Elaine, Dot and Sedona

Three dear friends--a road trip to Sedona, AZ--What could be better!!
Elaine, Dot and I go way back to Junior High school in Iowa. The three of us took very different life courses once we graduated from high school (dare I admit, almost 45 years ago)but we still share a camaraderie that is pretty special. We did a lot of gabbing and giggling, and ate well, caught up on family and friends and solved the world's problems over several glasses of wine. We managed a bit of sightseeing to catch the unique red rocks of Sedona but mostly we were content to just enjoy the lovely casita that Dot found for us and be soulmates. Dorothy flew in from Seattle, I drove up from Tucson where we met Elaine in Phoenix and then drove up to Sedona for our 3 day outing. Was great.

Our famous daughter!

This is, to say the least, an unusual picture of Stephanie--but there is a story that goes with it! Last summer Stephanie was in Shanghai hanging out with her brother, but also to attend an academic seminar in her field of expertise. Sometime during that workshop a team from "iLook" magazine did a photo shoot using the participants. They were each asked to hold something that epitomizes Chinese design. She is holding a steamed bun and must admit I am lost on that one, but never the less she made it into the final cut. The page containing her picture is one of several other pages of esthetically similar pics. iLook is suppose to be on newsstands in October, however it is a Chinese magazine so guess I won't be able to run out and get a copy. I have instructed Doug to purchase several so that I can have them--maybe she will autograph them for me.

Here is Stephanie's email to us. . .
"So I'll be appearing in iLook magazine in Shanghai in October! At the end of the seminar in Shanghai, the magazine came in and took a bunch of fun pics of the participants, asking each of us to hold an example of Chinese design. And they picked my pic to be one of the pics to appear in the multi-page spread! I've attached the page in which I appear. Exciting, no?"

Hummers

Can't get enough of these little guys! This is a Costa Hummingbird--this one is a male, and he is hanging around my feeder. Pretty much claimed it as his.

Although our summer rains didn't amount to much this year--big disappointment--right now the desert is pretty green. And all the neighborhood critters are about. I wouldn't exactly call it fall weather these days but think we are past the scorching days.

owl finding shelter from the rain

We had a late monsoon storm last night. Lots of lightning and thunder (no wind, no worry) and a good drumming rain on the roof. Look who took shelter under our patio roof! I just aimed the camera with the flash on and got him--hopefully he just thought it was another lightning flash. He's a little western screech owl that we know is around frequently because we hear his "bouncing ball" hoot late at night.

Here's another picture of a screech owl that I took of a captive one at our Desert Museum not long ago. He's another one of those bird-name-wonders--don't know how he got his name because he does not "screech."