Microsoft Remembering Linda Lou In Arizona Stroganoffing South Mountain

Today's Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day are a rare instance where my memory indicates the memory could have happened on this October day of a year gone by.

The year would be 2018.

Seven years ago.

During the time frame of the years 2017 through 2019 I found myself flying and driving to Arizona multiple times.

One of those times was in October of 2018, staying a month in an Airbnb in Sun Lakes, Arizona.

Whilst I was in Arizona, that October, Miss Linda Lou, from Washington, flew down to stay with us in the Airnb for a few days.

During that time frame I had me a mighty fine time driving Linda Lou, Big Ed and my mom to a lot of fun Arizona locations, including South Mountain.

Which is where we were heading when I took the above photo of Linda Lou pointing at a cactus forest, with South Mountain in the background.

As early as way back in our grade school days, Linda Lou and I enjoyed having fun in a kitchen making something.

During Linda Lou's Arizona stay she and I had fun in my mom's kitchen, making Beef Stroganoff. It felt quite deja vu. The only controversy I recollect was some small dispute regarding how to handle fresh mushrooms.

It is seeming hard to believe that mushroom controversy was seven years ago. So much has happened since then. Some good, most not so good. 

Miss Carol Takes Me To Skagit County Fair & Linda Lou's Blue Ribbons

The photo documentation you are seeing showed up this Friday morning of the 8th day of the 2025 version of August, from Burlington, Washington's Miss Carol BD.

The text with the photo said, "Look what our classmate entered at the Fair!".

I had to zoom in to the photo to figure out to which classmate Miss Carol was referring.

Linda Lou was the answer.

The fair we are talking about is the Skagit County Fair, which takes place at the fairgrounds in the Skagit Valley town, Mount Vernon, in which I lived prior to moving to Texas.

Via zooming in on the photo I was able to learn that Linda Lou won herself two blue ribbons. One for her renowned Iced Oatmeal Bars. The other for her equally renowned Blackberry Hand Pies.

It has been a few years since I enjoyed participating in Linda Lou's kitchen skills. That would have been back in October of 2018, at my mom's, in Sun Lake, Arizona, when Linda Lou and I cooperated in making Beef Stroganoff.

It has been a few decades since I have been to the Skagit County Fair.

Miss Carol BD included additional text in which she explained how she came to find Linda Lou's Iced Oatmeal Bars and Blackberry Hand Pies.

"I was at the Skagit County Fair part of the day as two of my grandsons have 4-H pigs and one steer so Grandma needed to be there watching them. I also went and looked at the quilts, flowers and photo entries and saw Linda's entry."

Items like this tend to make me a bit homesick....

Linda Lou Takes Me To Spencer Jack's Scholarship Award

Incoming text message this morning whilst I was driving.

When I got to my destination and pulled the phone from its pocket location I soon saw it was a message from Linda Lou, currently residing in Mount Vernon, in the Skagit Valley of Washington.

Linda Lou and I both originally came from another Skagit Valley town, a couple miles north of Mount Vernon, called Burlington.

The text in Linda Lou's message said she had had the opportunity to be on a committee choosing scholarship recipients.

And, that yesterday was Mount Vernon High School's Scholarship Awards night.

Followed by saying, "This is who I saw, had to take a photo and send it off to a proud uncle."

The who who Linda Lou saw (in the above photo) was my Nephew Jason's first born, Spencer Jack.

I can never remember if Spencer Jack is my Great or Grand Nephew. Or if I am Spencer Jack's Great or Grand Uncle.

What I do know is recently Spencer Jack's dad told me that in the Fall Spencer Jack will be attending Flight School at Central Washington State University. I assume this is what the scholarship is for.

I have not seen Spencer Jack since August 13, 2017. If I remember right, and seldom I do, at that point in time Spencer Jack was 10 years old. Maybe 11. Which would seem to make Spencer Jack around 18 years old now. 

I met Spencer Jack for the first time in August of 2008, at Bay View State Park, in Washington. I next saw Spencer Jack in, I think, March of 2012, at his Aunt Jackie's in Chandler, Arizona. It took me some looking to find a photo from that day...

We did not get in Aunt Jackie's pool that March Day back in 2012. A March Day, five years later, I did get some nephew and niece pool time. But, not with Spencer Jack, but with Nephews David and Theo, and my one and only Neice Ruby.

