not know how long they will be closed.

 

Meanwhile, it was over 100 degrees all last week in Tucson, so four of us went up to Mt. Lemmon to hike where it's about 20 degrees cooler at almost 9,000 feet.

It's a whole different world! So green and cool with massive evergreens instead of the desert's giant saguaros. This is a Douglas fir below. I couldn't get the whole tree in one picture.

Little berries and mountain wildflowers added spots of color to the green. The red berries are on a mountain ash and the white ones are snow berries (if my iPhone is correct).

Delicate yellow columbine was plentiful, as were the daisy-like fleabane flowers.

The orange one is a blanket flower, in the sunflower family.

This tiny white flower with delicate purple lines is a Richardson's geranium. The yellow one is a golden columbine.

This stump was also a work of art! Hikers have decorated it with sticks, pinecones, moss, rocks, and even a penny deep inside the hollow area. I wonder if any little forest creatures seek shelter there.

It was a very short hike, but the elevation made it a little tiring so we were glad to get to the Iron Door for cold drinks and lunch. Then the short hike back to the car was all downhill!

Have a colorful day

Fresh from Apple Annie's

Over the weekend my friends and I made the two-hour drive east to buy fruit and veggies at the Apple Annie's farm in Willcox, AZ. It was 107 at home but "only" got up to 99 degrees in Willcox, which is higher in elevation. 

As soon as we parked in front of the tractors, I knew I had to have Debbie and Jan pose in front of them for the blog and they cheerfully obliged.

Jan even scrambled up into the giant wooden chair for a photo. And she didn't even roll her eyes like a lot of my friends do when I ask them to pose at a corny spot!

My haul was corn, apples, tomatoes, cantaloupe, peppers and an Asian pear.

Their sweet corn is famous, and so are the peaches and apples. Unfortunately we were a little late to buy fresh peaches, but we did each get a piece of warm peach pie. And I bought four varieties of apples.

There was a line at the roasted corn station, where you slathered your ear with melted butter and then chose from dozens of shaker jars of seasonings. I wasn't going to get any because it was so hot outside, but I'm glad I did. And I sat at a picnic table under the misters so it didn't feel too bad.

The pepper choice was amazing! I got a big poblano and a sweet red bell pepper. I'm going to roast them in the oven and then stretch them out over a few meals.

There were bright, beautiful flowers, and the fields stretched forever toward the mountains.

On our drive home we headed toward monsoon clouds that would soon cover Tucson, but we only got a few sprinkles on the drive. It was a fun day, but I was sapped by the heat and collapsed on the couch as soon as I got home. A few hours later I was microwaving the corn in the husks and sampling one of the crisp apples. Excellent!

Have a colorful day

And one more thing -- bowls!

I have a friend whose beloved purple fabric bowl that she bought at a store years ago is falling apart, so I made her another one last night. It took a couple of hours.

Purple is her favorite color, and I just happen to have a large stash of purple fabric.

That got me thinking about all the bowls I've made, gifted and sold over the years. They're mostly fun to make, and definitely mindless so there's no stress except when you start to raise the sides. That's not so fun.

I joked that this giant yellow bowl was so bright that I had to put my sunglasses on to take its picture!

I've done a lot of different endings, but buttons are a favorite.

And given that I'm going to be sheltering inside in the AC for at least another week, I just might make a few more in between working on my wool Christmas tree quilt.

Here's one of my old blog posts about the bowls: bowls-of-bunners.html

Have a colorful day

A colorful productive summer

I took stock today of this summer's sewing projects before I cleared off my work table to start  another one. I'm still working on my hand-stitched quote collages, which I started last summer. I don't know what I'm going to do with them, but there are lots of possibilities.

Here's one that's completed and one that I haven't started stitching yet. I always take them when I travel for something to do in down time.

I also went on a zippered pouch bender. They have clear vinyl fronts so you can see what's in them. I plan to use these for gifts, but I made one for myself that I use for my charging cords when I travel.

I have a basket of colorful zippers and an endless fabric supply, so I might make more!

Then there are the snow people Christmas ornaments, which I did in a quick burst over a few days. Each one was made for a particular family member.

And here's the next project -- another Christmas tree wool appliqué wall hanging! This is another project that I can take when traveling because it's all hand stitching.

The first step is to trace the pattern pieces onto the dull side of freezer paper. Then you cut them out and iron the shiny side to wool. Then you cut out the wool along the pattern pieces, peel the freezer paper off and appliqué the wool to the white background rectangles and embellish to the max.

This is the one I made a couple of years ago. I love adding the little fun details. The new one will have brighter colors like apple green, pink and lilac.

Here are some details from the first one.

It looks like I'll be inside sewing for awhile. Here's tonight's weather report. It'll be a long time before I can get back to hiking. I noted this evening that all of the local weather reporters wore hot colors!

Parting shot: My daughter inherited my love of color. She just posted this. We both notice when colors match. (Like me noticing the weather reporters' red hot dresses that matched the forecast.) This is part of my daughter's collection of thrifted vintage towels and sheets in my favorite colors!

Have a colorful day