Whew!

Throwback Thursday – It’s not supposed to be this hot here!!!! Going to reach 101 today and 104 tomorrow. Yeah, I know that there are some of you in hotter places than this, but this is Oregon.

August may normally hit the low 90’s for us here, but I left southern AZ a couple of years ago and now it feels like I’ve gone back … ugh!

For those of you experiencing hot, hot, hot, like we are here’s a nice glass of ice cold lemon water for you (with love).

I shot this image in Tucson while on my patio trying to cool off. After I publish this post, I’ll be getting a drink just like this. Stay cool out there!

Be good to yourself and others. Namaste’

Cooling Off

Wild Pear

Today’s image is a picture of a picture, taken in the restroom of the Wild Pear restaurant in downtown Salem. I love the downtown area because there are so many historic buildings. Rightly so, because Salem is the capitol city of Oregon.

This particular building was established in the 1800’s as a cigar store. Lovely place and the food was outstanding. I’ll be going back there again. Notice the girl in the bottom of the image with the umbrella? Appropriate – it rains a lot here!

Take good care of yourself and each other. Namaste’

Black and White Challenge Day 1

I borrowed the black and white challenge from a fellow blogger who also lives in Central Oregon and this is my first installment of a week-long fulfillment.

Last November we had our first giant snowfall and this is what we saw when we opened the garage door after 2 1/2 days of the white stuff. Wonder what she was thinking after being born and raised in the desert?  Feel free to add your comments. Would love to hear what you think! Namaste’

Regina (Reggie) Arnold is a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger

Let It Snow

Hubby went downtown the day after Christmas and bought this really cool decoration that I put on the fireplace mantle …

And then this happened this morning …

Oops! Where were you, snow, when we were wishing for a white Christmas?

A couple of years ago I did the 365 project where I posted a photo a day on this blog.  Well … for 2015 I’ve decided to take on the 52-week challenge, so it looks like I’ll be posting a new photo once a week with my (sometimes crazy) narrative in accompaniment.  Stay tuned and thanks for following my blog.  I always look forward to your likes and comments.  Namaste’

Regina (Gina) Arnold is the author of Uncomplicated Ways to Find Your Financial Freedom, a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger.

Snow? Time to Go!

Today’s image is of our patio table, which now has another layer of snow.  It wasn’t bad enough that we had 2 1/2 feet of it a couple of weeks ago, but then this showed up yesterday.  Just when the accumulation had melted!  (Studded snow tires make all the difference, though). Oh, well, I keep telling myself that winter won’t last forever.

I thought the texture that the snow produced on the table was kind of cool.  See? … a silver lining in every cloud.  Namaste’

Regina (Gina) Arnold is the author of Uncomplicated Ways to Find Your Financial Freedom, a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger.

Out the Window

We had a wonderful rainstorm here today.  The Old Pueblo really needed it, too.  All of our outdoor plants are doing the happy dance now in joyful jubilation.  For a minute I thought I heard tiny little voices singing “Raindrops keep falling on my head.”  Okay, maybe it was just my imagination.

Just when it started to pour sideways, as it sometimes does during our summer tempests, I looked out my office window and saw the peephole created by something or another.  Isn’t it odd that there would be this opening?  I thought it was kind of cool to see the reflection of my desk lamp in the image, too.

Have a beautiful Sunday.  Namaste’

Coolness on a Hot Day

Well, my friends, it’s going to be a hot time in the Old Pueblo today … weather-wise.  Supposed to be 103 today and 104 tomorrow.  Lucky us!  Ha!

So I thought I’d post this image of flamingos that I took at the zoo earlier this year (and never had time to post).  Makes me feel cooler just looking at them.

I’m jealous that they have their feet in the water 🙂  Namaste’

In Like a Lamb

Here in sunny southern AZ, I’m finding that Spring is edging ever closer.  New plants are starting to come up all around me and I love it.  I just wish I could send it to the other parts of the country that are still knee deep in that cold, white, frozen precipitation.  They’re getting all of that, and we’re praying that the prediction of rain for us tomorrow will actually come to pass.  Go figure.

Mother Nature can be tricky sometimes but she always escorts Spring in like a lamb.  It just takes longer to get to some places.

I did manage to see this crop of yellow wildflowers and since they were on the ridge behind our house, I had to stand on my tiptoes and zoom way out to get this image.

So this is for all of my friends who are still frigid.  Don’t take that the wrong way 🙂  Namaste’

Tres Amigos

You know how sometimes friends move away and there’s a geographical divide as a result?  Not some short distance, but a long one.  One that’s not drive-able over a weekend?  And yet you get together again and it feels like no time has passed.

Well, that’s the case with these three lovely people.  They moved a while back from Tucson to the beautiful (but cold) state of Minnesota.  And we’ve missed them.

Last week they came for a vacation back to Tucson and we were able to get together at one of our favorite restaurants – El Charro – the oldest Mexican restaurant in southern Arizona.  The original one is downtown and opened in 1922.   We had a fabulous time and talked more than we ate, a first for me 🙂  These guys are really smart … they picked the best time and weather to come to southern Arizona.  It was beautiful.

As we were taking pics that evening, one of the waiters obligingly placed the sombrero on mom’s head to make it a fun picture indeed.  Please come back soon, you guys!  We love you!  Namaste’

Off and Running

OK, gang, I’m off and running somewhere.  Can’t say where but will post pictures when I get back.  In the meantime, enjoy the moon that snuck up on me the other night from behind the storm clouds. I barely had time to run in the house for my camera, the clouds were moving so fast. I decided to make it my header for a while. 

You know me … I like to change it up now and then. Namaste’