Friday, December 10, 2010

WHAT A DAY THIS HAS BEEN ...

"What a day this has been, what a rare mood I'm in!" From the mythical town Brigadoon in the 1954 Lerner and Loewe musical film starring Gene Kelley, Van Johnson and Cyd Charisse, to the tiny town of Elfrida in Arizona, it has been a great day.

Do you know the name of the song we just quoted? The answer is at the end of this post.

What made this a wonderful day for us was that we spent a good deal of it with The Bayfield Bunch, Al and Kelly Bossence, from Bayfield, Ontario, Canada, and their "furry guys," Checkers, Max and Motormouse. Al and Kelly are here in the American southwest for their annual winter visit, and are, at least for a while, house sitting on a property just a little east of Elfrida, in the morning shadow of the Swiss Helm Mountains.
From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida

From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida
We met the Bayfield humans at the Roundup Cafe in Elfrida for lunch, then followed them out to their temporary digs on Wiegand-Pratt Road.
From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida

From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida

From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida
Don't let Al fool you. He says he's a "cursmudgeon" and he doesn't like being near people. But both Al and Kelly are charming company. We spent nearly three hours, hours that passed quickly, Al and I exchanging our mutual feelings about blogging, blogs and bloggers, photography, photographs and photographers. Suzy and Kelly got into "girlie" things like food programs, types of tea, and I suppose husbands, although Suzy denies this last part.

From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida
Kelly with Motormouse, whose real name is Cora.
From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida
And this is Checkers, looking for some loving from the new guy.

If you don't know Al, visit his blog Travel With the Bayfield Bunch. Al is a great photographer, and he is an instant coach on anything dealing with photography. I showed him, in the back of my camera, this picture of a dead tree I had taken this morning.
From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida

Al's immediate question was, "What's the first thing you will do with this picture?" After I made a weak suggestion or two, he said, "There are no clouds in the sky, so I'd crop it down tight to the branches." I did, and here's the result.
From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida

All too soon we had to leave, as we needed to move on to Sierra Vista to purchase a new supply of ink for our annual Christmas calendar project. Every year I fail to anticipate the amount of ink we'll need for this project. We're probably into about $300 worth of ink by now, for the 12 copies of the calendar we are making this year. Plus paper, plastic covers, electricity, and wear and tear on the printer. Would you pay $30 for a calendar with our photos in it? Not likely! But our family seem to like the calendar, and I suspect they all pore through it to be sure their birthdays and anniversaries are correctly listed (we missed one last year, an important one, to our chagrin!).

Yes, I said "pore through." That's the correct verb, rather than "pour through." I had to look it up, but to "pour through" is what you do to strain the solids out of a liquid, while to "pore through" means to scan or read intently. See what you can learn while writing a blog? Then after I pore through it, I have to "right" what I wrote to eliminate typos, incorrect verbs, etc.

While we were in Sierra Vista, we stopped to buy a soda for the trip home and caught these pictures of a 360 degree Arizona sunset sky. It's getting so we don't show sky pictures much anymore, as there are so many beautiful sunsets, but this one, mostly from the Burger King parking lot, really grabbed us, so we share it with you.
From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida
From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida

From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida

From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida
For more pictures of our day in Elfrida, check out our web album 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida. You'll even find this attractive LDS church building!
From 2010 Bayfield at Elfrida

And by the way, the song title from Brigadoon is "It's almost like being in love."

"What a day this has been," in ... Our Life on Wheels!

8 comments:

  1. And here I always thought that 'pore' word had to do with people who didn't have much...like in 'pore folks.' Nice to see you guys for sure yesterday & them's was some nice things what ya said. Checks in the mail:)) Looks like we were both shooting the same sunset about the same time. You were shooting West & I was shooting East. Y'all come back again y'hear:))

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  2. Hi, I'm a daily reader of your blog and love it.
    You can have calendars done for you online for less than 30 bucks each. You do the design, add holidays or birthdays, your photos where you want them. You will receive them in about 4 days after you submit your order.

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  3. Glad to see you had a nice visit with Al and Kelly and even got a photo tip to boot!

    Great sunset pics!!

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  4. Sounds like a fun day with the Bayfield Bunch....amazing what blogging does to bring people together...Loved the tree picture cropped..That Al has an artistic eye, that's for sure....What a sunset!!

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  5. I think I have been using (or not using) "pore" incorrectly all these years. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever used the word "pore". Thanks for the lesson!

    I like Al's suggestion for tightening up your tree photo. It's a good shot, as are your sunset photos and the photos of your visit with Al and Kelly. Glad you all had a great time together!

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  6. Are you able to refill the ink yourself? I have an old printer and refill the ink. Has saved me a ton of money. A new printer I bought has a dang chip in it so I can't refill it. They get more and more sneaky every year. Great pictures.

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  7. "Then after I pore through it, I have to "right" what I wrote to eliminate typos, incorrect verbs, etc."

    Even then the occasional error manages to escape scrutiny.

    "...in the morning shadow of the Swiss Helm Mountains."

    Those are the Swisshelm Mountains; named for John Swisshelm who passed through them from Silver City, NM on his way west.

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