Kids sure do seem to grow up fast nowadays...

UPDATE: I forgot to add the link to the blog post where I found the photo of Spencer Jack. That blog post had multiple photos. And marked the final time Spencer Jack was with his Great Grandparents, also known as my Parental Units. 

Friday BBQ In Arizona With Spencer Jack, Super Hot Potato Chips & Refrigerator Slide Shows

The Anonymous comment on this blog post is amusing. I had to read the whole post to understand where the comment was coming from...

Saturday's Wichita Bluff Nature Area Linda Lou Poignantly Texted On A Bench

 It was to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area I ventured on this final Saturday of the first month of 2025, to commune with nature whilst enjoying some peaceful solitude. 

As I was walking my phone made its incoming text message sound. I sat on the bench you see photo documented, located on a side spur off the main Wichita Bluff Nature Area section of the Circle Trail which circles Wichita Falls.

The text message was from one of my favorite Washingtonians, Miss Linda Lou. The text asked if I had seen this, which is what you see copied below. I texted back that I had not seen this, and that upon reading it, that it mirrored my foul mood....

"In my life, I have watched John Kennedy talk on television about missiles in Cuba. I saw Lyndon Johnson look Richard Russell squarely in the eye and say, "And we shall overcome." I saw Richard Nixon resign and Gerald Ford tell the Congress that our long national nightmare was over. I saw Jimmy Carter talk about malaise and Ronald Reagan talk about a shining city on a hill. I saw George H.W. Bush deliver the eulogy for the Soviet bloc, and Bill Clinton comfort the survivors of Timothy McVeigh's madness in Oklahoma City. I saw George W. Bush struggle to make sense of it all on September 11, 2001, and I saw Barack Obama sing 'Amazing Grace' in the wounded sanctuary of Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

"These were the presidents of my lifetime. These were not perfect men. They were not perfect presidents, God knows. Not one of them was that. But they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate to the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.

"And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House.

"The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides. We never have had such a cheap counterfeit of a president* as currently occupies the office. We never have had a president* so completely deserving of scorn and yet so small in the office that it almost seems a waste of time and energy to summon up the requisite contempt.

"Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so. Presidents don't have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too.

Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn't he a funny man? Isn't what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now."

- Charles Pierce 

With Linda Lou Going Back To Arizona & South Mountain

What a coincidence. This Thursday morning the Skagit Valley's Linda Lou called me for our semi-weekly discussion about the current sad state of affairs in this world we live in.

Whilst talking to Linda Lou I saw an incoming email from Microsoft. 

The daily OneDrive Memories from this Day.

Today's Memories have several photos of Linda Lou. Photos taken way back in October of 2018, in Arizona. Today's Thursday is a day in July, not October. Microsoft's Memory is faulty.

In the above photo Linda Lou is befriending a little dog on the summit of South Mountain, in Phoenix.

Before petting the puppy Linda Lou bought some jewelry type trinkets from Native Americans who had their wares laid out for perusal on blankets.

Above Linda Lou is staring at me at the dining room table of the Airbnb we were staying in, in Sun Lakes, a Phoenix suburb, where my mom's house was located.

Apparently, I was sitting in front of my laptop, a now dead Dell product, with a touch screen which I liked, whilst taking photos. There were seven photos of this scene in today's Memories. I do not know why I took multiple photos of this one scene.

I have known Linda Lou since we were little kids, starting in first grade, through high school, and the first two years of college.

There is a reunion next month of my high school class. It is highly unlikely that I will be in attendance...

Lovely Linda Lou Takes Us To Daffodils & Mount Rainier

 A couple days ago I posted a blog post titled Seeing Real Islands From Summit Of Washington's Mount Erie in which I made mention of the fact that a time or two I had been surprised to see Mount Rainier, to the south, from the Skagit Flats.

And then yesterday, the Skagit Valley's lovely Linda Lou, text messaged me the photo you see above.

The Skagit Flats ablaze with the yellow of thousands of daffodils, with the Mount Rainier volcano hovering in the distance.

I surely do miss living in a zone of multiple scenic wonders...

Happy 42nd Birthday To Linda Lou From The Blue Lagoon Of Sikes Lake

Yesterday, due to rain, my endorphin inducing aerobic walking location was Walmart.

Today, on this third Saturday of the last month of 2023, it was to Sikes Lake I ventured for a fast walk around the lake.

