New Bank - Old Look

This bank is located in Delafield, just west of Pewaukee. Lately, national retail centers have been trying to recreate the nostalgic look of the "old days" with their Main Street-style shopping courts, and our area is following suit. The wall lanterns, the reliable clock, and even the name - "Town Bank" - make it seem like a safe place to invest your money.... although I wouldn't bet the farm on it these days.

Winter Sun

As opposed to yesterday's Arizona sunset sky post, this is what a typical morning looks like around Pewaukee in January. If you click on the image for a larger view and look closely, you can see the faint, tiny outline of the sun trying to break through the clouds in the southeastern horizon of the sky.

SkyWatch Friday: Adieu to Phoenix

This was the sunset view of the sky after our last full day in Phoenix. (Taken with my cell phone, so I apologize if it's a little blurry.) We will visit Arizona again next winter. For now though, we are back in the midst of winter in Wisconsin. Although it sounds like Flagstaff and much of the rest of Arizona are currently experiencing snowy, stormy and/or flooding conditions. Rough for the present, but probably good for the water reserves.

See all SkyWatch entries here.

Prescott Clock

A large clock graces the corner of a brick building on Gurley Street in Prescott, AZ. This is one of the last Arizona postings I will do from our recent trip.

Winter Trails

Another snowy, tree-lined path that Nik and I love to hike. This one borders the Broken Hill subdivision. Just lovely - however, we definitely got our exercise since we were the first visitors to blaze the trail, and the snow was still almost knee-deep in some places. I think I'm investing in some snowshoes for next year...and maybe a little sled for Nik!

Cactus Flowers

During our visit to Phoenix, we got a few glipses of some cactus flowers while hiking along the North Mountain trails. A very tiny cactus with super-long spikes displayed a pretty pink flower (above) and a barrel cactus (below) had a top crown of yellow flowers,

Below is a panoramic view of Phoenix taken from the trail.

Pan Am Graffiti

Another box car graffiti image taken while waiting for (a very slow!) train to pass the intersection of Duplainville Road in the City of Pewaukee.

Click the graffiti tag below to see all related images from this blog.

FROG... or Hoarfrost

Pewaukee temps dipped into the teens last night and a fog rolled in. This morning, we were treated to a Jack Frost show on all the trees and shrubs.

Our local weather-dudes call this "frog" - meaning frozen fog. The technical term is actually "hoarfrost." Frost is to dew as snowflakes are to raindrops. When water vapor condenses into liquid water, you get raindrops and dew. When temperatures drop, water vapor condenses directly into ice, and you get snowflakes and frost. When frost forms as tiny ice crystals covering the ground, it's just called frost.

But sometimes the frost grains grow larger and are called hoarfrost crystals. This often happens when the skies are clear, or covered with high, thin clouds, and there is little or no wind to prevent the settling of foggy moisture.

These ice crystals are so large, that they almost look like the trees have a salty coating on them like pretzels!

Church Upon the Rocks

Sorry for being a bit remiss in my posting of late, but I've been battling a doozy of a cold this past week, and quite busy with work and dog-sitting duties. (Harriet!) I really need to finish posting photos of our Arizona trip, so today I'm sharing a view of the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, AZ. Quite a stunning work of architecture (conceived by female architect Marguerite Bruswig Staude and built in 1956.) Below is the view from across the street.

Jerome Grand Hotel

During our Arizona trip, we visited Jerome, a quaint little historic mining town built precariously on a hillside. We ate lunch at the Asylum Restaurant, located inside the "Grand Hotel," which was once the local hospital. The highlight of our meal was their squash cream soup, which doesn't sound that good, but was actually quite delicious.

If you look closely at the photo, you can see "Santa" climbing up the balcony railing!

Giant Jesus

On the open road between Cottonwood and Sedona, Arizona, stands this larger than life statue of Jesus. It's visible for a few miles down the road, and we couldn't figure out what it was until we came upon it standing near a christian church in the middle of nowhere. A little disconcerting, but still, I suppose it's nice to have someone (literally!) watching over us.

Note that he's holding a globe, i.e. "he has the whole world in his hands," as the song goes.

Green Bay Packers vs Arizona Cardinals

While in Arizona last week, we attended the Packers-Cardinals game where the Pack won handily: 33-7. This week, in the play-offs, they meet again down in Phoenix and Green Bay is expected to repeat their win, although probably not by that stretch. It's amazing how many Packers fans there were in Phoenix, although much of it was probably due to timing. It was, after all, the holidays - when thousands of midwest "snow-birds" flock down south to warmer weather. But there are also lots of midwest transplants living in the southwest, many originally from Wisconsin - hence the Packers allegiance.

I was able to catch a few good crowd shots to demonstrate the rivalry. The cheese-adorned fan above does not exactly represent Green Bay's finest ambassador. However, the banner below illustrates what I've just described.

The commentary represented by this Arizona fan's helmet (below) shows what he hopes happens to the Packers.

And, finally - this cardboard cut-out of Brett Favre, all "gussied" up by some Cardinals fans, depicts what they think of him - (and since this is a PG-rated blog, I can't even show what was going on below the waist...) but let's remember, he's no longer a Packer!

All I can say is: GO PACK!

Moonset Over Thumb Butte

During our recent visit, we had this early morning view of the moon setting over Thumb Butte from our Prescott, AZ hotel room. If you look closely at the larger image, you can see a dusting of snow on the hills.

SkyWatch Friday: Desert View

During our recent Arizona trip, we drove down to the Saguaro National Forest near Tucson. The variety and beauty of all the cacti were just amazing. This scene reminded me of something you might see in an old "Western" - I half-expected to see John Wayne galloping into view against the big sky and hazy blue mountains. :-)

See all SkyWatch entries here.

Window Shopping

A photo of the Newman Gallery window, one of the Whiskey Row shops in Prescott, AZ. The bare trees in the reflection are in the yard of the courthouse across the street.

Happy 2010!

We're finally back in Pewaukee from our Arizona holiday vacation. We spent a few days in Prescott with our son and his fiance, and then a few days in Phoenix to see the Packers/Cardinals game. (The Pack won! They'll play each other again next weekend, but that's one we'll have to catch on TV.) I must admit the mild temps and sunny skies were a pleasant diversion from the reality of snow and frigid temps back here in Wisconsin.

On New Year's Day we hiked around Watson Lake - a very interesting outcropping of rocks and water on the edge of Prescott. The scenery was amazing, as you can tell by the photo of this young couple fishing. I'll be posting more photos from our trip over the next few days.