skyride 2011

This is the view that made me fall in love with Northern Arizona half my life ago:

It's also the view you can see from the Skyride chair up at Arizona Snowbowl in the summer and fall, just as the aspens are turning to gold before your eyes.

So many beautiful sights to behold, so much wonder. And then you look up and see what's keeping the chair attached - ever so precariously - to the cable  (yipe!). Kinda like life, in a way (am I right?):

I love this particularly helpful reminder (uh, yeah, I'll keep that in mind, kay?):

And then there are those crazy, off-season snowboarders, always leaving evidence behind in the trees to remind us of the - er, uh - fun we'll all be having come winter:

If it was March and we were getting close to St. Patrick's Day, I'd go ahead and say something witty, like, "Erin go bra!" But it's October, so I'll refrain. Oh, wait.

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

fun with templates (or, get a life already)

So, you know the opening scene of the movie Jaws? The scene where the teenagers are all partying on the beach, and then two of them - Chrissie and some useless drunk guy trying to keep up with her - go running off toward the water? And the guy goes, "Where are you going?" (pant pant), and Chrissie is all, "Swimming! Come on!" And before you know it, that chirpy little teenager dives into the water, and you're all Uh-Oh. Because you've been hearing the nuh-nuh, nuh-nu, nuh-nuh shark music while the opening credits have been rolling. You know the scene I'm talking about? The one where she gets violently pulled under the water and EATEN while the useless drunk guy naps on the shore? Yeah, that one.

Well, that's pretty much what happened to me recently when I discovered the new Blogger templates. Okay, so there was no drunk guy, no shark, and I was wearing my clothes. But the general tone was the same, because I don't even want to think about how much time I lost trying out first one and then another and then switching up the background colors and font and...

Am I made of free time? Heck no. But it's a stealthy, powerful thing, that Blogger template collection, and it'll pull you right under if you're not careful. Anyway, for now I've chosen the wildly swirling one you're experiencing while reading this post. Too much? Perhaps. But there's nothing that says I won't decide to change it again soon. I think I picked the swirls because they remind me of some soaps I batched recently called "Snowdance." Here they are in "tray" form before I cut them into loaves and then into individual bars to be packaged up for my upcoming holiday shows:

And here are a few of the finished bars, not yet packaged.

Hmmm...dare I say...they look a little...ocean-like.

Nuh-nuh, nuh-nuh, nuh-nuh.....

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

Bartleby the Scrivener

is not a cheerful story.

That is all.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

terrible roars

Where the Wild Things Are was never one of my very favorite childrens' books. Oh, I liked it all right. But I suppose I always had a sneaking suspicion it was written for other children, boys especially, whose lives were much harder than mine was in 1970's Marin County where people worried mainly about the temperature of their hot tubs and the scarcity of peacock feathers on their blocks (if social legend is to be believed, anyway).

Don't even get me started on the recent-ish movie version of the WTWTA, though. What a nightmare, and one from which I wasn't totally sure I'd ever wake up. I didn't think it did the book justice. At all.

Anyway, this interview with Maurice Sendak  (which I found thanks to the good folks over at DGLM) is something else entirely. He's no doubt a crabby curmudgeon indeed, but I admire his frankness.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

now that's what I call a hand

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_0d0e83fc-e33a-11e0-9b71-001cc4c03286.htmlFollow @nicole_mcinnes

the distant bridge

Grabbed the Nikon, ran out to the pasture and snapped this before it disappeared. Zzari's 25 now (I got him when he was 3), and this actually makes my heart hurt a little...

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

good times never seemed so good

Someone please tell me why I've felt the need to play this song at volume 11 lately. Is it those irresistable lambchop sideburns Neil used to sport?Follow @nicole_mcinnes

fat n' sassy farm animals, etc.

It's been a good long while...again...since I've updated the blog. And I've decided I need to be okay with that, because I'm rediscovering that doing perfectly all the things I want/need to get done at any given time is just not possible. The good news is that a lot of imperfect, gorgeous things have been going on since I last checked in. Things like the kids starting back to a school year that's going very well. I'm proud of our little rural school for being one of the top performers in the state - and that includes private and charter schools! We have a pretty amazing blend of teachers and administration, and I always feel that my kids' education is right at the top of the priority list where it belongs despite the budget crunches and other woes the American educational system has been facing for way too long now.

The all-school field trip to the County Fair happened last week, and even though Zzari got out of the pasture and decimated a good chunk of my corn crop while we were gone, it was still a great day: The 4-H kids from our school and other districts showed their animals while we were there, which is always fun. I'd had some big fun judging the 4-H County Fair horse show the previous weekend, and it's always neat to see horses and young competitors from all of the county showing off the skills they've been honing all year. So, life has pretty much been all about fat and sassy farm animals more than usual for the past month or so.

