While that puddle you see there is technically "water", that's not what's meant by "pretty when there's water in it". The cracked dry earth surrounding it should give you a clue that the creek is dry. But, those are still some pretty awesome reflections.
The first people to greet me after I arrived were Dona, this time with Jim.
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| Dona, Jim |
Mike showed up next, just after Dona and I were discussing the fact that I didn't really know who would be coming today.
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| Mike, Mike's Mug and his Red Jeep |
LeAnne pulled in next.
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| LeAnne |
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| Kirsten |
And, just as we were getting ready to head on down, 2 more showed up.
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| (L to R) Mike, Ed |
Yes, I suspect our early starts have made it possible for Ed to join us before he heads off to work -- now that's a dedicated artist!
And, then our final arrival was Nori.
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| Nori |
We all headed down the trail (sans Jim - as he had already took off for a hike) to our usual location, where on this day everyone decided to stop and take a good look at THAT TREE. You know - the BIG one!
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| Big Tree (L to R) LeAnne, Mike, Dona, Kirsten, Nori, Ed |
I know, Nori is a little hard to see, but if you look real close you'll see her right arm looking like it's coming from Ed's shoulder - she's wearing a long sleeved white top.
Here's the zoom of that.
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| See the white arm |
We all discussed the tree and tried to guess its age, none of us had a clue, which led to random numbers being thrown out. So, after trying to research how old this tree could possibly be - it would appear that it's most likely over 100 years old due to its size. A search found this statement "some sources suggest that sycamores can live for 100 to 200 years, and some may even live over 500 years."
Well, so, there you go -- the final answer - no one knows. Probably safe to assume it planted itself there a long time before any of us ever visited.
So, somehow when we got to our usual location, LeAnne wound up on the other side of the creek
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| LeAnne on the other side |
She was soon joined by Nori and Mike.
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| (L to R) Nori, LeAnne |
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| Mike in the shade |
Well, Mike certainly picked the shady spot, at least to start. I know he's hard to find in that pic due to all that shade. Sort of like those kid's games, we'll call this one "Where's Mike". Of course, I picked a spot in the shade but wasn't really paying attention as I lost my shade somewhere around 9:00. Oh, our meet up time was 7:30 - a change from 8 because, well, it's Summer in Arizona.
Ed continued to the bottom edge of that puddle and found his spot.
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| Ed |
I do realize it's not the greatest photo of Ed, but that's zoomed in as much as possible and still be recognizable and I clearly was tired of fumbling around trying to navigate the rocks. Look at them.
Although that was the path Nori took to get to the other side -- see that white dot out there. Here she comes after working her way across and then up the other side.
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| Nori, rounding the puddle - I know this is out of sequence |
Our other artists (including me) found spots on the first side of the creek you encounter.
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| (L to R) Kirsten, Dona |
We all painted for a while and then as I mentioned, the sun got to me, so I packed things up and headed back out towards the cars.
LeAnne, however, captured a few pics I'm guessing maybe after she finished her painting. She caught Nori and Mike having a discussion.
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| Nori, Mike (Photo by LeAnne) |
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| Me, Kirsten |
I also took a few pictures of the large wash on my way back to the car.
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| Looks wider than the actual creek |
Before we put all paintings up for display, LeAnne captured a photo of group discussion about said paintings.
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| And here we all are - looks like we're admiring someone's painting. (L to R) Kirsten, Nori, Ed, Mike, Dona, My back (Photo by LeAnne) |
I'd like to give a special thank you to LeAnne for the photos, especially since with her's you can actually see the people!
It wasn't long before the others joined me and one thing I realized in looking at the Gallery Photo -- using a big red vehicle is perhaps a little distracting from the paintings.
Oh look at that -- Mike's vehicle is shiny enough to show the people looking at the paintings.
Here's a better view of them (the paintings that is).
And the artists behind the paintings who all smiled on 2.
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| Back Row (L to R) - Kristen, Nori, LeAnne, Dona, Ed, Mike Front Row - Jim, Me |
You've probably guessed that Jim is not a painter - he's the hiker in the group who comes along with Dona. He magically finds his way back to the meet up point right on time though.
Well, that's a wrap for this week. Off to a different location next time.
Cecilia