Garden Day

Today was my garden day. I had not been to the garden in a few

weeks and how everything had grown. There are a few things that grow

exceptionally well here in the summer and one of those things is

Okra.

This is Red Okra.

The bloom.

The pod.


The plant.

The Silent Lake

I only had one day to go up North but what a beautiful day it was.

This is looking over to Anderson Mesa. You can see the

San Francisco Peaks in the back,

they are near Flagstaff and are the highest in Arizona.

There is a sign on my way to Lake Mary it says Kinnikinick Lake 9 miles.

I have been wanting to see what a Kinnikinick Lake looks like.

So it looks like this.

It was a pleasant surprise to arrive at this lake.
The road was dirt but not bad to travel.
There were only a handful of fishermen at this lake, it was so peaceful.


Even though it was a little muddy in spots and a little wavy from a breeze.


It had a very pretty shoreline with some interesting plants and trees.

I will try to make this long story short!!

When I got to the far end, there was a dam, I got out of my kayak and walked up on top.
I never do this, it must have been fate!!!

What did I see??

I could not believe it!!

It was another lake.

This lake was clear blue and perfectly still, there was not one person there.

You know how much I love...... NO PEOPLE!!

I had to go!!!!!! It was like a dream!!!!!

I hustled back to my kayak and across lake Kinnikinick.
I loaded up in the truck and starting down the little road to the East;
this was a terrible road, it took me forever, only going 1-5 miles an hour.
The road had big rocks and holes, I didn't want to hurt my truck,
you know how much I love it!!
Luckily it was only a little over 1 mile to that lake.
When I got there it was very primitive, no parking lot and no boat ramp, NOTHING!

THAT'S A GOOD SIGN!!!!!

When I was putting in I scared 5 Great Blue Herons
and they flew across the lake, what a beautiful sight!!

I started to paddle out and then I stopped........

I realized it was totally silent here, not just quiet but silent.

The Silent Lake!!!

I stayed at this lake as long as I could, enjoying the peace that it had to offer.

When I got home I looked up the name of the lake, the real name is Morton Lake, but I like my name best.

Little Cheerleader

This picture is not very clear do to the fact that I had to take it through the window of the gym

but none the less,

Sophia is very proud to have accomplished this.

Girls Only

Jen, Sophie and I went to Blue Ridge Reservoir this week,

we left the boys home. We missed them but we had a good time.

I had a wonderful time, I was with my favorite girls!!





Yes, Jen likes to kayak too. She is checking
out the wildlife.

Sophie took a few pictures of her own

and

we took a little lunch break when it rained.

Just me and my Kayak

Enjoying the cool weather up North.

7/13/2008

Upper Lake Mary

near Flagstaff, Arizona

Happy 4th of July

This is my friend Toni's cabin in Pinetop.

Thank you Toni for inviting Cindy and I to the

cool pines for the 4th of July.

We had a great time, we relaxed....

We kayaked at Scott Reservoir.....

Toni (right) and Cindy (left) you both sure look cool and calm

in your kayaks.

We sure miss our friend and kayak buddy Marlene.

We investigated the far end of the reservoir.....


and then we hightailed it off the lake
when we noticed that dark sky overhead.

Water Ballet 6/27/2008

Is this what they mean by water ballet???

Click on the picture to blow this one up, she is so fun!!!!

I am at it again!!!! 6/12/2008

For those of you that know me well, you know this is the beginning of a great batch of SOAP!!!

This is the lye and carrot juice mixture you start with.

Here are a few pictures of how it is done. This is my famous carrot soap, yes I said carrot soap!!

Great ingredients like olive oil, coconut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter.

Melt it all down.

Stir it all up.

Pour it in the molds

Put the lid on and put it to bed!! You must use an old wool blanket, it makes it better.

Finally

This is old news but here it is anyway.

I finally graduated form my Master Gardeners class.

I will never regret driving 1 hour and 20 minutes

one way to attend this class once a week for 17 weeks.

What now?? More fun!!

I still go the the demo garden,

downtown Phoenix, every Tuesday morning to help out.

It is a big job since we can grow

vegetables here in Arizona year around

and it is a big garden.

Each week we plant new seeds, dig up old stuff

and harvest what is on the vine.

We work with the compost and fix the drip system.

Oh yes!! We weed!!

Here I am with a few of my favorite people in class, 38 people graduated that day.

This was so much fun!!!!

I recommend it for everyone; each state has their own program.

Mother's Day 2008

I had a wonderful day.

Thank you,

Jen, Michael, Tiler and Sophie

Our Little Fish 5/4/2008

Jen and Sophie came over today for a swim.

Their pool is not warm enough yet and

the pools at my community are heated.

Even though there are a lot of rules

at my pool, Sophie still loves to

come to Grandma's pool.

She loves to swim!!!!!

Coming up for air

Getting instructions from Mom!!

Swimming along side Grandma!!

Sophie and I play in the pool all summer.

If I had to choose the one thing I like to do the most with my

Grandchildren, it would be swim.

We dive for toys, jump off the side and have races.

Since I did not learn to swim until a few years ago, it

makes it even more special.

Here comes SUMMER!!!!

A Short Time with Sophie 5/2/2008

I spent some time with my Granddaughter today

while her Mother was running Tiler around

and going to a meeting so Sophie

can have summer entertainment

(like cheerleading camp).

We had entertainment of our own!!!

She's a blast!!!!!!!

School is almost out!!! 5/1/2008

We went to Tiler's last track meet of the
year. He did a great job, always does!!!
Tiler is very dedicated to his sports and
give it his all.

We also had the privilege of watching Tiler play Soccer for the first time this year.

He did very well and is looking forward to playing

again next year.

Tiler started playing football at a very young

age and has always been the quarterback and that was no exception this year.

Well, all of this is over for one more year.

Summer is fast approaching and I will be posting

pictures in the pool soon!!