Touring about on Saturday…..

Saturday, March 19 – Fred and I joined Sarah and Jason for a bit of a morning workout in their apartment complex’s gym. Their gym is very nice, and it felt good to get stretched out and moving after several days of traveling.

After showers and lunch, we all drove up to Scottsdale to the Crate and Barrel store.  This is the VERY ritzy part of the Phoenix area, and this shopping area was an experience in it self! Then a nice stop by Starbucks for a Frappuccino……mmmm    : )

Next, a bit of touring around the Chandler area……… with a walk through a cool, green, grassy park along side of a small lake, where Sarah and Jason often go for picnics and walks with Lucky.

Saturday evening, Sarah and Jason joined us for dinner at our camper, and we got to show it off a bit. We played a new card game “Quiddler” – look out for Jason and Sarah….they are pretty good!

Sarah and Jason’s apartment, and Sarah’s office

Thurs March 17th – We arrived in Phoenix, and got the camper set up, then headed to Sarah’s that evening.

Sarah and Jason’s new apartment is in Chandler, AZ, just south and east of Phoenix, and just 15 minutes from Sarah’s work and Jason’s school (ASU).

Their living room- note the rather ‘retro’ look of the shark on the wall, a ‘pass-down’ from Jason’s parents.

A VERY nice kitchen…..

and dining area.

New bedroom furniture……beautiful!

On Friday, we met Sarah at her office – she is a staff accountant for Basha’s, an Arizona grocery store chain.

Sarah works in Basha’s corporate office in Chandler, and has her OWN office.  : )

We got to meet a number of Sarah’s co-workers, who all seem very friendly, and then, enjoyed seeing the VERY extensive Native American and Cowboy art collection that is on display in the corporate office.

Thoughts and Prayers…..

Just a note to add……

While we are traveling about and visiting with Sarah and Jason, our thoughts and prayers are with my Aunt and Uncle in Springfield, MO and their families through this very difficult time of sitting vigil with my Aunt, who had suffered a stroke and is not expected to recover.

Through the web site Caring Bridge, we are able to keep updated, and to also read the many  comments of support and tribute from friends. I am so moved by the many lives that my Aunt and my Uncle have touched. They are both well loved and have the support of family and of so many friends. Their lives are a testimony to ‘living their faith’, an example for us of strength, faith and enduring love.

Road Trip! Heading to Phoenix to visit Sarah and Jason

March 15th- We loaded up the camper, and hit the road, heading to Phoenix, Arizona to visit Sarah and Jason.

First night spent at lake Colorado City State Park, Texas, about 50 miles east of Midland. This was a nice campground with electricity, but not much of a view of the lake from the campground.

2nd night – at Rock Hound State park, New Mexico – just out of Deming. Another nice state park, with hook-ups, and a great view of the surrounding mountains…. and lots of nice cacti.

Prickly Pear, and small barrel shaped cacti…..

And some getting ready to burst into bloom.

Even some that reminded me of the “….feed me, Seymour” plant that is on our road at the cabin, only this one is smaller.

We just LOVE the way our Airstream looks.   : )

Jane Goodall

On Wednesday, Fred and I drove over to Houston to hear Jane Goodall give a talk. This idea came about when we were discussing our next travel plans, and I realized that I wanted to visit the places and/or hear talks from the authors of the books that had captivated me and had a real influence on my thinking.

Jane Goodall fit this category and I had especially wanted to hear her speak ever since our daughter, Laura, had the chance to see her at Drake University in Des Moines a number of years ago. Jane- sometimes known as the Chimpanzee Lady- celebrated (this past July 2010) 50 years of research on the Chimpanzees of Gombe National Preserve in Tanzania, Africa. You can learn more about Jane Goodall and her work by clicking on the following link: The Jane Goodall Institute

Jane Goodall first went to Africa when she was 23 years old, and went to work as a secretary for the anthropologist Louis Leakey, with the hope of getting her foot in the door and to maybe work with the animals. She got her chance and, in 1960, at the age of 26, she went to Gombe to study the chimpanzees.

She has been their spokesperson ever since –giving talks, not just about the chimps, or about deforestation and the loss of their habitat, but also about how we should live in harmony with each other and caring for the world around us.

I first read about Jane Goodall, I’m sure, from the National Geographic- a magazine that was always a part of our household when I was growing up. Later, when I was in high school, I read her book “In The Shadow of Man” and I, too, had visions of running away to Africa. But more, I was struck by her research on the similarities of behavior between the chimpanzees she studied, and humans.

I was, by that time, already interested in people and their behavior, and I have always had a love of nature and animals. Jane, with her observations and comparisons, wove the threads that became my first appreciation of the interconnectedness of all beings in this great web of life.

Jane Goodall’s work has always been very holistic. She quickly realized that to care for her beloved chimps, meant not only caring for their environment, but caring for the people of Africa, and all peoples, and indeed, the whole earth. Her work includes such diverse programs as her Roots and Shoots program – a world wide, grass roots, get involved program for children - to promoting shade grown coffee grown on the hills surrounding Gombe.

