Damsel and I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas!
December 2010
Native American Bear Sconces
I hoped that we would be able to post photos of my beautiful outdoor lighting fixtures before Christmas. Thanks to the contractor building our new house, I got this photo of one of them installed this morning.
We waited until the fixtures arrived at our California house before heading to Arizona to deliver them and get them installed. They arrived on Tuesday 12/21, we delivered them to the new house (after a terrible rainy five-hour drive) yesterday, 12/22. When we drove over to the house this morning, one of the sconces was already installed.
I think it looks beautiful with the turquoise and copper highlights over the terra cotta color of the house. I hope to get a shot at night with light visible through the amber mica translucent filter. Click on the image to enlarge.
Seeds of Economic Growth
The Democrats (and quite a few Republicans) don’t get it. They’re taking OUR money, not the other way around. As Kini points out, extending the Bush Tax Reduction for ONLY two years isn’t exactly a boon to the economy and business.
Winter Solstice
At last the days will be starting to grow longer rather than shorter. This is a still screenshot from Archaeoastronamy.com who provides an interesting animated depiction of seasonal changes and cross-quarter celestial events.
Earth’s annual orbit is The Master Clock because the common yardstick of our lives is the year. Years are divided by the seasons just as calendars are segmented by months. Mechanical and digital timepieces measure intervals that split into hours, minutes and seconds each spin of our planet on its axis. Yet, it is the earth’s regular, rhythmic loop around the sun that standardizes our timeframe of reference, regardless of geographic distances separating us from our acquaintances or generational distances separating us from our ancestors.
Critter Crunch
The semi-rural nature of our new house allows us to observe wild critters in or near our lot. I like the little quail, cottontails and squirrels that frequent the premises. So, to encourage them to come around. We place some “Critter Crunch” on the ground near our back patio.
I put some down the last couple of times we were in Arizona. It will be interesting to see who and what comes around now that the weather is a little cooler in December. I’ll try to get some pictures of our shy little critters when we’re there over the Christmas holiday.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Home for the Holidays
When we last saw our new house, Damsel climbed up the little hill behind the house and took this image. She took it on November 8th – six weeks ago tomorrow.
Image – construction progress as of 11/8/2010 – click to enlarge.
We fully intended to go back sooner, but we were held up because some custom outdoor lighting fixtures were held up in production. We’re told that they will be here (in California) in a couple of days and when they arrive we will be headed back to our new home to get them installed. The fixtures are just about the finishing touch on the new house. Thereafter, we’re going to start acquiring the furniture items we need to actually be able to occupy the house.
We have to stay over the Christmas Holiday to meet the following week with the utility company to install the gas meter and for any other yet unknown details of getting everything set up. We also plan to arrange for the new 22 long gun fire safe to be delivered and installed.
There are a lot of details that are still emerging which we will address when we understand what needs to be done. We are now hoping to be in the fully furnished house by March.
Winter Cruise Flashback
Two years ago at Christmastime we drove from Wickenburg to Flagstaff and then up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. I took this photo from the rim at Grand Canyon Village looking northeast. Click on the image to enlarge.
