Snow in my back yard in Tucson!!

Sister, Helene and Less arrived from Iowa yesterday and look what they brought!!

Snow on the Tucson mountains is pretty unusual,  The Catalinas get it a lot but not the west mountains.

Snow on a palm

Snow on Less's car at dawn!  It was gone before long so we had to get up early to see it but was pretty fun for us.

My kiln is working great

My first glaze firing in my very own kiln in my backyard!  With my very own glazes--well, I purchased them.  Someday maybe I will learn enough to create my own.  First was test of everything, to find out what those two glazes will do in different combinations, thickness, etc. . . and now I am ready for production. My friend, Marian also gave me a "slab roller" that she no longer wanted.  Will helped me mount it on a cart so that is ready to use also.  That will make it easier to make tiles. 

grandma and grandpa

How's this for a hint!

Yep, we're finally going to be grandparents.  Our China kids are pregnant.  They gave us permission to boast last week when we were together in Bloomington. Mom and Dad are pretty excited.  So are we!!  Baby due mid August.  Our summer travel plans are on hold until Doug and Tammy decide if baby is going to be born in Shanghai or New York. 

Oasis Parrot Sanctuary

Janet Trumbule gave us most interesting tour of the facilities.

Old friends Rich and Linda Frost are in town for a week from Denver, staying at Wayne and Judy's RV resort.  The six of us spent the day together and went out to The Oasis Sanctuary,  located down a dirt road north of Benson, Arizona.  "The Oasis Sanctuary is a unique life-care facility, dedicated to providing permanent care, shelter and rehabilitation for parrots and other captive exotic birds.  The Oasis is often all that stands between life and death for these beautiful, sentient and endangered companion birds." That's right from their brochure; its a rescue shelter for abandoned and injured parrots.  Rich worked with Executive Director Janet Trumbule several years ago in Denver, before she gave up her high powered job in Mortgage Finance and sold everything and moved to Arizona to take over to co-direct the refuge.  She gave us a wonderful tour.  She loves these birds and was so knowledgeable, we learned a lot about the plight of the exotic bird when it is no longer wanted.

This cockatoo is pretty sad looking, huh.  When these birds are under stress very often they "pluck."  They will habitually pull out their feathers.  Sometimes pairs will pluck each other.  The behavior is not well understood but only happens in captive birds, it is not a behavior that happens in the wild. 

Some birds are so beautiful in spite of a variety of problems.  Some have deformities, some have behavioral issues and can't interact with other birds, some are sick, some are just old and arthritic, many were abandoned when owners no longer wanted to care for them.  There are over 600 birds here.  These African Greys seem quite content to have a good meal and to be part of a flock again.

We had no idea how cuddly a bird could be!  Most of these birds had owners at one time and they just want to snuggle up close.  They can't get enough of the interaction.

To Morenci and back

The four of us took a long day trip up to see the huge copper mine in Morenci.  Left at sunrise and got back to Tucson as the sun was setting.  Nice scenery, interesting day and lots of laughs on our day long outing.

Jean at the Miniature Museum

Larry and Jean have been here since we got back from Bloomington.  Been a fun week, Larry and Will did a few rounds of golf, Jean and I went to the new Miniature Museum in town.  It is pretty awsome.  I need to go back--there is so much to marvel at.  Everywhere you look there are amazing tiny miniatures in a variety of settings. 

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Kristi and her drosophila

This is Kristi Montooth in her Biology Lab at Indiana U.  She does genetic research using Drosophila--that's fruit flies for us non science types.  She's a neat friend of Steph's and she gave us a most interesting tour of her digs. Looking at them under the microscope gave us all a new appreciation for these little creatures.  They are surprisingly colorful and their self sacrifice is all for the eventual good of us all.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

DeBoer's together in Bloomington

Here's the whole tribe in Bloomington for a long weekend! Such a precious time together.

Ambling around Indiana University on a balmy February morning.  Stephanie gave us a tour of campus, her office and department.  Its really a beautiful campus that is the center of life in Bloomington.

A visit to the Tibetan Buddist Center outside of Bloomington.  Sounds like an unlikely place for an eastern religious center. We found it all very interesting. 

Relaxing in Stephanie's house with her friend's very large cat, Shoju!

Learning all about photography at Monroe County museum.

This is what happens when southeast Arizona gets 14 degrees temperatures!  Not good.  I covered what I could but tender aloes and heavy cactus couldn't take it.  One night maybe, but we had two nights of hard freeze and it took its toll.  Citrus not looking good, expect the fruit will be on the ground in a few days.  Will be doing a lot of pruning this spring.  But, I guess I'd still rather be dealing with this little inconvenience than what they are getting other parts of the country.  We were not effected in our neighborhood but some parts of Tucson lost natural gas service so several thousand homes without heat or hot water for several days.  Once they got it running again, they had to go house to house to turn it on.  Felt sorry for seniors. 

Bill VanGilder workshop in clay

Bill VanGilder is in town doing a four-day, hands on workshop.  I've been signed up for months and waiting with anticipation.  Today was day two.  I have not been disappointed.  Yesterday was demonstrations all day long but today we all got our hands dirty and threw up a storm!!  I'm getting lots of ideas and tips.  Some of the best ones look so easy when he does it--I gotta practice some more.

Bill is a great teacher, he has such an easy, articulate style. . .plus, he tells great stories.  He has his home studio in Maryland, he writes for Clay Times magazine, goes all over the country giving these workshops, and has a line of clay tools that he promotes.  Last night, after the long day of demos he entertained us over wine and cheese, with slides of his story as a potter, his years in Africa, and his work.

Hiking with John and DeAnn

DeAnn and John Heimstra are in town visiting Mom and Dad Haan and I got to go along on a family hike yesterday to the Phoneline Trail in Sabino Canyon.  Was a chilly start but a great hike and turned out to be a perfect hiking day.  I like hiking with these guys, they bring along great snacks and they stop multiple times to take in the scenery or for photo opps.  Fun day. Topped it off with a memorable meal and more conversation at the newest El Charro's in Oro Valley.

American Boy Choir

Meet George and Curtis.  Two of the 30 boys from the American Boy Choir stayed with us for two nights preparing for their Tucson concert on Tuesday night at St Andrews.  It was an amazing performance.  If you aren't familiar with the American Boy Choir ( I wasn't until we hosted him), they a boarding school in Princeton, New Jersey.  They draw 6th thru 8th grade choral singers from all over the world and are a premier group.  30 of them are on a Southwest tour right now and we got the privilege of meeting and watching them perform.  Bright, articulate young men who were a joy to get to know.  I also forgot how much growing boys can eat!!