Simply Belle

Last Sunday, my husband and I went to Tonto Natural Bridge, a half an hour drive from home to take some pictures. This was also a chance for us to get a good hike because the bridge is quite a drop off from the top. The drive down was very enjoyable with occasional stops to relish the sight and and capture some pictures. We even saw a couple of deer.

First, I would like to give a brief history of Tonto Natural Bridge. Many years ago, in the mid 1800, an American white, named David Gowan Godfellow stumbled in this area while being chased by Apache Indians. He hid in one of the caves for two nights and three days. The Apaches lost him and gave up a chase. On the third day, Gowan resurfaced and explored the area and eventually claimed rights on the territory.

He then persuaded his family from Scotland to live in this place permanently. Of course, why wouldn’t he love this place? It saved his life from the Apaches. Also, it is a beautiful place, tucked away in the tiny valley surrounded by a forest of pine trees. It has two nice springs that create two separate beautiful waterfalls. The bridge is believed to be the largest travertine in the world. The bridge stands 183 feet high over a 400-foot long tunnel that measures 150 feet at its widest point.

I didn’t get a good shot of the deer as they were too shy.

Waterfalls

Tunnel

Tonto Natural Bridge

Lodge that has been restored periodically and is filled with Gowan/Godfellow family heirlooms.

Stalactites under and along the ledges of the travertine leading to the cave.

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We planned to leave early for this trip but for some reason, we didn’t get out until 9 AM. Then, after we drove for about a mile or so, my husband realized that we didn’t have the blankets, quilt, and pillows so we looked for a place to safely turn around on the freeway and headed back home. I was so busy packing food and other stuff, I totally forgot the beddings, too. He suggested that we buy them in Wal-Mart, instead of driving back home, but I didn’t fall for his idea as it could add up. It was a good thing because not only did we forget the beddings, he forgot his wallet, too. Could you imagine going on a camping trip without your wallet and your driver’s license? That meant I would have to drive the car the whole trip or he would have to drive carefully to avoid getting pulled over by a cop. Anyway, glad we came back although we wasted quite a bit of time.

After a series of bathroom, shopping, meal, and photography stops, we arrived at the camping site at 4 PM. It was a little too late to take pictures as the sun was going down already. It gets dark there quickly because of the mountains. But we took some pictures of the view on the way in. My husband immediately got situated by looking for the best camping site before it turned dark.

Here are some pictures of the camping site:

I didn’t waste time either fixing our dinner. I cooked salmon, and heated up chicken adobo and pansit that we brought from home. Mango had to come, too, because we didn’t think it was safe for him to be home alone for 3 days.

See how quickly he found a spot inside the car to perch on? He didn’t want to stay in the cage when we were traveling. Here, we were heading to a Mexican border called Agua Prieta to do some shopping–and at the same time, a chance at improving my spanish skills. We parked on the US side, which is Douglas, AZ., and crossed the border. We didn’t want to get tangled in the traffic there which we found out later was at least an hour wait for the cars to get through the border. Didn’t we do the smartest thing? We looked for the pharmacy, and there were several of them. We chose the one that this english speaking woman recommended in exchange for a dollar. She said she needed help for her medication so my husband unhesitantly gave her a dollar.

Conversation inside the pharmacy:

Me: Hola!

Lady: Hola!

Me: Tienes medicina como esta? (Do you have medicine like this)

Lady: Si!

Me: Cuanto cuesta cada pedazo? (how much does it cost per item?)

Lady: 5 american dolares!

Me: muy caro! (expensive), si compro 10 pedazos , no marka?(if i buy 10 pieces, no discount?)

Lady: No!

Me: Hay otros lugares que venden esta misma medicina? (are there any places selling this same medicine?)

Lady: Si, pero los precious son el mismo. (the prices are the same.)

Me: si, compro 20 pedasos, me darias un descuento? (if i buy 20 pieces, would you give me a discount?)

Lady: No! pero cada Lunes, tenemos 25% descuento. (no! but every monday, we have 25% discount.) We were there Saturday.

Me: okay, dame 20 pedasos y tienes el bano? (okay, give me 20 pieces and do you have a bathroom? )

Lady: No bano!

Me: sabes un bano que podemos usar? (do you know of any bathroom that we can use?)

Lady: Si!

She directed us somewhere inside a certain restaurant which required some left and right turns on a busy street so we bagged it and decided to cross back to the border– to the US . My husband, who has absolutely no knowledge of spanish, by the way, was impressed with my spanish. “How do you know I was saying the right thing,” I asked him. He said, he was looking at the girl and she didn’t look confused at all and understood at what I was trying to say.

