I put your picture away

After 2 months of intermittent travel and a heavy work schedule, I was finally able to slow down a bit  and get caught up.  One of the things I caught on was reading my new camera manual and taking some pictures.  I also picked out an awesome camera bag from Amazon (thanks Oscar and Mary!) so I am now able to carry and access my camera with easy.  

Last week I told you about Bountiful Baskets.  We received our basket this Saturday and we were super excited with its contents.  This week, we added the "extra" offering: 30 lbs of green beans.  That is not a typo. . .  30 lbs of green beans.  WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!  Yes, the dogs do eat green beans, but really, 30 lbs?  We have green beans coming out of our ears!  Any suggestions on what to do with them are welcome.

Yesterday after the basket pickup, I headed out to take some wildlife pictures.  I went to an area not far from our house where I know many species of birds hang out.  Being practically blind without my contacts and not having the worlds sharpest vision even with contacts in, I have never been partial to bird watching.  Usually I cannot see enough detail to tell what kind of birds they are and lord knows I have so much random information inside my head [can you recite the Constitution's  preamble and Twas the Night Before Christmas, I can!] that I cannot remember their appropriate birdie names.  This particular wildlife area however has lured me in because 1. the birds that hang out there are so huge that even this blind bat (he he he) can see them and 2. we can get relatively close to the birds and I have a telephoto lens so I can really see what I am looking at.    I have been stalking these birds on our morning runs and yesterday I was able to shoot some.

Here are some of the Great White Egret

and the great Blue Heron

Some Coots (I think it is so funny that I caught these 3 birds in 3 successive phases of eating).  Are these birds the inspiration for the saying 'you old coot'?

A very vain duck (or maybe he is sleeping)

and some boyfriend/girlfriend ducks 

After my nature session, Chris met me at the trail with the bikes and the dogs.  He is the dog whisperer.

We biked the dogs on some soft-pack trails and ended up in lower Puppy-go park where the dogs love to jump into the swamp water to get some heat relief.  

We ended up turning into the more hilly section of the park. Yes -I am  riding my bike in a skirt and sandals; I did not get the memo that this is what we were going to be doing.  

Such a fun morning!

We will have to do this again -with proper bike attire ;)

Dodgie was happy to have us all back home for the rest of the evening.

Happy Halloween!  

Happy Birthday to A Great Friend!

Danielle and I have been friends for over 14 year, not quite half of my life, but close!  We met my very first day of college, when I was green and scared but super excited to start a new adventure.    I remember thinking she was so cool and I never thought she would want to be friends with someone like me!

Over that year, we became workout partners at FitSpace, classmates-memorizing the state capital and US presidents together, and over the course of a year, great friends.  That first summer, Danielle and I exchanged handwritten letters (back before email was so easy and so normal).

 I realize now these early clues ( that I would work out with her despite being a very grumpy morning workout person  and that I would handwrite letter despite having awful handwriting and spelling) should have foreshadowed that we would become lifelong best friends.

Over the years, we have experience life, celebrated/morned together, laughed a lot and grown up quite a bit.  I could not ask for a better friend to help shape the person I am today.

Happy birthday to a great woman and a great friend!  Love you and miss you Danielle!

(I just noticed I am always on the left in these photos, too funny!)

A tisket a tasket. . . bountiful baskets

Chris and I finally decided to take advantage of the local produce provider: Bountiful Baskets food co-op.  This organization is a co-op that works to provide its group members with " a variety of high-quality seasonal produce. We balance variety with seasonality in order to get the most appealing and cost-effective basket possible. We also choose to use local produce first when available, then regional produce (California, Utah, Colorado, Northern Mexico!)".  
That is the technical language.  In reality, I just kind of like the idea of having someone else providing me with a basket full of fresh, organic (available every other week), local(ish) produce that we have to eat/try/experiment with.  It is a little like cooking roulette and I love a good challenge!
Although both of us were excited to retrieve our bountiful basket on Saturday morning (7 am pickup, yikes!), one of us was more excited than the other.  At about 5:30, I looked over at Chris who grinned and said "Almost time to get our bountiful basket!!!" as if it was Christmas morning and Santa had left bountiful presents under our tree.  Up we were, bright and early, off to pick up our basket!

For our first time, we ordered an organic basket, a mexican pack, and 3 pumpkins (promised to be basketball size).  We had no idea what to expect in our organic basket and I was pleasantly surprised.  We got kale, portobello mushrooms, 2 heads of cauliflower, romaine lettuce, apples, pears, grapes, all organic.  In the mexi pack we got avocados, green onions, regular onions, hot peppers, cilantro, and tomatillos.   Last, we got 3 HUGE pumpkins.  We had to make 2 trips to the truck.  Here is some of our loot!

So far, the best thing I have made was the salsa verde with the tomatillos.  To.die.for. . .  


We brought the pumpkins home carved one.  Before the carving, we let the pumpkins hang out in the living room.  These are my first Arizona pumpkins and it was nice to have something so seasonal in the house again!  Rocco was not sure what to make of the pumpkins.  I think he thought they were giant toys!

