Lizards and Geckos and Spiders, Oh My!

More wildlife has been spotted. This guy was sitting on a rock in our front yard just sunning himself.

A identified him as a Bearded Dragon. E got within a couple of feet to get this picture. He just sat there.

Most nights, if you go in the girls bathroom and turn the light on, a little Gecko or two come to catch bugs attracted to the light through the window. The picture is not great because it was taken from inside the bathroom thru the wavy glass. But, the cuteness shines through! I mean look at those toes!

E just looooves her reptiles. This is one of the geckos outside during the day. Usually we don't see them then, but I was separating some flower pots out on the porch to do some planting and this little guy was hiding in one of them.

And last and most hair-raising of all sightings, was this:

A and I were at the garden center looking at plants, and she was squatting down by this urn, looking at some cacti. She turns her head and hello! Redback Spider, one foot from her head. Mama spider was very busy with her huge egg sack and was no threat to us, but still!

A's reaction? "I thought they were bigger." Someone is outgrowing her phobia, for sure. She couldn't even look at the Black Widows in Vegas.

A Town Like Ithaca

I feel like we have travelled so very far, only to end up right where we started from. This place is so much like Ithaca in so many ways, we feel right at home. On Sunday we went to the Todd Mall market with our wonderful sponsor family. It did not have much in the way of farmers and produce, but the crafts and art were worth a look. The girls got some cool stuff and we enjoyed people watching. All the hippys made me feel right at home, too! Some differences are the presence of the aboriginal population and the cool artwork they did on the trash cans, er, rubbish bins, I mean.

I loved some of the aboriginal art and will definitely be purchasing some. After the market, we went up to the top of Anzac Hill to check out the view. This is looking North-ish:

And this is looking south, towards the MacDonnell Ranges and our neighborhood: The pictures really do not do the view justice. The area is so green and beautiful, but since we were up there in the middle of the day, it looks washed out. Oh well, take my word for it, it is a lovely view. Click to see it bigger.

A Few Pictures

This is the freaking HUMONGOUS plane we flew over in, the A380. The girls had the window seat right about over the last 'a' in Australia on the top deck. C and I were in the center next to them. There was so much room to move around, I could walk over and look out the girls window if I wanted to! With their seats in full recline even! A and E having their breakfast at about 5:30 am Sydney time, pitch dark and about 13 hours into the flight. Note the Quantas PJs they gave us. Too cute with a kangaroo on the shirt and very comfy!Sunrise over the East coast of Australia. The flight took us over the land, down the coast to Sydney. I thought we would be over water until we got there, but we came inland quite a bit. Maybe the flight path out of the country is straight out over the water.This is C and me all happy to be together and about to land in Oz:A took this one out the window on our descent into Alice. So green! They have had a lot of rain this summer and the desert has come alive. But in addition to all the grass, the area has so many trees, I guess it is pretty green even in a dry year. Much nicer than the Las Vegas desert! A said it made her think we were in Africa on the savannah. I feel like I am living in Zion National Park, with the green and the red rock all around.

You know you are in the tropics when this is the kind of bird you see out in your palm tree every morning! It is called a Galah and there are whole flocks of them sitting on the ground in the park by our house, just eating the grass. It is so weird having pet store birds living in my backyard!

OK, no wallabys yet. That will be tonight. We now have an internet connection dongle thingy for my computer, so expect to see more of me around here as I document our time here. Loving it so far!

Winter Beauty

Took some pictures of the fresh snow the other morning. It was so cold, the snowflake crystals were very distinct. I read somewhere once that the Eskimos have over 300 words for snow. I can see why. It comes down looking so different each time, if you pay attention.

Looking south

Snowcapped sedum

Closeup of snowflakes

Beets!

On Monday, the girls and I went out to the ol' homestead (aka my Dad's) for a little canning session. I had been saving up the beets we got from our CSA and my stepmom had a bunch of beets they had grown ready to go. So we made pickled beets. There were the regular old red beets and there were golden beets and striped beets, too.

A had little interest in getting her hands dirty, but she hung out in the kitchen with us and watched the whole process.

The first batch out of the canner! While the second batch was being processed, we walked up to the pond:

I love reflections. They almost seem more real than the real trees.

E had fun with cattails.

Blowing in the wind. It was a lovely day, not very November-ish. Can't wait to taste those beets!

I Am NOT a Morning Person

But when I wake up before dawn and cannot go back to sleep, no matter how much I want to, I might as well get up. So, out with the camera I went to capture the morning, or try to anyway.

I am not a morning person, but on mornings like this, I can enjoy one like I am. Don't I live in a beautiful place?

Instead of 8000 Words

Here are a few pictures to update a few weeks of goings on around here.
Magnetics jewelry:

Our glass Easter eggs:

Look what I baked! Awesome no-knead bread:

Chicks at 1 week old:

And here they are at a little over two weeks old:

E found a baby Painted Turtle in the yard far from the pond. We held him a little bit and then set him free down by the water.

We got C a basketball for his birthday, with the implied gift of a hoop to shoot it in. We finally got the hoop and set it up this week:

That's all, folks!

It's Good To Have Friends

I just have not had it in me to gather my pictures and thoughts and spare moments enough to write out a big post about the conference. So, to tide you over until I get my act together, a few pictures.



This year, for me and the girls, Live and Learn was about friends, seeing old ones again and making new ones. Too bad there is just never enough time to spend with everyone. We had to savor every moment we had. Until next time...

Hey! This Isn't Kansas!

Yesterday afternoon, we had a tornado pass through our area. It was quite the exciting, terrifying ride you would expect. With practically no warning at all (my trusty NOAA weather radio is now sitting by me in standby mode!) we had to take shelter in the basement to ride out the storm. When the wind died down and the sky lightened, we went out to see the damage. Let me take you on a little tour: Here is our backyard from the side streeet. Notice the tree. Laying on it's side, on top of our power lines (it is still like that, btw, but now the power is on). See the blue circle? That is our power line.
Here is a wider angle view. Just does not look right, does it?

And this is what it looks like from the other side of the house. Notice the destroyed umbrella, not to mention the fence.

But we are counting our blessings. One, no one hurt. Two, no major damage. Three, it missed the trampoline...

And my brand new blueberry bushes! And four, no more black walnuts all over the yard come fall. Yeah, I know they are good to eat, but last time we lived here I tried to get into them for a nut and nearly went nuts with trying! Oh, and five, free firewood! As soon as the power company gets out here to remove said firewood from dangerous live power lines that are not where they are supposed to be.

One last shot for full effect. Yikes!

The Farm

We belong to a great CSA farm that has U-pick opportunities built into our membership. So, the girls and I went out to the farm to get our share of strawberries, and then some. We made a full day of it and had lots of fun.

Here are the girls on the wagon ride over to the strawberry field.

E with some of the scrumptious berries. We picked a total of 6 quarts, and ate probably a quart between us. Ok, not really, but we did sample!

After we got back and paid for our berries, we stashed them in the van and went to explore the farm. First, we said hello to the animals.

These were the cutest bunnies, eva'! It was very hard not to steal one and take it home.

Then we played on the rope swings.

And jumped on the awesome Pumpkin Pillow. The other kids were there for a school field trip. When they all left, it was soooo quiet and peaceful.

E had to hop up on the lovely cow statue for a photo op.

Here, A is sorting out her gemstones that she panned for in the sluice. The girls each got quite a haul from the one little bag we bought. Not to mention the fun it was to see what the water revealed!

It was a good day on the farm and we look forward to going back soon! We are also looking forward when our first box of goodies from the farm is delivered!