On our second day of our camping trip, we stayed under the spread of the sycamore trees. We owned the place to ourselves for the night. I quickly started the fire because the fire pit and woods were already available — leftover from old campers, possibly. We had enough woods to last us through bedtime. Don’t you just love the sight of the camping fire? I do!

Cozy place, huh? Mango was inside the car as he was complaining about the fire smoke. We went to bed at 9 PM because we ran out of things to do, besides it was getting chilly. My husband extinguished the fire before bedtime– a smart thing to do. I was a little bit scared not of the invisible things but of the wayward people that might harm us. I had the flashlight next to me, just in case. I constantly peeked through the window making sure that there was no one lurking around. At around midnight, I heard soft knocks and so did my husband. I sit up promptly trying to decipher where it was coming from. The noise quit. Then I would lie down and it would start again. I would sit up and the noise would disappear. Weird! I looked through the window watching for animals or anything. Nothing! My husband was not bothered at all and was sleeping soundly. He told me earlier that the noise could be from the car cooling off the engine or from the air mattress. Whatever!

I got tired of sitting up that I finally went to bed. I slept through until early in the morning when my husband couldn’t sleep anymore because he felt he had enough sleep already. He got up, turned on the lantern, and heated up some water for tea. While sipping a hot cup of tea, we put away our camping stuff to get an early start. We left the camping site at 5:30 AM heading to Tucson.

Our next destination was Sierra Vista where we used to live. My daughter Lexi asked me to stop by at our old house and take pictures. Evidently, she misses the house and its surroundings.

My husband built that shed behind the tree.

Our next destination was Phoenix to do some oriental grocery shopping and to eat at our favorite restaurant and then we drove home.

Stand by for our next camping trip to Puerta Penasca.

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What does this picture remind you of? What can you see? Tough huh? I might as well just give you the answer.

“The colossal rock profile on the mountain takes the shape of a man’s head, a man lying serenely on his head. His face is rugged and noble, with a long, curve nose, and domed forehead. For an eyelash, is a 100 foot Douglas fir that is quite not visible from this picture. The historical image represented is said to be Cochise, the brilliant chief of Chiricahua Apaches. Cochise preferred diplomacy to warfare. He remained friendly with white settlers until 1861 when he was accused of rustling and kidnapping. When a rash Army Lieutenant attempted to arrest Cochise at Apache pass, an unfortunate war of 11 years broke out.”

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? I was only with one person last night and it was my husband and he didn’t say anything to trigger a laugh. It is usually me who makes him laugh, So the answer is none.

2. What were you doing at 0800? Working

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? Taking shower

4. What happened to you in 2006? I had the privilege of meeting my college batch mates for the first time after 20 + years.

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? “No Mango, don’t bite me or you go in the cage!”

6. How many beverages did you have today? I had a cup of tea in the morning, a jug of water, a bottle of fresh berry juice, a cup of hissup tea, another cup of green tea, and a glass of green and vitamin C juice.

7. What color is your hairbrush? Black.

8. What was the last thing you paid for? $6.48 for 5 apples, 2 avocados, and a bottle of fresh juice.

9. Where were you last night? At home.

10. What color is your front door? Beige

11. Where do you keep your change? In my purse, in my pocket….everywhere. no one is picking up quarters in my house anymore.

12. What’s the weather like today? Always sunny with nice blue sky and patches of white clouds.

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Cherry and nuts

14. What excites you? Long weekend trip

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Nope, I just had a haircut.

16. Are you over the age of 25? Yes, just slightly over..ha ha!

17. Do you talk a lot? At times, I do depending on the topic of conversation. But when I am busy, I awfully quiet.

18. Do you watch the O.C.? O.C.? No clue what it means.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? Yes, Yes! and I sleep with him.

20. Do you make up your own words? When singing, I do…sometimes. And then my kids would correct me.

21. Are you a jealous person? No.

22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Annie from college days.

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. K, my kababayan friend that I met through the internet.

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? My daughter.

25. What does the last text message you received say? My text messaging feature is disabled.

26. Do you chew on your straw? Yes, I do sometimes.

27. Do you have curly hair? Wavy but I like it straight and curl at the bottom.

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? We are going on a little trip for photography that my husband and I enjoy doing.

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? I haven’t encountered anyone in a long while that I can recall. I am nice kasi…hehe.

