Not only did we get our second violation, the City of Scottsdale recycling cop came in person and knocked on our door to talk to us.
I wrote about our first offense and our bad, bad neighborhood along with coyotes HERE.
This time we were told we have one more chance at recycling. If we have three strikes we are OUT! The recycling police will take our bin away and we will put everything in the regular trash bin. This time it was plastic bags from the grocery store. I always thought they were supposed to be recycled, so I learned something new. I’m super careful about what gets recycled and break down all the boxes from Amazon that seem to be flowing freely to our house daily. It was a shock to get an in person visit.
On my small walk yesterday, I saw a neighbor had a pink slip on their recycling bin. I wanted to take a peek at what offense they had committed. I walked over to the bin to see what their pink slip said but my husband thought I was being nosy and objected.
On a brighter note, look at how the Christmas Cactus bloom I posted Wednesday looks today!
Here are a couple nature shots I took this week:
Mourning Doves at the bird bath.
The squirrels eat the blossoms on the barrel cactus.
Here’s looking at you, Red!
Have a great weekend! What are your plans for this second weekend of February?
I was given a Christmas Cactus by a friend four years ago. It looks pretty healthy, but until this past week, it’s never bloomed. Fellow blogger Busy Bee Suz who has a green thumb — which is something I lack — suggested that I move my Christmas Cactus. I moved it by the sliding glass door and a few weeks later it has two buds! How exciting is that?
While I switched from my 80-400 mm lens that I use to take Red and Mrs. photos to my 105mm Macro Lens, I took a few other photos. These were outside in the backyard.
We have three bougainvillea we planted a few months ago. They are thriving in the sun. In Palm Springs, we had bougainvillea that never took off. This is very encouraging!
Aren’t they beautiful?
Yesterday was my first day I managed to take a little walk post surgery. I was disappointed because my foot hurt in my tennis shoes. I had to wear flip flops with very little support. My foot is bruised and a little swollen so the tennis shoes rubbed my foot and were a no go!
It felt good to move around even though it was a short walk. My husband and I like to walk and talk. I shared a memory with him from my childhood. It was good to laugh together.
The Memory
When I was three and my brother was five, we went as a family to a church retreat camp staying in a tiny cabin in the woods of Washington. There were families from our Presbyterian church as well as ones from other parts of the state. Along with the small cabins, there was a meeting hall where we gathered as a group.
I remember sitting in the first row with my family, when the pastor asked if anyone wanted to share something with the group. My brother jumped up. He grabbed the microphone and belted out “Edelweiss” from the Sound of Music! I wonder what my parents thought? As his worshipping little sister, I was so proud.
“Blossom of snow May you bloom and grow Bloom and grow forever…”
These lyrics were stuck in my head after photographing the blossoms above. That’s probably why I remembered this blast from the past.
We have lots of these cacti in our yard. They are only about three feet tall, much smaller than saguaro — although they look similar. I think they are called Cardon Cacti and they are spikier than saguaro cacti.
Do you have any silly memories to share from your childhood?
What would you have thought as my parents when my brother sang Edelweiss?
This video from my new Bird Buddy feeder begins with a female Gilded Flicker. Then a male, with the red markings on his face, takes over. I see Gila Woodpeckers more than these larger woodpeckers. The flickers have spots while the Gila Woodpeckers have similar colors but a black and white pattern on their backs.
The new Bird Buddy has a longer battery life than my old one. I do have them both up and running, but I have to charge the older one more often — which I did yesterday. The birds seem to prefer the new feeder or maybe it’s the placement? I turned the feeder around because I was getting photos of my neighbor’s house. I don’t know the neighbors to the left of us, but somehow I doubt they’d want me making videos of their yard and posting them on my blog!
This video captures a Gila Woodpecker so you can compare it with the Gilded Flickers above. There are also House Sparrows and Mourning Doves taking their turns. The first two videos are from the new feeder.
These battling Mourning Doves are from my first Bird Buddy feeder. You can notice a difference in the quality of the video. Or maybe the camera needs to be cleaned?
Since I’m in Arizona, I’m keeping track of the missing Nancy Guthrie story. I hope the family gets answers soon!
Red and Mrs.also paid a visit to the new feeder.
What are your plans for this weekend? Are you rooting for the Seahawks?
I got another visit from my javelina friends. I was taking out recycling when I smelled something nasty and skunky. Then I looked outside the fence and there they were! Yes, they smell. They also seem to use their sense of smell to figure out where I was and don’t seem to see that well. Their snouts are very active!
