frosty juniper

Max and I headed up to the SnowBowl Sunday. He took another snowboarding lesson and I went skiing. What a blast! It had been a good eighteen years since I had been up a chairlift, but my body remembered pretty quickly, and I was on the black runs after lunch. My calves are talking to me today. I definitely want to do more skiing this season.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas day. We just finished dinner, and the boys are back to the Nintendo Wii they received this morning.

Peace, Love, and Merry Christmas!

Ok, that wasn't quite a sunset, but it was going down:) This last Sunday, we took the boys up to Flagstaff for a little winter fun at the AZ SnowBowl. Max and Doug took an all day snowboarding lesson and had a blast. Eric and I enjoyed watching them and getting a little snow fix. By the time we got the boys all situated, the rental line had gotten really long, so we figured we'd just hang out. Next time we will bring our skis for sure! Hopefully, the snow will stick around for awhile up there! It was a little over an hour drive to the mountain.

First ride up the big chair lift. Max does NOT like heights, so this was a bit of a challenge for him. After their lesson, he went up the smaller chair by himself!

Not great pics, but you get the idea. The North Rim(tiny bit in this shot) of the Grand Canyon is in the upper left corner of the above photo.

visitors

My friends Heidi and Laura came for a short visit over the weekend. We drove to Sedona and had a little picnic lunch at Cathedral Rock, so far my favorite place in the Sedona area. Our time was limited, but we had a nice little visit. Next time we'll hit Jerome.

the forge

I got my forge set up the other day and started pounding some steel. I found some rebar scraps in the yard, so I just played around a bit. I plan to start small, incorporating some steel into jewelry, then move up to some bigger pieces. I don't have an actual PLAN, I figure the work will reveal itself as I go.
My jewelry bench is in the background, and Eric's space is to the right. There is another room behind the shelved wall, and a bathroom behind that. The other half of "the barn" is behind the camera.

snow and steel

All the rain we've had down here at 3100 feet has translated to snow up at the higher elevations. This is Squaw Peak from the balcony off our bedroom. The Snowbowl up in Flagstaff is open now, so we plan on going skiing up there this weekend.
I love being able to see the snow in the distance and not having to deal with it on a daily basis!

Gordon, the instructor of the blacksmithing workshop, is on the right, helping Tom make a pair of tongs. The workshop was a lot of fun and very informative. I ordered a forge yesterday, so I hope to be pounding some more steel real soon!

This is the workshop in the back of Pieh Tools, the blacksmithing supply store. The owner is in the red vest. She is from Burlington WI, and her parents owned a balcksmithing supply store there that I was familiar with from years ago. Small world :)

This place is a bicycle ride from our house.

They hold other workshops besides blacksmithing. I will take the knifemaking class when it's available. Doug can't wait to be big enough to swing a hammer for that one!

I went for a little hike here last week. This is Crescent Moon State Park, the same place the Cathedral Rock pics were taken. The left of this photo is the left edge of Cathedral rock from a different angle. There's a nice little trail through the woods along Oak Creek. There are also tons of dry creek beds that one can hike down. You know what that means-tons of ROCKS! I plopped myself down in the rocks a few time. Rummaged through and stacked a few. Nice rhyme, huh. Sorry:)

I'm starting my blacksmithing weekend workshop this morning. I'm quite excited to get back to pounding some steel. I should set up a massage for next week.

My friend Heidi was here last week. It was a short visit, but really nice to see her. Thanks for making the drive up Heidi!!

We have decided to come back to EV for a visit over the Holiday break. Dec 28-Jan 3. I'm busy manifesting nice weather for the flights :)

rain

When I woke up yesterday, I could see that it had rained during the night. It was so nice and humid and smelled so good! I was so excited to have some rain. The last time it rained here was probably the end of August. What people call the monsoon season is a thunderstorm or two during the day, so it wasn't even what I would consider a 'good' rain.
So, I'm driving down to Tempe yesterday, to meet a friend at a huge art fair. It's cloudy and the forecast says rain, but we figure a little storm here and there for a few minutes, no big deal. It rained ALL day!! It cracked me up to have it raining all day in the desert. I didn't think that happened around here. The one weekend people would rather have it sunny, and there are not one, but TWO whole days of rain. It started out just a slow and steady rain. The kind you know will hang around all day in Chicago. By the afternoon, the constant gentle rain was interspersed with heavy downpours, so by the end of the day, we were soaked to the bone, and getting a little chilled. The temp was in the sixties, but when you're wet, that's kinda cold!
Driving home in the dark and the rain through the mountains was not a fun experience( not to mention rush hour traffic through Phoenix)
I really feel bad for all the artists(over 400). I know what it's like to get rained out at a show, and it is NO fun! Tomorrow the sun is supposed to return, so hopefully it will turn out ok for everyone. We had fun anyway. I can't remember the last time I walked around in the rain all day :)

The umbrellas were pretty much for show by that point. Mary's HUGE beach umbrella got a lot of comments :)

Last night the wind picked up to go along with the rain, and didn't stop until about three this afternoon. I think there must be wind storms in the late fall to help the last leaves off the trees. I thought that was just a Chicago thing, but apparently not! We've got a little raking to do when everything dries out(by tomorrow most likely). This Mulberry tree had all it's leaves yesterday.