Life runs at a feverish pace. To counter that, we have a bird feeder in the backyard and it is visited by many birds. I have no idea what their names are but they flutter in and out and provide a distraction from the hustle and bustle of daily life.
This season that we are in is called the Monsoon Season - primarily because rains come up from the gulf of Mexico and travel up the state of Arizona dropping rain on the desert and causing it to blossom. The wild sunflowers are spectacular this year and every plant that has ever scattered seeds to the wind has had those seeds germinate and the hills are now quite green. Of course this has caused flash floods here and there and made life miserable but it is rain and rain is what keeps our plants and animals alive and the creeks run and the lakes fill up. Unfortunately, a homeless woman drowned in a swollen creek in the center of town. The report in the paper was rather vague but it is a sad situation that she got washed down stream and drowned. They reported that she was either bathing or playing in the water and a storm upstream sent a surge down the creek and washed her away.
Saturday morning I went out for the paper and was struck by the silence of the area.....that is except for the birds welcoming the rising sun. The air was still and the native cedars were giving off their beautiful clean scent into the air and the moment was magical to me.
The weekend is a three day weekend celebrating Labor Day and signalling the official end of Summer. All the water parks etc. close down after this weekend to re-open in the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May, next year.The town square is host to a huge craft show this weekend. We went to it and wandered up and down the alleys. There seems to be a preponderance of Bead and jewelry booths and a smattering of oil paint and acrylic paint artists and a musician by the name of Patrick Ki plays his music for all to hear. I stopped by a quilt booth. The work seemed to be all one person's work and not imported from China as in other years. The one thing that came across to me from the show was the amount of work these people had put into their wares and the amount of money they have invested in supplies. With the monsoon showering us almost daily, the crowds do not attend because this is an outdoor show and people do not want to get wet. The crafters do not do well under these conditions. There were lots of dog owners out with their pets and as far as I was able to observe there were no altercations between animals - in other years there have been some really good dog fights erupt on the grounds. Owners trying vainly to calm their pets while the pets just wanted to settle once and for all who was kingpin in the dog world of the courthouse plaza in Prescott, Az. The biggest dog on the plaza was a Newfoundland. It looked like a tiny horse.
On Monday this week, we had our monthly gathering of quilters for the Community Quilts effort. I was surprised to see 30 ladies come out and work. They pay $3 for Pizza and it is delivered to the facility and we all eat lunch together. I cannot bring myself to eat the pizza - it does not look good to me. We have someone bring the breakfast treat, and two people bring salads and about 4 people bring desserts. This week someone brought individual cheese cakes...........Oooooh! Yummy!
We have loads of fabrics in totes that we open up and the ladies are free to pick whatever they feel they would like to have to work with and they create some wonderful quilts. Most of the quilts go to the CASA program for the adoptions and we are gearing up for National Adoption Day, November 23. The CASA adoption day is very festive and the children to be adopted are overjoyed for the chance to become permanent in someone's family.....most of them come from the foster family program.
Friday morning, while Bill was at Computer class at the College, I went to the Bead Show up at the Yavapai Resort. The man who runs it comes up from Tucson and apparently he does well enough to keep coming back. We have a new beader in our group named Pam, whom I met at a craft show down on the square a few weeks ago. I told her about the bead show and she said she would go to it. I was very happy to see her there and we ogled the beads he had on sale - we also bought some.
Today we talked to Sara and family over the Facetime on the phone. Ethan told us that he and his Fifth grade class went to see the Salt Dogs play baseball. It was a good game but filled with lots of problems - a number of students had to be treated for heat exhaustion, one student got hit by a stray ball and Ethan's gymnastic friend was hit in the head by a flying bat. Do not know how that happened but he got three stitches and will not be doing gymnastics for a few weeks. He was out of gymnastics for a while this past summer for an injury at baseball - a pitcher sent a wild pitch that hit him in the knee and put him out of commission.
Oliver does soccer at school. He used to do soccer with a club but with Sara and Jacob both working, it is hard to get the kids to practices etc. so Oliver does soccer at school. He has lost the two front teeth on the bottom. When I was out there, I noticed that his new teeth were coming in behind the front teeth so the dentist encouraged Oliver to loosen and then pull out the two baby teeth.
Lyla showed us all the toys that the girls across the street gave her. She is delighted. These three girls decided to give their toys to Lyla because they consider themselves grown up now and these are for little kids. Lyla thinks it is better than Christmas.
While we were on the Facetime, baby August woke up and we got to see him. He is a chubby little guy and he is rather long already. I guess he will be the tall one in the family.
In sharing time at church today, with the little kids, they had stories about Jesus. One picture showed how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. The thought crossed my mind - What were these men thinking as Jesus was washing their feet? They had been with him for a couple of years by now and had seen many miracles performed. This washing of the feet was a first for them and did they really understand what the significance of the ordinance was to them? They were mere mortals and Christ is half mortal half immortal and it was not until after the Holy Ghost was sent to them later on that they became a force to be reckoned with. It was a mind boggling thought to be sure but I did not have time to explore it because it was time to take my little brood to class. Our class time this week was a lesson on how Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers, no matter the language used. I had six children in my class - 2 regular participants and 4 visitors. On the holidays one never knows what or how many class members will be in attendance.
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