"green" boxes

I am so pleased with these boxes that I covered in Japanese papers..

The colors are beautiful and the papers feel so good.

I cannot resist a good dragonfly 

and I adore purple and green together.

Here is the result, inside and out, of the dragonfly box I created for Curiosa, 

one of my very favorite shops in Santa Fe...

hmmmm, this one almost looks like there is a bunny 

hiding behind the box... tee hee...

Outside and in of another "green and purple" box...

Soooo much fun putting all the little details together

 - patterns, colors 

This little fluttering creature lit on the daffodils

...sooo ready for springtime around here!

I LOVE Spring!!!

Ranunculas ....... I absolutely love them...... I buy them as often as I see them.

This time of year, they are available a bunch, so they are everywhere in the house!

Pretty cool that these eggs for my little friends (and family) look so nice with the flowers....

I put "Easter" out over the weekend and these are eggs from a couple of years ago. I try to do different ones each year, but they tend to have the same "flavor" no matter....

I'll post some of the other Easter favorites later on....

a few good things

When we got home from the Canyon, there was yet another envelope from England....this time from ms arkell. I had sent her some pantaloons I found and she wrote such a nice "thank you" - complete with a painting she did, inspired by a really nice book about birds she acquired.

Lucky me! Such a great letter.... I need to continue to follow that path, too, and not get sucked in by the immediate gratification of email. I do love getting letters and notes from the heart that someone has taken the time to sit and write.... thanks dear Julie!

Here are a couple of the larger eggs that I painted, each sitting in one of my beautiful little baskets. They sure do make me smile - a LOT!

Last, but not least - the "wellies" that I forgot to share last week - Liberty of London from Target!  They are sooo comfy and did very well in the snowstorm that we had over the weekend.

I feel incredibly lucky to have scored them that Sunday morning on the way home from the airport! I think they will be worn quite a bit through the spring around here.....

The HIKE Out

Howard decided to hike out with his kayak.

We thought he was crazy.

He was certainly the "Main Attraction" on the trail for all the people hiking down.

The only problem was when the wind picked up and he almost flew off the edge (!)

I was a mess! Didn't want to witness that....

He did finally allow us to help him carry it horizontally when there was wind......whew!

Grayson was a trooper!

He was supposed to stay on the river for the whole trip, but the conditions were not ideal.

Of course, after doing the hike out, he figured that it was a "toss-up"

It was one of the most challenging days of my life - one foot in front of the other.

Sue was snapping photos along the trail.... 

Laurie and I caught up on the icy parts. Thank Goodness she brought "micro spikes" for everyone! Check out the zig-zag trails behind and above us. Sue is up there somewhere.

She became a mountain goat at one point......

Nora carried Grayson's kayak paddle through the snow. 

Check out the "back drop" - so much SNOW!

The last couple of miles of the trail was snowy and icy...and gorgeous!

It was the adventure of a lifetime.

I am sooo glad that I did it - WE did it! 

I feel strong and confident and that anything is possible!!!

EGGS

Last night I stayed up painting tiny, little wooden eggs.

I could not resist taking a picture when I looked at the bowl filled up with these colorful beauties.

I love this time of year.... xo

River Rats

Darrell, Cullen, Bruce, Artie, Robert and Jess..... cheers!

These are the guys who rowed us through the Grand Canyon!

They are still down there - on the river.

7 of us walked out last Wednesday, amidst sunshine, wind, snow and ice.

These guys, these passionate River Rats, are still down there flipping rafts and rowing their brains out - "Messing About in Boats" (Wind in the Willows)

This is a view of the boats. 

Everyday we packed up all our stuff and the guys loaded up the boats. 

hmmmm, kind of a "rowing circus".... colorful, hunh?

This is a view of Red Wall Cavern, an incredible place famous for the frisbee games!

Can you see the tiny little people just under the shadow?

 (click on the picture to enlarge)

This place is immense...

As an end note to this post..

....thought you might enjoy a little "splash" in House Rock Rapid (RM. 17.1)

This makes it look a bit larger than it was, but it's a great picture, isn't it?

More to come....

TARGET rocks!!!!

I dropped Nora off at the airport this morning around 9:30. We were both a bit worried about the time change to Daylight Savings, so got up quite early. 

We said goodbye and she went inside - I drove away.

I had hoped to get to Anthropologie (xo) but it was too early, so I stopped in Target on the north end of town - wow!

Little did I know that Liberty of London did an amazing line of EVERYTHING for Target and it came out THIS MORNING! I walked in around 10 til 10 and was blown away!

I must've spent 2 hours in the dressing room trying everything on!

Here is what I came home with:

DRESSES! I looked on the adult racks, but was not too thrilled with what I found. 

So, I went over to the kids department and found the "mother lode"  .....OMG!

Check out these vintage Liberty patterns on simple sundresses (XL) ....xoxoxo

I never buy fancy undergarments, but who could resist these beauties? And the bra fits like a dream.... sigh ........ 

I am in love and sooooo happy!

I had to get these ties for Cullen for his birthday - silk! For $17.99. I do hope that he will like them. There were button-down shirts and boxer shorts, too (!) .... swoon .......

Okay, so they aren't Liberty, but these red polkadot glasses were on sale and they are a great size tumbler. Becky, I'll think of you when I have my milk in them....

There are purses, bags, bed linens, notecards, baby clothes - anything and everything...

What a treat, indeed......

Our "Grand" Adventure

Sue and I just got back from the Grand Canyon Adventure of a lifetime!

I do not even know how to begin to talk about it.....

It was the most brutal, incredible, fantastic, COLD (!) exciting, challenging trip of a lifetime.

Amazing people and scenery that you cannot photograph!

Really, the pictures do not do it justice at all.

Still, here are just a few to start with....

..... more to follow in the coming days.

On our 4th morning, we were blessed with beautiful sunny weather and decided to break camp early to get down the river a bit so we would not have as long a run the next day, with inclimate weather threatening our journey. It turned out to be a good thing, because the next day was very difficult. We were off the river a lot colder and wetter than we had hoped, but we warmed up and ate and slept well that night, except for hearing "Hance Rapid" roaring all night long.

Sue learned to row the raft with a little guidance from our new friend, Artie. She astounded him with her amazing upper body strength and ability to power through the water! What a gal!

I did my best to add my talents to the meals each day. Here I am fixing some potatoes and onions to have with dinner. The compliments were abundant....... (ha!)

This photo does a "satisfactory" job capturing a bit of the majesty of this river canyon.

I'll try to post some more that I think may give you an idea what the week was like..... though it is one of those "You Just Had To Be There" trips, I think...

xo