Pressing On

I have this old bookshelf that is one of maybe two items that have actually circled back to Phoenix with us. Most of our furniture is long gone and we have replaced it with new and updated.  But this bookcase is something that hung on. I don’t know why. It’s not like it’s some high quality item. It sits in my study and I do still love to hold a book. I use my Kindle App a lot but there is something about turning pages and the smell of paper and ink that I enjoy. I also like to loan or give books away after I’ve read them. Many, I keep because they hold a special place in my heart. Some have been life changing. So, the bookcase is still a necessity for me.  However, I did want something new and updated so I decided I would paint it. I mean, looks easy enough. They have this new (not so new but new to me) chalk paint I’ve heard great things about.  They promise it to be a one coat wonder. No priming, sanding or stripping. Yes please!  So, I bought a can, set the books out o

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the desert look more beautiful. Is it just me or is it blooming more than usual? We have had more rain this winter than I ever remember Phoenix having outside of monsoon season. So, maybe it is blooming more than the norm.  When we first moved to Phoenix back in 1999 I remember thinking it looked so brown, dry and lonely. Maybe that was because of my attitude back then. I did not want to be here. It truly was a dry and lonely place at the time and I couldn’t see the beauty in the desert at all.  When I looked up “desert” in my dictionary app I got: “any area in which few forms of life can exist because of lack of water, permanent frost, or absence of soil.”  Also, “any place lacking in something.” The desert doesn’t have to necessarily be a physical place or even one that is mostly dry, brown and sandy.  ←This picture was taking three years ago from our front porch.  I remember this day well. I was in a de