What else? Oh! Laurie Halse Anderson had a writing challenge going on her blog for the month of August, but I didn't realize it until it ended! No matter. I'm going back to day one and starting from there, making part of September and October my own personal writing challenge month. This will be fun especially since I'm still undecided about NaNoWriMo this year: it's going to be a super busy soap season for me in November and December, and I've learned the hard way that trying to soap, write and teach at 100% capacity all at once is not conducive to also maintaining my sanity. And I need my sanity, thankyouverymuch.

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

thought for the day

Facebook is the place where you get to see how all those goofballs you knew in college/high school/elementary school are doing the same ridiculous things they did back in the day. It's just that, now, some of them are making millions doing that stuff.

:-)

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

pulling through

Looking for something to do with the kids during these waning dog days of summer? How about an old-fashioned taffy pull!!

I got the recipe from one of my newest and favoritest books - Sugar Baby, by this woman, Gesine Bullock-Prado, who, OMG, it turns out is Sandra Bullock's sister!!!

Anyway, the book is amazing, the recipe is ridiculously simple, and taffy pulling - it turns out - is quite an addictive and meditative pasttime. Apparently, it used to be a fairly common dating/courting activity back in the day (and talk about clean! We were washing our hands non-stop throughout. Plus, that taffy is super hot at first, which was probably a great way to guard against wandering hands, if you know what I mean. Wink wink, nudge nudge).

Basically, you boil a simple sugar mixture, work it over a cool surface a bit, add some color and extracts, and try not to drool on the rapidly hardening puddles of sheer sugar ecstasy. Just ask the three kids who joined me in all the fun.

Finally, after pulling that candy until you just can't pull it anymore, get out your squeaky clean scissors, your waxed paper and your dentist's phone number, and before you know it, you'll have this:

And then this!!:

And then, sadly, inevitably.....this:

It's a nice (sniff) farewell to these golden summer days, though. This much I know for sure.

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

life of pie

So, there's this fairly amazing community garden next to my kids' school. It was started by my neighbor, who is a Master Gardener and has a contagious, almost palpable enthusiasm for growing herbs and vegetables in our notoriously difficult climate with its notoriously short, unpredictable growing season (snow in late June, anyone?). As I understand it, the garden started as a 4-H project but then took on a life of its own.

The adjoining herb path, for example, became a memorial to a dear friend of mine and many others in our community who passed away a few years ago. Now the garden is a place where the Garden Girls - an unofficial gathering of local women from all walks of life, many of us with kids at the school - meet and toil and water and laugh and share things that men are absolutely NOT allowed to hear. (And that's just the garden chit-chat. Don't even get me started on the stories exchanged during our dinner gatherings.)  Also, I use the term "us" loosely, since I have not been able to attend the GG gatherings nearly as much as I'd like to. But just rest assured; these are the kind of women books should be written about. And maybe someday they will.

Anyway, back to the whole point of this post which is that a bunch of us headed down to Sedona last weekend to pick blackberries. This being August it was hotter than blazes down there, but one gal brought homemade cake pops anyway. Good Lord, they were good (and it's never too hot for ooey-gooey chocolate, right? Right.):

Fortunately, shade was plentiful along Beaver Creek, and this was appreciated by adults, kids and dog alike:

After about a half-hour of berry picking (and getting the bejeezus scratched out of my arms and legs), I came upon what I can only describe as a WALL OF SMELL so heavenly I had to just stop and sniff it deep into my lungs. It was wild mint growing right there around the boulders of the creek. A friend harvested some for me to take home, and though it was promptly planted in a comfy little herb bed here in the high country, I'm sorry to say things don't look good for my little transplant. Who knows though - maybe by this time next year I'll be trying to beat the minty ground cover off with a stick. A girl can dream.

The more intrepid among us stopped mid-pick for a dip in the local swimming hole with Sedona's characteristic red rocks rising up behind it. It's a special kind of summer Paradise, I tell ya:

Anyway, this is all to say that what started out as this on a hot August morning:

In fairly short order ended up as this:

And you know what they say about the journey being the best part?

Well, that's a dang lie, because that pie was mostly gone before it even had a chance to cool properly.

(Kidding, of course. The journey, thanks to amazing women and the amazing blessing of this place I call home, completely rocked.)Follow @nicole_mcinnes

tiburon

It means "shark," but you wouldn't know it to drive through town on the winding, waterfront road leading away from Highway 101. Late in the day with the fog rolling it, the harbor's a beautiful sight.

From this little lookout next to The Caprice Restaurant you get a great view out toward Raccoon Straits. The bay itself is a perfect playground for sailboats, and we watched them frolic from our window seats. It was an extra-special way to celebrate my mother's birthday this year.

If you go, the dungeness crabcakes with remoulade are a must-nom:

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

Seriously? The end of June already?

