The Clarinetist

Oh dear! I'm getting behind in my posting. I know I've not perfected every day posting, but was trying for every other day. Now, I'm having so much fun going through old photos that I'm neglecting most other things! To make it worse, I'm trying to Organize them. That will take awhile, I'm afraid....And Christmas is coming..Christmas is coming....


I been meaning to post this. Here's Mom with her clarinet. She had trouble with breathing with the flute, too much air escaping somehow, so she and her teacher decided she would do better with the clarinet. She played it in high school so she was familiar with it and all breathing out air goes into the playing. She has been practicing diligently and having a lesson a week.


Here she and the girls practice together for their Thanksgiving performance. As you can see, Piglet and Roo are enthusiastic warblers, but Mu eventually opted out. She has many other talents, but since we quit singing B I N G O while traveling in the car, hasn't shown much interest in singing.

As I sort the pictures that represent milestones in my life and in the lives of my family members, many of whom are no longer living, I tell myself to appreciate now. While these are the pictures my children and grandchildren will be sorting in the days to come.. for me they represent the moments of my life, the time I spend with the people who mean the most to me..

You know, my computer has been acting up lately. I think I'll back up my pictures on disc before I do anything else!

Lichen on Malapai

"Lichens are fungi that have discovered agriculture"

- lichenologist Trevor Goward.

I want to thank those who commented on my last post requesting more stories about my Mom and me and I've started looking through old pictures that help tell the tale..

Meanwhile, I hope you don't think this picture Eeyore took of several different kinds of lichen, on malapai rock is a cop out! You can click to get a closer look.

Lichen is amazing in that it's composed of fungi that live in cooperation with algae, bacteria or both. Since fungi is not capable of photosynthesis, the process of utilizing light to process food, it has formed a cooperative union with plants that do utilize photosynthesis, or a fungi lives with bacteria that can draw nitrogen from the air to make biologically useful compounds, or both.

If you want to know more about lichen, I found this wonderful site that tells all about them.. some are thought to be the oldest life forms on earth.. and the site also provides a fascinating picture gallery.
I've been calling some lichens moss for years! Who knew!

Thanks For The Memories

When I was a little girl, I had severe asthma. There was little hope of my getting better in Nebraska, so my Mom, a single, divorced parent, bravely took me to places that were supposed to have clean air. We would hop on a train and go to Colorado Springs, or Las Vegas, Albuquerque, or Prescott, Arizona. Mom would get a job and wait for me to start breathing. It didn't happen until Prescott.
My actual point here, is that it was just my young Mom and me in strange towns, knowing no one, but one thing was consistent, we loved the movies. And we especially loved the Bing Crosby Bob Hope road pictures, where they got up to their shenanigans in different, exotic geographical locations. We would go to the movies, see Bob Hope and then walk home in the quiet dark where the only light was pooled in circles under the street lamps . And we would sing..... songs like Buffalo Gals...gonna dance with the dolly with the hole in her stocking, while her toes keep a rockin'.....and her knees keep a knockin'...

When someone sent me this tribute to Bob Hope, I wanted to thank him for the memories so I decided to pass on the whole thing!
Who today, could possibly make American Troops feel appreciated like he did?

Tribute to a man who DID make a difference

May 29, 1903 - July 27, 2003

• 
  ON TURNING 70 "You still chase women, but only downhill".
• ON TURNING 80 "That's the time of your life when even your birthday suit needs pressing."
• ON TURNING 90 "You know you're getting old when the candles cost more than the cake."
• ON TURNING 100 " I don't feel old. In fact I don't feel anything until noon . Then it's time for my nap."
• ON GIVING UP HIS EARLY CAREER, BOXING "I ruined my hands in the ring ... the referee kept stepping on them."
• ON NEVER WINNING AN OSCAR "Welcome to the Academy Awards or, as it's called at my home, 'Passover'."
• ON GOLF "Golf is my profession. Show business is just to pay the green fees."
• ON PRESIDENTS " I have performed for 12 presidents and entertained only six."
• ON WHY HE CHOSE SHOWBIZ FOR HIS CAREER " When I was born, the doctor said to my mother, 'Congratulations. You have an eight-pound ham'."
• ON RECEIVING THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL "I feel very humble, but I think I have the strength of character to fight it."
• ON HIS FAMILY'S EARLY POVERTY "Four of us slept in the one bed. When it got cold, mother threw on another brother."
• ON HIS SIX BROTHERS "That's how I learned to dance. Waiting for the bathroom."
• ON HIS EARLY FAILURES " I would not have had anything to eat if it wasn't for the stuff the audience threw at me." <>
• ON GOING TO HEAVEN "I've done benefits for ALL religions. I'd hate to blow the hereafter on a technicality."
  

