We got to Cortez CO

No idea who the cute baby was…

Checking into La Quinta in Santa Rosa, NM las night…while the fever raged. So I’m glad I took a photo before sleeping it off with a glorious night sweat (and tylenol and ibuprofen).

This day (Saturday) was long, but we got to my son’s home and have done most of the things ones does when you get home…

My son played with Zora, his Blue Tick Healer.

 And his wife prepared a simple delicious meal we all enjoyed, after I had a short rest horizontally.

Now I need to return to that position, so will show you more of the trip with fantastic views soon.

Just saying...

 

Alysa Liu, US Gold Medal Figure Skater

The "Quad God" finished 8th. 

I love the idea of giving messages on fruit. Here my son's name, Tai, is part of this, by an unknown person.

The last of the snow in a parking lot at a doctor's office. Right now (Sunday morning) there are light flurries, and it's getting really cold. Here we go again! Many people are hunkering down for huge snowfall (2 feet for New York forecast!)

What loneliness is more lonely than distrust? 

-George Eliot (pen name of Mary Ann Evans), novelist (1819-1880)

Celebrating what we hope for together is better than fighting over what we believe separately.

STEVEN CHARLESTON

Blog number 3000

 This is the 3000th, at least in this blog series, not counting my other blogs!

Someone might say I have a lot to say...

Rabbit Rabbit! Wishing good things come in this new beginning of a month!

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How about "Portraits, old and new"

Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keeffe, 1939 Photo by Ansel Adams

Frida Kahlo's painting, Diego and me. It shows exactly how much he was on her mind.

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Please forgive me for family portraits...they are what's in the files!

Cinnamon, the mother of two of my grandchildren. I still count her as a good friend, though she and my son, Marty, divorced several years ago.

More "Way Back" photos. Here we lived in Thompsonville CT, and my young sailor Marty was about 4, while little Russ was at least 13 months old, with my husband Doug, and myself getting leafy knees.

A bit later, son Marty sported a crew cut, I had some blond highlights, and Russ had most of his glorious blond curls cut off (which didn't last long!)

Fast forward to after my 1971 divorce from Doug, and here's Russ (around 5-6) in front of our mobile home. Below he's on Doug's lap as the 70s hairstyles allowed long locks for boys and men. Russ may have had a comb and brush, but a lot of good it did!

And yes, Russ is the son who grew up to have the wedding portrait leaning into a kiss and holding up his bride Michelle (used as header for the week of July 13)

Marty's second wife is Barbara, and here's their wedding picture. (used as header the week of July 20) (I don't have a photo of his wedding to Cinnamon, as it was before digital cameras!)

A young man (my youngest son Tai) that doesn't mind wearing a flower crown. They were making these. Not sure what the fair/function might have been, but flowers are always uplifting!

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Today's quote:

“Every important social movement reconfigures the world in the imagination. What was obscure comes forward, lies are revealed, memory shaken, new delineations drawn over the old maps: it is from this new way of seeing the present that hope emerges for the future...Let us begin to imagine the worlds we would like to inhabit, the long lives we will share, and the many futures in our hands.” ― Susan Griffin

Painting by Helena Nelson Reed

Happy Lammas, first harvest gives grains for bread making!

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Sharing with Sepia Saturday for tomorrow. A big thank you to Alan who puts together this meme. Stop on over to add your own old favorite photos, or just check out those who do!

Sepia Saturday says:

It is summer. We are sat on the pier. We have our overcoats on because it is Britain and it is cold. Everything is all right and everything is as it should be .... except the world seems to be tilting to the left. For those who like to look for themes for their Sepia Saturday offerings, there are themes a plenty here - from flat caps to straw baskets. For those who just like sharing old photographs why not get yourself off your seat and share your photos on or around Saturday 2nd August 2025 and add a link to the list below. 

Some historic views

 

1914 - a few months before it burnt down.

Springtime in Black Mountain...an ornamental  cherry tree gave beautiful blossoms. The birdbath was a leaky gift, so I stuck an old sculpture in it. This was my rental house on Beech St.

Enjoying my son Marty's family at my last Mother's Day in Tampa before I retired in 2007. Marty, Cayenne, Cinnamon, and William, with me standing!

William achieved his AA, and sister Cayenne her High School degree and enough honors classes she entered college as a sophomore (or maybe a junior!) 

I love seeing what women can do with their hair these days, and most of them say yes when I ask if I can take a photo of them.

Before Sept. 27, 2024, when many of the tracks were washed out along the route through the mountains over the continental divide, there would be one or two trains a day from the east going to Asheville. Tracks have apparently been repaired going west from Asheville to Tennessee, but not going east. We're not sure they will be. This engine is crossing US 70 to deliver supplies to an outfit near Swannanoa, perhaps the most eastern business the trains are doing at this time from Asheville.

Some interesting art...

From the Asheville Art Museum

I still can't see any recycled cans in the finished products!

