Saturday, May 24, 2008

Back Home Again

It's always nice to return home from a trip and sleep in your own bed with your own pillow.

Our business trip to Phoenix was delightful. Over the many years we have met so many truly wonderful friends and it is always such a thrill to spend time with them and catch up on their lives. It's hard to imagine that we all once had small children with all the babysitting issues of being away from them. Now, many are grandparents and enjoying another phase of their lives.
We stayed at a delightful resort and I must share a photo of my salad that came with my lunch. Is this the most beautiful (and creative) bowl you have ever seen? It really makes me want to give it a try. I can't imagine what my family would say if I started serving my food like this. It is actually almost too pretty to eat.


We decided to drive the short distance from home to Phoenix to avoid the nightmares that await for one at the airports these days. As usual, it was a delightful trip. The desert scenery would certainly not be considered among my favorites, however, it was really quite pretty this time. Many of the cactus are in bloom and the desert floors are quite green with the rains that they had this year. The drive to Phoenix was in record heat and the return trip was driven in very rare and cool temperatures.


I have always loved heat, but I must admit that temperatures above 110* for the stay there was even a little hotter than I like. It is a dry heat so it does feel different than a humid climate and residents are all quick to point that out to you.


Since returning home it has been exceptionally cool. I doubt that we will get out of the 50s today and we have had very rare thunderstorms. I heard that California also had two small tornadoes. That is very unique for us.
We have plans for a family BBQ here tomorrow and I doubt that it will be a day where we can all enjoy the outside like we generally will do. What a way to kick off the summer! But.....enough about the weather.
The grandchildren finished school for the year this week. It hardly seems possible that another year has gone by already. Remember those days of summer vacations? Three full months away from books and teachers. Those were the days. Can you imagine someone giving us three months off now? What would we do with all of that time?
Things remain busy in the yard. Our delightful orioles are now bringing their babies to the feeders. They are such a skittish bunch of birds but I was able to secretly snap a photo of one of the males. The males are so tropical looking while the females are much more plain. They have just a small blush of the yellow on them.
The boysenberries are really starting to produce this past week and the grandchildren will be thrilled with that news when they come tomorrow. The garden is mostly planted and will be in grand production in a few months.
I know that California is known for its agricultural production such as citrus, berries, wine grapes, cotton, garlic and much more. However, one of things that they also "produce" comes from fields of wind machines. We passed many of these very large fields of the various machines on our way to Phoenix. It makes for a very interesting scenery along the drive. It's the perfect desert crop since it doesn't appear to require any water.
As we honor all of our great veterans this weekend, I wish all of you a very safe and happy Memorial Day.

17 comments:

  1. Welcome home! I'm glad your trip was so nice. What a creative way to serve a salad!

    Thanks for sharing the photo of the oriole. Don’t you just love having them visit? I'm always amazed at how bright the males are.

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  2. That salad is just amazing! Yes, I can just imagine what my family would say too if I started serving things that way! ha! Now tell me this, did you eat the 'dish'? We have been in Phoenix when it has been incredibly hot too and you know me and heat, we just don't mix. I don't care if it is DRY heat! We had to be very careful as we were there in June and didn't have one hint of any tan. They gave us sunscreen the minute we walked into the resort and cautioned us not to be out in the sun for very long. We were careful and did not get any burn thankfully. I'm glad you had a great time and yes isn't it good to see all the old friends that we make on those trips! It has been rather cold here lately too. I have been wearing a winter jacket when I go out to the barn in the morning to put the boys out! Today we visited a beautiful standardbred farm and it was soooooo much fun seeing all the new foals with their long legs. I have lots of pictures to post that I took. Tomorrow we are taking the day to go to the coast as R's sisters are here for the weekend from VA and Mass. I will have more pictures of that to post too. I'm already thinking of the bowl of lobster stew that I will be devouring! Have a wonderful Memorial Weekend with your family!

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  3. Love the Oriole picture, and I want a salad served to me just like that !! Sure gives you idea's to see it thank you so much for sharing.
    Diane
    http://dianobe.blogspot.com/

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  4. So glad you're back! That salad truly does look just too pretty too eat. Was it as tasty as it looks?
    The desert does have its own special beauty, but I don't like that much heat.
    In addition to the other things we have that match (dishes & chickens) we also have matching feeders and birds that feed at them (check out my Sunday blessings Post from today :)
    Too too funny!
    Have a wonderful family day. It's been raining here all day!
    xo

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  5. I loved the salad! Amazing how people dream up new ways of presentation!
    It is raining here, but then it usually does on long weekends in England!
    Those wind turbines are a wonderful way of generating energy. People here are beginning to have them installed on their homes. Small ones, I hasten to add. The expense of those and solar panels is well worth it now that energy costs are so appalling.

    It is good to have you home again!

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  6. Welcome back home. Yummo..salad. Looks delicious!! I love looking at the windfarms. We have quite a few where I live in Texas.

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  7. I'm glad you had a nice trip, and that salad does look wonderful.

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  8. Welcome back! I know you enjoyed your trip. I loved the Oriole! Your pictures are so great!

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  9. I know that I could not live in Arizona. I loved the high desert around Wickenburg, but the city was unbearable.

    We had a nice picnic day today, but tomorrow it's supposed to be cool. I'm sure you've heard of the front range Colorado tornadoes last week - our youth leader's house was destroyed. Really strange!! And sad.

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  10. Good to hear your trip was nice.That salad is making my mouth water!!!
    Have a good week :)
    Stephanie

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  11. wow! that salad is amazing! I must try this! thanks for sharing!

    Glad you had a nice trip! welcome back!!!!

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  12. Welcome home! The salad is so pretty...wow! I hope you have a great week and get rested up!
    ~Kelli

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  13. Would have loved to have driven through the dessert with you. My son spent some time in Pheonix and has some wonderful photos. I could have passed on the heat though.

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  14. Sounds like fun, I love that bowl idea!
    really enjoyed reading about your tortoise, my kids would be beside themselves with that event! Tracey

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  15. I am so glad you had such a nice time away! And so glad you made it hoem safely! That salad is beautiful! It looks so good. I would love to have time to serve food like that!

    Beautiful pictures too! Birdwatching is one of my very favorite hobbies!

    Hugs,
    Amy

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  16. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I chuckled at your post. Many times we have seen those windmills. And what resort did you stay at?? We love to go to the resorts in here in Phoenix area during the summer. They are quite reasonable and such fun!

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  17. I'm so glad to see the photo of the oriole. They're such a pretty bird. It's nice to see the difference between yours and ours here in the east. How lovely that they're bringing the babies.
    Your trip sounds wonderful, and that salad truly is a work of art. I hope it tasted as good as it looks.
    We drove across the desert once back in '79 and I didn't like that much heat one bit! Our vehicle wasn't air conditioned so it wasn't a pleasant trip, and I don't remember seeing any blooms to break the monotony :)
    I like the windmills too. We have a couple of small groups around our area.

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