Bob Hope's humor poked gentle fun at himself. It didn't depend on meanly cutting down another person. Maybe that's why he will always be loved and respected by those who remember him.

The Day After

We had a lovely day yesterday. We all cooked and then we all ATE. I imagine it was much the same at your homes. This year, the girls each contributed something to the meal so that was fun. Mu and Roo did some fancy dips to go with vegies or crackers and Piglet did a pumpkin cheesecake. The befores and after, and very tasty too!

E. took this picture of a fluffed up house finch in the mulberry tree, trying to catch a little morning sun while waiting his turn at the feeder.

Changes in the Wind, aka Buckskin Bessie, Last Minute Lyn, and Akasha Savage have all posted seven wild and wonderful things about themselves. Who knew?

Thanksgiving 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

A meme and Cable troubles

I tried to post yesterday, but right in the middle of my post the cable went out. I didn't notice this for awhile, so I happily went on typing. When I finally noticed that Blogger wasn't saving my post, I'd done quite a bit of it, and lost a lot of it. Well, I was annoyed and called Cable One to voice my disapproval. After navigating numerous recordings, I got a real cable guy.

"Mmmmm," he said,"there is an outage in Prescott, but you're address isn't part of it."

"It might be, " I said. "There's road construction just North of us. They may have cut a cable."

"No," I'm looking right at your modem and you aren't part of the outage. Please unplug your modem."

"Very well," I say reluctantly, "but I have to put the phone down. I'll be back."

"Eeyore, could you wheel out from your desk a bit? E's been absorbed in writing a letter. Absentmindedly, he wheels his chair back. I crawl under his desk, fish around in the dusty cords and cables, unplug the modem and crawl out again.

By now I'm panting and wheezing a bit from the dust. "OK, I say to the cable guy, unplugged."

"Alright," he says slowly and calmly in the tone reserved for very small children and/or blithering idiots, "you have two computers so you must have a router. Do you know where your router is? I need you to unplug your router."

I put down the phone, move E. again, crawl into the dim and dusty recess beneath E's desk and unplug the router. "OK, I wheeze into the phone, "unplugged.

"Please hold for one moment," he says still slow and calm, "I need to confer with my associate." I hold. He returns. "You're part of an outage," he says sweetly. "Your service will be restored as soon as possible. Have a nice day...and don't forget to plug your modem and router back in."

Thanks E, for plugging everything back in, bringing me coffee, and listening to my rant!
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On to the the post I tried to do yesterday.

Mary Beth of Cats...Books...Life is Good has tagged me for seven things about me.

There are Rules:

1- Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2- Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
3- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4 - Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I love to cook, and what I really love to cook are the comfort foods our Grandmothers prepared every day, but now we know aren't good for us. Pot roast with gravy and mashed potatoes, creamed vegetables with real cream and real butter, and pie..any kind of pie...well, you know! Of course, now E. and I are counting...carbs..sodium..fat..we count and measure it all. But Thanksgiving is coming....the time of the roasting of turkey is upon us....ahhh...the stuffing...the glowing ruby cranberry..the golden yam..the puffy homemade rolls, and the pies..the pies....but I digress..
2. About five years ago, I discovered books on tape and CD. I listen to them as I go about the more mundane tasks in life, kitchen chores and cleaning. I pop in the tape or CD, stuff the buds in my ears and the player in that convenient place women have used to store things forever, and I'm off and running. Lately, I've been listening to Anthony Trollope. I've always meant to read Trollope, but just recently got around to it. His books are quaint and charming , a look at the social mores that made up British society in the 1800s....but I digress..
   
   
3. Sometimes I think I'm losing my sight, but then I clean my glasses and the world brightens up again.
   
4. When the movie Dirty Dancing came out in 1987 I was too scornful of the title to watch it. Four years later, one of my son's girlfriends persuaded me to watch it with her. I got hooked on that movie and watched it so often it became a family joke. One Mother's Day my children and grandchildren were all here. Someone announced there was a peculiar man at the door demanding to see me. I thought it was someone pedaling religion, irritably yanked the door open, and there stood a six foot, cardboard Patrick Swayze....
   
5. I got my first job at age sixteen. If I count on my fingers, all the different jobs I've had and places I've worked I come up with twenty-eight. I wish it were a round thirty and sometimes think I should try two more jobs before I die. I always wanted to be a disc jockey, but never got to do that one, and it doesn't look likely now...would selling on eBay count as a new job?
   