30. What was the last thing you ate? I am currently eating brown rice and hot and spicy sardines with hot bikol express that I cooked quite a while ago. (I didn’t finish filling out the questions last night so I am finishing it today.)

31. Will you get married in the future? Am married already. This set of questions seems appropriate for the young and single.

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? None, not a movie goer. I would rather take a walk or do something else unless someone invites me.

33. Is there anyone you like right now? I’d like to take a peek at what my kids are doing.

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? Last week, and I am about to wash a sink full of dirty dishes right now. My husband seems to be saving those for me.

35. Are you currently depressed? No!

36. Did you cry today? No!

37. Why did you answer and post this? Because Zherwin is kindly returning a favor .

38. I’m tagging K (and I know he will do this in no time), Fe, niceheart (returning a favor hehe), and Rhodora.

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Took this picture just a while ago during our leisurely walk.

I was tagged by niceheart for this interesting meme. I actually followed the instructions explicitly, didn’t I?

• Where is your cellphone? Desk
• Relationship? Fun
• Your hair? Short
• Work? Steady
• Your sister? Estrange (step sister, my one and only)
• Your favorite thing? Photography
• Your dream last night? Ohlala! (secret)
• Your favorite drink? Water
• Your dream car? LandRover
• The room you’re in? Bedroom
• Your shoes? Worn-out
• Your fears? Diseases
• What do you want to be in 10 years? Grandma (hope the kids will not see this)
• Who did you hang out with this weekend? Husband
• What are you not good at? Organizing
• Muffin? Blueberry
• One of your wish list items? Wide-Angle-Lens ( i just found out that it is on the way…yeheyy!, pinagalitan ko si waswit kunwari, bakit hindi ka muna nag consult sa akin bago ka nag order?)
• Where did you grow up? Catanduanes
• Last thing you did? Shower
• What are you wearing? Jammies
• What aren’t you wearing? Socks,etc
• Your pet? Lovebird
• Your computer? Custom-made
• Your life? Busy
• Your mood? Concerned
• Missing? Kids
• What are you thinking about right now? Kids
• Your car? Chevy
• Your kitchen? Dirty (my husband washes them in the morning)
• Your summer? Scorching
• Your favorite color? Blue
• Last time you laughed? Park
• Last time you cried? September
• School? Draining (financially)
• Love? forgiving

Now, who do I tag? Rowena, Elyani, Greymom, Eden, and Dimple.

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About a year and a half ago, we made a trip to Washington to attend the family reunion. On our way over to the reunion, we stopped by at my friend’s house to say hello. I also wanted to drive to where I used to work as I hadn’t seen them for quite a while, about 8 years. I asked my kids if they wanted to come along and they said yes and so were my friend’s kids.  They all wanted to ride with me to my old place of work. On the way over, I talked to the kids inside the car to help me set up a little mischief just for fun.  I would pretend that all four of them were mine, and that they were to call me mommy when I talked to my friends.  They all went along with the plan. Silly kids, too, mana sa mommy.

What was the point of my joke, you might ask. I just wanted to find out how well they remembered me. I worked there for six years– long enough to know me well.

When I went inside, I saw a couple good friends of mine J and W. I introduced my children–four of them.  Neither of them suspected that the two young ones were not mine.  I was hoping that they would see through the joke.  But, they believed me!  The kids put up a good act, too.  Ha ha! Silly me!

What do you think? Could these younger ones be my children? Are there any resemblances/similarities?

I took these pictures with my point and shoot camera before my blogging days.  Not bad, eh?

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“Wilderness is where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, and where man himself is only a visitor who does not remain.”The Wilderness Act 1964

I had another fun long weekend at the Chiricahua National Monument. Reason why I haven’t updated my blog for over a week now. The place we went, is a very beautiful place of spectacular rock formations–dramatic pinnacles, stone columns, balanced rocks, which were formed by a volcanic eruption that took place 10 to 15 million years ago. In 1976, the United Congress designated 9,440 acres of Chiricahua Monument as “Class 1, pristine wilderness.”

The forces that sculpted these rocks are still in progress. Heating, cooling, and freezing and thawing constantly change the rock formation, even as we were watching it. Like a grain of sand washes down in the rain, dissolving minerals and washing away softer portion of the rocks. These tiny changes add up over the years. And eventually, perhaps 10 million years from now, the forces will wear out the mountains and this whole thing will just be nothing but a memory.

This is called “Balanced Rock,” a perfect nature’s work of art. Someday, due to some forces, this rock might fall off.

