Desert Delights

Our desert vacation was a lot more colorful than I had expected. There were colorful wildflowers everywhere! I've never seen so many in the desert or in such large quantities and concentrations. I think it has a lot to do with all the rain we had this winter. However, I'm a bit puzzled as to how so many wildflowers are blooming at the end of June...almost July. They're everywhere and so pretty! I love wildflowers so this trip was like wildflower heaven. Here are some of the flowers we saw in Sedona, Arizona...note the red earth background in the pictures...

I've never seen so many cactus blossoms...ever! As I was taking pictures of this one, the center started to wiggle around...


Here's why...a bee had burried himself deep into the flower. Here he comes now. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the green, twisted, knot-like center...


I love the orange inside. So pretty...




Double delight...or...double shot for another bee...


This type of cactus is interesting. It grows like a train, along the ground, one paddle attached to the next...


I've never seen these before...they're yucca pods. Aren't they cool?! I found out later that native americans ate them. I read that they boiled and roasted them. They look like chile peppers...


We saw this flower stalk on our sunset hike near the vortex. There were bees of many sizes and shapes buzzing all around. You can see some of their silhouettes in the picture...


Here's one during the day. They're actually very colorful...


And, very tall...at least seven feet...


A little purple star...


And, some more with their petals curving backwards...


These were such a treat to me because of the orange color. It seems like most of the wildflowers I see are white, yellow, pink, purple and sometimes red. It seems rare to find orange ones and I'd never seen these...


These look like little paint brushes...click the picture to see it larger...they're even prettier when the picture is bigger...


This one sure has long legs. I think it was at least 18" tall...


These were growing on tall bushes near the Palatki ruins...


Sweet little blue flowers and little buds...


These are pretty but I'm not sure they're wild. We only found them growing along the roadsides...as though the road department had planted seeds for them...


These were only along the roads too, as far as I saw, but so cute...


Some have orange on them...


The tall black centers really stand out...


Fluffy...


We found these on our drive up Oak Canyon at higher elevations. They remind me of tiny pinecones...


We also found these up the canyon. They look like bright little suns...


I love photographing wildflowers and try to get pictures of every kind I come across. Unfortunately, I saw amazing flowers along roadsides that I couldn't take pictures of because there weren't places pull over. How wonderful to have seen them though.

More on our desert adventure in my next post. I hope you'll come back. :-)

Palatki Cultural Site

When we were in Sedona, Arizona last week, we noticed right away that the light seemed different. Somehow...brighter. We've heard it described as "sharp". This may have something to do with why the sky is so incredibly blue. It makes a fabulous backdrop to show off the amazing red rocks. There are a lot of them...we saw "Coffee Pot Rock", "Snoopy", "Cathedral", "Bell Rock", "Courthouse" and so many more that had interesting shapes. It reminds me of how we look at clouds and see "things". There are a lot of rocks that are just pretty. Here are some that we saw one day on a drive out a long dirt road...


The red sand is not only pretty but it feels really soft...


The dirt road that we were on led to ancient ruins at the Palatki Cultural Site. These cliff dwellings are really old. It's estimated that they are from A.D. 1150-1300...


There are petroglyphs (carved into the rock)...


And, pictographs (painted onto the rock)...






In the 1920's the grandson of Lewis or Clark (they haven't figured out which one yet) moved to this area in his 60's, after his wife had passed away, and homesteaded 160 acres, which included these ruins. The first two years that he was there, he lived in a little structure built against the rocks. He later used this space to house farm animals...


While he lived in the space under the rocks, he built a home. It has been added onto over the years. It now serves as the visitor center and museum. I think it's cute and the setting is gorgeous...


While he lived there, he planted hundreds of fruit trees...apple, pear, persimon, walnut, Juju Fruit, etc.


This was a fascinating little excursion but the ruins were such a small example compared to what we'd later see in Mesa Verde, Colorado...I'll be posting about that soon.

Please come back soon for more on our desert adventure.

Thanks for stopping by. :-}

Salsa in Sedona

A little over a week ago, we hitched up our camping trailer and headed out for a desert adventure...hubby, daughter, me....and, yes, our dog, Salsa, and our cat, Duchess. We spent last week in Sedona, Arizona. We take Salsa out and about with us whenever possible. Duchess stays at the trailer and lounges the days away, loving every minute of her vacation.