6. When I was about twenty-five, I took a correspondence course in fiction writing. In filling out the forms, I listed Winnie the Pooh as my favorite book. Then I stewed, worrying that the Famous Authors who would be grading my work would think me foolish. It's still my favorite book and at my age, seventy next July, I feel no need to apologize.
7. I love old things(there are things older than me, well Mom for one), things with character and history....old kitchen tools, old furniture, old houses. When I sold Real Estate, I was always intrigued by the quaint old homes with their nooks and crannies and charming built-ins, and much less impressed with the enormous carbon footprint homes springing up on the hills overlooking town. Of course, the big homes equaled the big commissions....

Now to tag seven unsuspecting bloggers:

Changes in the Wind

Photowannabe

The Old Sourdough

Akasha Savage

Last Minute Lyn

Quilteddogs

Lydia

Do this only if you want to, I won't be hurt if you choose not to participate:)

Oh, and never-ever let anybody put you in a corner!

On the Road With Granny J.

Last week E. and I took a little jaunt with Granny J. and her brother Bill who was visiting from Perth Australia. As we were driving through Chino Valley headed North, GJ pointed out a photo-op and we wheeled into an old farm yard that has been converted to a rental company. An old building sported an adornment of rusting farm implements and other antique tools. GJ took a number of pictures.
I took this one.
I also took this one because this old saddle could be the same one I used on my old horse when I was a teen and he was my primary transportation in this same old farming community. See how deep the seat is, so the rider had a safe seat when riding hell bent for leather over treacherous ground one (or no) hand on the reins and one busy swinging a rope. Mine was old when I got it in 1953 and it was the most comfortable all day ride ever made. I've tried newer saddles since, and for me, they just don't measure up.

Our little trip took us into shaggy-bark juniper country. This juniper has a red and white, aromatic wood that burns slowly releasing a lovely fragrance. For years this tree was locally known as cedar. It makes great fence posts that don't rot out in the ground as pine does.

Eeyore and Bill leapt nimbly (well almost anyway) over the rugged malapai rock to stand on the point overlooking the confluence where Granite Creek flows into the Verde River. Granite Creek flows through Prescott and makes it's way Northward to meet the Verde at this point. The Verde meanders in a Southeasterly direction eventually flowing into the Salt River.

It was a little hazy that day, especially when looking back toward Prescott, because of smoke from a forest fire, the August fire, that was still smoldering to the South of town. You can click to see that this country feels vast and unsettled even now. Cottonwoods and new Juniper growth trace the path of the creek as it wends it's way down to the river.

When I find myself in this country the where wind whispers it's ancient song in my ear, I am caught in time. It could be 100 years ago, even 1000 years ago and the view down the canyon would be much the same. Or, maybe it's not the wind , but Puck whispering in my ear to remind me what fools we mortals be as we carry out our self-important mechanization upon the surface of the enduring earth.

Mary Beth of Cats....Books....Life is Good has tagged me for a meme, seven things about me. Thanks for thinking of me, Mary Beth. I'm thinking and it'll be my next post...

Living With the Animals

A friend sent me this picture of deer taking advantage of the shade of a trampoline and it made me think of the Alaskan bear cub photos that circulated about a year ago.

Veterans Day 2007

Here are a few things you can do to support our Veterans as well as our young men and women who are serving our country today.

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The Veterans Business Directory features businesses run by Veterans. Check it out. You may find a service or product you can use there.

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Move America Forward is an organization started by blue and gold star parents of soldiers serving our country in Afghanistan and Iraq. They send care packages, cards and letters to the troops. They are currently putting together Christmas Packages for the soldiers.

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Let's say thanks will let you send a card to a soldier . You pick from an array of designs

drawn by children all over the United States, add a message of your choice and click-submit it to Kinkos. They print it and send it off. I send one each morning as part of my daily routine.

It takes about a minute. That's 365 cards a year.

If one of my cards brings a bit of cheer to one soldier it's well worth 365 minutes a year

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If you're an old patriot like me, you might like to listen to Johnny Cash's Ragged Old Flag.

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For a beautiful tribute to Veterans who have given their lives in service to their Country, go to Circle of the Year where Rowan has posted some wonderful poems including

For the Fallen by Robert Binyon.

Who is this bird?

