Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The Eagle Has Landed.......


As we approach the Farmington Bay Bird Refuge, a Winter Hawk takes flight from a tree it had been perched in.....

Our rugged Wasatch Mountains, directly to the east of the Bird Refuge....our home sits on a narrow strip of land between the mountains, and the Bird Refuge and Great Salt Lake.......

I think if I were an Eagle, I would want to "winter" somewhere further south......

We spot three eagles ahead, perched in the dead trees they come to year after year.....the two perched together are HUGE!

Wes had taken yesterday off, so he'd have a four day weekend. The weather here is snowy and cold, but we got up and took a nice long CRISP walk...which felt so great after having been couch potatoes the last few weeks....after our walk he asked me what I'd like to do for the day, as he takes very little time off from his regular job. "I want to see the eagles" I declared! Farmington Bay Bird Refuge is about a ten minute walk from our house, or a couple of minutes drive away...this is where the bald eagles winter every year between December and March. We have counted as many as 80+ eagles at one time other years. We got in the car, binoculars and camera in hand and made the short drive down to the bird refuge. I think it is still a bit early for the eagles...a few have arrived, but we did not see the huge numbers as we have seen in the past.....this is usually closer to March when we see the most eagles...but there is always something to see down there, whether it is a hawk or a crane or geese....you are never disappointed. I feel very lucky to have something this wonderful within minutes of our home! We saw several winter hawks and three eagles, two that were absolutely HUGE! They were perched in an old dead tree...some years we have seen 15-20 eagles all at once in the same old tree! We will continue to make our little trips out to the bird refuge over the next few months, and hopefully we will spot more eagles up close that want to have their picture taken, and we will share our photos with you!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Welcome to our Indian Summer Holiday Open House....


Poinsettia and holly along with shiny red and green balls and gold pinecones adorn the beams and welcome you to our living room.....

Our Native American tree filled with all handmade, one of a kind ornaments.....

Hano Clown pottery face mask ornament with "Ojo de Dios".....

Kokopelli, Hopi rattles, pottery moccasins and beaded maidens....Our daughters always fought over who got to place the maidens on the tree....(Still do!)

Of course we need our Zuni Fetish Bear......

Santo Domingo Pueblo pottery Storyteller Angel.....

Brightly colored yarn "Ojo de Dios" (God's Eyes) brighten up the tree....

Each ornament is handmade and no two are alike....

Little Beaded "Chief" adorns our Native American tree......

Jemez Pueblo Santa takes his place by a Santa Clara redware vase, and a Rose Gonzales San Ildefonso blackware vase.....

Wes and I bought this little adobe house wih lumanarios that lights up over 25 years ago.....

One of our Native American "adobe" churches is decorated and blanketed in snow for the holidays....

Native American "adobe" church with vigas.....

Native American "adobe" church with turquoise stone in our "church village"....wooden church is San Felipe Church in Old Town Albuquerque.....

"Nicho" with Our Lady of Guadalupe......

Santos and Angel in entranceway.....

Hot Tub/ Sun room has a celestial theme to it at Christmas time and throughout the year.....

Golden Sun doubles as a "star" for the top of our celestial tree.....

Suns, moons, and stars decorate this tree....

Celestial furniture in the sun room gets "fancied up" for the holidays with satin pillows.....

Small tree in den is filled with mementos given our daughters by their Grandma in Albuquerque, and by my late father.....

J~O~Y in the den along with pictorial Navajo rug, Taos pottery with turquoise and a beautiful and special feather gifted to me by friend, customer, and famous photographer Rick BraveHeart....

Apache basket in den with snowmen and snow globe.....

Some dear friends gave our daughters this little animated painting elf when they were little girls...he now "paints" in our exercise room and makes sure you use the stairstepper!

Frilly little tree with pink lights and ornaments adds some sparkle to our "antique" bedroom....filled with photos and furniture that was my Great Grandma and Grandpa Souders, that we brought up from Santa Fe, N.M.

Needlepoint Nativity scene was lovingly made by my late mother years ago...it has to come out each year, this year it hangs below "nicho" filled with some of our pottery and beaded treasures.....

My sister bought me this pillow....said it reminded her of me...and I don't mean the "JOY" pillow....~LOL~.....

Cochiti Pueblo Nativity set, made for us by our dear friend Maria Priscilla Romero many years ago takes center stage on an antique "server" in our dining room....

This vintage Santa that "watches" you wherever you are....(he really does...his twinkling eyes mysteriously follow you wherever you go!)has been in our family since before I was born....

This little Santa in his sleigh with reindeer and the tree with lights (that still works!) have been around ever since I was a little girl....

Dining Room fireplace is home to elves and pixies.....(and a sandpainted skull by Willard Johnson).....

Mischievous elves frolic between the pines on mantle of dining room fireplace....

Cluster of trees with "snow" stand in the dining room.....

Santa is always watching you! (Even in one of our bathrooms! ~LOL~).....

A guest bathroom has to be decorated as well....

"Nature" tree filled with birds is in our upstairs den....



Glistening birds of every color perch on the branches of this tree......

We are visited by real deer every winter....you can follow their hoof tracks in the snow.....


Our "Nature" tree in upstairs den is dedicated to the birds that visit our yard daily, partaking of all the berries on our trees.....

A snowy watercolor of bluffs in Monument Valley is accented by Christmas reds and greens....

Poinsettia filled sleigh sits in our library upon "Cochiti Ray's" drums along with Madeline Antonio Acoma Vase.....

Santa thinks it's great to be next to Tyrone William's Navajo Pottery....

Small tree on our "celestial" balcony overlooking the hot tub/ sun room......

Santa and his elves get a great view sitting in an archway overlooking our entranceway....

Small tree in our bedroom next to a "Dia de los Muertos" Skeleton puts off a soft light at night that makes the room cozy....

I sometimes feel as though I live in my office...so it needs some Christmas cheer...My late mother made the stockings on the wall years ago, they come out every year!

Phyllis bought me this to hang in my office.....she knows this is just how I feel somedays!

Pico Nin...my "favorite" decoration of all...snuggled up in his new Snowflake bed, and his comfy pom pom hoodie....

The Holidays are officially here...we have our house decorated inside and out! We do a blend of Southwest, Native American, contemporary, vintage....you name it! We used to put up 13 trees! I am serious...we had a "church" tree....decorated with missions and churches of the southwest, and the California missions like San Juan Capistrano and others. We had a "Dia de los Muertos" tree covered in skeletons and figures from the "Day of the Dead"...we always had a "chile" tree...brightly covered in red and green chiles that I collected over the years on each trip down to New Mexico....these are naming just a few of our 13 trees! It took me days to put them up, and days to take them down. So, we decided several years back to pare down a bit. We still have our Native American tree covered with little handmade pueblo pottery and beaded ornaments and "Ojo de Dios", and we put up our "Nature" tree, which is dedicated to all the birds that flock to our home in the winter to eat the berries off of our trees in the yard, and we put up a small tree with little ornaments that were given to our daughters by their Grandma in New Mexico, and by my late father. I put a lot of doo-dads around and am happy when it is all done and I can sit back and enjoy it....We hope you enjoy seeing our decorations, this is a magical time of year! We would love for you to share some of your decorating ideas with us...hey, I might just go back to thirteen trees again, and I could always add a fourteenth as well! ~LOL~ Happy Holidays!