Storms and Coffee

Gee, I may get bounced from blogland if I don't start entering some words in here. Bad, bad and lazy!

We've been experiencing our monsoon season with a complete BANG!

As I was travelling through a portion of the open desert, on my way to work, the weather alert went off over the radio! Storms on the way! Electrical and high winds coming straight down highway 93/95 ... hey wait a minute that's my route to work today.

Sure enough as I drove out into the open I saw huge black clouds and I knew for sure it was going to be a whopper. As I rounded a bend I saw the most beautiful sight in front of me and pulled over to take a couple of photos. The very beginning of the storm. I was running late so could only manage a quick minute for this plus the fact I was in very soft sand and knew if I got caught in the rain I would be calling a tow truck!

All went well as I made it to work on time and about an hour later our lights flickered in the casino, sky turned black, lightening and thunder all around and over us.

Thank goodness I didn't have to drive into the washes and back roads right then. The wind was horrible. We were all sure there were tornados on the way!

Well, I thought to myself, I don't get off work until 1am tonight and surely the storm will be over by then!

Not so. The whole of highway 95 was shut down. A bad accident and at least 15 power poles broken off like thin toothpicks, scattered all over the highwaywith live wires everywhere. OK, I'll go the other way thru the desert and by-pass the whole mess. As I was passing the AVI Casino (out in the middle of the desert) I decided to check with security and see if the south part of the highway was open. Hmmmm no chance was what they told me.

Well then I guess I'll just go play a bit of 3 card poker for an hour ...... 4 hours later security came up to me and said part of the highway was open now but toactually get to Golden Shores (my home) I would have to take a few detours east of the highway. No problem! I grabbed a cuppa, my trusty snack of Fritos and took off! What I saw along the way was just beyond belief! Mud and water and power poles with live wires down all over the place and no lights anywhere but lots of police and directions thru the east side of the hiway, again thru the desert.

I was really worried about my little dog Oscar and my little shack .... I had visions of everything being gone from the microburst but when I pulled into my driveway, the house was still standing, no damage here and upon opening the door Oscar jumped on me once, gave me a quick lick and made a beeline for the outdoors! Hmmmm, wonder if he had a full bladder, poor guy. Oh yes, we had POWER!!! I found out later the power had been out right after I left for work for about 4 hours.

I grabbed my pj's, fed and watered Oscar and dove into bed (6am) I knew I had to sleep fast as I had to be to work by 4pm! I had about 4-5 hrs of sleep, got up, showered and was out the door by 2pm. Wasn't feeling perky but I made it for another 8 hour shift.

Driving back to work during the day I really saw the damage! The power poles are still down but I noticed new ones are laying next to the broken ones now. Hopefully the jerry rigging of wires will be taken care of soon. The news broadcast said today that another 4 to 5 days before all is completed.

How could this beautiful sight of the sun and clouds turn into such a devastating storm?

Just A Bit of Babble Here

Eeekkkk ... Toenails!!!!

Just a few of my tunes

I've been very busy working on my music lately. I have a little project in the making ... now if I can just get it completed!!! This means much practice and the purchase of a little chip that will help me along the way. Guess I need to take a trip to Office Depot soon!

Speaking of practice, people just have no idea how hard it is for me to get a song "down pat" ... here's the process I go through.

A. I first download the lyrics and chords from E-Chord.com and then I have to make sure I have the complete, correct melody inside my head!

B. I download the actual recording and listen, listen, listen and try to play along and get the melody embedded in my brain, which is a very hard thing to do because my singing is not something anyone would really call singing!! :o) Why the melody you ask? Everyone knows the melody of a song! Not true, we all know part of the melody, but not always do we know the whole melody. Next?

C. Work on the backup and then implement the melody without real music in front of me ... by ear, as they say.

D. Once I think I have [it] I begin playing and adding and adjusting the sounds over and over and over and over ..... I'm not a genius you see so this doesn't come easy.

And so I needed a break ... I know, how about a pedicure to calm the stress ... so now I have pretty painted toenails and a new hair style, sort of, and that's my babble for today :o) I'm off to work with stress free feet! Until next time ............

Just Hanging Out

OK, so here I am blogging again. Just an update on what's been happening the last few days.