I was scrunched into the yellow and brown leaves of the Mulberry tree, looking as inconspicuous as a pooh shaped woman can look, as I tried to catch a picture of the Acorn Woodpecker at the feeder. It was the wrong time of day and the wrong light, but there I was in the still warm ,late afternoon when I heard a loud, rather joyful sounding bird call. Calling repeatedly in a sort of sharp bark, this cunning bird moved right in on the feeder.

It started eating seed, then suddenly alert, noticed me huddled into the tree with my camera pointed toward it. Instead of flying off as other birds do, it hopped over to regard me with interest.

See the feathers on it's head? Is that a crest or can all finches raise those head feathers?

It walked along the edge of the feeder before hopping in to feed again, never showing the slightest fear. I've been lying in wait for it, but have never seen or heard it again.

It's larger than a house finch. A Cassin's finch maybe? It has rosy-beige coloring.

This relative of the Hollyhock and Hibiscus, commonly called Miniature Hollyhock loves the cool weather and is about the only thing blooming here now.

It's a small flower, but makes the most of it's color.

A Sheep Dog's Tale

This little lady is Sharlot Hall who arrived in Prescott Arizona in a covered wagon

in 1882 when she was twelve years old. This picture is courtesy of .the Sharlot Hall Museum.

Sharlot was a ranch woman who set upon herself the task of recording Arizona history in both prose and verse. She was instrumental in bringing about Arizona's statehood, as Congress had thought it expedient to make one big state of the Arizona and New Mexico territories, calling it New Mexico. Sharlot wrote an epic poem about her beloved Arizona that was distributed to each member of Congress and that was thought by many to convince the Congressmen to grant Arizona it's own identity.

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I'm a great fan of Sharlot's and I'll be posting more about her from time to time. Right now I'm going to pass on a story from her book Cactus and Pine copyright Sharlot Hall in 1924. It's a little story and I think Sharlot would be happy to have you read it.

Many years ago a herd of sheep was feeding its way down from the region around the San Francisco peaks by way of the Verde Valley to the desert for the winter. The shepherd sickened and died alone with his sheep.

For some weeks thereafter, a shepherd dog very wild and thin, came once in a while to a ranch house on Clear Creek and snatched a little food set out by the woman of the ranch and hurried away. At last he was found to be herding the sheep and guarding the dead body of his master. He had taken the sheep in a small circle to feed and water, but had always returned to bed them where he could watch his master's body.

I've always been touched by this story of the faithful dog continuing his work of caring for the sheep. He must have been bewildered by his non-responsive master, sad and lonely and hungry, yet he continued to do his job.

Albino Peacock

A friend emailed these pictures, and since they were from Flicker, I thought I'd share..

We still have our peacock, although I have found the owner. He has several other peafowl, and mainly seems annoyed with this one since he is perfectly free to take himself the two and a half blocks home to his lovely wife anytime he chooses. He's been calling for her to join him here. We'll see what happens..

Meanwhile, I took myself into the rather murky, late afternoon, yesterday to take some pictures, took about twenty, and am not happy with any save a cunning, unidentified bird at the feeder. Later on for that one....

If you want to see some terrific animal pictures take a trip to Olivia's where she's done an interesting post on the Frankfurt Zoo and gives us a tantalizing glimpse into her new novel. Her first mystery was published only in German, but this one may be available in to us in English.

The Day After

I just read The Old Sourdough's Oct. 31 post and wish I'd read it yesterday! I pulled my post to add this link as her advise is good for all year!!!!!!


Our Halloween was disappointing, because our street, once brim full of goulies and ghosties, was totally deserted last night. I had a bowl of candy ready, including something new that got me all excited..Body Parts Candy! Yes, eyes, fingers, feet, and teeth each in its own little wrap....perfect. This is the first Halloween I can remember that my children and grandchildren didn't launch their trick or treat excursions from an early Halloween supper here. So I was pretty bummed when I had no takers for the body parts that nestled so innocently among the M & Ms and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

Then there was a a loud knock at the door, and who should we see but our neighbors who were not begging for treats, but delivering Halloween plates of spicy, warm from the oven, pumpkin cookies!




Under that tousled hair and makeup are our neighbors, the artists Roger Asay and Rebecca Davis. Granny J of Walking Prescott showed you their flagstone sculpture in her post of the Yavapai College Sculpture garden, mentioning how intriguing she found it, how many photos she had taken, and how hard it was to choose which to use for her post.
Roger and Rebecca are the heart of our neighborhood, hosting parties and potlucks that bring us together to keep us true neighbors rather than just a number of people who happen to live on the same street. They, of all the people I know, have the key to celebrating the moments of life!
Thanks you two, and the cookies are delish! I just had two for breakfast!