Ranches and Palm Trees

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After all these years in Los Angeles, I'm still taken aback by a view including a ranch-type gate and palm trees. This gate is at the stable Jim manages in Lake View Terrace.

Roses

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I celebrated a birthday a few days ago, and my husband not only took me to to Samy's Camera Store for some new toys, but surprised me with two dozen roses!! A dozen each of red and white. We both got a huge kick out the fact that they weren't the expensive florist shop style bouquets. (Sorry, if anyone has a florist in the family and is offended.) I just had to take a few pictures to savor their beauty. Now hubby is sick, so today has been a trip to see the doctor followed by plenty of sympathy and pudding. I think he liked the pudding best of all.

In case you are thinking of making out your Santa list and you are interested in developing your photography skills, you might think about Scott Kelby's book, “The Digital Photography Book”. His Volume 2 is available for pre-order now, if you have already read volume 1.

Trees—You Know Me

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So many distractions since the last post that to go into all of them in any detail would be...well, distracting. The brief version is a couple of family members in crises, some travel for us, and some big projects in the works.

The photo above was taken during one of my favorite stops, at Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Arizona. I wanted to move there. Unfortunately, you can only visit. Like so many others, I imagine, I was curious about the odd name for this beautiful park. I found this at the website http://www.pr.state.az.us/Parks/parkhtml/deadhorse.html

"How Dead Horse Ranch Got Its Name
The story of the park's name begins with the Ireys family, who came to Arizona from Minnesota looking for a ranch to buy in the late 1940's. At one of the ranches they discovered a large dead horse lying by the road. After two days of viewing ranches, Dad Ireys asked the kids which ranch they liked the best. The kids said, "the one with the dead horse, Dad!" The Ireys family chose the name Dead Horse Ranch and later, in 1973, when Arizona State Parks acquired thepark, the Ireys made retaining the name a condition of sale."