Of course I've been working and dealing those cards. I actually watched the movie "21" last night and was trying like hell to figure out how to do this and I'm suppose to be a hot shot dealer???? It would take me months and months to even get close to counting! So much for my get rich quick scheme.

I watched another film called "Vitus" and was totally taken by it. Of course the piano bit really blew me away. What wonderful young actors!!! If you are into movies this is a must. A foreign film with lots of awards.

I finally dug out my CASIO keyboard book to learn how to use many more of the buttons and to learn how to mix my sounds. Now all I have to do is buy a memory chip and load it with my background music and I will be able to sound like a complete band! Sort of.

I would love to get outside and walk! It's just too damned hot out here now, temps running from 110 to 122 degrees is just not very inviting. However, I do walk in the longgggggg basement of the Colorado Belle on my breaks. It helps but not enough even though we do get about 7 breaks per 8 hours of work. Stand for an hour break for 15 minutes. Of course I have to squeeze in a drink and snack as well so not much time for walking. Most of my co-workers think I've lost my mind but still there are a few that say to me 'what a good idea Sandra' and then want to join me, but NEVER do when invited. Hmmmm. I'll keep pestering :-)

Alrighty, I'm hungry now and craving something like strawberries so off to fix me a nice salad and then maybe strawberries over ice cream. Maybe a small glass of wine. Until next time .......

The Desert Heats Up

Photos of Arizona desert and Colorado River

Dear Blog! Oh how I've neglected you!

Well the heat has arrived and everyone is walking around looking quite wilted. Living in the desert is the reverse of living in most parts of the country. We look forward to our winters so that we can go outside anytime time day or night and experience the cooler temps. Not so during the summer. We get up early (right around daybreak) to empty the garbage, water the cactus, yes they do love water, and to walk the dog or ourselves. We see construction workers heading to their jobs so they can beat the heat and be home by early afternoon. We see doors open for some fresh air before the sun causes us to retreat to the coolness of our air conditioning. Yes, it is totally a reverse way of life out here in our desert. The good part?

THE COLORADO RIVER!!!

We are able to drive to the river in a matter of 5 minutes to experience the cold water dips and then sit on the beautiful little beaches under the trees having sandwiches, cold chicken and a cool drink. When the heat starts to get to us, it's another run and jump into the river once more. Our 3 digit temps. are just about more then a body can handle. How did people survive before A/C??

I'm posting some photos I've taken of the desert at it's finest. It's not all sand, sand, and more sand. One just has to stop and capture the beauty. Some of these photos were taken by my two daughters Valerie and Deanna. Thank you girls !!!!!

More about what we do and where we travel next time ...............

Music, My Therapy

"Star Dust" by Hoagy Carmichael

Tony Bennett's "Have A Good Time,Eden Ahbez, "Nature Boy" & Rosemary Clooney's

"Mixed Emotions" , Bing Crosby & Carmen Cavallaro's "How Soon", Eddy Howard's "For Sentimental Reasons", Van Johnson's "I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder

My mean music machine THE BOSE!

Oh yes, I'm back again! As everyone knows, I've been on vacation 9 glorious days! I've done NOTHING but walk, watch movies, sort through old books, papers and clothes and much of the time on the internet following my families activities, chatting and of course doing some photography to keep up with the artysy, fartsy bunch. I, of course, will never be up to their level but hey, it's fun!!

Last but by no means least is my music! I've been sorting through old, old sheet music and taking pictures of some. I've been learning alot of new songs and what wonderful therapy for me. To hear a song and then to learn the song well enough for people to recognize and actually know what the hell one is playing is a real accomplishment in my humble opinion. I cannot imagine a world without music. I listen to music from all over the world. It's so amazing to hear the different sounds and chords, the background, the rhythms and the vocals and how it all comes together. I'm not an accomplished musician but I have been given the gift of being able to hear! And to listen! And to pick out the sounds that actually make the song stand out.

