Recharging my batteries

With the recent storms this week all due to the Monsoon season, our temps have been much lower and mornings have been down right cool.  With that in mind, we were inspired to take a trip out to Boyce Thompson Arboretum this morning.  We packed a picnic, grabbed the camera and headed out. 

Below are some ominous looking clouds hovering over Superstition Mountain. Please click on the pictures to enlarge. 

The temps were around 75 on the way to BTA.  We enjoyed having all the windows and the sunroof open.

While driving along, we spotted a vapor trail which seemed odd since the clouds were so thick.  As we pondered whether it really was a vapor trail, Conn spotted a plane coming out of the clouds and as we watched some more we saw the plane doing loop-d-loops.  I just had to pull over and get a few shots.

What a total surprise it was to watch this guy flying around.  We must have sat by the side of the road for about 15 minutes watching him have fun and it was a blast for us too.  I could just imagine this being some guy and his son or grandson, both having the time of their lives doing loop-d-loops on a Saturday morning. 

I updated my Hiking page with more pictures of BTA.  Take a look, we found a few surprises there today too.

As days go, this one ranked right up there as a completely awesome day.  August, here we come...

Cheers!!!

My Top 10 Favorite Things This Week

TGIF!!! As promised, here are my top 10 favorite things to close out this past week. By the way, these are in order of occurrence rather than 1 being the least favorite and 10 being the most favorite.

1. Picking out pictures of my grandkids and great nieces and framing them to take to work. The experience was mixed with varying emotions, but ultimately very gratifying.

2. Watching Alice in Wonderland again. Most brilliant Tim Burton movie yet.

3. Sitting in my pool and taking pictures of clouds floating by. Rather than say anything more, here are some of the pics.

4. Getting better at doing my job faster. My personal goal.

5. Saw 2 Smart Cars this week. Still squeal when I see them. They make me happy, laugh and smile.

6. OMG, I saw this totally HOT guy on a bicycle, aside from the helmet (not so hot). Anyway, he had his shirt off and he had the 6 pack abs going on. He was just sitting on his bike, waiting at the Kyrene Crossing light, posing ever so nicely for all of us.  I'm surprised we didn't create a pile up on the road from rubber necking. Would have been worth it.

7. Coloring in my journal (A.I.W. inspired) while listening to the rain and thunder and nothing else. So peaceful.

8. Walking to and from work in the rain. Love the feel of rain in the summer and the smell of the desert foliage.

9. Watched a double decker bus with the British flag plastered on it driving by on the way to work. Totally random.

10. I received an awesome care package today from my sister. I now have 3 new pairs of Born shoes for work. Very sexy. A new Stampin’ Up catalog to drool over. An awesome card, see picture below. And, a new Tim Holtz die that I’ve been dying to get my hands on. No pun intended.

Hope everyone had a great week. I have to say that looking for 10 things was fun, it kept my mind focused on the positives. It wasn’t hard, in fact paring the list down to 10 was the hardest part.

Cheers!!!

Into the Mystic

“The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man. To know that what is impenetrable for us really exists and manifests itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, whose gross forms alone are intelligible to our poor faculties - this knowledge, this feeling ... that is the core of the true religious sentiment. In this sense, and in this sense alone, I rank myself among profoundly religious men.” Albert Einstein

The last hurrah

Here are the last pictures I will post of my beautiful Sunflower.  The bloom held up well to the onslaught of hot temps that hovered around 115 degrees.

Fare thee well. 

You get what you put out there

How funny (as in surreal) it is to find myself here in this space of time. Most anyone who knows me, knows that I truly believe there is something to be said for putting positive thoughts out into the Universe. There is just something about expending positive energies and having it coming back to me that I can dig.

I have been putting my thoughts about working for a wonderful company, with wonderful, happy, upbeat people for something close to 3 years. All due to the inspiration of a dream I had on my first night of vacation, that imprinted a vision of me permanently on my brain. In my dream, I was so happy with my job that I was crying, tears of happiness. Two things spoke to me about this dream. One, that being in a positive, happy environment is apparently important to me. If I am dreaming with emotion, it’s really important. And two, this dream needed to become my goal.

