SimplyLife

It seems like everyone has a top ten list for just about anything this time of year.  The best, the worst, the most popular, unpopular, obscure, and whatever you can think of.  So...in keeping with popular culture for this week only, SimplyLife offers its own top ten list for 2012.  Here are the most read and commented on posts at SimplyLife for 2012: 10.  A tie between A Taste of Bisbee and The Arts and Crafts Show -Western Style . 9.    Tuesdays at Care Net . 8.    Unleashed Living 7.    Oh Look!There's Another Nest! 6.    Book Giveaway 5.    The Family Fruitcake 4.    Smores Anyone? 3.    The Dress 2.    Wild Blue Yonder And now for Number One....drum roll....clearing of throat, and opening of envelope. 1.  Under the Circumstances or Above Them Got some time for reading?  Check out some posts from the top ten...

"Who gets the doorstop this year?" my husband grumbled. "It's Sheila's turn," I replied. "I'll get it in the mail to her tomorrow." I sighed looking at the red tin with embossed holly leaves that held the seven-year-old fruitcake. The fruitcake was a family joke. It was ceremoniously passed from my father to my brother Doug, to me, and then to my sister Sheila.  She'd get to send it back to the homestead next year.  The giver of the sticky mess of  unidentified chopped fruit welded into the circular tin was my father's Aunt Edith.  Edith Birnbaum had been a woman who delighted in giving her family gifts with varying degrees of uselessness. One year we'd all received subscriptions to Psychology Today, which may have been her way of telling us we were all in need of therapy. Then there was the year she splurged on donating $1,000 in our honor to Mensa. The card read "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." The best year ...

There's nothing like a Christmas concert to get you in the Christmas spirit. Last night was no exception when we attended the Sierra Vista Community Chorus concert.  Carols, Christmas songs, ballerinas, hammered dulcimer, handchimes, and the bones made it a special evening. This particular chorus has a wide demographic, ranging in age from 15 to 91. The chorus mostly leans toward the upper end of the age spectrum. Sharon Keene, a retired high school choral teacher from Illinois led the 80 plus voices. They gave us a wonderful evening of music all well seasoned with humor. Ensembles gave us plenty of laughs with songs about that awful gift of fruitcake, wishing for a hippopotamus for Christmas, and seeing Mommy kiss Santa Claus.   Jonny Bones - photo SV Herald  A special appearance by Jonny Bones, who is a well known street performer in Tombstone joined in on the Brazilian Christmas Carol and Boogie Woogie Santa, playing...well you...

Prickly Disposition Excerpt from Gardens of the Heart Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephesians 4:32 NLT   And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? James 3:10,11 NLT     T here are many varieties of cactus, and the blooms are gorgeous.   There’s even a cactus that blooms for one night and then it’s over. Called the Night Blooming Cereus or Queen of the Night, it produces a spectacular white star-like flower.    The Claret Cup is another showy variety with deep red cup-like blooms.   Despite their beauty, as everyone knows, there’s a very specific problem with cacti.   It’s their nasty thorns.   And not all thorns are the same.   Some have wicked long ones that are easy to se...

There were a couple of Mad Hatters at Casa Wallace recently.  Stovepipe hats, black suits, and red scarves completed their ensembles.  Clancy even got a red scarf before they left. He looks pretty good in red. The Hatters were here to clean the fireplace chimney. That annual event is to make sure we don't have a chimney fire.  They have all the right equipment and the job doesn't take too long. Brushes, long hoses, and a powerful vacuum make quick work of it from top to bottom. Within a half hour, the chimney was spic and span, ready for another winter. What makes the chimney dirty? It's the creosote-a byproduct from burning wood. If the wood doesn't burn hot enough, tarry residue can be left in the chimney. Softer woods don't burn as hot as hardwoods, so that can leave more creosote buildup too.  A well-drafted, hot fire will not only give us cozy warmth in the family room, but leave less crud in the chimney. But, it's important to cl...

One of the beautiful evergreens in our area is called the manzanita. In Spanish, it literally means "little apples." Another name used is madrone and there are 106 varieties worldwide.  It's a shrub found at the higher elevations, probably 5,000 feet and above.  A native of the west, you can find this large shrub/small tree from Mexico to Western Canada. It's also found in the Mediterranean regions. Extremely hardy and drought tolerant, it's perfectly suited for our challenging high desert climate. The signature red bark and the small green leaves, make it easy to identify. In May you'll find it loaded with beautiful pink blossoms, similar to mountain laurel.  In the summer there are small berries which were made into a medicinal tea as a poison oak remedy years ago. When I first discovered the bush while hiking in the mountains, I longed to dig up a specimen and put in my gardens.  That particular inclination was nixed,...