Sedona is very pretty with red rocks, brilliant light and some of the bluest skies we've seen. There are also vortexes...places where the earth releases energy...and they say that Sedona has the largest concentration of them than anywhere else on earth. They are hard to find though because there aren't markers, only maps. We heard stories of how people go to Sedona and experience such a strong feeling of needing and wanting to be there that they move there soon after. Maybe it's the vortexes or the beauty, who knows. We also heard stories of how the vortexes make some people feel nauseous and sometimes dizzy. We were anxious to see what we would experience. My daughter and I thought that Sedona was beautiful but we felt "weird" all week. Hubby loved being there. And, Salsa?....we think she liked it too. She seemed happy there and when we went to a vortex she was very relaxed. Here she is at a vortex enjoying the view with my hubby...click on the picture to enlarge it and see her ears blowing in the breeze...so cute!...


After a few minutes, she laid down and seemed very peaceful...


After our visit to a vortex, we went to the Airport Mesa and watched the sun set...


The next morning, we went for a drive up Oak Creek Canyon. It was beautiful! At the top was a lookout and Salsa enjoyed the view...


On the way back to town, we stopped at a park and took a walk. We were amazed at all the ferns in the desert! All the green looks so pretty against the red rocks...




More on Sedona in my next post. Please come back. :-)

Crazy for Crochet

I've been crocheting for over 40 years and I love it. But, somehow, it's been on the back burner for a few years as I have been pursuing other fiber arts...knitting, spinning, needle felting and weaving. I've been doing it a lot more again this year and right now I'm crochet crazy. To be more specific...crochet, lace, shawl crazy! I'm on my third one in two weeks...


I found this "Flying Diamonds" pattern on Ravelry and I fell in love with how a lot of them turned out when using thin yarns...like sock yarn or lace weight yarn. So, I bought the pattern...my first pattern purchase on Ravelry! I'm crocheting it with a size "F" hook and a cone of thin (lace weight), 100% cotton yarn that I had in my weaving stash. I love the color and I think this is going to turn out really nice...


Our local library has a little book store where they sell used magazines and books to make money for the library. It's a great resource and I love to go there and look for magazines...which I often find current month issues and get them for .50c...and craft books, etc. I went there today and found several magazines, including this one...


It was only .10c and has lots of pretty patterns. I never liked to crochet with thin, thread like yarn but my current shawl project is fun. So, maybe some "decorative crochet" is in my future. :-)

Lullaby Doggie

My daughter is a harpist and I'm lucky to hear live and amazing harp music just about everyday. I think our pets love it too. I've posted pictures on here before to show our cat watching and enjoying my daughter's music. This time, it's our doggie's turn.

We have an Airedale Terrier with lots of energy but it's not uncommon for her to calm down when my daughter plays her harp. Last night was no exception when she decided on a front row seat, right in front of the harp...


She not only calmed down and relaxed, she fell asleep!


Now for a hairbrushing session...she was having a bad hair day. lol

Tea Blossom

My Tea Blossom Shawl is finshed and I am thrilled with the results. When I unpinned it and lifted it up from blocking yesterday, I screamed with delight. I love it!


I think this yarn was a perfect match for this pattern.


Blocking it was a bit challenging because of the curves and trying to get both sides the same. I fiddled with it for a while and decided that the only way I could think of to get the sides the same was to fold it in half, overlap one side over the side that was blocking out well, slide a blocking wire into the folded side, and hope for the best.


Aside from a little fold line down the middle, it worked great!


For details on the pattern and yarn I used on this shawl, see the previous post. There are a couple changes in my shawl from the pattern...I didn't have enough yarn to finish the repeats and on the double crochet rows, I did treble crochets. I think that made those rows stand out better and it added a lot to the look of the shawl.

I'm still amazed that I've been able to complete two beautiful lace shawls in just over a week! This is so much fun that I want to make more! I've been searching for more patterns and have a few possibilities selected. I've also gone through my stash and pulled out some great yarns. Now, I just have to be a matchmaker and decide which yarns work best with which patterns. Can't wait to get started on the next one!

Thanks for stopping by. :-)

Tea Blossom Shawl

I'm am super excited about crochet lace shawls right now! They're pretty, fun to make, quick and rewarding. Not to mention being a great way to blast through some stash! I just finished my second one in just over a week. All it needs is a good blocking but I can't wait to show it to you. Here it is...


I love the pretty pink color of this Cherry Tree Hill, Supersock Solid, 100% Merino Wool in the color "Blossom". The subtle variation in color is gorgeous (click the picture to enlarge). I found the "Tea Wrap" pattern on Ravelry...it's another free one! Stay tuned for post-blocking photos. :-D