Love Your Neighbor

  With so much divisiveness in the news, around so many issues, it is good to be reminded 

of a simple lesson, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, 

but love your neighbor as yourself."  

Hawks

We see red-tailed hawks soaring near our home almost every day.  They are elegant birds.

Lechuguilla Blooming

Every spring I look forward to the millions of lechuguilla blooms on the ranch in June.  They reach for the sky with stalks of yellow flowers up to 10' tall and they fill the air with their rich perfumed scent.  Besides being beautiful, the young stalks are candy for cattle and deer.  Interesting this year that the 53 heifer calves in the pasture near our house have eaten the majority of the stalks of lechuguilla blooms, but the cows in the Buck Knob pasture don't seem to care about them.

Life's Little Things

Some days bring more smiles to my face than others.  Love the little things (some are actually pretty big!) life brings!

Perfect Butterfly

While hiking this morning, I took photos of flowers.  With my eye in the viewfinder, a butterfly landed on one of the flowers and just sat there, within inches of me!  I was breathlessly clicking away.  The butterfly was beautiful!

Summer Fire

There are fires started by lightning every summer, often within sight of our house.   About 10 days ago, a fire started from a lightning strike in the Rincon Mountains, about 20 miles away.  We watched it burning on ridge tops at night.  We saw on the news that 150 firefighters were fighting the blazes.  No houses were at risk and the fire was primarily burning on public lands.  We haven't seen smoke in two days, so the fire must be out now.  I took this photo from our front porch.  

Chinks

Papa made a new pair of chinks for me as a birthday gift.  Papa handstitched my chinks with a beautiful lacing technique and cut the fringe longer than usual.  I love the details!

New Calf

We have close to 200 new calves on the ranch now.  There are only a few cows that haven't yet given birth in this calving season.  A couple of days ago, I happened to look up toward the mountain and saw a cow that didn't look quite ordinary.  I got the binoculars and saw a little calf next to the mother cow.  Big crows were flying closer and closer to them.  The calf was just born and the birds were coming to get the bloody afterbirth.  The mother cow stood in the same place for several minutes until the little calf stood up.  The calf nursed and then they started walking down the ridgetop.  Birth is always a miracle.  It is special to see a newborn calf prancing about within minutes of birth. 

Centering

I took a three hour pottery throwing boot camp last night.  Centering a hunk of clay isn't so easy!  The teacher asked all five students to measure 14 pieces of clay, into 1, 2, 3, and 4 pound pieces.  After a short centering demonstration, we were asked to center the one pound hunks of clay on the potter's wheel, first without timing, then in 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, then blindfolded!  While blindfolded, we had to throw a cylinder.  Three hours of centering and throwing was worth every penny of the $12 class fee!  What an experience!

Dove Mountain

Upon the advice of good friend Joy, from Sarasota, Papa and I celebrated my birthday once again over dinner at the Dove Mountain Ritz Carlton in Tucson last night.  The drive into the Tortolito Mountains was beautiful, as they are covered in enormous old saguaro.  At dinner, we opted for the prefix menu, with a basket of various breads served with three chili butter, gazpacho, crispy chicken over a melange of vegetables, and berry tart with ice cream for dessert.  As the sun was setting, we watched as cauldrons were lit around the grounds, with smoke from the fires scenting the air.  Nice!

Aerobics, Pottery, and Photography

Since turning 55, I am ever aware of staying healthy and becoming more creative.  I am taking a water aerobics class twice a week, beginning a new pottery class on Friday, and I'm taking a photography class this afternoon from a portrait photographer in Tucson.  There's so much to learn!

Training Hank

Papa bought Hank about 18 months ago.  Hank is part thoroughbred horse, part teddy bear.  He wants to be hugged or he will hug you.  Papa has started training him and it's no easy task!  They are going about this process slowly and carefully. 

Hombre' Fabric

I have read articles about dyeing fabric and other things in the hombre' style, so I decided to give it a try.  My results were mixed, as I discovered it is very hard to keep the dye off the area you want to stay white.  After spending an afternoon on this experiment, now with red dye all over our front porch, I've decided "you get what you pay for" and I'll buy my hombre' fabric next time!  Chalk this up to a learning experience!

It's My Birthday

Today is my birthday!  I am happy to turn 55!  I love my life!  

I've enjoyed calls and emails from family and friends today.  Thank you! 

Papa made me a pair of chinks, bought me a Nikon zoom lens, and is taking me for 

dinner at the Ritz Dove Mountain in Tucson, later in the week.  Thank you, Papa! 

