Sorting through the memories

While recovering from shoulder surgery, I've been sorting through photos going back to the late 1950s. I've now filled eight albums (over 4,000 photos), plus set aside hundreds to give to my kids and other relatives! And I still have 17 more years to go!

The project took over my cutting table and the dining room table, but when you live alone, who cares? Most of them were in the original envelopes from when they were developed, but since I switched to digital they're not so organized.

Here's a sewing related one. That's me at age 32 and nine months pregnant with my daughter, embroidering her baby cross-stitch memento.

And this is my mother with my first child, Keith, in 1986 at my apartment in San Antonio.

Here are both kids when we had to live in a hotel in Manhattan, KS, until we could find a house to rent. The Army had transferred us there from St. Louis, but there was no housing for us on base and since it was a college town rentals were slim. We finally found a house, and I was ecstatic but I think the kids were sad to leave the hotel pool and playground.

Here's me as a kid, studious as ever.

And still studious in high school, shown here when I was working as yearbook editor.

 

I wrecked my grandmother's old car in 1976 when I had a reporting internship with a newspaper in Pennsylvania. I was driving back to the office from covering my first school board meeting. I was preoccupied with organizing the article in my head when I turned (on a green light but not a green arrow) right in front of an oncoming car. No one was injured, but my editor made me write the accident article the next morning and the police got a good chuckle when I showed up at the station to get their report.

Here's a happier college memory: my roommates and friends gathered in our apartment for a party in the '70s.

These next ones are from 1985 when I went on an Outward Bound sailing trip in Florida. That was both fun and challenging.

Here's another sewing related memory. This is part of a quilt that I helped a fifth-grade class make, based on a Kandinsky painting. It was auctioned off at a school fund-raiser.

Fun sibling memories! Above are my mom and two sisters decades ago. My mother, on the left, is now 90!

And this is my brother and sister looking stylish at my house for Christmas 1987. Those photos were actually sent to me last night by my other sister. We were all sharing old photos via text, and I had never seen these two but I love them!

Finally, the sunset is from last night, the last night of our official monsoon season (June 15-Sept. 30). You can see the rain falling over the mountains to the left. And this morning was sunny and crisp for my walk, a perfect start to October!

Have a colorful day

Quietly astounding moments

So many amazing everyday moments. Last night's hazy sunset melting smoothly through yellow, orange and purple.

The lily glowing with sunset colors 

in my Trader Joe's bouquet.

The lush greenery in a wild area of "desert" where I walk near my neighborhood in the mornings.

And this poem sent to me yesterday by a friend. I've read it before, and it never ceases to gobsmack me.

I Confess

By Alison Luterman

I stalked her

in the grocery store: her crown

of snowy braids held in place by a great silver clip,

her erect bearing, radiating tenderness,

the way she placed yogurt and avocados in her basket,

beaming peace like the North Star.

I wanted to ask, "What aisle did you find

your serenity in, do you know

how to be married for fifty years, or how to live alone,

excuse me for interrupting, but you seem to possess

some knowledge that makes the earth burn and turn on its axis --"

but we don't request such things from strangers

nowadays. So I said, "I love your hair."

Have a colorful day

Heading into fall

Tomorrow is the first day of fall, but my daughter's bunnies don't want summer to go! Look at how nicely they posed for their latest photoshoot.

It sure doesn't look or feel like fall here in the Sonoran Desert! Nancy and I went to the Tucson Botanical Gardens last weekend and it was lush and green.

My favorite exhibit was the Bugonia, a bright green VW bug exploding with tuberous begonias! A close second was the plant-filled bicycle.

The gardens are studded with mosaic benches bursting with the bright colors so common here in the Southwest near the Mexican border.

Back home, here's my front yard today. The yellow puffs in the foreground are from a mesquite tree that's filled with butterflies lately.

Also today, I pulled into Catalina State Park to take a picture of monsoon clouds above the Santa Catalinas. The monsoon season officially ends Sept. 30, and I hope Mother Nature goes along with that. We had heavy rain and loud thunder last night.

Last of all, the gorgeous colors of fall leaves are the background for this quote, which I'm going to print out to hang on my fridge.

 Have a colorful day

Ooo la la!

Our book club/food fest last night took on a French flavor because Beth and Sandy just got back from a foodie riverboat tour of France where they learned how to make macarons at Le Cordon Bleu and a tomato appetizer at Anne Sophie.

Beth, our hostess with the mostess, made these delicious chocolate macarons and divine berry and Nutella crepes!

I had planned to bring a salade Nicoise, but I couldn't get excited about making it so I ditched the French theme and gussied up a pumpkin cheesecake from Trader Joe's. It was also delicious. I carmelized some pecans for the top.

It might not have been French, but at least it went with the pumpkin table decor.

Beth and Sandy also learned on their trip how to fold napkins and add a little bow tie!

Here's a look at what else we ate. 

Ratatouille

Quiche Lorraine

Fruit salad

French baguette with ricotta cheese

Chicken barbecue casserole

Mushrooms with Boursin cheese

and, of course, French wine

Endive spears with pears, bleu cheese and pecans

Warm brie with cranberries and pistachios

Stuffed eggs with caviar

Oh, we did discuss a book, "Lost Boy Found" by Kirsten Alexander. It covered difficult issues, such a racism and classism in the South, and it had a sad ending. I recommend it -- it's thought provoking and well written.

Have a colorful night

Life on hold

 

I haven't blogged much lately because my life has been mainly on hold. Until just a few days ago I couldn't drive because of my shoulder surgery. I also couldn't sew comfortably because of the surgery. And our summer monsoon, which is in its fourth month, has made hiking mostly out of the question. I'm not much of a TV watcher but I read books until my eyes were sore.

I did manage to do some crafting of these gnome bottle toppers, which only required a glue gun and a few stitches. I ordered the kit last year from the Stitchin' Post but didn't get around to making them in time for Christmas.

And I got together with some friends for a Labor Day cookout, thanks to Barb driving me. Of course, it was too hot to eat outside. 

But a few days ago I decided I could drive short distances and our monsoon season typically is over by the end of September, so life is beginning to open up again!

Have a colorful day

ER visit and more pottery

I had the "pleasure" of spending a few hours in the Oro Valley emergency room in the middle of the night last week after waking up itchy and covered with huge hives that I'm guessing came from a couple of bug bites!

It was my first time having to go to the ER, and I was pleasantly surprised that I was the only one in the waiting room at midnight. Before I knew it I was propped up in a comfy bed, hooked up to monitors and waiting for the steroid and Benadryl to take effect. That was Thursday night, and today the hives have cleared considerably, although I still have a big one on my chest and a few on my back and arm. The itching drove me crazy and it was so hard not to scratch. I can't wear my sling anymore because it presses into the hives and makes them worse.

To get my mind off of the itching, I visited the Happy Saguaro where they were having a big sale on Talovera pots. I bought two to add more color to the yard.

My plants are doing their job of adding color, too.

And a few nights ago the sunset was spectacular!

"On a dark desert highway ... "

Have a colorful holiday weekend