This was taken right after we got up to catch the sunrise but didn’t quite make it there.

I was actually scared driving below these pinnacles, and towers because they look like they could easily fall off like one of the pinnacles in the picture. I wonder what has kept it from falling down?

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First off: My daughter’s new song titled Poker Face is now playing at My Space. Please tell us what you think. Thanks so much!

My husband and I spent the whole day with Lexi at the university for Parents’ Day. We left the house at 8:20 AM in time for 10:30 AM brunch. Lexi requested to bring Mango, our Lovebird pet, to the dorm and a couple of other stuff. I mentioned to our lovebird that he was coming with us and he chirped in agreement as if he understood what I was talking about. As I was getting ready for our trip, my husband hauled everything to the car except Mango. We totally forgot about the bird. Afraid that he might be left behind, he made a series of squawks, which immediately caught our attention. Whoa, such a smart bird!

We arrived at the university on time. We stayed in the dorm, for a little while, including Mango. Mango was a little uptight, probably due to unfamiliar places or maybe the drive up scared him. But he settled down after a while.

We had brunch at a school cafeteria. At first, we were a bit hesitant to eat because you know how school food is from experience. We were wrong! The food turned out to be pretty good with lots of choices from biscuits and white gravy, scrambled egg and salmon (delicious!), ham, roast beef and horseradish sauce, muffins of different flavor, bread, cakes, fresh fruits, fresh juices, and many more–all for $10. And Lexi paid for the three of us under her meal plan, which we paid for in the beginning of the year. She doesn’t usually use up her meal tickets because on some days, she goes home late from work and cafeteria closes by that time. What a waste! Maybe, I will visit her often and take advantage of her unused meal tickets.

Can you tell how hungry I was from the size of my plate?

The next three pictures were taken after our brunch in front of Lexi’s dorm, trying to burn off some calories. I ate a little too much kasi.

Thereafter, we headed off to the mall to do some shopping. Lexi needed a pair of boots and stocking cap in preparation for winter. It gets cold at her school. We also bought some cute blouses on sale for Lexi to wear at work. She works at a department store on part time basis, usually on weekends.

We swung by at Wal-Mart to buy some snacks, water, fruits, and personal stuff for Lexi before we went back to the dorm. She asked me to hem her work pants, which took me about half an hour while my husband took a quick nap.

Then we headed out again for a sushi dinner. We didn’t leave the area until past 6 PM and didn’t arrive home until 8 PM. All together, it was a lovely day, spending quality time with my daughter.

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Long long long time ago, Toe tagged me for eight random facts about myself. Sorry, it took so long to comply with this meme.

This afternoon, while my husband was talking to his friends over the phone, I was eavesdropping, part of the time. Not that I wanted to but I was seated in front of my computer which is just a few steps from where his domain is so I could hear pretty much everything. I overheard him boasting to his friend that I am pretty easy to get along. He definitely earned pogi points for saying this. Just so you know, I didn’t blackmail or force him to say this. I must say, it felt good hearing this from him and the fun part was he didn’t know I heard it. I thought, now is best time to comply with a long overdue meme from Toe. I was hoping to hear more from the conversation but, I had to leave the room to do some chores before I headed to my Yoga class so now, I have to come up with 7 more.

Wait a moment, I might be able to seek help from my husband.

Me: S, I have to do a meme for 8 random facts about me, could you help me?

S: Ahh, friendly, lively, pleasant, comical, whimsical, in good shape for her age, (bakit may pahabol pang for her age)jovial, and bitchy(followed by a big laugh.)

I hope he meant bitchy in a nice way otherwise, no dinner for him tomorrow.

Here are more facts about yours truly:

When my mother died, I asked my friends and co-workers not to comfort, hug, or give me sympathy because I would cry inconsolably if they did, thus, I would not be able to concentrate on my job. Why I went to work, you might ask. Well, I preferred to keep my mind busy and occupied rather than dwelling on it at home. I would definitely go nuts in the house. So, this is my unique way of dealing with grief, which most of you, if not all, might find weird.

It doesn’t take much to please me. My daughters would ask me, mommy, what do you want for Christmas? And I would retort, “I don’t really want anything; you, being good always, is the greatest gift you can give me.” Of course, I always get something from my darling daughters. But with my husband, it is a different story. I want moolah, lots of moolah…hehehe, just kidding.

