We have kept all our promises

Today is our 12th wedding anniversary.  12 years.  As Mattie Ross says at the end of True Grit:  “time just gets away from us.”

We are celebrating by……get ready for it because you’d never be able to predict this……dancing.  We met at a dance, and have continued dancing all over the country.

Dan’s father gave an almost unbelievably beautiful wedding ceremony, spiritual and wise, and his mother sang two songs, even though her voice was nothing like it was many years ago.  In Dan’s father’s sermons over the years he had frequently used the story of Ruth and the parable of the Prodigal son.  We asked him to weave those into the service, and he did so seamlessly.  He worked so hard on this service, calling us almost daily for several weeks to check and recheck on what he was doing.  

We listened to the ceremony again today.  And then decided to honor Dan's mother’s desire to be a part of sending us into the world as a married couple by dancing to her song. 

Happy Anniversary, my love…..

We made promises to each other on the day that we were married—twelve years ago.  We have kept all these promises.  

We have traveled all over the USA in our truck/camper on eight, five month long road trips.  We have seen things that you would not believe…that we had never known existed.  We have spent months alone, hiking and dancing in the most remote places that we could find. We have danced in the wilderness, the Badlands and grasslands, in deserts, on mountain meadows, on top of mesas, always holding each other close.

We have cycled together enough miles to go around the world—24,901 miles, and have cycled another 5,000 miles on our way back around the world again!

We have spent days and weeks with our precious children, our sweet grandchildren, and dear family…playing together, learning from their youthful wisdom, and loving each of them with all our heart.

We have had many losses.  Our parents have died.  A sister and brother have died. Friends have died.  We have had life threatening health issues and surgeries.  We have grown old together these past twelve years.  But we don’t feel old—we have each other and so many dreams and adventures to share in our years left together.

Our love for each other has grown each day, each year.  We love each other more than the day that we were married.  And we have kept all the promises we made to each other on the day that we were married.

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 to the ceremony again today.  And then decided to honor Dan's mother’s desire to be a part of sending us into the world as a married couple by dancing to her song. 

Too hot to go camping!

Ever since the 4th of July it’s been hot, even in our mile high desert mountain hamlet of Pine, Arizona.  By hot, we mean that it’s at least 94 degrees by noon and still getting hotter! That's pretty hot even in our cabin, since cooling here is primarily done by swamp coolers, not air conditioners.

So Dan and I have delayed camping for another week or two, since our home with a swamp cooler is much  more pleasant than the Turtle (our truck and slide-in camper) with only a fan bringing 90+ degree air into our VERY small camper as we attempt to get to sleep.

Despite the heat and having to cancel our camping trip, we have been having a wonderful July!  After all, how could we not have been having the time of our life, when we get to spend every minute of every day and night together….this is heaven for us!

How do we cope with the heat and still have adventures?

Well, we get up and head out into our beautiful world as the sun is rising.

Luckily, our cabin in Pine is surrounded by National Forests.

On the east side of town, we hike (straight) up the Good Enough Trail.  We get a good workout and are rewarded with spectacular views.

Some days we zoom up and down around Pine on our bikes.  It’s great fun and exhilarating since all of Pine is up or up and down.  And since we are out at the crack of dawn, we get to hear the birds singing and see plenty of wildlife.

Our resident elk with their summer babies:

Here is the largest herd of the local tiny Coues that we have ever seen—and we witnessed this special deer spectacle only because we were out and about in the early morning when it was very peaceful and quiet.

One of our very favorite places to head out early in the morning is to the Pine-Strawberry Trail that is just a few blocks from our cabin to the west of Pine.  We have three different loops that we like to hike on this charming magical trail.  Each loop seems more special that the others.

We often load our bikes on the back of our truck, head off only three miles away to our small neighbor city of Strawberry, and cycle before the sun gets too hot.

One day we cycled way above Strawberry on the very highest road we could find…..see the road going straight up this hill to the right of the sun!

From the top of this hill was our view of the farmland in Strawberry far below us.

Strawberry is as weird as Pine—or maybe even a little weirder.  Here is one of the local residents of Strawberry.  Yes, it is actually a zebra!

One of the things that we particularly like about riding in Strawberry is cycling way out south of town on wild mesa of Fossil Creek Road—it’s absolutely gorgeous!

Just south of Pine is the trailhead for the Arizona Trail which travels north to Utah and south to Mexico.  The Pine View Trail loop also heads off from here.  

Here we are heading out early in the morning on the Pine View Trail.  As you can see,  it’s so early that the sun hasn’t even risen all the way above the Mogollon Rim yet.

And then of course if we leave our cabin just a little earlier and drive to the Rim, we can hike and cycle in our beautiful forests and grasslands. Since it is 1000’ to 1500’ higher than Pine, it is a bit cooler even in the middle of the warmest summer on record.

