I started this blog at the urging of friends and family in April 2010 when my husband and I were given an opportunity to relocate in Maryland for one year. We have now returned home to Arizona and continue to walk by faith as we watch God orchestrate the adventures in our lives. I invite you to share in our adventures as we watch God at work!

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7



Sunday, June 30

50 shades of summer - june

June brought some unexpected challenges but I still was able to knock off eleven things on my 50 Shades of Summer list. Three involved cooking (#10, #13 and #19) and three more were movie watching (#18, #20 and #25). The remaining five were stand alone solo items (#11, #15, #29, #38 and #39).

June collage
Summer fun!

Planting my herb garden was the first thing I did because I wanted the plants to be established before the extreme heat hit. My basil, parsley, chives and mint are thriving and I am enjoying having fresh herbs when I need them. I also got great local produce at the Gilbert Farmer's Market. I will be going back often for "peaches and cream" (also called bi-colored) corn!

I have wanted to try homemade popsicles for some time. After purchasing a popsicle mold from Amazon and reading some recipes online I was ready to try my own - blueberry, peach, banana with vanilla yogurt. Oy vey! How could something good for you also taste soooo good?! Avocado seems to be a popular flavor - I may try those next just because it seems like an unlikely popsicle flavor. We had gazpacho, a cold vegetable soup of Mexican origin, on a hot evening - very refreshing! And I made avocado chicken salad (a new recipe!) to go with it. I will definitely be making that again!

I listened to a lot of great music (and some not so great!) deciding what to include in my "Summertime Playlist." I selected 17 tunes ranging from Frank Sinatra's "Summer Wind" to the Beatles "Here Comes the Sun" and Kenny Chesney's "Summertime." It is my new favorite playlist! Watching a live performance (Big Pete Pearson) at the Desert Botanical Garden reminded me how much I enjoy jazz and the corn fritters at Gertrude's before the concert were delicious.It was our first concert at the Garden but I'm quite sure it won't be our last!

The summer blockbuster, Jaws, was released on June 20, 1975 and we watched it again 38 years later on June 20th. Did you know that the most often quoted line of the movie ("We're gonna need a bigger boat!") was ad libbed by Roy Scheider who played Brody? And the movie was just as suspenseful this time as it was decades ago on the big screen! We were surprised to find a packed house when we saw Stories We Tell, a documentary, at the Camelview Theater and a considerably less than full house when we saw Man of Steel. I enjoyed both movies but thought Stories We Tell was a little slow.

I was surprised I only made it to one of the four coffee shops on my list. Grove Coffee is on the campus of The Grove Church on Gilbert Road. The coffee shop is cute, quiet, inviting and serves great coffee drinks. It's open seven days a week and is a well-kept secret!

That was June. I can't wait to see what fun things July brings...

Saturday, June 29

lovin' summer #3

There is no denying that summertime in Arizona is hot. Usually by the end of June the really hot spell begins and typically lasts for at least the first couple of weeks of July. It is what ushers in our monsoon season where we get slightly cooler temperatures but higher humidity, thunderstorms, dust storms and, hopefully, some rain.

This week was the beginning of the really hot spell as temperatures in the valley climbed toward 120 degrees. Yesterday, the high in our backyard was 115 degrees - and today was even warmer.

thermometer

Although it was quite toasty yesterday afternoon, it was a very pleasant 78 degrees at 6:00 in the morning as I sipped my coffee on the patio. No matter now hot it gets in the afternoon, I know it will be cooler in the morning.

I LOVE SUMMER!!!

Thursday, June 27

they don't make 'em like they used to

My mother-in-law, whom everyone called Nona, was a girl during the Great Depression and learned many valuable lessons as she grew up. She would share these pearls of wisdom with us and we began to affectionately call them "Nona-isms." Things like "Don't buy something if you don't have money to pay for it" and "Don't be penny-wise and pound-foolish" (meaning if something is really cheap (in price), then it's most likely cheaply made and won't last) and "Always buy American when you can."

When my husband was a boy, he liked his clothes very soft with no rough edges and Nona liked a quality product at a reasonable price so Sears & Roebuck was where most of his clothes were purchased - everything from underwear to shirts and pants.

Kids dressed quite a bit differently when my husband was in elementary school than they do today. Girls wore dresses and boys wore button-up shirts and pants (usually jeans). My husband had quite a collection of button-up shirts but his very favorite one was this one...

Richard's shirt collage
Isn't he cute?

In fact, he loved it so much that he wore it for picture day in both 5th and 6th grade nearly 50 years ago! Nona once told me he wore the same five or six shirts - his favorites - every week. So that means this shirt was washed over 100 times while he had it. Then it was passed down to four nephews who each wore it quite a few times. 