It's been an absolutely crazy busy month, as I knew it would be. Seriously, people. The workload? The end-of-school shindigs with the kids? One kid's birthday? Little League wrapping up? The two events at which I've been a vendor for the past two weekends? It could drive a girl to desperation.

But it's winding down, all of it. I've had fun peddling soap for the past couple of weeks, first at a rodeo that's in its 30-somethingth year and then at a benefit for a local state park that's struggling financially as most state and national parks are these days.

And maybe, just maybe, in only handful of days from now, I'll get to enjoy an actual summer vacation for a little while among family and friends. I tell ya, the thought of sitting poolside with a good book and my iPod (and sourdough and blueberries and hummus, all from my beloved Trader Joe's) is one of the driving forces getting me out of bed in the mornings lately.

That's all to say that posting may continue to be light for a while...or maybe not. I'll leave it up to the fates and the summer sun to decide.

See ya!Follow @nicole_mcinnes

hey y'all and yee haw

Wake up and it's the last day of school for the younguns. Drag my tired butt out of bed and head toward the kitchen for some tar black coffee the consistency of river mud - just how I like it. Hand the kids their lunches, drive them to the bus and head back home to feed the foster dogs I recently took in. (Anybody need one or two sweet, smart and cool ranch-type dogs?)

I throw hay for the horses, eat a little breakfast myself and then batch some soap for the Cowpunchers Reunion Rodeo coming up in a few weeks (I'm a vendor this year, so come on out, y'all), fielding phone calls and emails the whole time. After a while I hear a major clang from outside; it's Butthead (the gelding who shall otherwise remain nameless) knocking over the big steel water tub to let me know it's empty. I go outside, water the one tree I planted last fall that actually survived the winter, fill the horses' water, turn butthead out into the arena and then head back inside to check on the soap.

Not a minute later there's a ruckus outside, and l look out the window to see the other gelding (Zzari) wandering willy nilly around the back yard, munching on weeds I haven't quite gotten around to whacking yet. Apparently, I didn't close the arena gate all the way. I go outside to round him up, but the dogs are all riled because of the seasonal cattle that came visiting on the Forest Service side of my fence a little earlier.

Dogs start chasing the horse who trots away from me, alarmed. Meanwhile, Butthead's having a meltdown in the arena because his buddy broke out, and now he wants to be free, too. As I finally catch up to Zzari and reach under his mane to lead him back into captivity, I look up and see what appears to be a forest fire starting up east of us on this dry, windy afternoon.

And it's here that I want to say this: even though I wasn't raised country, I've spent half my life doing the rural living thang. So I think I've earned the right to say that, at least for today, I totally fit this profile.

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

the ghost ship that didn't carry us (or, I love Sugar)

I just do.Follow @nicole_mcinnes

Can I be frank?

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

Happy Mother's Day!

Gah - I sometimes go way too long without updating this blog. I'm only doing so now because the wonderful kids and man are taking care of dinner prep tonight.

I hope it's been a great day for all, Moms and their kids alike. I know I feel like one lucky woman. We all know nothing's perfect, but, on balance, I have been inordinately blessed in both the mother and the kid departments.

:-)Follow @nicole_mcinnes

Arabian Breeders World Cup - Las Vegas 2011

Vegas is...well, it's Vegas. And it's pretty much anything you want it to be depending on who you're with, where you're staying and how you choose to spend your time and your bucks.

Vegas is also only a few hours away from my house, which makes it an accessible weekend getaway spot. I had extra incentive this past weekend when the Arabian Breeders World Cup Show - a relatively new venture in the Arabian show world - was held. I've been wanting to check out this shindig since it first started, and it did not disappoint. I consider this more of a "boutique" show than, say, Scottdale, since it's basically a celebration of halter horses, and the crowd numbered in the hundreds rather than the thousands on Saturday afternoon. It also spans just a few days, rather than a couple of weeks as Scottsdale does.

There sure were some pretty horses, though. Just breathtaking, really.

There was also a nice international look to the spectators, including some truly Sartorialist-worthy fashion.

All in all, it was a lovely way to pass the time, and I plan to return (hopefully) next year.

Follow @nicole_mcinnes

feel-good song for a Monday in April

Of course, it's all over the airwaves right now, but who cares? It's a good'un, and with the number of views it's already had, it clearly resonates with people. Follow @nicole_mcinnes

not by a long shot

This is okay:

I mean, cute dog, cute cat... What's not to love, right?

This, however.

This is most definitely NOT okay:

Yes, that's my name on the address label. Not "Dear Neighbor" or "Our Dear Friend at..."

I will say this, though: at least they're offering that puzzles & games booklet to help keep my mind sharp.

Now where did I put those damn dentures?Follow @nicole_mcinnes