I will digress briefly here to say that what now seems like an eternity ago (thank God), I wrote my 3rd post for this blog. In that post, I recorded my thoughts on being laid off and how I looked at the layoff as a blessing. The blessing was that I was finally done with that tired, old, negative place and its negative people.

I wrote about choosing to let go of all the negative energies that I endured for too many years and instead fostering the happy energy I have knowing that I am free from that environment. I also wrote about my hope and desire to find a position with a company that truly fosters a happy and nurturing environment was right around the corner.

I am happy to say in this post, that I am crying those tears now. I love working for this company, the work is fun, challenging, and the people are really great. I went to a company wide meeting yesterday and the people there were so nice, upbeat and positive.  And gosh darn it, I like them. A lot!!! The overall environment is friendly and fun. Today was our last day in the office where I have been working, we are all moving to another location where we will be part of a much bigger team. After lunch, someone passed out those foam stress balls and everyone started having fun throwing balls at each other. Even the managers joined in the fun and mixed it up with everyone else. Everyone was having so much fun. Okay, so I think I used the word “fun” several times now to describe my work and workplace. 

I guess where I am going with this little revisit of sorts is that I found that place where I am so happy that I cry those tears of happiness. And it is my utmost desire, and goal, to maintain this new aspect of my life and let it spill over into the rest of my life. I will guard it, nurture it and always appreciate it.

When I ended that post from an eternity ago, I ended it with a toast. I think it speaks well to the place where I am at today.

Here is to a fantastically happy future for myself. One that is free from unnecessary stress. Here is to my health and happiness!!!!

“Keep your thoughts directed at whatever you desire in life. Everything else is just a waste of energy.” Unknown.

Cheers All!!!

Day 5

Okay, I love Sunflowers, but this baby is still going strong.  With that said, I think I'm going to stop taking daily pictures because this thing seems to going on and on and on.  Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of my Sunflower on Day 5 of it's bloom. 

The Chronicles of a Sunflower, Day 4

Day 4 in the Chronicles of a Sunflower.  There is a little more change today. 

Funny, I can tell that I snapped this while still blury eyed this morning, it's not centered. 

This is going to be a test of my dedication.  Hmm, I wonder how long this will go on. 

The Chronicles of a Sunflower, Day 3

Here is day 3.  The lighting this morning was completely different, clear sky, direct sun. 

I wonder how many days I will be able to catalog the Sunflower's bloom?

The Chronicles of a Sunflower

My garden of summer flowering plants did not take off the way I hoped, at least for those in the planter.  All of the Zinnia seedlings disappeared practically overnight.  The Vincas dried up in the first week of 110 degree temps. The exceptions are the Moss Roses and the grass, both are hanging strong.

Out of all the Sunflowers I planted, only 3 came to bloom.  The upside is that the largest blooming Sunflower is the last to bloom.  When I got home from work last night and saw that it was opening, I thought that at least the best was saved for last.  It was that which inspired me to use my camera and chronicle the stages. 

In this first picture, you can see that most of the pedals have opened.  You can still see Nature's mandala in the center.

This second picture, literally taken overnight, shows all the pedals are open and the mandala is shrinking while all the little stamens are opening.  The bees are at work...  They are so small.  Click to enlarge.

More pictures to come.

Happy Independence Day!!

Independence Day, July 4th, 2010, has been such a nice day. Conn and I got up early this morning and arrived at BTA at 8 a.m., hiking around and taking pictures for the morning. We had the park nearly to ourselves. Those who we did come across seemed to have the same mindset, enjoying our great luck that the park was empty and lots of photo opportunities.

I must say that I had no expectations of finding much to photograph given we are in the middle of summer but I was totally surprised by all the activity we did see, like tons and tons of butterflies, jack rabbits, lizards, a snake, buzzards, a crane, turtles and dragonflies. There were plenty of flowering plants to snap and of course the scenery. The scenery is amazing at any time of the year.

There is something very magical that happens every time we go to BTA. It is one of the most special places I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. Like Arizona with it’s many geographical differences, BTA seems to mirror that characteristic in it’s own way.

I updated my Hiking page if you would like to see more pictures from our trip.

Happy 4th of July!!!