One of the nephews, who now has a child of his own, recently told me he remembered wearing the shirt with great fondness - it was soooo soft! When all the nephews had outgrown it, the shirt was returned to us. We saved it for our children to wear... but they never did since we had daughters. So we put it away in case we had grandsons.

This year we gave the shirt to one of our grandsons. And he chose to wear it in the Spring Concert at his school.

Nick's shirt
And isn't he cute, too?

This shirt was worn by six BOYS over a 48-year span. And I wouldn't be surprised if at least one more grandson wears it. I think Nona most definitely got her money's worth out of this purchase. And I seriously doubt that a shirt purchased today would hold up as well. After all, we seem to live in a disposable world.

Tuesday, June 18

lovin' summer #2

I love, love, love summer fruits. Strawberries, nectarines, watermelon and plums all get two thumbs up from me. I like them cut up in fruit salad, speared on fruit kabobs, dipped in chocolate, grilled on the bbq, made into a smoothie or all by themselves.

But the fruit I most eagerly wait all year for are...

peaches
PEACHES!

Once the sweet, juicy peaches (preferably local) are available, it's time to make ...

peach ice cream
PEACH ICE CREAM!

With only five ingredients, all of them pronounceable, natural and readily found in your kitchen, this ice cream is easy to make but tastes like you worked in the kitchen all day. It's the perfect cold treat on a hot summer night! 

I LOVE SUMMER!!!

Sunday, June 16

foolish choices

Several months back I wrote a post about our trip to Shoshone Point at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and I promised a future post about the foolish things we observed people doing. As I pondered that more, I thought maybe I was rushing to judgment labeling these folks foolish... until I began reading a riveting book about Grand Canyon and the people who die there.

Michael Ghiglieri (a world-reknown ecologist, highly experienced white-water (including the Colorado River through Grand Canyon) raft guide and Grand Canyon National Park Ranger) and Tom Myers (an accomplished backcountry hiker/route finder, physician at Grand Canyon Clinic for over a decade and current medical director to Grand Canyon National Park) co-authored the compelling book, Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon in their quest to determine which of the nearly 700 recorded traumatic fatalities since the late 1800's could have been prevented and how. The book focuses on deaths inside the canyon, not those on the plateau surrounding the canyon. It's also important to note that while the canyon extends far beyond the National Park boundaries into Indian reservations, private land and public land, most of the deaths have occurred within the current National Park boundaries which makes sense since that's where millions of tourists congregate every year.

People die in Grand Canyon every year - some are health related (like random heart attacks or illness-related) but most are preventable - falls, drowning, dehydration, hyper- or hypothermia and such. Webster's Dictionary defines "accident" as "an unforeseeable incident." Given that definition, Ghiglieri and Myers assert that "traumatic death in the Grand Canyon is rarely an accident" and that, in fact, nearly all such deaths are "the result of decisions made by the victim and/or those responsible for that victim's safety." Wow! It's tragic enough to lose a loved one but even worse when it could have been prevented.

Ghiglieri and Myers divide their book into sections such as falls from the rim, falls inside the canyon, suicides, drownings, flash floods, etc. Since I have never been down in the canyon (nope, not ever) this post is limited to falls (excluding suicide) from the rim and the foolish things we observed on our last trip to Grand Canyon.


I was not too surprised to learn that nearly a quarter (21%) of victims of lethal falls from the rim were either taking a photograph or posing for a photograph. Everyone wants to capture that "award-winning photo" but what shocked me was how many people in close proximity to the rim walk around paying no attention to where their feet are as they look through the viewfinder of their camera to get that perfect shot or who back up without looking behind them first. The flip side of that is posing for a photograph and let's face it, Grand Canyon offers some pretty spectacular backdrops. The problem is when folks walk around or climb over a guard rail or barricade to get just a little closer or to jump from rock to rock. 


girl jumping
This girl (I'm guessing eighteen or twenty), after walking around a guard rail, jumped up and down while her mom took a photo of her from behind the guard rail. They were trying to get a photo with both of her feet off the ground. Her mom told her it would make "a great Facebook pic!" She is only about 18-inches from the edge and the drop is over 450 feet. Landing wrong on the loose gravel and slipping off the edge would not make for a happy photo.

Ghiglieri and Myers believe that most visitors to Grand Canyon have a 9-1-1 mentality meaning that if they are in trouble, they can simply dial 9-1-1 on their cell phone and help will immediately be available. This common notion is absolutely not true as cell service is spotty at best and rescue attempts can take hours or even days in inclement weather. 

The authors of the book don't mention it, but I also wonder if people no longer have a healthy fear of dangerous situations due in part to playing video games and watching action movies where the "hero" goes through combat, a car crash or falls off a building with not so much as a scratch on his body. 

guy in hoodie
This young man, after climbing over a guard rail, walked along a narrow ledge with a steep drop-off with his hands in his pockets. A slip on the loose gravel and he'd tumble down about 450 feet while he frantically tried to get his hands out of his pockets so he could grab something to stop his fall.

