Bats Again!

Emerson and Colby enjoyed watching the bats so much on Monday evening, that they asked to go see them again, this time from the river bottom.  We had burgers at Zinburger, then crossed the Rillito to park, and walked down a ramp into the river.  We walked under the bridge to our waiting place, and waited about 15 minutes for the bats to emerge.  Its an exciting thing to watch and the sky was absolutely beautiful!

Blooming Pincushions

After getting 1.75" rain about 10 days ago, we have blooming pincushion cactus all over our yard.  Each cactus has several blooms.  Gorgeous!

Camp, Plants, and Bats

Emerson and Colby went to Catalina Foothills High School Summer Camp today, from 9-2.  They had a snack when they got home and a few minutes quiet time.  They chose fabrics for a cloth bag and I made Emerson's first, with Colby helping with the sewing machine.  He pressed the pedal and did a terrific job!  We grilled chicken for dinner and ate on the patio.  After dinner, Colby dug some dirt and he and Emerson planted close to 100 baby octopus agave in metal tins.  Just after 7, we drove down to the Campbell Avenue bridge to watch the bats fly out after sunset.  Wow!  Several thousand bats flew from under the bridge over about 20 minutes.  It was quite a sight!

 Always a book before bed, at Lulu and Papa's house.

Emerson and Colby Visit

Claire's family is in the throes of moving to Phoenix, so Papa and I offered to have Emerson and Colby spend this week with us.  We met at the Marana Mall yesterday morning and did some shopping and had lunch.  We headed home with Emerson and Colby by 1.  They spent the afternoon playing with magnatiles, Emerson decorated a poster, and they played outside with remote control trucks.  We also watched a dove sitting on her nest from the front porch and Colby helped Papa refill the bird feeder in the back.  After a pizza dinner at Humble Pie and bathtime, Emerson read Riki Tiki Tavi to us.  That was a big deal to her, because that has been their favorite book for Papa to read to them.  Loved it!

 

Tour of Arizona State Museum

About two months ago, we requested a private tour of the Arizona State Museum, housed on the UA campus in the original library.  We went for our tour this morning at 10, with five others joining us.  We toured the pottery collection, the pottery restoration lab, and the basket collection. 

There are over 24,000 vessels in the pottery collection, representing 2000 years of pottery making in the Southwest, with the Native cultures in the Southwest represented, including Arizona, New Mexico, and northern Mexico.  The pottery collection is the world's largest whole-vessel collection of Southwest Indian pottery.  The pottery and basket collections are stored in state of the art climate controlled vaults.  Arizona State Museum is the largest state run archaeological repository in the nation.  It was the first anthropology museum in the Southwest, established in 1893 by the Arizona Territorial Legislature, 19 years before Arizona became a state.  It is quite impressive!

 

Birthday Bouquet

Yesterday was my 61st birthday.  As I get older, I am ever more grateful for each birthday.  I received this beautiful "cake bouquet" from Lynne.  Thank you, Lynne!

Happy Father's Day!

What an incredible lifetime of memories!  I love you, Papa!