Patterns from a Thanksgiving day dinner

Today, thanksgiving, was primarily a day of friendship. I enjoyed a comfortable, laid-back visit that did, not just incidentally, include an awesome feast. Our world out Williamson Valley way was alternately drizzly, misty and bathed in brief bursts of sun. Weather patterns. Patterns, too, on the land.

I don't often get the opportunity to look down on the circle of the leaf fall from an apricot tree. Any tree, for that matter.

Another tree almost ready for winter, stark against Granite Mountain. Odds on it's an aspen

The namesake rocks and boulders of the mountain were sometimes visible through the mists that clung to its top and sides.

Another pattern -- by accident. I was aiming for the mountain in the distance; my Canon was focusing on the screen nearby. I decided to make lemonade.

Far to the north, catching late afternoon sun, a canyon cutting up into the western edge of the Rim country.

Back in the house, next the wood burning stove, what I choose to call beetlewood -- a tree branch that has been tunneled beneath the bark by beetle larvae. The pattern looks somewhat like hieroglyphs! I hope that your Thanksgiving was as pleasant and relaxed as mine.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Enjoy your family and your friends on this simplest yet most thoroughly American of holidays.

For Your Linky Pleasure: Warren, of Touch the Wind, took his camera to the glass art exhibition at the Desert Botanical Gardens in the Valley. Wild and wonderful stuff! And Prescott. with its heroic bronzes, is mentioned along with Real Cities like Naples and SF at this week's Carnival of the Cities. A reader (Lola by name) sent me an unexpected link: it seems the Pomona Public Library over in SoCal has a collection of nearly 50 digitized 30s postcards of Prescott on line; thanks, Lola. If you follow the link, the next step is to enter a search on "Prescott" in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Happy Thanksgiving -- turn on the Christmas lights

What more can I say -- Thanksgiving dinner with Mom and her tablemates is past. It's now officially Christmas, even though the worried merchants have long since opened up their boxes of Santas, reindeer, lights and other seasonal decorative paraphernalia . But let's pause a moment for a few more turkeys before we move on. And speaking of Thanksgiving, I should mention that my bro, over in Memphis visiting daughters & grandchillen, made four pumpkin pies for expected guests. Not bad for someone who's lived in Oz for at least 30 years now.

In the meantime, back to the birds. This turkey hen -- a real one, once -- was photographed at Koldoff's Arizona Gems & Beads last year; the lead-in turkey, also for real, was on display at the Drake Station antiquery on Iron Springs Road.

Believe me, I was tempted when I saw the fellow above at the Tru Value hardware store -- especially since harvest themed items had already gone on sale (also below) some two weeks ago.

But as I said at the beginning, it's now officially fitting and proper to turn on the Christmas lights, as represented by these snow flakes adorning most of the city street light poles. The big downtown lighting ceremony is scheduled for December 1, after my bro gets back from his family visit. In the meantime, enjoy these photos of the Square at night from last year, posted by Vision in Time.

Leftovers from holidays past

As I walked late this afternoon, I was taken aback by the extent of the holiday leftovers. Halloween "spider web" still covering shrubbery. And being covered, in turn, by leaves shed by the sycamores.

And this sad little sign which suggests heavy traffic the night of October 31.

Some displays which remain are a little less tied to the ghosts and goblins theme and segue rather well into a harvest theme for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

And, not having suffered a frost as yet, the fall flowers remain to contribute to the festivities. Even a lone marigold growing in the barren gravel.