After living on the outskirts for about 10 years now, I don’t think I can live in the city again. I like trees, mountains, and rivers. I like small town atmosphere, cooler weather, and fresh and clean air. I know there is downside to living on the outlying area especially shopping for especialty items but we are getting by. We go down to the city once in every three week to shop for oriental food or I shop online.

I detest drinking pop. I am more of a water and tea drinker and I squeeze in carrot and green juice in between.

Last but not least: Tengo un amigo que se llama Paco. El es medico y vive en espana. De vez en cuando, el me deja un mensaje por el yahoo messenger. El es muy marvilloso, amable, y inteligente. Tenemos somos amigos por mucho tiempo. Me ayudaste escribir espanol bien. Ojala que practicamos a menudo pero nuestra diferencia del tiempo lo hace duro para nosotros. Si no oigo de el, yo preocupo. Me haria feliz si el me escribe un comento aqui en mi blog.

Now, I would like to pass this meme on to the following people: K, and prof Gerry (the best prof in Catanduanes State Colleges) nursyE, my long time good friend, and Elyani, my good friend from Indonesia,

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I had a whim yesterday to drive to East Verde River, a place not too far from where live, about 5 miles the most, to capture some pictures. My husband obligingly drove me, bringing along the books he was reading and a chair. While I was taking pictures, he was seated comfortably on a chair facing the river.

You see, the chance of good photography abounds in my neck of the woods because of lots of sun and shade, mountains and valleys, interesting rock formations and colors, striking geological features, birds, flora, and fauna. We have been to several places here but we haven’t had a chance to capture them in pictures.

East Verde River is one place that is worth visiting. People flock here during summer for R&R though, I must admit, I haven’t been to this place despite of it’s close proximity to home. Now, that I have all the freedom, I can start checking out these places and capture its beauty.

Anyway, here are some pictures:

Here is how my husband cares about his planet earth by adding his stream to the river..hehe.

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Apache trail is a road leading from Phoenix to Tonto Basin back in the 1930’s to build the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River. It is a long, narrow, windy road but extremely picturesque.

Three weeks ago, when my husband, daughter, and I went to Phoenix for dining and shopping, we ended up on this road because the main highway going back to our place was closed both ways due to truck roll-over. We already drove 20 miles into the freeway when suddenly, we were stopped by some flaggers prompting us to use an alternate route. The Globe route is twice as long and my daughter was leaving that day to her school, which is a good 2-hour drive from home. I was hoping we would get home at 4 PM, so she could leave at 5 PM giving her plenty of time to gather her personal stuff. If we had chosen the Globe route, it would take us home at 7 PM, too late for Lexi to drive to her dorm. Besides, it is extremely treacherous driving at night because of the chances of hitting elks on the road. Once headlights hit the elks, they get rattled and freeze on the freeway, thus, accident happens.

Anyway, the first thing that came to my husband’s mind was to take the Apache route, which he thought would take us home quicker than Globe route. Bad decision, of course! After we had driven 1/3 into the route, another flagger stopped us and asked us to go back and take the Globe route. The reason was that the motorhomes and trailers (who had the same idea we had) jammed up the narrow part of the road, and it may take forever to get through. He gave us an option to wait or take a sure long route. My husband was so agitated. They could have put signs at the entrance of the roads to direct the motorists to take alternate route instead of letting us drive a considerable distance only to be turned around. So much gas and time had been wasted. And Lexi still had to drive long distance.

I was getting worried, and Lexi was feeling carsick. I switched seats with her so she sit in the front and I sit in the back. I didn’t want her to get sicker considering that she had a long drive ahead of her. We didn’t get home until 7 PM. I was suggesting to Lexi to leave early in the morning of Monday but she insisted that she drive that same night. She didn’t make it on the road until 7:30 PM. She called me on the cell two hours later that she arrived safely. She said that the headlights from opposite cars bothered her considerably, reason why we were so opposed letting her drive at night.

Despite the commotion on the road, we couldn’t help noticing the beautiful scenery. Tough luck, I didn’t bring my camera. My husband and I thought that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take this route again to take some pictures and to take some time to savor the magnificent view some other time. So, we did just that last weekend. The 49 miles twisty, narrow gravel road took us 3 hours to navigate, including frequent stops for photography. Imagine that! I thought the road would never end. It will take a long while before we hit this road again, if ever.

Here are some pictures that I took. There were few turn outs so most of the time, we stopped in the middle of the road, with my husband in the driver’s seat while I took the pictures in haste.

Ignore the electrical wires. I couldn’t avoid it. My husband promised to edit it using the adobe photo shop.

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