The Biltmore, Arizona

While in the Southwest last week, we met up with some former Washington friends who are now living in the Phoenix area & had the great opportunity to have lunch at The Arizona Biltmore, specifically Frank & Albert's, located on the grounds of the Biltmore.  The food was delicious, but the company even better. 

"The Jewel of the Desert" is a very timeless resort and has an interesting history and rich beginnings.  For instance, Irving Berlin composed the song, "White Christmas" while staying at the Biltmore.

There were a couple weddings being held that day & we were privy to the back-stage preparations for the nuptials.  Not only was it a beautiful day for weddings, but the brides & their entourages were lovely as well!

The Christmas House

Well...I'm not going all out like I did a couple years ago, it's scaled back quite a bit.  This year I decided simple is better.  Here are a few pictures of what I've done:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sandrahealy
http://www.artfire.com/users/SandraHealy

This is the centerpiece on the dining room table.  The black-tailed deer carvings are from one of my favorite artists, Sandra Healy.  You can find her carvings on Etsy and Artfire.  Links are below the photo.

Votives on all the railing posts.

The living room from upstairs.  Maggie's sitting on the arm of the couch, trying to decide what I'm doing!

I'm not decorating the trees this year, other than lights and I purposely left one tree bare.  I figured ornaments would be too much of a temptation for an 8 month old kitten.

Deer votives on the newel posts at the bottom of the stairs.

The entry chandelier with the Poinsettia ball.

Close up of the Poinsettia ball.

Check out this blog, The Robin's Nest.  Robin always posts great photos, wonderful crafting ideas and on occasion, gives stuff away!

http://www.robinbecksnest.com/

Silly Maggie!

Here's a short video of Maggie fetching her little pink ball.  She's such a hoot!  She started this herself one evening when she dropped her ball at my feet.  She sat down in front of me & looked up, as if to say, "Throw it, Mom!"  So I did. 

We Went to the Animal Fair!

I just realized that I hadn't posted any pictures from our trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park last winter!  It was so much fun & we got to feed the Giraffe's & the Black Rhino's, by going on a "backstage" photo tour.  What a spectacular treat!  Here are some pictures from our adventure:

We weren't allowed to touch the Giraffe's.  It's a sign of aggresiveness.  Males rub necks during the rut.

White Rhino - Notice the flat lip.  They're grazers.

Ram

Oryx

Black Rhino

Black Rhino - Notice the prehensile lip.  They grasp leaves & such from trees.  We were feeding them apple quarters.  You can see they have no incisors or canines, just molars.

He was just getting ready to roar.  Scared the living daylights out of us!  It was loud & it resonates!

 Later in the winter, we went to the Living Desert & saw these beautiful creatures:

Bobcat

Cerval

Native Cottontail

Great-horned Owl

Grevey's Zebra

Mountain Sheep

Maybe this winter we'll have to go back to SeaWorld& swim with the dolphins!  That would be a blast!

Maggie!

This is Maggie, the newest member of Black Cat Ranch.  She came to live with us last Friday, June 27th after I "found" her at the Humane Society.  The first thing she did was take a nose dive from upstairs all the way into the downstairs!  Oh, she's fine (the vet said kittens are kind of like water balloons), but she's not allowed upstairs again until she's a little bit older and has a bit more coordination. 

The boys are getting accustomed to her very nicely.  I believe they look at her & think, "Well, she smells like a cat, but she's so small!"  She wants to play with them, but they're not quite sure yet - she'll jump at them & they jump back.  It won't be long and I'm sure they'll all be tumbling & chasing each together through the house like a herd of elephants!

Mowing, Goats & Cows

We have a field that takes me 3 to 4 hours to mow on a rider. It is kind of fun, but at the same time, tedious. I've thought it would be fun to have a couple goats to not only "mow" the field, but also take care of some unruly brush.  When I suggest it to Lee, I always get the same answer, "I'll miss you when I'm in California in the winter."  Meaning, I'd have to stay home & care for the said animal.

The last time I mowed, I offered that maybe we should fence the field & get a cow to share with some friends (thinking that the friends could also come help fence/build a shelter of some sort). We could then later butcher Mac/Sir Loin/Burger. We would have wonderful, hormone free, grass fed beef for our freezer! The friends could come care for it while we were on vacation...He looked at me, and said, "We can't even kill spiders. How in the world could we have someone butcher a cow!" He's right. I guess I'll keep mowing.