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Environmental news:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark opinion this past Wednesday, stating that countries have a legal duty to protect people and ecosystems from the "urgent and existential threat" posed by climate change. It’s true that the ruling is an advisory opinion with no legal mechanism for enforcement. However, it represents important precedent that will have weight in other courts as litigation continues. 

For example, it means that the countries most impacted by rising temperatures – typically poorer countries who’ve contributed least to the problem in the first place - may be entitled to reparations from the world's top emitters. “This ruling is a powerful tool we can use to demand that those most responsible for this climate crisis be held accountable,” said Flora Vano, Vanuatu country manager for the non-profit ActionAid. “As the planet’s weather becomes more chaotic, this ruling paves the way for the protections and reparations we desperately need to rebuild our lives and secure a just future.”

The litigation was dreamed up by law students from the Pacific island nation of Tonga in 2019. One of those students, Siosiua Veikune, was at the ICJ in the Hague this week to hear the opinion, telling the BBC, "I'm lost for words. This is so exciting. This is a win we take proudly back home to our communities." And I agree: this ruling is yet more proof that ordinary people, when they use their voices, can change the world.

Thanks Katharine Hayhoe!

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Today's quote

Surrender isn’t a sacrifice of the known, but rather a celebration of the infinite. NIPUN MEHTA My old photos: Tai proposing to Kendra with garlic, around 2013, used as header the week of July 23, 2025

Saturday's window

 Remember there were people that shared on Facebook "The view through my window?"

Today I'm starting with the window. It opens out from there however!

Focused on the outside...

Focused on the inside...some of the treasures I keep on my desktop..  Now this is what a desktop is supposed to look like!!

The last of these blooms on the orchid – as there are some new buds appearing between the two! The red shamrock set them off so nicely, and supported them when the wind blew.

Next day (Monday I think) you can see The last of the flowers had fallen off their stem which is at the top of the picture with its new buds! I've never had summer orchids before...must be the heat.

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For Saturday's Critters this week, my archives show my grand-puppies: first Cody, the Pomeranian. I mainly talk with him when he's barking over the phone, making it difficult for people to hear each other talk. And the beautiful gal holding him is Kate, my granddaughter who just graduated high school in Ohio. (I know you might be tired of seeing her...but you're crazy, who could be tired of seeing such a beautiful girl! No I'm not at all biased!)

This is grand-pup Zora out back-pack-camping with my son Tai (and wife taking the photo) somewhere in Colorado or Utah probably.

Here's grand-pup Severus with granddaughter, Cayenne holding a gifted ceramic jar made by yours truly, in Tampa  FL....hey, we all have hair that does that!

Not directly related, but kept in my family album, are my ex-in-laws. They are the greatest shared grandparents of my grandchildren with Marty and Cinnamon! And their other daughter lives in Minnesota, where they must have been visiting for this shot. A Blue Ox certainly qualifies for Saturday's Critters.

Yes I have more grand-pups and kittens, but this is what came up today, folks!

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Today's quote:

When Alexander the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied: "Only stand out of my light." Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creative men and women is to stand out of their light. -John W. Gardner, author and educator (1912-2002)

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Today's old photo is over on my other blog Three Family Trees with Sepia Saturday!

Happy Ostara, or Spring Equinox!

More flowers from hard searching!

Yes tiny violets within the grass by our apartments!

The forsythia behind the Lakeview Center, hasn't quite popped yet (photographed Friday 3.14.25)

But my drive up Sunset Rd. gave me a couple or four groupings (3.16.25)

This was a new road for me to explore, right behind Wendy's on Saturday (when I didn't eat there)

The first attraction was this row of pear trees located behind the Comfort Inn.

There are some newer houses, some sill being built (or repaired after the storm). It is a typical winding road, and of course I turned off when some huge black truck came roaring up behind me...so I went as far as the pavement lasted, then turned around, and fortunately remembered which way to turn going back to civilization. (Well, downhill was a clue.)

These flowers caught my eye on the way uphill, but as I came down, there was this amazing archway. There's another one welcoming people to Montreat (nearby small town in the opposite direction across the valley). But I'll bet this was built by the same mason! But you can see the house behind isn't a big mansion. It does however have stone pillars between the windows, giving a good structure to the house (which show more in the second photo below)

The double arch gateway to Montreat NC (photo taken as I was leaving)

As I captured the star magnolias (I think) there was a young man walking under the arch, outside this photo. I just waved to him, and he waved back...after all, I can look like a tourist just interested in his flowers! But if I'd been a bit more courageous I'd have asked about the archway. Sorry folks.

Just a few hazy pink things, maybe quince and weeping cherry blossoms. But it could also be an early azalea, though I haven't seen any others with buds yet. Quince comes in first!

Sharing with Floral Fridays Fotos

Today's quote:

Do not be afraid to start over.

PAM MUÑOZ RYAN

Today's art:

conceptual-watercolor-artwork-for-meditation-and-a-mindful-lifestyle-that-promotes-spiritual-awareness-mental-and-emotional-well-being-self-care-and-good-habits-ai-generated-photo

Family album:

Kendra and Tai. Probably 2018.