Week 47

"People don't take trips,
trips take people."

~ John Steinbeck

We took a road trip to Chino Valley to spend Thanksgiving with Mom. The drive down was great and took us only 10.5 hours. The last half of the drive back home was not great. 

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Good food + fun people for the win. Thank you, Pat and Jerry!

Mom is doing well, slowly getting her energy back after what she's been through the last few years. I'm so thankful she has an excellent community of friends surrounding her with love.

Watching the world wake up as we cruise down Interstate 5.

Pit stop in boring Boron.

Miss Goofy being quiet for a second.

Making homemade cranberry sauce at Mom's

Monument Valley sand painting by my Grandfather.

Sneaking a photo of my Mom.

Sunburst.

Exploring a few gift shops on Route 66

Got some decent coffee from this one.

Mojave National Preserve, waaay out there.

Stopped for breakfast here. I had French toast, of course.

Week 38

"And all at once, summer collapsed into fall." ~ Oscar Wilde

I took a lot of photos this week, and it took a bit to sort through them all. Then I had to pick my favorites. 

The highlight of my week was playing with Paisley's new bubble machine. Well, also photographing flowers, birds, a butterfly, and the clouds, and, oh yeah, IT'S FALL!

An American Goldfinch. 

They are getting more comfortable with me sitting a little closer to their food source.

We had some amazing cloud-scapes this week. 

Signs of fall.

Best bubble machine EVER!

"My bubbles."

Cosmos at Heather Farms.

Just practicing with manual focus on a Mexican Sunflower 

when this Gulf Fritillary decided to have a snack. 

Miss Cleo on one of her thrones.

Art in the back yard, every chance we get. 

Test drive.

City Hall, again. I love the reflections from the pond. 

Week 37

"I am the intentional creator of my human experience."

~ SelfHealers Circle

Bike rides, clouds, walks, Great Horned Owls, hanging out with the grandkids, and even some rain. 

It was a good week.

Downtown PH pond.

That sky though!

Our City Hall.

Sidewalk Sunflower

Another cute yard in Martinez.

No power here for about seven hours while they replaced a power pole.

That's an impressive amount of equipment for one pole.

It's the time of year for backyard sunrises. Yay!

Second breakfast.

Okay, this is a really bad image from my iPhone of a Great Horned Owl we came 

upon while on a Saturday evening walk. It was being harassed by a Cooper's Hawk, 

and we were able to watch it for a while, once the hawk left. 

We believe this is one of two that have been calling from the trees in the creek behind our house. 

In the middle of the night, we can hear them talking to each other and they lull us to sleep.  

Painted this one a little differently. Still, so much fun!

We had a very nice rainy Sunday. 

Week 34

Spent most of this week with my Mom. It was nice to visit with her and a few of her dear friends. 

One evening we got to talking about her life in the 1950s... 

Mom joined the Civil Air Patrol with a friend when she was fourteen. My father was a flight instructor there at the East LA airport and that is how they met. She started taking lessons and got her private pilot license at sixteen, then her commercial license at eighteen. So much history still to discover from this woman. 

The Monsoon Season was in full performance mode in the afternoons and it was beautiful. Hence, all the sky photos in these past two posts.

Sunset from Mom's backyard.

Mom lives in the high desert and she calls these weeds. 

She has several rose bushes on her property. 

This is Goofy. She adopted my Mom. They are inseparable. 

Spent a few nights on the front porch watching the Monsoon show.

My customary stop at Sunset Point.

Thankfully, I had very little weather to deal with on the way back down to the airport.

I got myself into a watercolor rainbow groove in Procreate. 

(more to come)

A very soothing activity while dealing with an "insect venom allergy" 

aka 50+ mosquito bites on my ankles and feet.

My souvenir from Arizona's monsoon season.

Week 7

Another week.

I got to spend a few days with my Mom and my sister. We went through boxes of photos at my Uncles. It was a salve for our sad souls.

I made it back home with my knee still swollen and sore and then - tested positive for COVID. Ugh. I avoided it for almost two years. On the bright side, after four days of not being mobile much, my knee feels better.

And that is all the energy I have currently.

The beautiful gift from my Sister to our Mom.

Me (in my go-go boots), Uncle, brother, Mom, Grandmother, sister.

Rest in peace, Ted, Brad, and Grammer 

Me, step-dad, and sister circa 1989(?)

 Rest in peace, Mr. Jones.

Sunset Point rest stop, Arizona.

Female Northern Flicker

My neighbors' roses are budding.

Just add chicken sausages and roast.

The 'rona finally got me.

Week 5

 As I gathered my photos for last week, I realized we are now in the second month of the year. How did that happen?!

This last week was busier than usual, making it challenging to remember to take photos.

So, I decided that I would not worry so much about what to shoot or the exact day, but instead shoot in a way to remember what was going on. I can just share moments from my week. I think that makes this a 52-week project AND takes a little pressure off. Yes, I know; I'm the one applying the pressure. It also takes me too long to decide which images I want to share, and this way, I can share more. Or less.

 Always a work in progress, I am.

This guy got his long locks cut off. 

I love that now I can see all of his beautiful face and those cute little ears.

Tuesday we drop Logan off at school and Miss Paisley 

waves 'Hi' and "Bye' to everyone.

Always reading multiple books.

Miss Cleo is over 17 years old. 

Completely deaf and half-blind and still going strong.

I'm always looking for the partly cloudy sky.

Dropping Logan off at school on Friday. 

Paisley likes to go on adventures so,

it takes a little longer to get back to the car these days.

Saturday morning backyard view.

Bought ourselves and newer travel trailer. Can't wait to get on the road again!

Riding in the truck with my boys.

My house plant babies. Thinking I need some more.