At times I really do make a nuisance of myself by pestering friends to shut up and listen and they of course look at me as if to say 'I'm listening'!! ... they hear but aren't really listening. However, not to be brushed off I continue pestering by asking if they heard the low bass or the little tiny tinkle of the piano or the quick drum solo that lasts for only 5 seconds. A quick roll of the eyes tells me they aren't interested. And so I shake my head and shut up. I find, of course, I do the very exact thing if a conversation is going in a direction which bores me. I think that's called zoning out! A few of my children have the very same talent. I wonder if they learned from me or if it is just genetic? :o)

When I was very young I used to listen to my mother and grandmother playing the piano and I wanted to play! Of course I knew nothing but tried to pick out the melodies. Then one day my cousin came over to show all of us what he was learning from his piano teacher. My cousin and I were 10 years old at the time. I sat on the bench next to him and watched as he played "Lady of Spain" with a new technique of learning how to play anything with just chords. I made him play the song over and over and over as I watched his fingers. After he left I sat down and tried to play the song and much to everyones' amazement I actually learned the song in a few weeks! They said I was playing "by ear" and within a few weeks I was enrolled with my cousin's teacher and on my way to learn how to play too!!

My mother was in North Africa and my teacher made a small record of me playing and we sent it to her. I wonder what ever happened to the little record? It seems I've seen it somewhere but anyway ....

I moved to North Africa the next year (I was 11 by then) and I took lessons from a French teacher who taught me how to enhance my chords. She was wonderful and so talented. That lasted for about 4 months. I was shipped off to boarding school in Casablanca and enrolled in their music program. (approx. 4 months). I was sent back to the USA and never had lessons again until I was 14 in Los Angeles with a teacher who had actually helped arrange songs for Bing Crosby. Again about 4 months worth.

That was it for my music lessons. But I always played whenever I could. Whenever I had an instrument.

Many years later (1972 0r 1973) I moved to Brazil. I bought a guitar and learned 6 chords and proceeded to torture my children by playing and singing at the top of my lungs, in the middle of the night, Loretta Lynn and George Jones tunes. OH MY GAWD!! Poor kids!!! Once we pulled out of Brazil I didn't do much of anything with music until I lived in Canada 1977.

I bought an organ and taught myself how to use and play those foot pedals and double keyboards. My two youngest, Kurt & Deanna begged me to play "Lullabye" for them every night. I was sooooo happy they liked my playing! Alas I found out years later it wasn't that they liked the music so much, but because they knew when I started playing music that I would be playing for hours and they could play in their bedrooms undetected. I must say I did catch them under the kitchen table at times with their blankets and pillows looking at me.

My one desire was to someday, somehow, play in front of a live audience, knowing full well that I would never be famous. I set out to do just this. I practiced and practiced and was heard one night after choir practice in a small church playing a hymn. I was TOLD that night that I must play the following sunday and so I did just that.

This led to weddings and teas and then the BIG one for me! I was asked to play in front of 500 Mary Kay Cosmetic consultants and directors at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada at The Chateau.

I'll never know how I pulled it off but I did. Then on to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the warm-up groups before the actual seminar. Yeahhhh, I did it! Mistakes and all, but I did it! A wonderful huge black grand piano was at my disposal.

I had a piano in Scotland, guitar in Brazil, organ & keyboard in Canada and then had to sell them in 1996 because of a move to the USA.

Last September 2007, some of my children chipped in and bought me a beautiful 88 key, keyboard/organ/piano combo and I've once again started "tapping the ivories" What a wonderful and oh so considerate and loving gift. I thank you so much!!!!

And so as not to bore you anymore, I think I'll just play me a song .... How about 'Terms of Endearment" or "What a Wonderful World" or "Hotel California" or "Crazy" or "Turn The Page" or "Riders On The Storm" ... or heck, why not all of them?

Until next time .......... MUSIC, MAESTRO !

