pics: random and last weekend

Tom hard at work cleaning the ceiling fan.  Our family room is a volume room (two stories high), so it's not an easy job.

Halloween decor at Buffalo Bill's trading post in Cave Creek, AZ. (these pumpkins wouldn't go bad in 80+ degree heat, that's for sure.)

yard at at Buffalo Bill's: a row of metal bulls at the trading post, waiting for new homes.

The coming storm- we watched it approach over the mountains.   And then drove in it all the way home. 

Snake Dancer Kachina doll- at an estate sale. I didn't buy this one, although I kind of wish I had, in addition to the one I did buy. The Hopi snake dancer asks the snake to carry a message for rain to the gods. The feather wand is to calm the snake, and the bag (? I think that's what it is) is to carry the snake.

Mudhead kachina- this kachina is the one I bought... The mudhead is a clown kachina that may drum, dance, or  play games with the audience during the ceremonies. The name mudhead comes from the fact that they have mud applied to their masks. 

(now we just have to find a place to display him that's cat-proof.)

Phoenicians love books

and so do plenty of other people! Know how I know?? Because we will do this:

The line of people outside the VNSA book sale last weekend, waiting to get in the building at the State Fairgrounds. This line wasn't  too bad; I got there at 11:30 am and got into the building about noon (fire codes, you know- they don't let everyone in at once). People will camp out overnight (even though they're really not 'supposed to') to be first in line- or at least towards the front-- for this sale!! A volunteer told me someone was there since Thursday, staying in his RV, so he could be sure to be first! Why were we waiting, you might ask?? 

For this!! Books, books, and more books, as far as the eye could see! This was looking one direction, and the picture below was looking the other. It takes the volunteers a week or more to get set up, and that's after having everything sorted and priced already. It is truly overwhelming, and you could easily be there all day. I was there for about 3 hours, and spent all my time in the movie, crafting, history, and nature/science sections. I didn't even venture into the Fiction areas, because I knew if I did, I'd never get out of there. 

This charity (originally part of the 'Visiting Nurse Society') collects books all year long and sorts and prices them at a warehouse they have somewhere. According to their website, 150 volunteers work year-round to sort and price books for the largest charity booksale in the Southwest. 'more than 7300 boxes of books' get donated, categorized, sorted, and priced. (hmmmm... I wonder if volunteers get to pre-buy?? probably not...) Their website also says the 2013 sale had more than 500,000 books and book-related items (they also sell CDs, bookmarks, magazines, record albums, sheet music, puzzles, board games, etc.), and had more than 12,000 shoppers. Impressive, isn't it?? It also attracts shoppers from all over the US- a couple years ago I was in line behind some people who came in from California specifically for the sale!

Here's a you-tube video of the sale from a couple years ago, so you can see a bit of it in action. 

my cart after my first-pass: movies, a few craft magazines,
and a huge pile of scrapping and crafting books.

This photo is the 'first-pass' of books in my cart, along with my 'book sale fuel' of Diet Dr. Pepper and a protein bar. (some people have carts brimming to the top; mine was actually pretty puny in comparison.) If it looked interesting at all, I tossed it in my cart to go through later. Get while the getting is good!! I learned a couple years ago (the hard way) not to deliberate too long at the tables, otherwise someone else will grab it while you're still thinking about it. I do all my thinking later, after I know I have it in my grasp, at least.

At the end of my search, I hunkered down in a quiet corner of the exhibit hall to go through my haul-- flip through the crafting books, look at the DVDs, and weed out what I really wanted from what would go back onto the tables. Since Saturday was 'full-price' day, I deliberated more about them than I would have on Sunday, when things would be half-price: i.e., "How much did I want them versus what I was willing to pay for them?" (Deliberating over how much I wanted a $3-$4 DVD could seem a bit silly, but then again, I had 20 or more of them in my cart, and wanted to stick to somewhat of a budget!) Some people will go back on Sunday (half-price day) and shop all over again, too, but I knew I wasn't going to do that, so Saturday's prices were it for me. (and again, they're always super-reasonable, anyway.)

a map of the exhibit hall-- and believe me, you need a map!

My final haul, pared down QUITE a bit from my initial pass. A number of DVDs (a couple of them never even opened!), a selection of books, magazines, and a couple counted-cross stitch patterns. My personal score of the day? A book discussing the history of scrapbooking, with gorgeous photographs of historical scrapbooks- I looked at it in the bookstore, but never wanted to spend $40+ for it. My VNSA price? $4!! (I know; it's great, isn't it?!?!?!!) It all fit into two shopping bags, so not too bad, overall! 

Now, if I could just find the time to read them!!?!? (oh, and a place to put them all, too!!)

balloons in the desert (photo heavy)

last October, one long weekend, Tom and me on a a road trip to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Staying up late, getting up (insanely!) early, standing in the freezing cold dark, waiting for sunrise, and taking well over a thousand (yes, over a thousand!) photos... I still haven't edited most of them (plenty of them really should be deleted, too, but I can't bring myself to do that yet), but here are some that hopefully give you an idea of what it was like to be there.  Most of my pictures aren't 'real-photographer' quality, but they do give a pretty good sense of what it was like to actually be there.

Okay: after looking at and editing some of the pictures, this post is only going to be the Friday afternoon and evening we arrived when we got to see the  'Special Shapes Glowdeo' Balloon Glow, which was the where they featured specially shaped balloons at dusk. Check out pictures of some of the balloons here, on the Balloon Fiesta Website. (you really should click on the link- there are some really fun shaped balloons!) It was Visual Overload, for sure!! (it was visual overload all weekend long, actually.)

