Garden Tour

Today, Penny, Lezlee and I went on the Real Gardens for Real People Tour. I have been several times, but it had been a while. The gardens were all in central Phoenix this time.
We started at a Montesorri school. They had a garden of the senses there with areas for smell, touch, sight and sound. It was a nice garden for kids. This pretty deep blue flowers where at the school.
There were a couple of beds of flowers that were densely planted and growing and blooming well. I like that kind of planting the best. It looks the most natural and pretty to me. Penny likes a more formal and sparsely planted look.

These two shots are of some of the areas I liked.

At another home, there was this nice container of succulents complete with gecko. I really like succulent plantings too. They are very structural and interesting looking.

This was another container planted at the same house. The under planting here really did have white on the leaves, it isn't just a trick of the light. I don't know what the plant was, but I liked it.

This huge tree is only like 15 to 18 years old. It's enormous and quite nicely trimmed. It 's a great tree for this back yard.



And she had some fun ornaments in her garden. I liked this bee.

And this sprig of glass beads.





This yard had nice plantings all around the edge of the yard and a nice view from the back corner.

One thing I thought as I looked at all the gardens, was that my vegetable garden was really doing quite well. No one's vegetables really looked a lot better than mine. Most just had more room.

I LOVE sweet peas. These smelled heavenly. I have tried repeatedly to grow some. I have some growing now, but they aren't anywhere close to as big and blooming as these are yet. The little micro climate in my back yard is much shadier and cooler and slower than those with sunnier locations. I still have high hopes for my sweet peas though!

These daffodils and poppies were in the front yard of the same house. Penny was giving me a hard time over my single blooming daffodil in my backyard. I have limited room though and am concentrating more on veggies. I'm glad to have what I have though. I will have some freesias and rannuculus soon too!

I thought this sign was rather entertaining. I felt this way several times.










The same house had quite a collection of things, but they were all pretty nicely displayed. There were lots of nice areas to sit.

A small birdhouse collection at the same garden.

Another fun little spot in the same yard.













A nice planting. I love nasturtiums. Mine are up, but not quite blooming yet. Again my cool shady micro climate.

Sunflowers, artichokes, petunias.

This was my favorite garden. Almost every square inch was dedicated to a plant that grew food. I loved it.

Same yard. They used some fencing for trellis. And the read building is the chicken coop. They use the chickens to help make compost and eggs!

Another garden, nice planting and nasturtiums again.

There were a couple of fun mosaics on the fence posts in the backyard.

A nice comfy backyard retreat.

Views to Gallup and Back

So this morning, I flew on a small chartered plane to Gallup, New Mexico. We were supposed to be doing a half day Pediatric conference. Due to unforseen circumstances, I only ended up with one physician speaker. Thank goodness for him!
We flew over some beautiful snowy mountains on the way there. It was snowing big fat flakes when we got to Gallup. It's much higher in elevation than Phoenix is. I didn't warn my doc that it would be cold. It was 31 degrees when we landed in Gallup. At least he had a suit coat on!

This is my doc.

And this is our pilot.

On the way back, I got some photos of the the green grassy desert mountains and full lakes.

Pretty Canyons

And Weaver's Needle in the superstitions. For some reason a little washed out!

Rez Dogs

I was just up on the Rez for work. I have to say I feel so sorry for Rez dogs. I know that might just be me, but all the dogs I see up there look sad, cold, uncared for, and usually starving. This poor guy was laying in the middle of the parking lot at the Pinon Clinic. It was really cold. He looked miserable.
I also saw a lot of dead dogs along the side of the road. The contrast to my two pampered dogs is pretty stark.


This is the Pinon Clinic. It looks pretty new and nice. But it's really isolated. It took my 5 and about 3/4 hour to get there, one way, from Phoenix. It's not really on the way to anything else. The poor folks who work there have a really hard time getting someone to a hospital if they need to admit them. They are at least 45 minutes from the closest ambulance. And they have to already have a bed assigned at a hospital before one will be dispatched to them. They don't have a helicopter or the ability to call for one. So once you have the delay of getting a bed, then you have a 45 minute ride to Pinon and a 45 minute ride back to the airstrip at Chinle, then you have about an hour and half plane ride and then another ambulance ride to a hospital. You hope they make it after all that delay.

It's a pretty building though.

And here is a photo of the Window in the Rock at Window Rock!

What else would I be doing?

I have been noticing lately that I am more "at one" with my electronic gadgets and social networking than ever before. It's a little odd to find oneself checking facebook, my blackberry or singles site first thing when I get up and then again before I go to bed. Don't I have something better to do? How did this happen?
I think part of it is the whole dating thing. I actually have been doing some of that lately and I want to see who has written, what they say. I find myself wondering about them and how I should respond.
I also have found that facebook is actually helping me keep a little bit more in touch with people who are far away, or to whom I don't talk to all the time. I like feeling like I know what is going on with my friend who is in Afghanistan, Minnesota, Ohio or even one down the street that I don't see very often.


