canyon

Foliage!

Foliage!


The weather in Flag was beautiful as were the trees. It was so nice to be back in the world of living trees for a couple of days. On the way up there I drove past two controlled burns in the Cocnino Forest. They smelled incredible.

Living in the manicured desert landscape of Scottsdale, I've definitely found a new appreciation for trees of all kinds. While I lurve cacti with a growing fascination, the trees shaped like boxes don't really do it for me.

I much prefer the tall and mighty Pine Tree!


It's funny how such a simple thing can bring one so much joy.




Who's the guy hanging out in the tree?



Oh Snap! It's the scary lumberjack.

I hope the immense size and sheer creepiness of this ginormous fiberglass axe-man really comes through here.



Oh a much more serene and uplifting note, the drive home was beautiful.










I've had the urge lately, as your eyes can probably tell, to play around with my digital photos. I don't have a program to do this with yet though; I think I need Photoshop.

sweet home arizona

I love the place where I live. Over the past couple of weeks, this feeling has been settling in my heart. Absolutely every single day I notice a piece of beauty inherent in the landscape.

Today I drove up to Flagstaff for work. Here are a couple of pictures from my day.


Morning Clouds


View from a rest stop in McGuiresville


Nopal

Nopales are my most favorite cactus these days. I watched them today thriving in the craziest conditions. They are the one cactus that grows continuously through the 4,500 foot altitude change from Phoenix almost all the way up to Flag. They grow in the hard-packed desert sand, on rocky cliffs and crags, in the middle of dry grass meadows. We're just scratching the surface here with the Nopal cactus. There will be more, much more.


Do you see the crazy bird-like shadow careening across the picture? Weird...
This is Humphrey's Peak, the tallest mountain in the state of Arizona at just over 12,000 feet. At the top is a bowl in which one can participate in any variety of winter sports, providing it snows. It snowed very little there last year. I think lifts were only in operation for two or three days. Let's pray it dumps snow up there this year. I have a good feeling about it.


This strapping, shirtless, axe-wielding woodsman is NAU's official mascot, the lumberjack.


Blurry sunset.

I was taking pictures today with my little Sony Cybershot. It takes great close-up pictures with it's 7.2 megapixles but it's hard to capture clear landscape shots. I think part of that is the lense and the other part is my ineptitude with camera skills. I really need to learn what all these dials and doolallies do.

Four Five Things

In my refrigerator:
1. Pacific Chai and Soymilk
2. Deschutes Twilight Ale
3. Pudding
4. Munster Cheese Slices
5. Hot Sauce

In my closet:
1. A bazillion shirts organized in ascending order of shirt size
2. Snuffleupagus Sweater
3. All of our Camping Gear and Snow Gear
4. Boxes of old pictures and love letters
5. Head and wrist bands

In my purse:
1. Blackberry
2. Natives
3. Spearmint Altoids
4. $10 Canadian
5. Gym Fob

In my car:
1. Way too many books
2. MP3 player
3. Starbucks Cups
4. Jean Jacket, Hoodie, and an Airplane Blanket
5. The Beast (my tennis raquet)

b-thumbs, or why my gnome's on strike

While I was away this summer jaunting across the country with my girls, my orchids were suffering neglect and shriviling away. I left three healthy orchids on my window sill and I came home to three pots of dusty, dry leaves. I was able to save one though it was too late for the others.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been nursing the existing plants in our apartment back to life and adding a few new friends to the pack.

Voila, the window sill!

As you can see to the far right resides my hearty orchid. That tall freak-plant is my crazy amaryllis which has been investing all his energy in his singular, now almost three foot tall leaf since his gorgeous white blossoms died in February. I call him Rinald. Next to that is my brand new basil plant which I got from Trader Joe's for $2.99! I can't even buy a little packet of basil for that much at the regular grocery store. And, last but not least is my new jade. I'm a little worried for the jade as I've never been able to keep this kind of plant alive. I just can't get the watering cycle right, I'm perpetually over or under watering. But, I think it's gorgeous so I'm giving it another try.