As you can see via the view of the Blue Lagoon of Sikes Lake, the rain clouds have gone, replaced by a clear blue sky.

The retreated clouds left cold air in their wake, hence a slightly chilly outdoor experience today.

Today marks the 42nd birthday of Linda Lou.

Linda Lou and I have been friends since first grade. 

It is a well known fact that I calculate a person's age by adding their chronological age to how old they look to how old they act, and divide by three.

I have not seen Linda Lou in person since October of 2018, when she flew south to Arizona to spend a few days with me in an Airbnb in Sun Lakes. We had ourselves a mighty fine time...

Microsoft OneDrive Civil War Battle Memory With Linda Lou

It has been a few days since I remembered the Microsoft OneDrive Memories of a particular day. But, today, I remember all the memories.

At the upper left we are looking at a Civil War battle re-enactment at a battlefield a few miles west of Granbury, Texas.

I've been to two Civil War battle re-enactment. They were impressive productions.

At the upper right, that would be Linda Lou you see, on our way to the top of South Mountain, in Phoenix, Arizona, back in October of 2018. Below that first Linda Lou photo is another, with Linda Lou now at the top of South Mountain, talking to a little dog.

The photo on the lower left is also at the top of South Mountain, where several Native Americans of, I think, the Apache Tribe, were selling products they'd handcrafted. If I remember correctly, Linda Lou bought a jewelry item of the earring or bracelet sort.

On the lower right that would be the Baker Hotel you are looking at, in Mineral Wells, Texas.

Hard to believe it was five years ago that I had fun driving Linda Lou to various Arizona locations. The drive to Tortilla Flats was another memorable moment. Seems like only yesterday...

Madame McNutty, Linda Lou & Brother Jake With Skagit Tulips

What you see here was posted on Facebook, yesterday, by the entity known as Madame McNutty. A tulip field scene from our old home zone of the Skagit Valley, with the Mount Baker volcano hovering above.

This Facebook post led to a dialogue between my little brother, Jake, who recently moved back to the Skagit Valley from Arizona, Linda Lou, and the aforementioned Madame McNutty.

In that dialogue we learn who lives in that house you see on the right, above the tulips...

Jake Jones--That's where I'm living now.

Madame McNutty--I’m green with envy!!!

Linda Lou--hi Jake!

Jake Jones--Hello Linda Lou!

Linda Lou--I have been out to see the fields during weekdays. (less traffic) I will see if I spot your house when I journey that way again.

Jake Jones--And when I say, "that's where I'm living now." I'm now living in the house in the photo.

___________________

The last time I was in the Skagit Valley in April was way back in the year 2006. I did not see any tulips at that point in time, due to the fact I did not make it out to the Skagit Flats, where the tulips bloom...

99 Degrees With Unexpected Surprise From Amazon

 Yesterday I mentioned going to the library with several books recommended by Linda Lou on my list of what books I hoped to check out.

I blogged about this in Linda Lou Library Recommendations Before Lucy Park Jungle Trek. 

Of the three authors I could find only one, Rachel Joyce, but not the book of Rachel Joyce which Linda Lou had recommended. So, I checked out a Rachel Joyce novel titled Perfect.

Around four this afternoon of April 13 I set out to go to Walmart to get onions, jicama and mixed greens. When I got in my vehicle and looked at the temperature reading in the rear view mirror, I was surprised. I knew it was hot, but not 99 degrees HOT.

Methinks we are in for a scorcher of a summer.

It is a tad difficult to make out the 99 degrees on the right side of the rear view mirror.

When I returned from Walmart I went to check the mailbox. I found a package from Amazon. I ordered something from Amazon last Friday. It arrived a day later. Fastest Amazon delivery yet.

So, I had no idea what I was going to find in this package from Amazon, til I opened it to see it was the Rachel Joyce book title Linda Lou had recommended, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Had Linda Lou read yesterday's blogging about my futile book search and proceeded to have a copy sent to me by Amazon, with it again being delivered the next day?

I don't know. I suspect I will soon find out the answer though...

Skagit Valley's Linda Lou Sees Mount Baker In Hiding

The above photo, from the Skagit Valley's, Linda Lou, arrived on my phone this morning, along with text saying, "Mount Baker trying to peek through the clouds."

It took me awhile to find where it was hiding on my computer, but eventually I located a photo of the same view, which I took way back in April of 2006 when I was heading to my Favorite Nephew Jason's first wedding.