We carved one of the pumpkins, cooked the seeds and put the pumpkin outside.  I am not sure which picture is more spooky, the one with the glowing pumpkin or the glowing eyes?!

We must have been summoning the Halloween spirit, we were even visited by a ghost!

 We have already ordered our basket for next week, I cannot wait to see what we get! 

New York State of Mind

I was lucky enough to grow up in the Hudson River Valley, arguably of the most picturesque (holly crap, I spelled that word right on the first try, I should stop here and retire) places to live.  For college, I attended Binghamton University.  The drive upstate toward school included visions of tree covered hills and rivers that lured you further and further west toward higher learning.  Next, I move to Amherst, Massachusetts, a classic New England college town nestled in the Connecticut River Valley.  If I was forced at gun point to choose which of these three places was most beautiful, I think I would eventually spit out "AMHERST" - but only after visions of crisp blue skies, multicolored hillsides and roadways littered with fallen leaves from each of these three locations flickered vividly through my mind's eye.

I layout this geographic history because it has clearly shaped the woman I am today.  Growing up in these locations has made me love fall and all the wonderful things that come with it.  I love the summer to fall transition when the nights start to get cool and you can hear rustling leaves as you lay in bed at night dreaming of what you are going to wear on the first day of school (only me, no way, I don't believe it)!  I love the first offering of pumpkin spice lattes, butternut squash soup and roasted acorn squash.  I even love the displays of candycorn despite my actual dislike of this odd tasting candy.   Turtlenecks, plaid skirts, tights, knee-high boots, coats, (OH MY GOD COATS!) all add to the joys of fall.

Living in AZ for the last 3 falls has really made me appreciate "fall" but in a totally different way.  Our summer to fall transition consists of daytime temperatures that drop from the 100's into the 90's and nighttime lows of 70 (and this does not happen until the first week of October).  We are able to open our windows for the first time in 5 months and cooking indoors is possible again.  The convertible top can be put down without risk of spontaneous combustion.  Pants become a work outfit option again and not an awful punishment.  And last, and most important, our family runs can occur in the morning hours and do not need to be ending as the sun comes up.  While I do miss the fall antics of the northeast, these tastes of southwest fall cannot help but make us feel like "Life Begins Again"!

This week fall hit AZ.  I kicked off the season by celebrating "2 soup Sunday" where I made pasta fagioli and cream of broccoli soup (using my new AMAZING le creuset dutch oven, thanks Christine and Jerry!).  The joy of eating soup again was only second to being able to wear jeans to work this week!  Yesterday, we took a long family walk, exploring portions of a walking path that we have never been on.  We joined the path about 1 mile from our house and were able to walk past the flood overflow area of Tempe Town Lake (more on TempeTown Lake in a future post).  The flood overflow area has become a wetland sanctuary where huge birds come to hang out to eat.  It was really cool to see this much nature juxtapose to ASU's stadium.

The dogs loved being on a long walk.

The path even had a dog specific water fountain, totally cute!

Our walk was a great way to spend the morning and really made us feel like life was beginning again!

P.S. The pasta fagioli soup was so amazing that it is making a repeat appearance this week.

Time flies when you're sweating in the desert

Well, it has been too long since my last post!  Not too much has happened in the desert.  Work has been really busy and I have been in the lab 7 days a week babysitting some aspect of my scientific endeavors.

I had a birthday in September.  Thank you for all the wonderful birthday cards, wishes and gifts.  It was a wonderful day (as wonderful as turning 30+ can be on a Tuesday when you have to go to work).  Chris brought me a special lunch and coffee -to work- just to make the day that much more special.  I left work a bit early and treated myself to some beautifcation services.  When I got home, we took what is becoming my annual birthday picture with the animals.

 (the dogs are not really sniffing Dodge.  I actually have food in my fist to lure everyone to the right side of the room!)

Chris surprised me with a new camera for my birthday.  Although I have not had a chance to practice or learn the ins and outs of my new toy, I have been able to take a few pictures of my favorite subjects!

Adriane is such a funny dog.  She moves her each of her ears independently.  Sometimes one is up and sometimes one is down.  This makes her really funny looking sometimes.

Tormenting the dogs is fun.  

Dodgie looks so mean here.  She is really quite sweet!

This is Rocco's reaction to the camera.  He hates having his picture taken inside!  He barks furiously like we are torturing him.  This has caused us to refer to the camera as the soul stealer.  He may believe that we are taking a bit of his soul with every shot. Maybe he knows something we do not.  

Big bird.

We took the dogs to our favorite dog park for some swimming and ball throwing action.  Swimming in the summer (or September 25st, whatever the case may be) is a must.  It burns a lot of energy and keeps the dogs cool!

Lastly, today we got great news today.  I checked the weather and found this:

Thank goodness.  Life can begin again.  Goodbye 105 days and 80+ degree mornings.  Hello 70's (and 60s!!).  I may even wear pants this week.  Joy!

I promise to keep the updates coming!  Happy October!