I've also got a new china doll



And, I've been working to save the one plant Zack made us cart all the way across the country and then proceeded to neglect. This poor guy has lost so many leaves over the past couple of months and is now leaning quite a bit to the left, but I think he's got a happy life ahead of him still.



Now, on to the gnome... Gnome used to have a prominent place on the window sill next to Rinald. Now that I've got all these new plants up there clambering for sunshine, I didn't have any space for Gnome. I felt a little guilty relegating my little kitchen friend to the counter under the vitamin basket, but I had no choice. I tried to tell him I needed his help guarding the tea cabinet but I'm afraid he's unimpressed.



Tea Cabinet

intent

I started out writing a big long post about my own stupid 9/11 story complete with rants and raves about American priorities and the lack of support and rebuilding for Katrina victims. I then realized that anything I have to say on these subjects is trivial unless I propose or am actively involved in a solution.

Many things these days seem trivial to me. I think I've become jaded and fed-up with talk. I can't deal with too much jibber-jabbering right now that isn't backed-up with some kind of action plan. This weekend, I listened to a friend go on and on and on about how life has thrown the shit stick in his direction. It was all woe is me and life's so unfair and I'm never going to get ahead. It was all I could do to keep my calm and not straight-up tell this person to stop wallowing in circumstantial self-pity and just DO SOMETHING already!

Perhaps, this is all stemming from changes I'm instigating in my own life. I don't want to hear any longer about hopes and dreams and aspirations. I want to hear about plans and action and means for achieving whatever idealistic ends float your boat. I know that all good things take time and that good ideas need to be fleshed-out into achievable goals. But, at some point we have to grow up. Once we understand and figure out what it is that needs to be done to help a neighbor, to find our calling, to live our dreams don't we owe it to ourselves to try?

ain't no running from karma

My Grandma has always told me that if you spend your life doing good things for other people that good things will come back to you. And, I believe her too. Fostering healthy, loving and honest relationships with the people who love you will, in turn, bring healthy, loving and honest things your way.

I wonder sometimes about the other side of this karmic coin. How immediately can a fleeting and insincere sentiment come back to knock you straight in your high faluting britches?

At the grocery store yesterday I was approached by a boyscout selling some kind of coupon book. I declined to buy one because a.)I'm horrible with coupons, I almost never remember or care enough to use them and b.)I'd rather spend my last $10 bill on a 12 pack of beer. Actually, I didn't even decline outright...I told him to catch me on my way out after I'd gotten some cash from the check-out. This was complete hogwash; I wasn't getting any cash. I was a woman on a mission, determined to make the last $10 in my wallet get me through the approaching festivities of the evening to come. The only thing I needed or wanted was beer.

I think I got exactly what I deserved when I hastily exited from the opposite end of the parking lot, avoiding eye contact with the enterprising and fully uniformed little scout. As I was practically throwing the 12 pack of pristine Redhook ESBs into the back seat of my car, the cardboard handle on the box ripped and as it slid out of my hand and onto the blacktop a veritable fountain of beer exploded all over the backseat of my car, the door of the shiny black Lexus parked next to me, and my be-sandled feet. In a fluster of embarrassment I quickly tossed the undamaged bottles into the car and ran the box full of shattered glass and foaming beer to the dumpster right next to where the little scout was peddling his coupons.

I felt like an immoral drunkard, stumbling over the idealistic dreams of America's future. The little boy and his father just looked at me with shame and contempt as I hurried, sheepish and redfaced back to my car racing to avoid the wrath of the yuppie attached to that black, now beer soaked, Lexus.

The Moral of this Story: Just buy the fucking coupon book and avoid the guilt, you alchie!


In other news, I just saw PingPong eat a poo-covered rock fresh from his bum. If that doesn't make you want to go out and get yourself an aquatic reptile soon, I don't know what will.

Oh wait, yes I do! How about some pictures of our beloved Poo-Pong (as he's now affectionately known)?


What's for dinner, lady?


Bubble-nose nap


Okay, I have one more thing to comment on before the weekend comes to a close here at Brinki*Dink and that is the absolutely fabulous new pair of earrings that my fantastically talented friend Allison Evans made for me. These earrings are made from labrodite which is a protective stone, banishing insecurities and fears. It promotes trust in the universe synthesizing intellectual thoughts with intuitive wisdom. It's a useful companion through change and protective while traveling alone. Does this woman know me or what?

