Filed under: Arizona, Blogging, Cats, Home, Photography | Tags: Arizona, Blogging, Cats, Home, Photography
Abbey, it’s your turn this year to pick the blogiversary winner. How about using this pretty, girly little trunk?
“Okay, tell me what to do.”
Google says, “But I want to do it!”
Marbles says, “Fine with me, I’m busy anyway.”
Google sulks, “I’m a doer, not an observer.”
So, Abbey, here are all the contestants’ names in the trunk. How many contestants do we have?
“Um, as many claws as I have on one front paw and one back foot.” Okay, we have 9 contestants then.
How about a little catnip to make it more exciting? “Alright, score!”
These magic paws chose a winner at 11:36 am MST! Then she felt compelled to leave as Google came to horn in and get his share of nip.
Kara of Sunshine Cupcakes is the winner! Kara lives in Phoenix, too. Here is Kara’s prize package.
A first day of issue Arizona centennial stamp, an Arizona flag magnet, and a print of a fluffy mockingbird in my yard! Treasures, for sure! If you live in AZ, you just can’t have too much AZ stuff.
I had 3 Arizona natives as contestants: Kara, Kelli (currently living in Colorado), and Zoe. I also had Terry as a contestant, who used to live in Arizona before he returned to his native Montana. Check out all their fun, informative, very diverse blogs. And look at all the other great blogs of all the contestants. Thank you to everyone for entering, commenting, and reading!
Filed under: Blogging, Home, Mailart | Tags: Blogging, Flora, Global Community, Greater Good, Home, Mailart, Religion
So, it’s Lent now. And people keep asking me what I’m giving up. Nothing. I was brought up as a Lutheran and we never did that. I understand why some people do it, to make some sort of sacrifice, but I like another tradition of Lent better…almsgiving. “It is a sign of our care for those in need and an expression of our gratitude for all that God has given to us” (from here).
My blogging friend, Kelli, has a Lenten tradition, called Calculated Acts of Kindness (CAOK) that she observes every year. She is a very talented person, who cooks, sews, bakes, knits, crafts, so she gives gifts of herself all year long but does make a special calculated effort during Lent to do even more. I had already decided to do something along those lines this year and I was thinking of writing some notes to people I’ve been out of touch with or sending cards to people I’ve been thinking of or sending some mailart, particularly some photos I’ve taken, to various friends and family…at least one correspondence a day for 46 days. Therefore, I was surprised when I read her blog yesterday and saw that she, too, is concentrating on correspondence this Lent…sending a thank you note to someone she appreciates, keeping in touch with someone she misses…you get the idea. And who doesn’t like to get mail or a handwritten note now and then.
Of course, it’s nice to do things for others any time of the year and I’m sure that we all do but, for me, it seems beneficial to make a concerted effort for these 46 days, to give up a little of my time and a tiny bit of effort, to let someone know I’m thinking of them. You can grab Kelli’s CAOK button if you want to participate.
Says Father Rodney E. Thibault,“We are only going to get out of Lent what we put into it. When we are that joyful giver, we are going to be joyfully rewarded” (from here).
And don’t forget my giveaway, there are still a couple days left to enter. The more, the merrier!
*My hibiscus is loving the mild winter, early spring and sprouting tons of buds, blooms, and flowers.
Filed under: Arizona, Art, Blogging, Cats, Photography, Valentines | Tags: Arizona, Art, Blogging, Cats, Holidays, Photoblogging, Photography, Sedona, Tony, Valentines
Amidst Valentine’s Day and Arizona Centennial Day, another minor exciting (to me) event occurred…the third anniversary of my blog, my blogiversary! The actual date was February 13th. My last post, The Valentine State, was also my 350th post. So…to keep my tradition going, I am having a little giveaway as I did for my first and second blogiversaries to let you know I appreciate you.
Above is the official first day of issue stamp celebrating Arizona’s centennial, the newest Forever stamp. That’s Arizona’s State Bird, the cactus wren, perched there. This commemorative piece can be yours! And, since that doesn’t seem like much of a giveaway, I’ll also enclose a little surprise, something else Arizona-y. And…I’ll enclose a print of one of my recent photos, either this one or this one, whichever looks better printed. Maybe not the most thrilling giveaway but, hey, it’s free!
Everyone in the continental U.S. is eligible by leaving a comment. As in the past (year one and year two), one of my cats will choose the winner. It’s really Abbey’s turn but the boy cats always horn in when she’s trying to do something constructive. The winner will be chosen on February 26th so get those comments in and tell all your friends!
See what my darling husband, Tony, gave me for Valentine’s Day? This was our first year married, although our 18th Valentine’s Day together. We had a long courtship.
Here is Paul McCartney’s original song, My Valentine, which you may have seen him perform on the Grammys last week.
“Um, where’s my valentine?” asks Google. “Shouldn’t that say, For My Google?”
Incidentally, the Arizona Forever stamp is available for purchase everywhere in the U.S. now. You should get some 
The stamp was done by Arizona artist, Ed Mell, and depicts Cathedral Rock in Sedona. Here’s another view of Cathedral Rock from last summer.
Thank you for reading my blog!
Filed under: Arizona, Cats, Home, Valentines | Tags: Arizona, Cats, Flora, Holidays, Home, Valentines
Arizona has been referred to as the Valentine State because it was admitted to the union on February 14th. Today is not just any Valentine’s Day in Arizona, it is Arizona’s Centennial, 1912-2012! This is a 1912 map of Arizona I superimposed on a large saguaro in Papago Park, which is probably way over 100 years old.
Arizona was the last of the contiguous 48 states to be admitted to the union in 1912. It was another 47 years later that Alaska and Hawaii gained statehood.
Since I couldn’t think of anything fitting to honor Arizona’s 100th birthday, here are a few more photos (that I have taken the last 3 years) of cacti, which seem to be synonymous with Arizona.
And, as an aside…here is Svengali’s valentine to everyone. I was trying to take a photo of a red boa in my front yard Sunday, a very windy day. All of a sudden Svengali came snooping around to see what was up. I thought that might make a cute valentine if he did something interesting. Little did I know that he would think I was preparing him a spot to, um, well, relieve himself. Fortunately, I grabbed the boa before he was able to implement his plan.
♥ Happy Valentine’s Day! ♥
♥ Happy Centennial Birthday, Arizona! ♥
Filed under: Art, Phoenix | Tags: Art, Downtown Phoenix, Murals, Phoenix
This mural is on the side of Phoenix Public Market, in downtown Phoenix, where they have a twice weekly Farmers’ Market as well as Food Truck Friday and other fun things. It is by Joseph Sentrock Perez.
I like the different AZ elements in it as well as the Phoenix skyline. See the building with the big antenna on top? It’s right across the street from the Market.
It’s the Westward Ho, built in 1928. It was the tallest building in Arizona until 1960. Originally a luxury hotel, visited by numerous celebrities including JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Al Capone and others, it closed in 1979, and was converted into senior housing. It now houses 300 low-income elderly and disabled people.
It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and was featured in the 1998 remake of Psycho. Apparently the inside has retained much of its splendor and charm but it is next to impossible to get into unless you personally know a resident.
The large antenna was originally the transmitter for one of the local TV stations and is taller than the building itself.
The style of architecture on the Ho is Mission/Spanish Revival.
The Ho is also said to be haunted and many ghostbusting groups have come to experience it. At one time, it had a speakeasy underneath called the Gold Spot, frequented by Bugsy Siegel, but the basement is inaccesible now.