In this version Mount Baker is not hiding.

Seems odd now, how totally normal it seemed to live so close to a semi-active volcano.

That dip at the top of the volcano is the crater.

When you hike up Mount Baker eventually you get close enough to the crater to smell the sulphur odor the crater emits.

At times Mount Baker spews out a lot of steam along with that sulphureous odor. At a volume of sufficient size that it can be seen from the location you see above, driving north on I-5, or any other location with a view of the mountain.

In my current frame of mind it is looking unlikely that I will be seeing the above scenery this coming summer...

Happy Birthday Linda Lou

That is Linda Lou on the left. That is me on the right.

I do not know how old Linda Lou and I are in the above photos, but I suspect the ages to be somewhere between three and four.

Other than relatives, I have known Linda Lou longer than just about anyone else on the planet.

Today, December 16, is Linda Lou's birthday.

According to my age calculation formula, which consists of chronological age, plus how old you look, plus how old you act, divided by three, we learn, from these complex computations, that Linda Lou is turning 59 years young today.

I have not seen Linda Lou in person since October of 2018, when she flew south to Arizona to spend a few days being driven on treacherous Arizona mountain roads and co-cooking, with me, things like Beef Stroganoff.

I may see Linda Lou, again, this coming summer...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA LOU!

Remembering The Civil War & When Linda Lou Pointed The Way Up South Mountain In Phoenix

 Today is one of the rare times that I remember the memories Google emails me, every day.

The upper left is a Civil War battle reenactment I watched at a battlefield west of Weatherford, or maybe it was the battle I watched southwest of Granbury. What I know for sure is I watched a Civil War battle reenactment on two occasions, one near Weatherford, one near Granbury.

It has been a long time since I have heard of any Civil War battle reenactments. They are a HUGE production. Maybe the people participating tired of doing so.

The memory on the lower right is the Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. I wonder how the restoration of this giant old hotel is going.

The other three memories are of South Mountain in Phoenix.

At the lower left that is Linda Lou pointing the way to the summit of South Mountain.

The two remaining memories are from the summit of South Mountain.

The last time I spoke to Linda Lou she brought up that memory of being on top of South Mountain, and how we witnessed some trinket selling Native Americans being hassled by incoming park rangers. We found this extremely offputting, at the time, and still do.

I wonder what Google will remember for me tomorrow?

With Linda Lou Visiting Mount Vernon Farmer's Market & Hank Frank

Late yesterday afternoon, Mount Vernon's Linda Lou went walking with me in Walmart.

During the course of our walk talk Linda Lou told me about a Mount Vernon Farmer's Market she had been to that day. 

Linda Lou described to me the location of this Mount Vernon Farmer's Market, at the west end of Blackburn Road. So, this morning I used Google Earth to visit Mount Vernon.

I believe that is the Mount Vernon Farmer's Market Linda Lou told me about, above. Linda Lou described a big variety of Farmer's products at the Farmer's Market. Three types of cucumbers, the greenest parsley she'd ever seen, bright ruby red radishes. And more, much much more. 

Including a walk-in cooler with various Farmer's meat products.

And shopping at this Farmer's Market used the honor system. As in, no checkout with a clerk. You pick the products you want to buy, estimate the total, and then insert the right amount of cash into a secured container.

I would have trouble shopping at this Farmer's Market, due to needing cash. All my transactions are made using a debit card. I suppose if I were in Mount Vernon I could get myself some cash to get myself some fresh products from this Mount Vernon Farmer's Market.

This type food shopping is something I miss at my current location, where no such similar thing exists.

Mount Vernon also has another produce selling location that I wish existed here. That being the Skagit Valley Co-Op.

The Co-Op is located in downtown Mount Vernon, in the old Penney's building. I could find just about any food product I wanted to find, at the Skagit Valley Co-Op. Including things like candied ginger. I've never been able to find candied ginger in Texas.

The Skagit Valley Co-Op also sold products other than food. Things like clothes and homemade soap. And there is a restaurant. I remember going to Friday night spaghetti and garlic bread at the Co-Op's restaurant.

And now I suspect a product has been added to the Skagit Valley Co-Op product line up which I definitely can not find in any Texas store.

As in various cannabis-based products. The Skagit Valley Co-Op likely now has entire section devoted to pot products. I must remember to ask when next I talk to a Skagit Valley local.

