Simply Belle

4 Comments »

It has been raining and snowing here lately so the desert is getting all the moisture to green up and bloom out the wildflowers. I haven’t seen it that lush green for a while. The soil is soft and moist. The four of us, E, R, my husband and I went for a hike hoping to stumble across one of the Indian ruins. We wandered around the desert for some time, cutting through barbwire fences often. We probably covered 3 miles but over some tough terrains. It was just what I needed as I haven’t been working out lately. Finally, after going around in circles for several times, we spotted the ruins.

The Jumping Cholla cactus

The reason why it is called Jumping Cholla is because the minute you brush by it, the pin cushions jump out and the quills jab you. My friend R was once a victim of this when he took a nasty tumble on the cholla while on a hunting trip. He took off his pants and religiously removed each pin off his body. Imagine being half naked in the middle of the desert? It is a good thing that he always carry a needle nose plier with him when he goes on a hunting escapade.

These are the indian ruins- dwellings from many many years ago, that we were looking for, while on a hike.

9 Comments »

Last time we traveled to Phoenix, we saw 4 hawks on separate occasions perching on a Saguaro cactus. Such beautiful sights to behold! There must be something that they were hunting for this time of year. But, we didn’t come prepared as we left the camera at home. So on the way over to Phoenix next time to pick up Stephanie’s CDs, we made sure we brought along the camera with us to capture this beautiful elusive creature.

Sure enough, we saw a couple and one of them was located close enough to get decent pictures using the zoom lens. I started taking pictures from the side of the freeway, but it wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted a close up one. I inched my way up the hill so as not to alarm him because hawks are very alert of their surroundings. He remained unperturbed while I was taking pictures. So, I approached further toward him by hiding behind a tree. I knew that when he saw me up close, he would fly away, and that was my purpose so I could take a picture of him in flight but the slope of the bank was too steep for me. I missed the take off, once again! Besides, I wasn’t familiar with my camera enough to get a quick focus. Darn it!

19 Comments »

As usual, am late for PMN family pics

I was hoping I would make it to the deadline this time but we were in Sedona the whole day yesterday and didn’t get back home until late. The theme this month is plated (on a plate).

Nothing can beat home-made pie. It simply delicious especially with french vanilla ice cream topping or plain cheese. My whole family loves apple pie. But, I only bake it on special occasion like on Thanksgiving or Christmas because it is too rich and it is too easy to eat the whole pie.

Apple pie brings back memories of my mother-in-law(bless her soul). She made the best apple pie, and I am not kidding. She tried teaching me how to make it, but for some reason, mine wasn’t near as good as hers no matter how much I practiced.

I also have a friend, named E, who is an excellent baker. I learned from her how to make the best apple pie crust. She never uses her bare hands to mix the dough and that is her secret. The crust is nice and flaky!

This Thanksgiving, I am pretty sure she will be baking apple, pumpkin, and pecan pie. And you know what it means– pig out time again!

13 Comments »

One interesting tour we took most recently when my in-laws were here, was at Rock Art Ranch. I already showed some breathtaking pictures of the Rock Canyon River in my previous post.

As we walked through the canyon, we saw petroglyphs up and down the river. A petroglyph is an image carved or etched into rock by the ancient people known as the Anasazi. Petroglyph is among the earliest form of art or early system of writing, which dates back as far as 9,500 years ago. That is quite a while ago, before Christ even! Amazing!

Petroglyph comes from the Greek word petros meaning stone and glyphein meaning to carve.

Nobody knows for sure what these symbols meant. Look closely, what do you think the pictures depict or symbolize? Your guess is a good as anybody else’s.

7 Comments »

My husband and I went to Phoenix today to do some important errands and to return my daughter’s prom dress to the mall. (See update on prom dress on the post below titled, “It is Prom Night.” On the way over, I noticed that the desert was starting to show some colors. I came prepared for the photo shoot. I asked my husband to pull over on the side of the freeway so I could take pictures of the Sonoran desert. Sonoran desert, by the way, was barricaded with barbed wire to protect the cattle from reaching the highway. Soon, we saw ourselves crawling under the barbed wire. Here are some pictures that my husband and I took.

Note: All cacti have thorns, even the thornless prickly pear has invisible thorns, which are hard to see by the naked eye. Once it gets into your skin, it can be uncomfortable and it is awful hard to remove. My husband went on a quail hunting one day and inadvertently got close to Cholla cactus. He couldn’t remove the thorns and he was hurting so he ended up throwing away the good camouflage hunting pants. So, stay away from those as much as possible.

Buckhorn Cactus

Ocotillo cactus

Prickly Pear Cactus

Baby Barrel Cactus

Cholla Cactus

Dead Saguaro

Hedgehog Cactus

Barrel Cactus

Saguaro Cactus

16 Comments »