Thank you

Thank you Lord for a husband still willing for an occasional adventure.

For wonders vast.

And simple pleasures.

And thank you for my managing to force the jammed bit of the camera so I could get the memory card out as the cable connection does not work with this little laptop. Without it I would not have been able to play.

I gave out the theme of Thank You for this week's Header challenge. We are Thanksgiving-ing in Arizona with family once again. It is a tradition of at least ten or so years. The other challengees can be found linked in my sidebar, and they are always up to the challenge.

Crane

EDIT: Tom has identified this bird more accurately as a Snowy Egret.

We walked again at Veteran Oasis Park and here is the crane. Did I post a picture of him when I was here with the family on a picnic not long ago? We had a better view today.

In fact, we kind of stalked him. We watched where he went when he took off.

walked aga

 And we figured out where he and his mate keep their nest. See him there landing  in the tall tree?

There he is.

 taking off again

 Back to the pond to hide clearly.....

Purple

Purple is my favorite color, so finding something purple to post when Tom announced it as the week's theme was not difficult. Deciding what to use was the problem.

This purple hanging--fabric not stained glass--graced the chapel at our conference last spring.

Our purple picnic is a celebration of friendships present and those who have passed. We serve purple foods on purple settings. My purple batik tablecloth from India sparked the first purple picnic, when Grace and I surprised our friend Deb. Grace and Deb are both gone now, and we dedicate each purple picnic to them and to those others whose lives have inspired.

Donna Kay was busy making tuffets using rich batik fabrics this last summer. This one was mostly purple.

Purple Monkey Flower

Larkspur, I think

Penstemon
 

Lupine, and a few Mountain Daisies
 

Sunset at Liberty Lake

Other Headbanger members will be posting within the next 24 hours--I am early, not knowing what is on the schedule for tomorrow as himself has doctors I might visit with him. The others' links are in my sidebar. It will be interesting to see what they have found to head up their blogs in purple.

Panning

The headbangers are going to be panning this week.

 

This old sourdough is panning.

 

We learned to pan from him.

You can see how authentic the experience was.

Of course, that is not what Craver vii had in mind when he suggested the theme. He wanted us to follow moving targets with our cameras.

 

Alas, for me it is not to be.  I must forgo this week's competition as, travel, hospitals, doctors, and waiting for all three did not leave me time to go panning. Imac will also be out this week as his iMac is in the puter hospital. You will find the other headbangers linked in my sidebar, and I commend their efforts to you.

 

Oh, we did our gold panning in Alaska in September of 2009, and among the four of us found a total of about $30 in gold dust.



Arizona Picnic Walk

Memories

I'm in Arizona Hanging out with grandkids--especially doing some stuff with Aiden.

I have figured out how to get a picture I took into the blog from the camera using my new Chromebook. I had my daughter download it on her computer and e-mail it to me. So I can participate in this week's "Memories" theme with my fellow headbangers.

There may be a more direct method to get the pictures on this tiny computer, but I haven't found it yet.

I had figured I would not be participating this week, but in the conversations by text that led me to a quick trip with minimum luggage to help out in a family emergency, there was one that could not help but be shared.

I went to bed Thursday night undecided, and woke up Friday morning and texted Karen that I was coming. Karen texted Mary and she responded that when Aiden heard I was coming, he asked if I could bring some of my oatmeal cookies.

Aiden is one of the quiet ones, and since we often only see him once a year, you can't be sure what he remembers. Apparently he remembers the oatmeal cookies that I brought last fall.

We made them Saturday afternoon. Now we have the memory not only of the cookies, but of baking them together.  

The other Headbangers--who are linked in my sidebar--will also share their memories in their headers this week. Not sure they can match this one.

Here is the recipe for Grandma's Special Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup butter, margarine, or shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 3/4 cups oatmeal
1 cup raisins
GRANDMA'S  SECRET INGREDIENT

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease or spray cookie sheets.

Cream together shortening and sugars till smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and gradually beat into the batter. Stir in Oats and raisins.

Finally add Grandma's secret ingredient--a bag of butterscotch chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets and bake about ten minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Serve to hungry grandchildren---or hungry grandpas.