Since I was in Mount Vernon, via Google Earth, I decided to make a quick visit to Hank Frank's place on Beaver Marsh Road.

I am just about 100% I found Hank Frank's house. This is where Google Earth took me when I entered my Favorite Nephew Joey's address.

Someday, hopefully sooner than later, I will find myself visiting Hank Frank in person...

UPDATE:  Via Linda Lou we have now learned the correct name for the aforementioned Mount Vernon Farmer's Market is Waxwing Farm. And that Waxwing Farm has a website where you see how their organic farming operation works, along with a KING5 news video story about the farm.

Hot Lucy Park Walk With Linda Lou Protesting Supreme Court Supremely

Yesterday I did not feel like getting too HOT via any sort of outdoor aerobic endorphin inducing activity.

But, on this final Saturday of the 2022 version of June, even though the temperature was in the mid 90s, I opted to drive to Lucy Park for a shady walk under the cover of trees.

I thought I was going to be walking solo, but Linda Lou surprised me by showing up to walk with me.

Of course, what Linda Lou wanted to talk about is what most people, well, Americans, are talking about.

Yesterday, due to that subject everyone is talking about, thousands of protesters descended on downtown Seattle, and other downtowns, across America.

The above is a screen cap from this morning's online Seattle Times front page. How are that many people able to assemble in such a large number, so quickly? Getting into downtown Seattle is not all that easy, or so it would seem, for thousands to flood into downtown.

This happened in enlightened towns across America, including Austin, in Texas.

I have seen zero sign of protest in Wichita Falls. It is not like such a thing never happens here. The day Trump was inaugurated there was a large protest march here in Wichita Falls, of people protesting, carrying signs, rightfully worried about the incoming feared disaster. Turns out, those fears were valid, with the reality so much worse than anyone imagined it could be.

I did not overheat during my shady walk with Linda Lou.

The high today is predicted to hit 105.

With a cold front blowing in, starting tomorrow, with tomorrow's high to only be in the 90s, with highs in the 80s later in the week.

It may get so chilly I will need to switch my climate control to heat mode...

Shady Saturday Walking With Linda Lou In Lucy Park

With the outer world back being HOT, and windy, and humid, it was back to shady Lucy Park I went on this final Saturday of the 2022 version of May.

Mount Vernon's Linda Lou went walking with me today.

At one point I was so engrossed in the talking and walking that I did not realize it was me being yelled at to get out of the way of a disc golf goal net. That was a little embarrassing. I am just not used to being referred to as "sir". So, when I heard yelling saying "Sir, would you please move away from the goal," I did not realize I was the "sir".

You would not know it via my shady photo documentation, but Lucy Park was busy today. The Lucy Park swimming pool is now open, which accounted for some of the vehicles. And a lot of disc golfers were disc golfing. And a lot of picnickers were picnicking.

There is still a "TRAIL CLOSED" sign, but the bridge across the Circle Trail chasm has been added, awaiting side rails. The reddish orange you see near the center of the photo is the Wichita River. Still running slightly high from the deluge earlier in the week.

It was nice having a couple day break from needing air conditioning. We are back being warmed to slightly under 100...

Long Hot Saturday Lucy Park Walk & Talk With Linda Lou

What you see here is me with a rare happy face. When I took this picture I had just finished a long walk talk with Linda Lou.

Talking with Linda Lou is what I imagine a visit to a therapist of the psychiatrist sort must be like. Only with Linda Lou the therapy session is vertical, not horizontal on a couch.

I have known Linda Lou all but about five years of my existence on the planet.

Behind me in that picture is the Lucy Park pool. Currently closed, and without water. The temperature being 85 at the time I was near the pool, it would have been a perfect take a cooling dip degree.

Among the things Linda Lou and I talked about today was how one deals with getting to know someone, and then coming to a point in getting to know a person when the person reveals something about something which renders them instantly to seem woefully ignorant, and with me unable to think of anything to say which could possibly wise up the person.

In both my experience, and Linda Lou's, when you try to reason with such a person, asking something relatively simple, like, why do you think that? The answer only compounds the ignorance, digging a deeper hole, harder and harder to climb out of.

Or the person may say they are entitled to their opinion. Or we have free speech in this country. Again leaving me vexed, thinking where do I start with this? Is it worth it to even try? Do I really want to explain that while you are entitled to your own opinion, you are not entitled to make up your own facts.

