October 2014
Once upon a time Lord & YoungMiller carved a heart from mesquite wood. It was a nice heart, meant for yet another necklace. One day, however, Pancho - who is normally a good little pup - found the heart and decided to help them "create art"... Not wanting to hurt his feelings - :) - Lord & YoungMiller praised his work and told him they would finish the necklace; that they would sell his "art" and donate the money to help homeless puppies & kitties. _____________________ An earlier story along the way, from 2009... This is Anna, Pancho's sister, helping in a different way... Pancho, Anna and 3 of their other siblings were adopted at 2 1/2 weeks of age - the day before they were going to be put down. With their mother unable to feed them - and their owners moving to Germany - no one thought they could survive. Survive they did! - Learning to eat from rice bowls before they were 3 weeks old, all of the pups made it. Three were adopted into wonderful homes; Pancho & Anna remained with us. |
"Pancho's heart" - the necklace was finished with
rose quartz, saguaro rib, and agate beads. _____________ At Holy Trinity Monastery's 2014 Fall Festival of the Arts, a delightful woman - who wished to remain anonymous - made a generous donation for "Pancho's heart" and the proceeds were given to the Nancy J. Brua Animal Care Center in Sierra Vista, Arizona. |
September 26, 2015
Many of us have had someone take a photo or video when we were being goofy or acting the
part of a fool (pretty darn embarrassing!)... but you know what's REALLY embarrassing?...
when you take that video yourself...
"The Lonesome Puppy Blues"
After a 2-3 year unintentional hiatus from working our web site, I came across this video clip today and just
about fell off my chair - not from MS! - but from laughing!... How embarrassing!
It was an experiment: Wanting to see how the 4 week old pups would respond to music, I pulled out a guitar and began singing to them. Too embarrassed to tell anyone what I'd done, I REALLY thought I had deleted it.
Funny how time changes things...
Six years ago I was too embarrassed to even tell anyone what I did...
TODAY I PUT IT ON THE INTERNET.
Becoming a senior citizen does wonderful things to your mindset :)
Many of us have had someone take a photo or video when we were being goofy or acting the
part of a fool (pretty darn embarrassing!)... but you know what's REALLY embarrassing?...
when you take that video yourself...
"The Lonesome Puppy Blues"
After a 2-3 year unintentional hiatus from working our web site, I came across this video clip today and just
about fell off my chair - not from MS! - but from laughing!... How embarrassing!
It was an experiment: Wanting to see how the 4 week old pups would respond to music, I pulled out a guitar and began singing to them. Too embarrassed to tell anyone what I'd done, I REALLY thought I had deleted it.
Funny how time changes things...
Six years ago I was too embarrassed to even tell anyone what I did...
TODAY I PUT IT ON THE INTERNET.
Becoming a senior citizen does wonderful things to your mindset :)
The Apple Tree Rosary
background music composed & performed by YoungMiller
background music composed & performed by YoungMiller
July 4, 2011
Hats off to Marcos Aguilar who created the above display in front of the Safeway store in
Sierra Vista, AZ! Marcos, who works for Pepsi-Cola, graphed out and set up the display with
12 pack cartons of sodas as a tribute to Independence Day - no easy task for certain!
Arriving in town too late to photograph it myself, I spoke with Marcos as he was taking
the display down and he shared the above photo with us (taken on his phone).
YES! - God bless America!
(and God bless you, too, Marcos!)
_________________________________
Hats off to Marcos Aguilar who created the above display in front of the Safeway store in
Sierra Vista, AZ! Marcos, who works for Pepsi-Cola, graphed out and set up the display with
12 pack cartons of sodas as a tribute to Independence Day - no easy task for certain!
Arriving in town too late to photograph it myself, I spoke with Marcos as he was taking
the display down and he shared the above photo with us (taken on his phone).
YES! - God bless America!
(and God bless you, too, Marcos!)
_________________________________
One of the STRANGEST things we've ever seen in the desert!...
(September 9, 2010)
While driving to town, we see a snake near the road and decide to investigate.
It turned out to be a 4-ft long bull snake with HORRIBLE luck...
Somehow this poor non-venomous reptile had accidently BIT ITSELF!
- and severed its own spinal cord in the process!
- and severed its own spinal cord in the process!
The snake was completely paralyzed.
Suppose the moral here could be:
A HASTY STRIKE CAN HURT FOREVER
A HASTY STRIKE CAN HURT FOREVER
_______________________________________________________________________________
For as much as we are ALIKE, you'd swear that the two of us (who form the art team "YoungMiller") were joined at the hip from birth! - and the ways we DIFFER offset each other perfectly.
A favorite story to tell demonstrates one of those differences; showing the bold, tenacious character of my partner...
We had gone out to gather raw materials for our work; down and dead pieces of cottonwood, mesquite and such.
I'd been happily ambling along, placing scavenged small pieces and short branches in my denim tote. A little chunk of mesquite here, a bit of cottonwood branch there, here some pebbles, there a feather...