Jane Goodall’s talk in Houston was sponsored by the group, the Progressive Forum, whose slogan is “Great Minds. Great answers.” (I just LOVE that).

(No pictures were allowed, so I am including some that I pulled off the internet.)

Jane spoke about her time in Gombe, but she also spoke about those who had supported and nurtured her work and her desire to be a scientist at a time when it was not the norm for women. She spoke about her mother who recognized her curiosity as a child and encouraged it and who told her that “she could do anything that she wanted to do, if she wanted it badly enough”. And how we should likewise encourage our young people. She also noted that her mom accompanied her to Gombe, helping her ‘settle in’ and staying the first 4 months. : )

Jane spoke of the problems facing the world today and why she has reason for ‘hope’ and of her faith in mankind to find solutions to these problems. She spoke of the small things that each of us could do and how we should just “roll up our sleeves and get busy doing something” rather than just reading about or talking about it. It is really about living ‘mindfully’ – about the choices that we make…large and small…..what we eat, what we drive….how we live day to day…….making those choices mindful of their impact of those around us and with the intent to decrease our environmental footprint.

Jane’s talk was inspiring……. as was her presence. Jane, at 76 years old, is vigorous (she travels, giving lectures, over 300 days a year) and expressive and enthusiastic. She talked for 1 1/2 hours without any notes, and was absolutely captivating. Jane seems to be so comfortable with herself, without the need for pretension. She wore simple, comfortable clothes, no make-up, and her hair, naturally greying, still pulled back in a pony tail.

Jane Goodall is a wonderful example of living an ‘authentic’ life – recognizing who we are, and finding something that we are passionate about, and then doing it…… and never forgetting our responsibility to be a good steward of the earth.

Jane stayed after the program, signing books. Fred and I stood in line to have my book signed, an absolute ‘first’ for me (first time EVER to stand in line to have an author sign their book). I will admit to feeling quite star struck and tongue tied, but this was a night that I will treasure.

Daffodils

It is Spring here at the cabin – and it arrives with the first of my daffodils, February Gold, blooming just around February 15th.

This is the first year in the last few years that they have bloomed so well-, having been divided and spread out a bit last Fall.

The next to bloom, is the grouping down the hill by the tool shed.

This is a beautiful combination of the yellow trumpet, Unsurpassable,

And the yellow and white Ice Follies.

I am really pleased with the bed of bulbs that I had transplanted two years ago from the power line right-away at the front of our property. This bed is a mix of a yellow daffodil and a bicolor yellow and orange variety that I had planted many years ago. I have since forgotten what varieties they were, but they have always bloomed so well each year that I wanted to move them closer to the house to enjoy.

Inter-planted with the daffodils are a mix of daylilies which will bloom in the Summer. The idea is that the foliage of the daylilies will hide the yellowing daffodil foliage as they die back. The only problem has been…I think the deer really like to eat the daylilies!

One of my favorite varieties of daffodils are the little jonquils in the orchard, 

This heirloom variety, Queen Elizabeth, has a double blossom that almost looks like a rose.

In the back flower bed is Salome, a white and salmon-pink bloom.

Down the hill and under the crape myrtles, in the newly cleared area, is a mix called “the Works” for southern climates.

These pictures were taken before they were in full bloom and do not do them justice. This is their 2nd season. I was waiting to see how they did this year, before planting more. This coming Fall, I think I will  double their number.

I love daffodils. You plant them in the Fall when they are just a fairly plain looking bulb- one variety not easily distinguishable from another. You bury them in the ground and wait…..Winter comes and the leaves, and maybe snow and ice, cover them.  Then as the weather warms…..they put up green shoots….and bloom!

After the blooms are spent, the daffodil foliage remains, allowing the plant to draw nutrients from the ground and to store it in the bulb. Then the daffodil’s leaves yellow and die back, leaving only the bulb underground….. to be forgotten…….through the heat of the Summer and the cold of the Winter…..They get walked on and mowed over…..subject to rain and/or drought……until next Spring, when they will bloom once again!

Daffodils are low maintenance. They need little care- if you fertilize then now and again, they will reward you with larger blooms. They will come back and re-bloom year after year, and will multiply- only asking for a bit of ‘elbow room’ from time to time, to bloom well. The deer will not eat the daffodil foliage or the blooms, and the moles and other underground ‘critters’ don’t bother the bulbs.

Daffodils speak to me of hope and promise…...of  tenacity and resilience…... and renewal of life…….

Continued work-

The nice Spring weather has been perfect for getting a bit of work done.We always have a few ‘projects’ going on. Putting up the new siding is one of those.

Fred has been working on the back gabled end. Thank goodness for scaffolding  – here Fred is working 3 sections high.

Fred uses the tractor for just about every job he can. The bucket comes in handy for transporting the air compressor and other tools.

To get to the very top of the gabled end, we had to dismantle the scaffold and reassemble it – centered and 4 sections high! ( By ‘we’ I mean Fred, but I helped)     : )

The pictures are at the request of Brian, who wanted to see how the work was progressing..….and to see the scaffolding with Fred working at the top!