Facts are facts. You can't say something like "I don't like Joe Biden because he isn't a real American. He was born in Kenya." These type things are just impossible to try and be reasonable about. Leaving the only sane response being to say something like that is a ridiculous thing to think, let alone say out loud.

And that free speech argument is so annoying. How one goes through 12 years of school and graduates not knowing that freedom of speech, as mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, has nothing to do with any fool can say any fool thing he wants to say. Freedom of Speech has to do with the government being prohibited from restricting citizen's freedom to say what they want about any subject they want to say something about.

Freedom of Speech does not mean you are free to scream fire in a crowded theater. Or slander the President of the United States by saying he is senile. 

Talking to Linda Lou today I came to the conclusion that if one has to deal with someone who is ignorant, as in, a relative, a co-worker, or someone you live with, whose good outweighs the bad, then you just let it go with a 'You are being so silly again". 

But, if it is someone you don't have to deal with, not directly connected to your life, well, the best thing to do when they reveal their character to you, is to realize this is who they are, and then cut them off....

Linda Lou's Successful Shipment Of Cougar Gold Cheese

For over a month Linda Lou has been trying to send me three pounds of Cougar Gold Cheese.

Delivery was finally successful yesterday. Which you see photo documented above.

And the long wait was well worth it.

Best cheese ever.

As long as we can remember, Linda Lou and I have been extra sharp cheese aficionados. By the time we were 16, with cars and driver's licenses, we would drive north to the nearest Hickory Farms, in Bellingham, to shamelessly indulge in the Hickory Farms extra sharp cheese samples.

Cougar Gold is a product of Washington State University. WSU is known for its agricultural and research programs, producing well educated farmers, which may explain why Washington is the source of so much of the farm and orchard products, feeding America and the world.

I am almost 100% certain Cougar Gold Cheese is not so named due to being a product of one of those WSU research programs, somehow milking actual Cougars on some sort of Cougar farm.

The WSU mascot is a Cougar.

Of the feline cat sort...

Happy Birthday To You Linda Lou

What you are looking at above is Linda Lou on the left. Me on the right. From our high school senior annual. Linda Lou is one of the few with whom I went through almost all my school years, grade school, high school, Sunday school and the first two years of college.

I have not seen Linda Lou in person since October of 2018, when she flew to Arizona to spend a few days having fun in the Phoenix zone. 

What follows are a few photos from Linda Lou's 2018 visit to Arizona. I don't think Linda Lou has seen these before.

Oh. I forgot to mention. Today is Linda Lou's birthday.

HAPPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA LOU!

That would be Linda Lou looking at you, sitting at the dinner table in the house we had rented in Sun Lakes, that being the town my mom lived in at the time.

Whilst Linda Lou was in Arizona the most adventurous adventures we had were driving to the summit of South Mountain, and to Tortilla Flats. Both locations reached via treacherous twisting turning roads with steep drop offs, which Linda Lou found unsettling at times.

 Above Linda Lou is pointing the way up South Mountain. Or at a saguaro cactus. I can't be sure.

Walking away from the saguaro cactus to continue the ride to the top of South Mountain.

Now at the summit of South Mountain, Linda Lou made friends with a random dog who was also site seeing.

I talked to Linda Lou last night. Her happy birthday plans for today include going to a restaurant in La Conner which apparently makes excellent clam chowder, and fish and chips. 

I can not remember when last I had excellent clam chowder. Maybe when I am in Washington next August we can go to La Conner for some clam chowder...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA LOU!!!

Cool Walking Sikes Lake With Linda Lou & Hoodoos

Linda Lou went walking around Sikes Lake with me this morning. It has been a month or two since Linda Lou went walking with me.

Winter-like temperature arrived last night, getting into the 30s, with a freeze warning for tonight.

The recent slight bout of rain seems to have caused multiple hoodoo-like cairns to sprout at their usual sprouting location at Sikes Lake.

As you can see, there are three spouting in the foreground, with three more sprouting at the end of that stretch of green grass.

Above are those three aforementioned hoodoos sprouting at the end of that green grass strip. As you can see these are quite delicate rock balancing acts.

Methinks the current conditions have brought the annual return of mountain cedar pollen. I assume such is what is causing my current allergy woes.

It was fun walking and talking with Linda Lou today. It makes the walk seem to go faster when one is also fast talking...