I am grateful Papa and I are healthy.  We enjoy traveling, playing games, and hiking together.  We are fortunate to live on the ranch and have the house in Tucson when we need a few days of civilization.  Over the past couple of years, I have enjoyed taking photographs, thanks to an earlier birthday gift from Papa.  When taking photos, I rarely take a photo of myself.  I looked through my photo files 

and found a few photos of me, taken by others over the past year.  So many wonderful memories made since turning 54!  I'm enjoying today at 55!

Sunset on a Cloudy Day

Yesterday was the cloudiest day we've had in southeastern Arizona in months.  As the sun was setting, the colors of the sky became deeper and more brilliant.  Stunning! 

Happy Father's Day

On this Father's Day, I am grateful for the fathers in my life, my Dad, known as Granny, Great Papa (Papa's Dad, now deceased), Papa, son Brian, and sons in law, Dan, Corey, and David.  So many wonderful memories made through the years, lessons learned, games played, and time spent together through little things and big things.  I wish all the fathers in my life a very Happy Father's Day!

Small Roundup

Earlier in the week, Colter, his grandfather, and Papa rounded up a few cows to take to the auction barn.  These cows had lost their calves and wouldn't be producing income in 2013.  With a couple of dogs helping, they had a small and successful early morning roundup.

Happy Cowboy!

Riding Oscar, Papa is clearly a happy cowboy!

Cows inside the House Fence

During house construction in 2004-5, Papa built a fence around a couple of acres where our home is located on the ranch.  I landscaped the area inside the stone walls around our house, very simply and with lots of space between plants, so I can see any snakes that wander close in.  The area outside the house and stone walls is natural grassland.  There are gates on either side of the fenced area around the house.  With our normal daily activities, sometimes one of those gates will be left open for a few minutes or hours.  Papa left a gate open a couple of days ago and cows wandered through the gate to munch on the grass they never get to.  Surely it's better inside the house fence!

Gerbera Daisies

I picked up flowers for our ranch home at the grocery a few days ago, 

bunches of white and yellow gerbera daisies. 

Sincere Thank You

In today's mail, I received a printed thank you card from Aunt Margaret, after her 80th birthday parties.  It was so beautifully written, I want to share it.

   The parties are over!  Tea with Lee on Thursday, cookout on Friday evening, brunch on Saturday morning, the surprise finale on Saturday afternoon and the encore on Sunday at noon with leftovers from Saturday.  The house is quiet, but smoke from the candles lingers in the air.  The tired loved ones are saying we will not do this again for 80 years!
   It is my time to say thank you for all the warm hugs, cards, gifts, smiles, your presence at a party, bouquet of 80 roses, sharing stories of pleasant times in the past, and every expression of warmth.
   I could write individual notes, but there is no way to include just what your smile, hug, card and encouragement means to me.
   To those who rearranged schedules, made trips to the airport, drove thousands of miles, took care of the sick and learned ways to avoid the truth, thank you.
   To my children, thanks.  You performed just the way you have been taught with class and dignity.  Everything in my life has not been first class, but I can tell you that I have a first class family and friends.
   Your expression of kindness has given me determination to help make the life of others more meaningful if possible.  Thank you for being a part of my life.

Sincere love,
Margaret

Bright Pink

As I've hiked over the past few days, I have randomly come upon large bright pink flowers on small single cacti.  The flowers overtake the cactus plants, for a day or two.  Just beautiful!

Birds in the Birdhouse

Two years ago, when Brian and his family were visiting the ranch, Papa built four birdhouses with Sarah and Emily.  They took two home to Texas, and they hung two on the fence near our house.  As I was going out for a hike yesterday morning, a bird flew out of one of the birdhouses, just as I was passing.  I took a couple of steps toward the birdhouse and heard little tweets.  We have a new family of birds in the birdhouse!  Mama bird is working hard to keep them fed, as she makes trip after trip out of the birdhouse and back again with a mouthful of goodies.

Quilt Pillows

During our recent girls weekend, Mom brought a stack of quilt squares that my Aunt Guyneth had put together over the years.  Some of the squares were pieced and others were appliqued.  All were beautiful!  One of the squares was made with over 200 pieced triangles.

I chose one or two for Toby, Greta, Emerson, and Colby, while Audrey chose a couple for Lauren.  

I brought them home and went through my stack of fabric to find coordinating fabrics for pillow backs.  I added ties to each pillow as they seemed more appropriate than zippers.  

I hope the little ones will be pleased with their new pillows.

Jackalope

When hiking this morning, we saw a very large jackrabbit.  He was wary of us as we approached.  When he stood up to run, Papa said, "it's a jackalope!"  It was no ordinary jackrabbit!