Ta-Da!



Aren't they beautiful? Allison is a gem, seriously the girl is overflowing with talent in fashion, art and now jewelry design. And, her boyfriend, the perfect setting for this sparkling gem, is just as talented in this newfound art they are exploring together. They have lots more of where this came from so, if you're interested in owning a custom piece made from powerful crystals and gems just holla at your girl and I'll get you in touch with the right peeps. (Nos, I hope you don't mind me pimping your shiz on my website!)

stupid heart

It's raining and my heart hurts.



I don't want to go to school today.

like like

Actual conversation overheard today whilst drinking a coffee at the University of Arizona Student Union...

girl1: You what's weird? Like when you buy new clothes and you like totally forget about your old ones. It's like I can't even remember what I wore before I got the new clothes. I can't even put together Like what did I do?

(silent pause)

girl2: Yeah, I like totally know what you mean.

deeper than the holler

I love Randy Travis, circa 1986-88. Okay, there. I've admitted it to the world, well to my reader(s) at least. I spent most of my childhood in the suburbs outside of Atlanta and my Mom loved Randy. She'd pop in her Old 8x10 cassette during our trips to the bank and the post office. I remember playing house with my little sister, frosting my plastic fisher-price cupcakes and singing 'Diggin' up Bones'.

Randy was always either wailing about good intentions, cheatin' blues, and the end of the line. Or he was singing about her perfume, forever holding hands, and lovin' without fear. While I'm not a big fan of his more recent work or all those Christian worship albums he did, I've just recently rediscovered the treasure trove of records released in the mid and late eighties courtesy of Rhapsody. I have a new appreciation of my mother now listening to Randy's country honey voice and hound dog lyrics while I'm scrubbing my ceiling fan blades and vacuuming under the couch.

Forever and ever, Amen.

only the atlas of the clouds

"Souls cross ages like clouds cross skies, an' tho' a cloud's shape nor hue nor size don't stay the same, it's still a cloud an' so is a soul. Who can say where the cloud's blowed from or who the soul'll be 'morrow?"

from Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

in bed

It stormed here last night. A full-on thunder, lightening and torrential rain storm and it was fantastic. We get this kind of weather here so infrequently but when it does come I love to open the windows and smell the wet dirt and leaves while falling asleep to the sound of raindrops on metal.

It's 1:45pm, I'm still in bed, and I couldn't be happier. I was recently guilted into buying a subscription to the AZ Republic by some local kids doing fundraiser. And, so I sit, surrounded by the Sunday paper, a just finished Cloud Atlas, an empty cup of coffee, my computer, and the tops of delicious red ripe strawberries. The only thing missing is a cat or a dog (or boy) with whom to cuddle.

What a lovely way to spend a morning and part of this humid afternoon. And though a fresh novel and loads of pillows are beckoning for me to stay just a while longer, I think it's time to peel myself from my comfortable nest of blankets and quilts and get back to world of the living.

i love fry's

Yesterday I had a wicked migraine and no Imitrex, and over the course of the day I consumed 5 Alieve tablets. This made my headache fade but also left me feeling super spacey. I had to take care a couple of errands in the afternoon, the usual grocery store and post office runs. I came home and chilled out doing some work and reading before hitting the hay early.

This morning I woke up feeling a thousand times better and more coherent. As I was getting my things ready to head out for work, I couldn't find my wallet. I looked everywhere twice, three times, four times...by the fifth go-round I started to break-out in a cold sweat.

I mentally retraced my steps and called the post office...no dice. I called Fry's, the local grocery, and thank heavens they had my wallet! I just about kissed the elderly customer service lady at the counter who pulled the little red key to life out of the drawer. I am so grateful and will forever shop at Fry's! All hail Fry's!

The moral of this story is don't leave your wallet in the little kid seat on your shopping buggy. You'll probably leave it there when you return it to the cart corral.

On a different note, everyone check out my friend Valerie's Blog! She's fucking funny and fantabulous. You'll enjoy, I promise.