Now back to my topic: The New Year is a Gift
With January slowly slipping away, I’m making a conscious effort to make the most of it. Each new year does feel like a gift. There’s a chance to be better, make changes to be healthier and focus on new goals.
How am I doing that? First, by re-reading Julia Cameron’s book “Finding Water: The Art of Perseverance.”
From Amazon’s description:
The third book in Julia Cameron’s groundbreaking trilogy on creative self-renewal, now for the first time in paperback. In this inspiring twelve-week program, the third in Julia Cameron’s beloved body of work on the creative process, Cameron offers guidance on weathering the periods in an artist’s life when inspiration has run dry. This book provides wisdom and tools for tackling some of the greatest challenges that artists face.
The second thing I did this weekend was renew my membership to SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators) and downloaded “The Essential Guide to Publishing for Children.”
The guide covers all aspects of the publishing process, including finding an agent, writing a query letter, writing a book proposal, understanding contracts, and more.
I also watched a video of marketing trends in children’s literature which was on SCBWI’s resource page. I have several children’s manuscripts that I’d love to get published. I’m going to give it another try!
One of them is a story about growing up with my mom with her quirky and eccentric ways. I wrote it at least 20 years ago and got an offer from a small publisher. At the time, I was on contract with the Los Angeles Times Kids’ Reading Room to write children’s stories and was published in children’s magazines like Ladybug. I thought the publisher’s contract was too small! Of course, I never got another offer and quickly learned getting published is not that easy.
The other manuscript won first place in a Writer’s Digest competition as well as my local SCBWI chapter. It was also picked up by the most adorable website in the UK called S’mories where young British kids were recorded reading stories. The website was taken down for some unknown reason. Perhaps the parents no longer wanted their children broadcast in public all around the world.
I’m going to start with those two projects and will work on new projects, too.
This is not our usual weather for sunny Arizona. How does 49 degrees feel like 33 degrees? I went outside today to take photos. It does feel cold. I wore my heaviest coat.
I struggled to come up with something to post, which is not like me. I realize it’s because after coming home from our Christmas Hawaiian trip, both my husband and I got sick. I’ve been down for several days. Not much has been happening in my life.
It was hubby’s birthday this week and we cancelled our birthday dinner plans with our friends from Palm Springs who moved one mile from us in Arizona. They called several times to see how we were feeling. Finally, the scoop was that they are taking their kids on a cruise soon and they don’t want to get sick. We decided to postpone the birthday dinner celebration. If we are contagious or aren’t contagious and they get sick in the next few days, what is the upside?
We did take out Chinese at the only decent Chinese restaurant around us and spared strangers from our coughing fits!
Here are some photos I took of our gray day:
The view out my office window. It’s difficult to see through the rain drops.
Our crocodile. It looks like he enjoys the weather.
Looking out the front door.
Our backyard aliens or geckos left by the previous home owners. I know they are geckos, but they look more like aliens to me.
The first year we were here, we had snow! This coyote was playing in the snow and ended up on our wall!
A coyote hanging out on our wall.
It is snowing in Sedona which is less than three hours away, but at a higher elevation.
What is your weather like today? Is it normal for this time of year?
We’re at home from our family Hawaii trip that I shared photos of HERE and HERE. I’m now in my real life wild kingdom and enjoyed a visit by a squadron of javelina.
I counted three or four babies, two moms and a handful of males. I took photos with my Nikon and telephoto lens, but the best photos and videos were from my iphone. I got amazingly close feeling confident our fence would hold. I had thrown a few handfuls of birdseed out for our quail, but the javelina discovered it and soon took over.
I wouldn’t want to get between these two guys!
Babies. I especially like peewee redhead!
Another look at two babies.
Here’s to a happy and healthy 2026 for all of us and our wildlife friends!
What are your plans for the first weekend of 2026?
This is a moon shot I took seven months ago with a Century Plant. I ran out of space on my current SD card, so I went through some in my camera case to look for one with space. I enjoyed looking back on photography from my “intro” class. I was surprised with some decent shots, which I will share here.
I found this photo of Red as a slim young guy.
Three hawks on the same Century Plant as in the moon photo.
A fluffed up Harris’s Hawk.
Another Harris’s Hawk. I heard a hawk yesterday. They have a distinctive call. I realized that it’s been a long time since one visited our yard. I do see them swooping overhead every time I drive.
Then wouldn’t you know it? Just as I thought I haven’t seen one for a while, one flew into a tree in our backyard. I tried to get a good photo, but he is behind some twigs and leaves.
Here’s the photo I took yesterday:
I have a better lens now then the one I used for most of the earlier photos. I don’t know if you can tell the difference or not.
Happy Friday! What exciting plans to you have for the weekend?