(And as usual, click on any of the photos to see them a bit larger!)

just a couple shots to show you how many people were there... It was packed! But the launch field is 78 acres, so it didn't feel too cramped... until the balloons started going up, that is! 

here goes one of the first ones- not sure what it is, yet!

they are sooo much bigger in person! Members of the launch team hold the
opening in the 'envelope' open to fill it with air (with a fan) before turning
on the hot air to make it rise.

here it goes! it's a clown! (see the moon, near the clown's nose?? lol!!)

the 'whoosh' of the flames is really impressive!!

you can just walk around, and they're actually going up all around you-
it was just crazy, and sort of surreal!

here's a longer shot-- the Sandia Mountains can be seen
just along the right-hand side of the photo.

Tom, posing amid a few of the balloons.
Everywhere we turned, there was something interesting to see!

The 'Little Bees' Joey, Lilly, and Joelly. (two of these are from Phoenix, I think)

I was close; I got two of the three while they were glowing!

nope, not that time!

closer! 

whoops- missed again!

whew- finally!! 

This is Pigasus, or Mr PUWP (for 'Pig Under Wing Protection')

he was happy to be here! (this one was made by a company in Brazil)

an Angry Bird!! (we were happy to see him!)

Ham-let: When Pigs Fly! 

 The Glowdeo was a static event, where they only lit them up; they didn't actually go up at night (I'm guessing that wouldn't actually be very safe). We had to wait for Saturday morning to see the balloons actually lift off- but seeing them glow like that? That was pretty darn cool whether they went up or not!!

A really good fireworks show topped off the night. Then it was off to get a little sleep before getting up at 3 am (yes, I agree that was absolutely crazy!!) in order to see them lift off at dawn the next morning. 

It was an amazingly cool experience, and I really would love to go again! (and I'll definitely take gloves and a hat next time, lol!)

no butterflies in this post...

...because there are a lot of other things I took photos of at the Botanical Gardens, too. I tried out my new camera and lenses while we were there, and took a ton of pictures. I took about 200 photos in just a few hours! Of course, not very many of them turned out, but still... there's no way I could show the good ones all in one post. So, this post is selected photos of animals, minus the butterflies- I'll post them separately. 

(and a reminder: click on any photo to enlarge it for a closer look.)

well, all animals except for the Chihuly glass sculptures at the entrance. I had to include a photo of those! We missed the special Chihuly exhibit when it was here in 2008, but apparently these three sculptures are now a permanent installation at the garden. (and I just Googled and found out that there will be another Chihuly exhibit in the Garden, starting in November 2013- yay!) 

there is an animal in this picture, if you look closely. There's a dove balanced on top of this odd-looking plant, which is a boojum tree (a succulent related to the ocotillo). 'A remarkable looking plant, often compared to an upside-down parsnip, it naturally occurs only in Baja California and in a restricted area of Sonora, Mexico. Long-lived plants, some are thought to have lived over 500 years.' (this info was taken from the Desert Botanical Garden's website.) They are 'summer-dormant,' which means they lose their leaves during the summer, but they bloom  during this time. They're really strange looking plants, but somewhat compelling at the same time (and they're kind of expensive to buy, too; we've seen small ones at the nursery, in pots).

there's a lot to look at in the Botanical Gardens, but I didn't forget to look up into the trees! Of course, it helped that I heard this hummingbird chattering away... for a tiny little bird, they have a really large voice.

We were just walking down a trail, happened to look off to the left, and saw this guy having a snack just a few feet off the trail!! He didn't seem to mind us at all- just kept munching away. 

I caught him mid-chew in this photo... lol! A little farther down the same trail, we happened on some bathers--

a couple Gambel's quail, taking dust baths underneath the trees. They were a bit difficult to see at first, till we saw the dust flying!

this one was very energetic!!

I've only just started figuring out how this camera works, so right now I'm still using the 'full auto' setting, which lets the camera do the choosing-- but I really like how it works so far!

this fellow was quite industrious, but I managed to get a couple decent photos of him while he was working on making his nesting cavity in this Saguaro cactus.

it looks like making a nesting hole is messy work.

here's a closer look at the dove on top of the boojum tree.

the dove wasn't alone on the boojum tree; farther down, I saw this bird, presumably keeping an eye on his nest. (see photo below)

this plant actually is full of stickers-- smart bird!! The nest looks pretty safe to me. I don't think it's a cactus wren (they would be more brown-and-white spotted) but I can't remember what the poster at the garden said about bird species, and my Google skills are failing me. I really do need that bird book! Wait, I think I remembered it! I believe it's a 'curve-billed thrasher.' (still need the bird book, just to be safe.)

as we walked back toward the entrance, we happened to hear this fellow from up overhead- he was roosting up in the shade of a tree. I managed to get a couple good photos of him, although it was from a bit of an awkward angle. As we left the garden, we heard one more strange 'clacking' noise... I was looking at some plant or another, and said to Tom, 'I wonder what's making that noise?' He said he saw what it was, and told me to come look-- when I did, I was really excited to see this guy:

Although they don't look much like the Looney Tunes character, this is a desert roadrunner! Before this, I've only ever seen one from pretty far away (along the road, lol). I had no idea they could be up in trees, but this one was just hanging out-- the sidewalk went over a wash, which meant we were pretty much at eye-level with him as we walked past. He was quite noisy, too-- the clacking sound came from him banging his beak together. I got a few so-so pictures of him, then switched to the longer camera lens (he was obliging enough to stay put) and got a few nicer close-ups, like this one:

I had no idea they have those orange and blue patches behind their eyes! I don't know much of anything about them at all, I guess, except that they're chased by coyotes in cartoons. This photo really emphasizes the fact that birds' ancestors are reptiles, though, doesn't it?? He's 'interesting' looking, but not exactly handsome. Still really cool, though, that he sat there and let us take pictures of him!!

I have more photo-editing to do, and then I'll post pictures of the butterflies. And also some plants, too.