Year of Twenty Eleven

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind? 
Should auld acquaintance be forgot 
and days of auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear, 
For auld lang syne, 
We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet 
For auld lang syne     Robert Burns

As 2011 comes to an end… Here, I share the moments with pictures.  

In no particular order… 

Leslie in Montréal to see Mischa Maiskey

Josh and Camdyn at a spring league baseball game

Cam with Nana and Papa at the Phoenix Zoo

Cam at The Cabin in Bemidji

Cam and Nana at the Twins vs. Diamondbacks baseball game

JoAnn, Camdyn and Uncle Nick at the house on Lake Julia

Cam at the playground with Nana and Uncle Kory

Strand Family members L-R Mark, Emily, Daniel, Grandma Strand, Beth, Grandpa Strand and Laurie

Heading north to Minnesota… 

David 

Bald Eagle Drama

Kory on deck

Olivia and Emily

Painting the shed

Goose Family

Sunrise

Laundry Room Redo

Loon

Road Trip

Halloween

Piano Recital

Cam visit

Trail Running at Bemidji State Park

Olivia’s Swim Meet

Paul and Babe

A Visit to the North Pole

JoAnn, Camdyn and Josh

Cam on Christmas Eve

The  squiggly figures represent the camera shy 

‘tis  sad to see another year come and go… you all are amazing and thanks for being part of my blog, my year, my life.  Until next year… 

If you wish to continue following these musings, please visit my current blog  Whispering Willows…. 

“No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member -
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds -
November!”
-   Thomas Hood, No!

Long time no see!  It’s November and the weather has finally turned here in the desert.  The “winter” weather came in like a lion the other day, with blowing dust so thick, visibility was nil at times.  Later, this prolonged haboob was followed by thunder, strong winds and the welcomed rain to clean it all up.  The next morning I could see mountain ranges I had forgotten existed because the rain washed away the schutzy skies and things were crystal clear.   Nice!   We got up early and played nine holes of golf with Ethel and Elmer—and we froze!  We met the kids for lunch, where we sat out on the patio and although it was nice to be outside—and we froze!! Only a week ago it was too hot to sit outdoors.  We used the fireplace last night—okay it wasn’t really cold enough for a fire, but it was cozy and the dogs loved it.  They lie in front of the fire until they are so hot they pant like crazy, but they still don’t move away.  Silly pups. 

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Halloween has come and gone…and before we know it, Christmas will be here and the year of 2011 will be history.  

Here are some photos of Camdyn as Cinderella.

“So never mind the darkness we still can find a way
Nothin’ lasts forever even cold November rain”~Guns ‘n Roses

I spent the day with Camdyn on Friday, while her daddy and momma worked. After a nice lunch, we planned to drive through Starbucks for coffee, then home for Cam’s nap. Cam stated she wanted to go inside for coffee, but I thought we should just go through the drive-through—it was getting late, after-all. About ¼ mile from the Starbucks, she announced that she needed to go….well, you know she is only 2.5 years old….of course we had to acknowledge her plea. We got out of the car and she bounced and skipped into the coffee-aka-sweet shoppe. While Uncle Kory placed the order for coffee, I took Cammie to the ladies’ room. False alarm.

I, Nana, was oblivious to her plot. She picked out a cute little chaise by the window and directed me to sit in the wooden chair across the table from her to await our drinks….

Seriously eye-ing the cake pops while holding a sticker from her sticker book.

(photo quality lacking due to cellphone camera)

“Look, Nana!”, Cam pointed out the pretty pink cake pops in the display. She turned to me with a little crinkle in her left eye—kind of like a wink—and announced,

“I want one, Nana!”.

I smiled and agreed to her request, but I said she would need to wait until after her nap, to eat it. She happily agreed. Of course. After about an hour of trying to sleep, I, Nana and the adorable Camdyn—who spent the entire time doing a comedy routine—gave up on the nap. I guess the anticipation of the pretty pink cake pop awaiting her, was too much. Cam got her cake pop and she avoided a nap….and Nana was played like a fiddle. I guess it’s likely I will fall for it again…yes, I’m sure I will. She is convincing.  ❤

Our cat, Cinnamon was 16 years old when we said good-bye…she was sick and frail.  It was sad to see her as she was and sadder to see her go, but it was the right thing to do.  Below is a picture of Cinnamon when she was healthy, back in 2004.