The Big Move

As I sit here in the sweltering heat,117 degrees, shit it's hot!! I'm wondering why I've stayed in the desert for so long! Is it because I just got so sick of cold weather after 21 years in Canada or am I just too lazy to make a move now?
Well!!!! That's all changing. More then once I decided to move to Maine and ended up changing my mind every single time. Partly because I thought the winters would just get me down, partly because I was afraid to try to get a job out there, at my age! So silly we are at times. And partly because I was afraid I would miss the Colorado River and my acreage and, and, and .... last but not least, the many friends I've made here in Arizona.
I'm thinking it was just plain old fear.
Where did that come from? I've never been afraid to make a change before.
But now??????? ............... I'M READY TO MAKE THE MOVE..............
Just think I will have two of my daughters Deanna & Valerie out there within driving distance and grandchildren to hang out with, well, we aren't sure if Zach will be there alot of the time.
And Jo, Valerie's friend who is a big part of our family now. And I know Kurt, my youngest son, will visit. He loves Maine. Let's just hope the rest of the crew will visit and what a crew that is ... 7 to be exact!!
I'm not sure if I'm going to live in Vermont, Maine or somewhere in between, but for sure somewhere in that vicinity.
Now I have tons of things to think about and to accomplish .....
Cleaning out the garbage that I've collected over the last few years.
Going thru closets and getting rid of clothes that I never wear anyway!
Looking for jobs on the internet.
Selling things on EBAY
Oh yes, saving $$$ money $$$ for the move.

And after doing all of these chores I will spend some evenings at the beach on the Colorado River. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the desert, but I'm missing the 4 seasons just a wee bit.
Gee, I wonder about cold and snow. I'm looking forward to a good snow storm so that I can hunker down in the cozy warmth of a living room and watch a movie or read a book eating popcorn or a grilled cheese sandwich with hot cocoa. Or going to Starbucks with my kids!
Where I can go outside and let the snowflakes fall on my face, where I can get so cold that the hair in my nose freezes and then to be able to come inside and thaw out!
And then summertime .... going to the ocean and walking and hiking and taking photos. And watching the boats and the fall will be a landscape of colours!!

Crazy? Maybe. But an adventure is an adventure and that's what I'm looking forward to.

It's time.

Time to get out and see another part of the world once again.
Time to make everyday count before I cross over to the other side.
Time to enjoy my children once again.
Time to take care of unfinished business.

The planning is just as much fun as the actual doing. My mind is so full right now of "things to do". I need to make a list :o) a mile long!

Yes it's Time!! I can always visit the desert during the winter if I long for sand and cactus between my toes.

It's River Time Again

Tammy & I looking like "river rats" HOW FUN

Aren't we silly .... I love it!!!

Entering Topock Gorge

We did it! Finished our Kayak trip on
Colorado river. Deanna did most of the
paddling :o)

Orange moon on the river

Breaktime!!!!

Beach One

One of the most enticing things about this area of the desert is the Colorado River. It's practically at my doorstep! I think when all is said and done, this river is the reason so many people end up staying in this location.

We can go to the river all year long, but believe me the water is cold! Not too many people stick even their toes in water during the winter, but it's still beautiful to sit along the little beaches in sweats and enjoy the peacefulness of the running water.

Here are a few of the photos I've taken of my trips out by myself, with friends and Deanna last summer (2007). What's that phrase? Oh yes, Kodak moments! More moments to come .....but that's it for now.

Morning Relaxation Time

Before the intense heat of June some of the best relaxing moments are early morning awakenings in May. Watching the sun come up and listening to the awakening sounds of doves, little birds chirping and watching the Quail tripping around with their little babies which we call "tater tots"!! The animals seem to know that the cool temps. only last for a few hours before the sun rises even higher and we are all pushed indoors or to shady spots because of the intense heat that will bear down on all of us.

Snakes and lizards find rocks to help keep them cool. Our feathered friends find shade in the Mesquite and Willows to help keep them cool.

Isn't it amazing how they find water in the deadly desert heat!
We of course take to the confines of our homes with air conditioning!

How did the people ever survive without A/C years ago?

I've posted some photos of the plants, trees, shrubs and a "stick bug" that live on and on and on requiring only a small amount of rain to live and grow. Mother nature has a way of allowing for all natural habitat to survive temps of 100 - 120+ degrees!

Summer Winds

It's hot and windy and hot.

In the mojave, during summer, the winds whip against the house, shed, cacti. A wind burst came through the other day and shook the house. I paused in relief. It didn't blow the roof off like last time, a few years back.

Summers here are so hot you have to wait until the sun goes down to wander outside for an evening walk. Construction workers get up for work, ready to start by 4 a.m. Things shut down at noon. Time for a siesta.

Winters in the mojave are mild. Beautiful. Summers are plain, old hot.