Suddenly, I heard a wild noise from behind me... and there was my partner, dragging what would best be described as
A TREE!!!
"I can fit it in the van... (puff, puff) - I can fit in the van..."
(SHE DID!)
For as much as we are ALIKE, you'd swear that the two of us (who form the art team "YoungMiller") were joined at the hip from birth! - and the ways we DIFFER offset each other perfectly.
A favorite story to tell demonstrates one of those differences; showing the bold, tenacious character of my partner...
We had gone out to gather raw materials for our work; down and dead pieces of cottonwood, mesquite and such.
I'd been happily ambling along, placing scavenged small pieces and short branches in my denim tote. A little chunk of mesquite here, a bit of cottonwood branch there, here some pebbles, there a feather...
Suddenly, I heard a wild noise from behind me... and there was my partner, dragging what would best be described as
A TREE!!!
"I can fit it in the van... (puff, puff) - I can fit in the van..."
(SHE DID!)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
ANOTHER "tree" story...
I'd come back from a trip out of town, bringing a small branch of palo verde with me. We hadn't used this type of wood before and were fascinated by its golden/greenish coloration. The branch was so small! - where could we find more that was down and dead?
We prayed about it and God soon answered in the funniest way...
We had gone to a nearby gas station/quick stop one morning and saw where someone had lost control of their vehicle, PLOWING DOWN one of their palo verde trees! We stood there STARING at it, walking around it, chuckling and mumbling to each other.
"Wonder what they're gonna do with it?... WOULD they let us... COULD we if they did..."
- but WAIT! - Someone obviously set up this arrangement!
We went in and spoke with the manager (who was thrilled with our offer!) and somehow the two of us managed to take the ENTIRE tree home - even the roots!
(No; women our age don't normally behave this way! LOL)
Dear Lord - how you spoil us!... we ask for a branch and You give us a TREE!
I'd come back from a trip out of town, bringing a small branch of palo verde with me. We hadn't used this type of wood before and were fascinated by its golden/greenish coloration. The branch was so small! - where could we find more that was down and dead?
We prayed about it and God soon answered in the funniest way...
We had gone to a nearby gas station/quick stop one morning and saw where someone had lost control of their vehicle, PLOWING DOWN one of their palo verde trees! We stood there STARING at it, walking around it, chuckling and mumbling to each other.
"Wonder what they're gonna do with it?... WOULD they let us... COULD we if they did..."
- but WAIT! - Someone obviously set up this arrangement!
We went in and spoke with the manager (who was thrilled with our offer!) and somehow the two of us managed to take the ENTIRE tree home - even the roots!
(No; women our age don't normally behave this way! LOL)
Dear Lord - how you spoil us!... we ask for a branch and You give us a TREE!
_______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
The UGLY wood...
We gather only down and dead woods from desert, canyon and riparian areas. Materials that many people PAY to have hauled away from their land, we cheerfully drag HOME to ours!
Somewhere along the way we also discovered that wood which is awful-looking on the ground can often conceal some of the richest colors and wildest grains.
This is the story of the "ugly wood"; a piece SO ugly even my partner had issues with it...
We gather only down and dead woods from desert, canyon and riparian areas. Materials that many people PAY to have hauled away from their land, we cheerfully drag HOME to ours!
Somewhere along the way we also discovered that wood which is awful-looking on the ground can often conceal some of the richest colors and wildest grains.
This is the story of the "ugly wood"; a piece SO ugly even my partner had issues with it...
We were heading back to the truck after collecting materials one morning when I spied "it" - and "it" spoke to me...
Bending over to retrieve it, I stood up in time to see a look akin to horror on my partner's face - you would've thought I just scooped up a handful of scat rather than a chunk of wood! Tucking the piece quickly into my bag, I sheepishly justified my actions - "It told me it could be beautiful."
Rolling her eyes, my partner replied, "Things just talk to you because you're Cherokee" - and alluding to her own ethnic background, she walked away shaking her head, chuckling and mumbling something in Pennsylvania Dutch; something which sounded to me like "done a better guacamole".
A few days later - and with great curiosity - the ugly wood was cut...
Bending over to retrieve it, I stood up in time to see a look akin to horror on my partner's face - you would've thought I just scooped up a handful of scat rather than a chunk of wood! Tucking the piece quickly into my bag, I sheepishly justified my actions - "It told me it could be beautiful."
Rolling her eyes, my partner replied, "Things just talk to you because you're Cherokee" - and alluding to her own ethnic background, she walked away shaking her head, chuckling and mumbling something in Pennsylvania Dutch; something which sounded to me like "done a better guacamole".
A few days later - and with great curiosity - the ugly wood was cut...
The wood was cut - and it was beautiful!...
A joy to to handle and work, it displayed deep reddish tones we'd never seen in any other woods.
Crosses and beads were soon made, adorning the necklaces below.
A joy to to handle and work, it displayed deep reddish tones we'd never seen in any other woods.
Crosses and beads were soon made, adorning the necklaces below.