Giving of the Thanks

Well, I've officially been guilted into finally posting some pictures from Thanksgiving in Minnesota. I was hoping that I'd at least beat my little brother to the punch, but no such luck. So, here they are...in completely random order.

And because those of you "in the know" already know who everyone is, while those of you not, you know, "in the know," don't really care, I will, I have decided, in addition, you may note, to using an obscene amount of commas, all properly placed, according to Microsoft Word, version 2007, I might add, not add, beneath, above, or otherwise, any commentary about them. Impressed much? I am.

Ahem, anyway...

Snow and Cactuses

When Minnesotans leave Minnesota to visit the desert, you'd think they'd be able to expect warmth and sunshine. Well, that's what the Renslows were expecting when they planned their spring break trip out here. Of course, things don't always work out according to plan.

Case in point. We hadn't gotten so much as a flake of snow here at the Well all winter long. Then, Janine and family arrive from Minnesota and the very next day what happens? Snow. In March. In Arizona. Since we didn't get much exploring in due to the cold wind and snow, we decided to head south today, hoping that the Phoenix sun would pan out and give us a nice sunny and warm day. Becca sure was excited about that prospect.

Or should we say possessed by that idea? Anyway, it did pan out well after all. The day was gorgeous. Not too hot, not too windy.

We arrived at the Desert Botanical Garden and spent the afternoon checking out all the cool cacti and bird life of the Sonoran Desert.

Here's one of the dozens of Verdins hopping around in the mesquite and palo verde trees.

Here's one of the butterflies from the butterfly pavilion. But since it's not a bird, I have no idea what kind it is. I think it's an orange one.

Hannah was disappointed that none of them landed on her, but she got to be a butterfly once we got outside.

Some of the exhibits demonstrated how people use the desert plants for their survival, too. This Hohokam hut was fun to explore.

But the excitement couldn't last forever. And eventually even Becca's energy began to wane. They were all troopers, though. And at dinner everyone commented on how cool the plants were and about all the fun they had.

I think this picture says it all.

Christmas in New England: The Photos

Now that we're back home in sunny Arizona (wearing t-shirts and sandals, no less), I was able to download some pictures taken during our trip to New England for Christmas. Here they are...

What blog post of mine would be complete without a bird-shot? So here is a Black-capped Chickadee in the Fogarty's backyard in Kingston, NH.

Mom and Sonja in front of the tree at their house in Maine.

Sonja knitted a lace scarf for Mom. Here she is opening it up on our first Christmas Morning of the vacation. This one was on last Thursday.

We also got them a Navajo ornament for their tree. But putting it up there required moving around some of the other ornaments. Here's Dad looking for a spot for one of the many lighthouse-themed tree-hangies.

After spending a couple days in Maine with Mom and Dad we drove down to New Hampshire to visit the Fogartys. Nick was psyched for our presence...and the lame $25 gift certificate we gave him for Christmas.

We then drove back to Maine to celebrate another Christmas, this time on Saturday. I know Sean would have wanted me to post this picture.

Sean, Annika and Marc spreading some Christmas joy.

Marc was less than enthusiastic about how obsessed Rik was with his new Nigella cookbooks.

But they both enjoyed learning about the nifty designs on their new Navajo ornament.

We were even visited by Santa Lucia, complete with her battery-powered, green plastic candle crown.

Back row: Dad, Marc, Sean, Ed, Uncle Ray, Sue, Rik
Front row: Sonja, Mom, Annika, Aunt Catherine

And what Christmas would be complete without the requisite kitty-in-wrapping-paper photo?

A Week in Pictures

Sonja's sister, Sue, came for a five-day visit this past week. Unfortunately, I had to work the entire time she was here, so I didn't get to go exploring with the two of them. Even so, we all had a great time together in the evenings after a long day of hiking and driving around by Sonja and Sue. We watched a couple movies, sat around and chatted, and even played a game of Scrabble, during which I scored the highest point total for a single word I've ever gotten (87 points). That was my highlight of the week (ok, not really. But I'm pretty proud of it, considering the word I scored those points with was "slimey").

Anyway, since I wasn't along most of the time I can't really add much to these photos. I guess they'll have to speak for themselves, mostly.

Ok, this 5 foot bull snake wasn't actually from Sue's visit. I took this the day before she arrived at the Castle. I just haven't had a chance to post it, yet, so here it is. The rest of these pictures were taken by Sonja and Sue during their adventures.

We did actually see a snake while Sue was here. This is a tiny western diamondback rattler that was crossing the road just down from our house. It was kinda dark out, so the picture quality wasn't that great. This was Sue's first rattlesnake!

Sonja and Sue's first adventure was to hike the Broken Arrow Trail outside of Sedona.

The century plants were still in bloom.

Next, they explored the Verde Valley, including a visit to Tuzigoot National Monument. I think it was a little on the windy side that day.

Sonja took Sue over to a llama farm to help with some llama-sitting chores, too.

I don't even want to guess what the llama on the left is thinking. At least the sheep looks appreciative of the effort Sonja and Sue put into feeding them.

Their next adventure took them up to Flagstaff and Walnut Canyon National Monument.

Sue at Sunset Crater National Monument, just north of Flagstaff, standing amongst the Aa lava.

And yesterday, they both spent several hours in the car to get to one of the most recognizable natural landmarks on the planet, the Grand Canyon. Here's Sue at Mather Point.

This was Sonja's second time visiting the "Big Ditch", and she was very excited to report having seen her first "crap-load" of condors (I think that's the official classification for a group of condors). Some of her pictures came out really good, too, so I turned them into a fun little montage. It's not often you get to look down at a soaring California Condor.

So, that's the last week in the life of the Olligs and a Fogarty. I'd have added all sorts of random links to this post, but my creative juices don't seem to be flowing tonight.