My Ipod is just my buddy. It keeps me company around the house and on the road. I often travel in places without much in the way of commercial radio stations. I also get pretty bored with listening to ads and DJ's. What is the life span of an IPOD? So far so good, but I worry that one day it's just going to go kaput and I will have to shell out for a new one. I think mine is about 2 years old, maybe 3, but it gets used a lot.
And it's full.



Ahh, my blackberry, blessing and curse. I love having my personal work calender synced on it. It helps keep my life organized and simple. I love having all my address and phone numbers at my fingertips. I have slowly started using my cell phone more and more. It's interesting how many people just call you on your cell phone and don't bother with your land line any more. I haven't had a texting plan, because I had email on my blackberry, why should I worry about texting? Suddenly it seems like everyone is texting me. I think I finally figured out how to do it. I don't know as many of the abbreviations that other people know. The email is better, it's free and there is no limit on characters like there is with the texts, but not everyone can do that. I am thinking I need to add texting to my plan so I don't get charged 10 cents every time I receive or send a text.
I usually leave my cell phone on all the time except when in church or a movie. I was recently getting stitches removed in the doctor's office and my cell phone rang. I was at the vet in the middle of talking to her and my cell phone rang. I didn't answer it in either case, but I think I need to get better about putting it on silent or turning it off. It is annoying to everyone. Also, do I really need to be reached all the time? What would I miss? I think I have always left it on before, because I DIDN'T get a lot of calls. But now that I seem to be getting more, I need to think it through a little more.
Then there is the emails. I love seeing the comments on my blog. I can see that I have a message on Facebook even if I can't look at it because it's a blocked site. It is helpful when I am working to be able to respond to work emails even when I am far away. But when I am off, seeing the work emails causes me a lot of stress. I start worrying about things and what I need to get done. And I can't seem to stop looking at them. Sometimes I don't read the whole thing, but the stress is still there.
Then my blog. I am often thinking, what should I blog about. Then the time getting a post up.
So what would I be doing if with my time if it weren't for all of my electronic gadgets? I might be talking on the phone more....I think I talk on the phone a little less since the advent of all the toys in my life. I am a talker though....

Happy Baptism Anniversary to Me!

Today is the 33rd anniversary of my baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It's amazing how fast the time has gone and yet, I can't imagine being any other religion. It was the best decision I ever made!

Wake up Call

I was driving north on I-17 for work Tuesday morning. I looked down for a minute and when I looked up, I had drifted too far left and was aiming for the end of a guard rail. I made a correction, but lost control of the car. It spun 1 and a half times, hitting the guard rail on the front, back and side of the car. It was terrifying.
I am very luck and blessed in a lot of ways. I'm lucky I didn't hit the end of the guard rail at 75mph. I'm lucky that the guard rail was there and I didn't roll or go off the road. I'm lucky that no else hit me or that I didn't hit anyone else. I'm lucky that I didn't get hurt.
It really scared me though. Helped me to know that I am not as good of a driver as I thought and how easy it is to lose control at speed. It caused me to really count my blessings. It caused me to think hard about my life and what I was doing with it.
Glad to still be here with you all.

Friendship is...

So, since having surgery, I haven't had as much to blog about. I was thinking today, though, about all the nice people in my life and how much they have done for me, especially lately.
Friendship is...
taking me to my surgery appointment at 6 AM!!
Waiting for me while I have 7 hours of surgery.
Calling people you don't even know to tell them I am ok after 7 hours of surgery.
Taking me home from the hospital.
Calling to check on me often and listening to me whine, complain and lose my mind.
Driving clear across town to bring me a hamburger, when I couldn't drive.
the Young Women from my ward coming to clean my house!
bringing me meals and soup and goodies.
Trusting me enough to share your secrets with me.
Cleaning up after my dogs.
Taking care of my garden for me.
Cleaning up my back yard so I could enjoy sitting outside.
Taking my dogs for a walk for me.
Cleaning my dogs water dish.
Taking me out to lunch so I wouldn't go stir crazy.
Again putting up with my whining and complaining.
One of my coworkers doing some of my work for me, so I could stop worrying about it.
My coworkers sending me a card and roses!!
Taking me to the grocery store, mostly because I wanted out of the house.
Overcoming your squeamishness and helping me dress a gaping wound.
Helping me get ready for company.
Taking me to my doctor appointments.
Sending me nice messages on face book or emails to check on me.
Giving me nice smiles and encouragement.
Letting me work 6 hour shifts when I got back to work instead of 12 hours to start.
Acting like you missed me!

Truly I am blessed to know so many amazing and thoughtful people. Thank you for all your kind deeds, thoughts and prayers!