Today, we saw a cat in the local supermarket parking lot and I had to do a double take. The photo below shows the cat we saw.  It was Cinnamon.  Exact same coloring.  Exact same mannerisms.  Exact same markings—-but for the Hitler-ish mustache on it’s upper lip.  Kory couldn’t capture a photo of it up close—it wanted to hide beneath the cars.  Crazy…I wonder if Cinnamon got a second chance…

It’s early and the sun is just creeping up, casting an orange hue to the horizon.  Directly above, framed in my living room window, is a sliver of a crescent moon. 

Today, we leave.  We are packed and ready for the long road trip—provided the once flat tire on the trailer is still holding air this morning.  The landscaping was completed yesterday afternoon and the painters will be done today or early next week.  Talk about chaos yesterday—it’s laughable.  The landscaping crew with all their trucks and bobcats and crew,  the painter and his crew,  the plumber—who had to put in a new thermostat for the in-floor heat, which was broken and causing the heater in the floor to overheat, the crew of lawn people showed up in the middle of it all to cut our grass and four dogs going nuts with the hullabaloo. 

We are set to go…I will miss it here, with all the changing colors and the freshest air you can breathe, but I am super excited to get back and see my family. 

After Pictures

The almost finished staining of the house.  The lighter colored wood framing the windows will be painted/stained a darker brown as seen on the far left window.

“Leaving” is such sweet sorrow….  hahaha…yet another looney mom joke.

See you all soon…I hope. 

Nothing like waiting until the last couple of weeks before we leave for Arizona, to start some projects.  Of course, this isn’t by choice.   The specialty contractors we hired had “other” jobs to complete first and so, summer is over and they can fit us into their schedules. 

The first project we started was having the log home re-stained.  This needs to be done every five to seven years—haha joke is on us!!  We didn’t realize the mess this creates and the major expense to boot!  They pretty much shrink-wrap the house (windows) and spray the stain on every single log, then go back over it and “dry brush” it.  The stain is very smelly and I think it’s actually making me sick.  I haven’t felt well since they began and it’s probably because we are sealed in.  Not much fresh air.

View from the lake.

View from inside the house, looking toward the lake.  Blech.

The painter claims they will be done by the end of the week.  I hope so. 

The other project is having “steps” put in, down to the gazebo, as well as some landscaping around the stairway.   The stones for the steps weigh over 600 pounds each and there are a bunch of them.  They are tearing up the grass with the fork lift, used to carrying each of these 600lb. stones down to the “site”.  

The landscapers also claim they will be finished by the end of the week. 

I have so much to finish this week.  Packing, laundry and cleaning.  Leashing up the four dogs in order to take them out to do their business— I can’t let them out in their “area” while the workers are here.  Then the dreaded drive to Phoenix.  As challenging as this is, I know it will be nice when it’s done and it will be even nicer to get back and see my grand-baby and my kids.

A last minute thought to run outside last night to harvest the last of my tomatoes before the freeze would get them by morning and upon seeing the beautiful moon, I asked Kory to run in and get my camera for me.  I quickly snapped a few shots in the blustery, cold wind.

So many tomatoes…  I’m still harvesting them from the vines and more are waiting to ripen.  I made salsa, because we were tired of eating Just tomatoes, so at Kory’s suggestion, I used Alton Brown’s salsa recipe.

Lemon Boys, Big Reds and Sweet Cherry Tomatoes

These hot peppers aren’t really hot at all….they are Serrano chiles and lack heat.  I couldn’t find any jalapenos here.

Even without the “heat” my boys prefer, the salsa was really good after the flavors mellowed for 24 hours.  We ate homemade tacos and  tortilla chips with the yummy salsa.