Day 19 - What the . . .

What do you see?

These are my favorite type of photos to take of Mother Nature. Natural objects, that to my knowledge, have not been altered by human hand. This was the photo that really spurned me on this quest when I am out and about. When I look at this particular stalagmite it seems to make the face of a dragon to me.

I wonder what you see when you look at this object. The stalagmite pictures was taken many years ago, I can no longer remember when exactly.

Seeing things within nature is something that comes as a second nature to me and I often wonder what this says about my personality and imagination. I like to think that it means I have a creative and active imagination and is one of things that keeps me young and entertaining to those around me.

Day 18 - Grandparents

It's hard to recall memories of my grandparents as we didn't often see them, I decided to pay homage to three Grandmothers (two I knew and one I did not).

My Mother's parents both passed away before my Mom was very old and she was raised by her grandmother, my Great-Grandma Ruby (pictured in the bottom photo cooking with unidentified male). I can vaguely remember my Great-Grandma and my sisters and I just called her Grandma Ruby; it did not register with us for many years that although we knew our Mom's mother was dead that Grandma Ruby was actually our Great-Grandma. I can mostly remember her being a very tiny woman who was a lot of fun to be around. I can remember bowls of candy on her side tables and doilies all over the place, and she cooked - all the time.

My Mother's mother is pictured in the the black and white photo off to the side with my mother, aunt, and uncle as children. The story I can recall being told about her death is that my Aunt I. was caught in the ocean and my Grandmother and Grandfather went out to save her. My Grandmother did not make it and my Grandfather and Aunt were in the hospital for awhile - my Grandfather longer then my Aunt. After this incident my Grandfather left his three children with his mother and father and eventually passed away within a couple of years. (I'm not sure of those facts as I can recall the story being told to me many years and it is just something we didn't/don't discuss in our family.)

The above photo is a picture of my Father's mother with my older sister and me. I carry her first name as my middle name so I have always felt a sort of closer kinship with her. I can remember her being tall and stately and it was a shock to see her as I grew older and suddenly she seemed smaller. She was a big smoker and when her health started to decline and she had to quit she also started gaining weight and the image in my mind is still overridden today with images of her being a tall stately grandmother who loved watching college football. I can remember looking through our family photos and finding one of her doing a handstand in the backyard and that is an image I carry close to my heart even today.

I often wonder how my life would have been affected if we had lived closer to our grandparents and gotten to know them even better. I was often jealous of my Uncle's children and how they knew our Great-Grandmother so well. I thank God every day that my daughter is able to know and love her grandparents.

I strive hard to make sure she knows all of her Grandparents by making them a large part of our life even though thousands of miles may separate us. We are always in touch via e-mail and teleconference several times. My parents live close enough they are able to come up and visit and my husband's parents take the time to come visit as often as they can. My daughter has photo albums of family members that we go through almost weekly, daily before trips to visit them. We did this enough that the last visit we had she knew her Great-Grandma B. was and was able to go up and give her a hug and call her Grandma. This made her Great-Grandma's day as she is able to see my daughter so infrequently, yet my daughter knew who she was.

Exactly what I want for my family. A connection that lasts and makes an impression!

Day 17 - Weather

The weather in this part of Arizona doesn't really change much; sunny and bright, cloudy and rainy, a little overcast but not very chilly, bright but a bit chilly, and hot - just gosh darn hot. I do love some of the dust and thunderstorms we get out this way and that was one of the things I loved living in our third floor apartment.

We had a great view of the north eastern valley and could see the storms move in from the south and just sweep across the valley like somebody had drawn a line across the sky - one in pale blue/grey and one in dark stormy grey. The last couple of days have been overcast with the threat of rain looming. Although, I'm not sure how much a 'threat' it is when you live in the desert and winter doesn't mean snow it means green grass, fat saguaros, and bushes blooming all over the place --- in other words "Spring" in other parts of the world!

I took this pictures while leaving work and thought about putting my truck in the shot to show the raindrops covering it but decided I loved the sky more. I really love staring at the sky and the seeing differences night to day, day to night, sunny to cloudy.

No matter hard hard we try we can only harness the power of nature but never truly emulate its power and beauty. Mother Nature is truly an inspiration to the artist that lives within us!