Road trip to Mount Lemmon!

To get out of the heat in Tucson, we decided to take a trip to Mount Lemmon.

It's one of the highest points in Tucson.

It's also the place where they had a Japanese internment camp from WWII, which was our first stop.

You can read more about it 'here'.

It's a sad but interesting historic place.

All that's left of the buildings are stone walls and foundations.

This was the main building at one point:

We think this was probably a root cellar:

I wasn't about to go all the way in there to find out though ;)

Aside from the building remains, there were all sorts of beautiful flowers around us...

Mexican Bird of Paradise.

Arizona Rosewood

Unknown wildflower.

We decided to keep walking...

...

Up above were more foundations for the camp.

This time it was the shower area:

There were even some shower tiles left embedded in the cement.

After that we headed back down the dry stream bed...

and got back in the car to go further up the mountain.

We stopped to see the view...

stopped at a stream in a little town called Summerhaven...

and took the trail the rest of the way to the top in the car and then on foot.

This view was our reward:

Mount Lemmon is named after a botanist named Sara Plummer Lemmon who trekked to the top in 1881.

You can read more about it 'here'.

On the way back down we stopped again for another amazing view:

There's a lot of history on that mountain and so much beauty.

Mostly though, it was a whole lot cooler! ;)

xo

rue

It's hot and thank you

So, this is kind of a random post, but I will start out by saying...

It's so hot here, I want to live in a pool until it's over.

Sadly, I don't have one.

Also, have I mentioned that I don't have central air?

Pretty sure I have.

 every.

single.

 summer.

Although it was invented in 1902, they didn't have it for regular folk's homes in 1930 and I'm not putting one in for 40 grand in 2017. So, here I sit listening to the loud humming of fans and a window air-conditioner that barely cools off the house enough to keep Bubba and Mini from panting.

Seriously...

This is my life:

a black hole.

Yes, I know it's that time of year, but it's a heat wave.

Yes, I know it's Arizona, but I live in the supposedly "cooler" mountain area.

And yes, I know it's vintage to not have air-conditioning.

But, I'm complaining anyway.

I don't care.

It's hot.

And I'm a wuss.

So there.

:p

Anyway, enough of that...

I know I missed a week of blogging, but I've been a tad busy.

My mom is in the process of moving to a new house, which I've been helping with and I've been honing in on my baking skills again.

Well, until the heat wave of hell got here.

And I've been a cleaning fool.

It's done now though.

Oh and watering.

A LOT of watering.

Lots of heat, no rain.

But I digress...

I have quite a few things to share with you, but for today, I just wanted to check in and tell you how much I appreciate all the lovely comments on my last post.

It was so nice to not only learn more about some of my old friends, but also to meet so many new friends.

A lot of you had never commented before on this blog or any blog for that matter and I'm truly flattered that you reached out to say hello.

Even if I never hear from some of you again, I'm happy to "meet" you :)

And those of you that didn't say hello, that's okay too.

I appreciate you coming by, comment or not.

I mean it.

So thank you too :)

I finished answering all your comments on the blog today, but I still have emails to get to.

I want to apologize for my terrible emailing.

I do see them, but I sometimes mark them for later because I'm in a hurry and don't get back to you for a long time.

Bad, bad rue.

But I promise I will get to them ASAP.

That said...

Thank you again from the bottom of my heart.

Without all of you I'd be sitting here talking to myself and I hear that's not healthy ;)

Love to all,

rue

Curious again

I'd like to revisit a post I wrote in August of 2015.

After all, it's been almost two years, sine I asked about all of you ;)

....

I've noticed that not everyone that reads my blog leaves a comment.

Which is completely fine.

I promise :)

But naturally, I wonder about my readers.

Wouldn't you?

So, if you've left a comment before or not, I'd love it if you would tell me who you are and where you're from.

Maybe a little about yourself too?

I promise, I won't bite ;)

If not, that's okay.

I understand.

It's just me being curious.

xo

rue

A childhood wish

When I was a little girl, all I wanted was a miniature dollhouse.

Not one of those plastic kid toys, but a real dollhouse... the kind with actual replicas of furniture, linens, food, and lights that worked.

For years, it was all I dreamt about.

via google images

In fact, there was a restaurant that we went to all the time, with a miniatures shop next door and I'd always ask to go inside so I could look at all the wonderful items they had for sale, dreaming of the day when I could finally furnish one of my own.

One Christmas, much to my chagrin, my best friend, Stephanie woke up to find a dollhouse under her Christmas tree.

It looked much like this:

via google images

You could open the sides or the roof to see inside and it was completely furnished with little twinkling lights throughout.

I was so green with envy!

I went home and told my mom all about it and I'm sure, drove her insane, but when I asked her if I could have one, she just told me no. 

Something about me breaking it.

I was one sad little girl.

I still asked Santa for one of those lighted dollhouses every Christmas, but my wish never came true.

Funny thing... when I look back, I don't remember Stephanie ever playing with it. 

It just sat in her room untouched.

Sad, isn't it?

Eventually, I got older and put aside my dream of owning one of those beautiful creations.

But it remained somewhere in the back of my mind.

Then one day I was told about the miniatures museum in Tucson, called the The Mini Time Machine.

I was so excited!

Eventually I got the chance to go :)

This is the first house you see...

The next one had an automated door that opened when you walked up to it.

I was in heaven!

So much so that I forgot to take pictures at first, until I found a replica of the Gamble House by Greene and Greene.

My pictures are awful, because I was using my cell phone, but it was truly a work of art.

And there were so many more beautiful homes...

Even Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett were there ;)

And there was even miniatures in the floor...

Like I said, I was too busy gawking to take many pictures, but you can read more 'here'

and watch this video:

It was so much fun and it brought back all those childhood dreams that I had laid to rest.

By the way, what's the one thing you always wanted for Christmas?

Maybe it's time for your childhood wish to come true :)

xo

rue