Meet the Bees

 Here we are at the amazing gardens that were created just this year as a place for employees to grow vegetables, flowers and fruit.  We went to "meet the bees" and learn about the beehives they have in the garden.  It was a fascinating experience and I can't wait to get my own beehive!  We are going to put one in the backyard at our new house.

 Here are Georgia and Rodolfo hugging and being silly.

 The beekeeper.  Apparently bees are very docile creatures as long as you respect their space.

 Ah!  Purple flowers and a blue sky.  Two of my favorite colors.

This is a 70 lb. watermelon.  I'm not sure if such a large watermelon would be very tasty but what a grande dame to admire!

Day at the Museum

We went to the Oklahoma Natural History Museum to explore dinosaur bones with Ashleigh, Michelle, Blake & Caleb today.  The girls were pretty fascinated with the animals.  This is a great age for hands-on-experiences.  Hats off to Michelle for all of her great ideas.  What a fun day it was!!

29 Palms

Just returned two days ago from a wonderful trip to the desert.  I've never been to a desert before.  I was planning on it being really hot.  Turns out that the desert can be very cold.  Who would have guessed?

I stayed at this incredible place called The Inns at 29 Palms.  Above is the little house I stayed in for two nights.  Below is the majestic hill it faced.  There were actually several little homes like this all in a row.  My home was divided into two sections.  An Australian couple was staying in the other half.  This trip was a sort of solo sojourn for me to explore photography as well as to do a little personal introspection and talking with God.  I attended a photography retreat at the inn with some amazing photographers.  I felt like a true artist on a pilgrimmage.

I never really thought of the desert as a beautiful place.  After this trip, however, I have a new respect for the desert.  Glorious, glorious, glorious!

They even had a potager at this desert inn.  Here is the gate leading to the garden.  Behind the gate you can see their abundance of produce.  So, I guess I learned two things from this trip.  First, deserts can be cold.  And second, you CAN grow food in the desert.  Actually, I learned a lot more than that from this trip, but it would take a novel to explain.

Pumpkin Patch

The holiday season has begun! We went out to the pumpkin patch this past Friday. Gigi had fun running around with Carter, riding the pony and playing in the haybales. I roasted hotdogs over a fire for lunch. At the end Georgia picked out a pumpkin to take home. She accidently dropped it in the creek when we were heading back to the car. Ah well. She has been busy carving a pumpkin with her Opapa this afternoon. October is a pretty nice month. The weather is crisp and the sun is golden. It has been windy lately, but I always notice that the wind blows right before the weather makes a seasonal shift. Georgia can't wait for Halloween. She has been trying to figure out the order of the seasons and holidays. She has been saying repeatedly, first it is Halloween, then autumn, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, then my birthday!!! She will get it soon enough. :)

Wild Coyotes are Magical

Just spent the past 5 days sleeping in this tent on an expansive estate in Ojai, California. I haven't slept outdoors in ages. The experience was breathtaking. Because our tent faced east-west, I literally awoke every morning as the sun was rising. The sunlight would ever so gently peek its head up above the trees and the rays of light would stretch out their arms to shine straight upon me. I felt like it was God saying goodmorning. The experience was grand. I picked oranges, lemons and a fig straight off of their trees. I hiked. I lived. I breathed. It was wonderful. The most memorable part though was the night the coyotes ran by our tent. My roommate and I heard them rustle around but we didn't know what animal they were until they were some distance from us and they cried their pack howl together. It was frightening and magical. I won't forget this experience ever. I told Rodolfo that maybe we should set a tent up in the backyard. That way, whenever we want, we can sleep under the stars. Wouldn't that be nice? I think so.