First, I'm a horrible blogger! It's not just here; I'm just as bad on MySpace and Live Journal. I just never add new entries. Considering how much I love to write -- and talk! -- that seems odd to me. I promise to try to update here more often.

It's been raining off-and-on here for over a week. This has, of course, kept Jamus' knee in pain and really hasn't done much for our spirits either. This year's Apache Jii is next Saturday, so I hope the weather clears before then. I want to spend more time there this year. We basically just got to see the Crown Dancers last year. Of course, we shopped a little, too. I bought a peridot chip necklace and a pair of small silver & peridot earrings. I also picked up a couple of tiny kachinas.

We actually had water running in the (usually) dry wash on the property this afternoon. We have two washes, but we can't see one from inside the house, and we weren't quite curious enough to go out in the storm to check it, too. LOL Driving through town a few days ago, we noticed that many of the washes have water in them. Creeks actually look like creeks! It still feels odd living somewhere where most of the rivers are dry most of the year, especially after living in Washington. We miss the water. Back there, a ten-minute drive took us to Puget Sound. We'd park at the marina or at the lighthouse at Mukilteo and watch the water. We'd see seals, gulls, and the occasional whale.

We loved to watch the boats, too. I have a favorite, a lovely sailboat named "Anthea." Often, we'd just park across from her slip and talk and listen to music. We met her owner on one visit. We'd gone to watch her, and she was gone! We had only seen her out of her slip once before, when the marina was being dredged, so I was afraid she'd been moved. Or sold. As we were driving through the marina, Jamus spied her hauled out in the boatyard. We pulled in and found her owner working on her. We talked to him awhile, telling him how much we admired his boat, and got to see his photo album of her. He'd built her himself, and he had photos of the process. As I said, we had only seen her out of her slip that one time before, and she'd been cruising under engine power then. It was lovely to see his photos of her under sail. His sons, he said, have no interest in the boat. He's an older gentleman, too old, he said, to take her out by himself. So, I imagine, when he passes on, his sons will probably just sell her. Or, worse, scrap her. I know that I'm an incurable daydreamer, but I still imagine him handing us the boat's papers, saying, "I'd rather she went to folks who'll love her." Goofy me.... Even if such a miracle did happen, neither of us is up to crewing a sail boat anymore.

I guess I'm just a little homesick for the sea. We so rarely hear running water here. At the casino on the Apache reservation, there's a small landscaped area between the casino and the hotel. It has a koi pond with a waterfall, and we like to sit there and listen to the water. It's silly, perhaps, but it reminds us of the Northwest, even if the plants around it are agave, palms, and cactus.