what color is winter

One only has to look around. The color of winter is as wonderful as the colors of spring.

Peering over the edge

Can't help but start the day and my "back to work" beginning with this wonderful picture of the Grand Canyon. Life so much like it. I know you've heard the words "awe-some" before, but the Grand Canyon truly defines that word. I've always said I wanted to do more than just peer over the edge of it. There's so much more to the Grand Canyon than this picture gives. What you can't see is the sun to the east pouring out its light over the canyon giving it color and dispelling the shadows. What we see from the distance is no doubt even more magnificant close up. But if you want that close up view, you have to plan ahead. Waiting lists for the mule ride (the easier way) down are booked a couple years in advance. Hiking requires physical preparation. So I keep telling myself "some day" I'm going to see it up close and personal. No matter that the last visit to the Grand Canyon was 15 or so years ago and I said the same thing then. So that leads me to this thought for today: Preparation begins today. If I'm just going to sit back and wait for that 'some day' event it probably means I'll miss it when it does arrive. I can't sit back. Plan. Prepare. Build up. Encourage. Start now. Hey. I think that's like the life in the spirit, too. I can't afford to wait passively until I'm better or know enough, or whatever my excuse for today is. Now is the time. Today is what He's given us. He keeps challenging me and charging me to bigger and higher things. Read. Pray. Memorize. Practice the Fruits of the spirit. Be. Don't just peer over the edge of a life in the spirit. Awe-some, too.

Days of Rain

In the twenty years that I have been visiting the grand state of Arizona I have never seen it rain like it is today! I have often laughed at their “rivers” which are really little more than dry gullies or washes; their ditches through the center of streets which I have never seen with water in them...except for today! It has poured down rain all day long. At noon they had a half inch and the ditches were filled with running water. Puddles in the major streets, real water in the ‘Auga Fria’ and people walking around with umbrellas. An amazing sight. Apparently it hasn’t rained here since about October so I am witnessing a nature rarity! I would rather enjoy a balmy day like we had yesterday-blue sky and 70 degrees, but this is still better than snow! And in the spring, when I am long gone and back to toiling away, all the natives will enjoy a spectacular show of desert blooms. We hiked up the waterfall trail to, of all things, the waterfall, in the White Tank Mountains early in the week and there was precious little water running up there. So I imagine this is like the cup running over up there now. I have a picture in my mind of the dry ocotillo cactus starting to suck up some life giving water for the blooms it will produce come March or April. I only wish I was going to get to see them.
Well, soon enough it’s back to the snow. So I will enjoy even this day of rain.

Sunny Arizona

Weather, I have discovered, is all relative. Cold here would be considered balmy by Iowa
standards. The 70 degrees we enjoyed today was a nice winter day here. Spring time at
home! Flagstaff temps were in the 20's and snow still was on the ground.
Up there they are all excited about skiing season. I'm just looking for more
sunshine and warm. The Grand Canyon was wonderful. Not too many people.
No lines to wait in for anything. Could drive everywhere we wanted along
the rim. I took tons of pictures. (Can't share any of my own because I don't
have any way to upload any of them yet. Just wait!) Now, if I can just figure
out how to enjoy 70 degree days Arizona experiences, while I'm wintering in
Iowa! See you all soon.

Warmer Climes

Tomorrow morning we're off to Arizona-Where the sun always shines (hopefully) and winters are much warmer than here. (really hopefully) We're visiting my mother. She's always been able to email but she tells me now that her computer doesn't work at all. She can't get onto the internet and she is stymied. It is possible I'll have blogging withdrawal because I won't be able to log onto any computer at all. I won't even have access to email. Horrors! And I was planning on uploading some great pictures of the Grand Canyon, or the smog in Phoenix. Be prepared: It's possible my blog will not change a bit until I get back. It doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about y'all. (and feeling relieved because you have cold weather and we don't). Just means, now you know what's going on here. See you in a week!

Chocolate!

Our neighbor supplied Ron with some Chocolate chip cookies the other day. She was returning a favor. Why couldn't she have been like the neighbor who gave us a jar of pickled herring? I hate pickled herring. But who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies after all? That was a disaster for me! I love chocolate chip cookies. And I'm supposed to lose 10 lbs. Yikes! I ate 3 after work. Just like that and they were gone. So I went to the wellness center to exercise them away. And you know what? I only burned 85 calories. (that was a 30 minute workout on the elipitical machine going 3 miles!) I don't think that equals 3 chocolate chip cookies. This is harder than I thought.

The color purple

You are a purple person if:

Your mornings are purple and squishy around the edges. (in other words you're up before the sun)

Your king has clothed YOU in purple!

Winter makes all your extremities that odd shade of purple. (because you don't mind being out in the cold)

You could live with a purple bedroom or purple carpet or someone else who dearly loves purple.

You're an optomist.

You're a dreamer.

You're adventerous.

You're romantic.

You're Sensitive.

check out these purple ideas: http://lavenderearth.com/contents.html http://www.underdown.org/

And of course don't forget to read:

Lily and the Purple plastic purse

Harold and the Purple crayon.

So add some color to your winter days. Be purple!