And then at least once a week we take a “rest day,” and dance early in the morning on our front porch.  We have to start a bit later than we would like, after the sun is already starting to heat up our world, because we’re not sure that our neighbors want to be awakened by our beautiful, romantic music.

So you can see, as long as we get up early, we can beat the blistering summer heat and have a ton of fun and plenty of adventures.  

Then we can be home, relaxing together on our cool shaded deck by 9 am.  And soon, very soon, maybe in a week or two, the monsoons will cool off our beloved desert mountains and we’ll be out camping again!

The Energizer Bunny is still…..

 …..knitting!

I just can’t seem stop to knitting and making pretty things for those we love and for our home.  Two years ago we made a blog entry on all the things I had “Made with Love.”  

It is woefully out of date, so here is what I’ve been recently making with love…..

Sweater and hat for Hannah:

I used left over yarn from several blankets that I’ve made to create this lap blanket for Nuestra Casa, our Leisure World home:

I like to knit our grandchildren’s sweaters a little big so they can grow into them and wear them for a few years.  But it looks like this one is quite a bit too big for dear little Hannah.  Although the hat fits perfectly!

Hannah is wearing the sweater I knitted on her Easter egg hunt.  I particularly like the darling hat Mila crocheted for her!

The past few years, I’ve made several lap blankets.  They are the perfect size to snuggle under together or just a little extra layer on a cold night to keep your feet warm.

A lap blanket for our cabin:

A blanket for Diane’s Christmas present….Dan and I are on the front deck of our cabin.  He is making a model car while I knit.  Another productive and contented afternoon together.

 A surprise gift for Eileen:

Emily’s birthday present:

Sweater keeping Hannah warm as she plays outside on a cold winters day….

River is truly appreciating the blanket that I made for Candice….

Warm winter hats for Aryana and Easton:

Doesn’t Easton look cute in his hat!

It is truly a joy to spend an afternoon knitting sitting next to my love, Danny, while we’re camping in the middle of our nation’s beautiful Public Lands.

I finished this blanket for Nuestra Casa while we were camping at Bears Ears National Monument.

And I worked on a spring/summer blanket for Kathy while we sat all afternoon on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a deep ravine in Bears Ears.  In the cliffs of the ravines we found several ancient ruins of homes and communities from almost a thousand years ago.

Here is the finished blanket for Kathy…

I knitted an EXTRA long blanket for Soren, because he is growing like a beanstalk.  In fact, he is now almost as tall a Grandpa, so it’s a good thing that I made him my biggest blanket ever!

Hannah is wearing the dress that I knitted for her.

And here she is snuggled in the sleeping bag blanket that I knitted for her baby brother, Vernon.

Vernon crawled out of his sleeping bag when he woke up from his nap.

I had fun making a mobile for the front porch of our cabin.  I have been making jewelry for years, and have spent many happy afternoons making earrings, necklaces, and bracelets with our granddaughters, Marina and Stella, as Grandpa watched and admired our creations.  I have quite a variety of beads left over from many jewelry projects.

So for my mobile I used copper wire and a piece of wood that I found while Dan and I were hiking on the Rim in a pine forest.  Then I threaded beads and crystals (from an old broken chandelier) randomly on the wire to make an original and interesting creation that sparkles in the sunlight.

Isn’t it pretty!  We can hardly wait for Marina and Stella to visit, so we can make more jewelry and mobiles.  Dan’s mission on our hikes is to now help me find more unique and unusual pieces of driftwood in the forests for Marina, Stella, and my mobiles.

Dan hung this piece of wood that I found on the Rim in East Clear Creek.  I use it to hang some of the beaded/braided bracelets that I’ve made.

Sweater for little Easton….with fish buttons, because his father, Calvin is a hunter and fisherman.

Easton’s hat to match his sweater:

Aryana is wearing a sweater that I made for her.  She loves it so much that she cried when her mother, Alison, had to take it off of her when it got too hot to wear on their midwest summer’s day.  Don’t worry, Aryana, it will keep you toasty warm during your midwest winters, and Mommy won’t make you take it off you then!

Matching bright blue sweaters for Hannah and Vernon made with love.  We can hardly wait to get photos of our two little grandchildren in their new sweaters!

Vernon’s sweater has truck buttons:

And warm winter hats to match Hannah and Vernon’s sweaters:

I don’t waste any yarn.  I knitted another lap blanket using scraps of yarn from other blankets that I had made with love for Kathy, Diane, Emily, Eileen, Soren, Candice, and Dan and me.

Nuestra Casa and our cabin are decorated with colorful and cuddly blankets that I have made.  

It’s fun to have hobbies that are both useful and beautiful…..and make wonderful gifts for those who we love.