ada mae still thinks she is a very small dog.

enjoying the spring weather out at hart praire -
sophie helps build a fire,
aspen grove,
aspen grove in the sky,
kelsey and sophie take a walk..

god send easter

and we will lace the
jungle on
and step out
brilliant as birds
against the concrete country
feathers waving as we
dance towards jesus
sun reflecting mango
and apple as we
glory in our skin.

-lucille clifton


loving these words and the feeling they evoke these days.
hope springtime is treating you all well in your respective corners of the world.

We've been spending some quality time with one of our favorite neighbors lately - Sophie, the smartest 2 year old around. One night she and Meg and Addy were enjoying some quality book reading on the bed...






The weather in Flagstaff has been all over the place - blazing hot one minute and then back to snowing. Above are a couple of pics of Meg and I are we got caught walking/running home with snow blowing up our noses (on two separate occasions). Luckily for us, springtime seems to have actually settled in for good these days and we are enjoying the clear skies and warm sun.




complete with dinorsaurs...

Visitors from Boulder....

Amy and Neil came to visit a few weeks ago and we had a fabulous time:

* sitting in the front yard listening to the best radio station ever while keeping our eyes peeled for any wild fires in the neighborhood (one afternoon we looked up to see a fence in our next door neighbor's yard on fire, with flames reaching at least 8 feet in the air. luckily the neighbors were home and had access to a hose and they put it out, but not before we called the fire department and got fully involved in the situation).

* walking the dogs.

* going to see the big ditch.

* and watching a red sox game on easter at a local bar.

*

so, um, yeah - i got a new computer.

so far i don't know anything about it.
except that it has this super amazing photo booth program that offers endless hours of
entertainment,
procrastination,
and way too many self protraits.

get ready people.
this is only the beginning.
really.
i think this is the beginning of a major addiction.

On Saturday the 24th, we dove into the Flagstaff activist scene, and attended an anti-war protest to mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq.

I have included some pictures of notable signs and faces.


Overall, it was good to have the opportunity to express a collective voice against the occupation, but we only marched around the block once - so it felt hard to gain momentum. In fact, it felt kind of silly cause the "march" lasted ten minutes, but I guess we Americans, at least my generation anyways, are still learning how to use our voice, you know - practice that thing called democracy. So while I hope there is no "next time," if there is, maybe we'll go around the block twice...




By the way: it is "national frozen food month." Just in case you harbored any doubts about our flourishing culture, rest assured - those in power are really thinking.

This might be the most amazing place I have ever been in my life. It's a slot canyon outside of Page, AZ in the middle of the desert. When it rains 20 miles away this can flood and fill the whole thing up.









It was kinda like being inside a Georgia O'Keefe painting...



























blurry meg in wonder....

driving north - out of the mountains and into the dry lands....

















Dudley exploring a culvert.














Dudley exploring the little Colorado River Canyon.
(can you see him?)

















Dudley with a concrete bucket at the Lake Powell Dam.

So we've been a bit on the slack side of things in blog land. sorry. Last month we took a trip to visit our dear friends Amy and Neil in Boulder, CO. Somehow the only pic that we seem to have is of Meg and Neil playing some sort of highly challenging card game. Apparently when you haven't seen each other in a year, it doesn't take much to be entertained....












Ada Mae and Fisher = true love

Yesterday and last night we got our first real snow storm of the year (7 inches so far...). This morning we woke up to icicles hanging from the roof...



















...and icicles in our bedroom! (which addy later ate).












The dogs and I romping in the snow. (Meghan says she has already spent 90% of her life in the snow and has no desire to partake).












Looking down our street...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Flagstaff. (all we do here is drink mimosas and smoke candy cigarettes).














Our lovely little tree.


















Christmas morning we took the dogs on a hike to a canyon outside of town. It was pretty icy once we got down into the canyon and we almost slid to our deaths (sorta) several times.


















Rose has gone to the bathroom and I have taken over the blog - the rocks in this picture are crazy. It looked like a dinosaur had laid a bunch of eggs all over the side of the hill. This is also a view of the canyon we hiked down into and a popular climbing spot for Flagstaffers (?).






Fisher and Ada mae blazing the canyon trail.

This is my family. I will not comment on whether we are happier then we look.

Kelly(8) in the front
Will(19), Jack(13), Scott(21).










Christmas is still fun because Kelly still believes - it gets the rest of us out of bed anyways.





































Jack receiving a gigantic container of M&M's, Kelly's pink horse that found its way into practically every picture I took.

We went back to North Carolina for Thanksgiving with the Wilson family in Black Mountain - even though it was late winter, everything seemed so green....

A bunch of us went with Granddaddy to visit the community garden where he spends much of his time year round.

Here he shows Uncle Peter, Lauren, Emily and Ruby how the hoop beds keep the greens warm through the winter.





More hoop bed greens....


















A weeding demonstration...















And then we went and climbed Look Out Mtn.