Christmastime 2009

This winter season has been a really fun and busy time for us. We have been visiting with lots of friends and family, dancing, eating lots of sugary foods, and getting lots of holiday songs stuck in our heads. We hope that you all have been enjoying the season as well, and keeping cozy and calm. Enjoy our photos!

Yule tree decorated.

Bryan's new ornament for 2009, a mantis of course!

Shopping for the Yule tree with Matt while he was here visiting. We picked a Noble Fir again this year.

Liz's new ornament for 2009, a bee of course!

Greyby likes the tree.

Dancing on Christmas day at our dear friends' house.

Bryan got beer brewing supplies from his dad!

Scipio's favorite part of Christmas, the ribbons.

Focused on making wreath cookies. Yummy!

Lots and lots of cookies!

Christmassy feeling inside, note the flowers outside.

Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, from us!!

A parting shot of a December sunset from our street.

Tucson's All Souls Procession 2009

Stuff we've been doing

Here is a picture of our hens, nearly all grown up. From left to right they are Lucille Ball, Gabriela Mistral, Isabel Allende, Ella Fitzgerald, and Bernadette Peters. Beauties.

As I post this blog, I can hear Bryan in the other room practicing Spanish sentences on Rosetta Stone. We have finally started to learn Spanish, something we've been wanting to do for a while now. Last week we went on an overnight camping trip on Mt. Lemmon, which you'll find pictures of below. (yes, that's a baby skunk!) Things are good here. The weather is finally starting to turn. This morning it was almost cool out as we drove with the top down to the farmers market. Hiking season is nearly here!

Slow summertime

Hello to all.

Not much has been happening here in Tucson the past couple of months. Just hot(!) days... and we lay low when we're not at work; watching movies, reading, going to the Y for a swim workout, the occasional get-together with friends. Our new favorite thing to do after work is watch an episode of All Creatures Great and Small on Netflix. If you haven't yet seen this 1970's BBC masterpiece, you should! We're a bit obsessed.

In other news, we went on a camping trip to the White Mountains (northeast of Phoenix) at the end of June, and I thought I would post some pictures from a hike. It was amazingly beautiful to us desert dwellers. We are looking forward to a return camping trip in the fall. Bonus points if you know what the flower below is.

Welcoming the Hens

Today marks the beginning of the Kromenacker backyard chicken revolution. We brought home 5 pullets (young hens). We think they are about 2 months old. They have their own chicken yard in the back, and a coop we built from salvaged materials. We got 2 Americaunas (b/c they lay blue-green eggs!), 2 Rhode Island Reds, and 1 Barred Rock. Our eggs will be organic, b/c we feed them organic food and don't use any chemicals in the coop. The girls won't start laying however for another 3 months. We wanted to get them young so that they will be used to us handling them and know us. This is a major achievement and an exciting goal being met that is one of the benefits of having settled in one place for a while. Hooray!!!

Late Spring in Tucson

Hello to all. Well, since we moved into our new house we have been stressed and busy trying to find places to stash all the stuff we have somehow gathered in our short lives...it's amazing how much accumulates! We are planning on slowly weeding through it and giving things away, or selling them on ebay. Too much stuff!

On another note, Tucson has been very hot and yet very enjoyable as of late, the heat isn't bad at all as long as you don't overdo it in the sun. And we have had a strange, unseasonal rainy spell the past week, which has brightened up all the plants in our yard and neighborhood. We planted a new summer container veggie garden about 3 weeks ago, and everything is looking good. We ride our nearly-vintage bikes around the downtown area, and absolutely love it. The pace in Tucson has slowed noticeably since the students left and the snowbirds are going back north, it's more quiet, and seems to fit with the heat. There's not much right now that beats sitting in the shade on a hot day, looking at the blooming plants and drinking iced tea.

Enjoy the selection of photos from the past couple of months!

Scott brushes up on his inner security guard on a recent camping trip to Mount Lemmon.

Greyby has found a new favorite spot to chillax.

Homeade dill bread, made using my new stand mixer, thanks, Cindy!

Beautiful sunrise on a hike into Bear Canyon...can you see why we love it here?

Blooming Prickly Pear at Seven Falls.

At the Gaslight Theater for a ridiculous musical comedy.

We have planted some vines in our back patio, and hope to train them to grow overhead creating an arbor for some precious shade.

Our friend, Julie, joins us on the Tucson City Coops Tour, where we visited urban homes that have backyard chicken coops. The plastic bags are to keep possible disease from spreading from coop to coop. We hope to get our own coop going in the next 2 weeks.

Our summer garden. hot peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, cucumbers, basil.