Merry Christmas from WWI

At my mother's request- here is a Christmas card that was sent to my great aunt by my Grandfather, Thomas Beamish, when he was stationed in France during WWI. It is strange that they had cards with soldiers on them for the troups to send. I have many of his letters to his sister during the war and I have transcribed about half of them. Although he seldom mentions the fighting in his letters, there is a mention of the cease-fire that took place during one Christmas eve. I will post that later.

Black Cougar

My son Jack and I saw a black mountain lion up in Prescott last weekend. It was as large as a big german shepard and was sitting on a rock just outside my parent's fence line. It jumped down and sauntered off when we spotted him. My dad has seen the tracks around his house, but I have never seen a mountain lion before. I wanted him to call game and fish, but I don't think he thinks it is necessary. Hope he doesn't become lion food! (BTW -This is just a picture from the Internet, I didn't have my camera in hand...)

Gifts with a Conscience

Last night I went to the Gifts With a Conscience store with a group of sustainers from my National Charity League group. (Pictured above is Carrye who organized the event.) Gifts With a Conscience is located on 33rd St. and Indian School Road. They have a lot of wonderful items and a portion of their proceeds go to help women and children's charities. I recommend going there to get some of your Christmas shopping done!

I bought a several baskets from The Blessing Basket Project - http://www.blessingbasket.org/ - these baskets are made by women from all over the world and they are paid directly and at least 2.5 times the fair trade value for their work. This helps to lift them out of poverty. I bought two baskets from Ghana and a purse made in Madagascar. We watched a great video on the project.

Phoenix 10K

I ran/walked the 5K portion of the Phoenix 10K race on Sunday. A group of coworkers walked it with me and two (Heidi and Jose) were tough and ran the entire race. I admire them for being able to do that... maybe someday I will get up enough energy to try it.

Pictured above are me with Cynthia and her friend Brian (who I think looks like Hugh Jackman) - he sent us these pictures.

Birthday Celebrations

My daughter and friends threw a surprise party for me on my birthday this week and I thought I would put up some of the pictures. (This one is of Ames, Nancy and I).

I celebrated all week with Manicures and Martinis, parties and lunches. Thanks to everyone for sending me all your good wishes as I turned a whole half century. Ouch! You all made it much less painful! I love you all!

Kelley gives me my cupcake cake.

Daughter Lauren and I at The Vig - she was very good at surprising me!

Traci's Wedding Party

This weekend I helped throw a party for Rodney and Traci - they are getting married on a cruise next month. The weather was beautiful and we were able to hang out on the patio all evening. Congratulations you two!

Traci's Shower at the Cabin

Eight gals went up to my Forest Lakes "ex" cabin last weekend to celebrate my friend Traci's upcoming nuptuals with a wedding shower. We did indeed have a shower when we got hit with some nice icy rain during our hike. The rest of the time was spent inside with a fire, games and of course food!