 Another phenomenon mentioned by Ghiglieri and Myers is that looking down into such an immense hole like the Grand Canyon very often produces disorientation and clumsiness in otherwise sure-footed, agile individuals. This may be due to a lack of depth perception when peering down into the canyon producing a vertigo-like response. Even experienced NP rangers and guides have difficulty judging distance into the canyon from the rim with any accuracy. 

guy on edge
This twenty-something guy "wins" the award for "Most Foolish Act." After climbing over a guard rail, he stood toe-to-rim with a vertical drop-off of over 100 feet. You can see him using his arms to maintain his balance. He stood there for less than a minute before backing up and walking away.

Not surprisingly, statistics reveal that 71% of rim fall victims are male and that the 20-29-year old age group is at greatest risk of falling off the rim. This is the same demographic that engages in risky behavior in other situations (like driving a car). With that said, more people have jumped or driven off the rims of Grand Canyon on purpose than have fallen off unintentionally.

"The only genuine safety and protection for us against an accidental fall at Grand Canyon resides in our own personal common sense and careful behavior. Common sense about personal safety  cannot be legislated or insured by paved paths, warning signs, or guard rails. It must reside in the mind of the visitor."
~ Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon

Saturday, June 15

lovin' summer #1

Summer in Arizona is an experience. It seems no matter how long you have lived here, summer always comes as a surprise. And typically we complain about it. About the heat. And the extremely dry weather making wildfires a reality. And about our higher electric bills. And then a bit later in the summer it's the monsoon storms. And having to fish patio furniture out of the pool after one of them. Or clean the pool after a haboob. Really, the list is endless.

I have decided that, for me,  this year will be different. No, I cannot control the weather (if only I could!) but I can control my attitude. And to that end, I have decided to find as many things to love about summer as I can.

So... to start the ball rolling...

School's out! -ed

I pass at least two school zones just about every time I leave my house. Not only do I not have to slow down for the school zones during the summer, there is also waaaaay less traffic around the schools, especially during drop-off and pick-up times. It's a DOUBLE BLESSING!!

I LOVE SUMMER!!!

Saturday, June 1

50 shades of summer

I am a list-maker. I enjoy the challenge of completing all the things on my list. I had a fabulous time finishing my "100 Things in Arizona" list so I knew when I saw a photo that a Facebook friend reposted showing a handmade chart with 100 things to do with your child this summer that my challenge was on. I made a list of 50 things to do this summer... some are things I would do anyway, some are things I've always wanted to do but never made time to do, some are brand new things, and some are things I've done in the past. But ALL of them are fun things!

I'll report back at the end of each month (June, July and August) so you can see my progress. But don't just read about the fun I'm having - make your own list!

Fifty Shades of Summer
  1. Make something with Phyllo Dough
  2. Visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
  3. Put a jigsaw puzzle together
  4. Play a game of Scrabble
  5. Make and hide a geocache
  6. Try a new fruit
  7. Make a valance for my office
  8. Get a new cell phone
  9. Watch the sunset
  10. Make homemade popsicles
  11. Meet a friend for coffee at Grove Coffee
  12. Go to an outdoor concert in the park
  13. Try a new recipe
  14. Write a letter
  15. Go to the Gilbert Farmer's Market
  16. Try chicken and waffles - find the "best" place in the Valley
  17. Watch an artsy movie at the Camelview Theater
  18. Go to a baseball game
  19. Make gazpacho for dinner
  20. See Man of Steel in June
  21. See The Lone Ranger in July
  22. See 2 Guns in August
  23. Make a Christmas ornament
  24. Meet a friend for coffee at Inside the Bungalow
  25. Movie Night! - Watch the 1975 summer blockbuster Jaws (6/20/75)
  26. Movie Night! - Watch the 1985 summer blockbuster Back To The Future (7/3/85)
  27. Movie Night! - Watch the 1966 summer blockbuster Fantastic Voyage (8/24/66)
  28. Meet a friend for coffee at SoZo Coffeehouse
  29. Plant an herb garden
  30. Take the light rail downtown for dinner
  31. Spend the whole day reading a book
  32. Play a new card game with friends
  33. Shoot Peeps
  34. Meet a friend for coffee at The Bold Roost
  35. Host a "Make Your Own Sundae" evening
  36. Visit a museum
  37. Take dinner to a friend
  38. Make a "Summertime" playlist
  39. Eat dinner at the Desert Botanical Garden and listen to a concert
  40. Anonymously buy a stranger lunch
  41. Sit on the patio and watch the rain
  42. Go for a late night swim
  43. Make S'Mores
  44. Watch a sunrise
  45. Eat breakfast for dinner
  46. Crochet a blanket
  47. Make homemade granola
  48. Plant a pineapple
  49. Paint pottery
  50. Visit Butterfly Wonderland