By Ted Grussing
… soon, I hope. Early Sunday morning I took to the air in search of green meadows and blue lakes; SE of Flagstaff seemed like a good idea since that is where most of the lakes are and also more rain falls there than on the N side of Flagstaff as the moisture tends to come out of the atmosphere on the upslope of the mountains and plateau. Not sure what the narrow lake on the lower left of the image is, but you can see the earthen dam on the right end of the lake; the beautiful blue lake is Ashurst Lake and it is a good fishing lake and a few years after they convert the coal burning generating plant to natural gas at St. Joseph City on I-40 east of Flagstaff the fish should be edible … the younger ones that is. Takes a while for the mercury and other pollutants to be buried and out of harm’s way in the sit at the bottom of the lake.
Above and to the left of Ashurst Lake are a few other lakes including Lower St. Mary’s Lake and to the right about half an inch from the upper reaches of St. Mary’s lake you can see the white domes of the telescopes of Lowell Observatory on the Anderson Mesa Site overlooking the lake. The thin white line at the base of the mountains is Flagstaff some 25 or so miles to the NW of my location. From the left on the horizon you have Bill Williams Mountain (I think) Sitgreaves Mountain, Kendrick Peak, the San Francisco Peaks, Mt. Elden, and some of the volcanic cones to the E of the peaks including Sunset Crater. The road to the Lake looks pretty good so thinking of heading out there next week.
The grass is turning a beautiful green following the recent rains … less than a month ago it was pretty brown up there.
Wednesday night 6:30PM at the Hilton; thirteen showed up last week and hoping for more this week. Reservation is in my name and Anthony Mazzella is the entertainment for the evening.
Calendar is completed and finishing up photos for the Saturday Salon at the Mary D. Fisher Theater Saturday at 1:30PM. About the salon and ticket purchases at: http://prod5.agileticketing.net/WebSales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=29073~e8932fbb-a9ae-4437-a638-ff0cf1793527&
Flying in not that many hours so time for some rest. Hope your Labor Day weekend was delightful and you spent it in the company of friends and family. Have a beautiful day today and share some smiles with those whom you meet today … and the next one if you are still here … hope you are.
Cheers
Ted
May words unkind and false ne’er pass your lips,
Nor harsh and low ambitions drive you on.
— Max Ehrmann