Hug the ones you love!

Every day I check the Niagara Falls newspaper online. This morning the temperature there was -21 C (-6 F). Maybe that explains the existence of Canadian snowbirds? I came across a video of 47-year-old Will Gadd, ice-climbing the Falls just two weeks ago. (If you're reading this in an automatically generated email, you will need to view it on the blog site to see the video, but I think it's worth it, so go to ru2cold.blogspot.ca)

On a warmer note ...

We had a lovely surprise yesterday when our homeowner was back in the area and stopped by with fresh fish from his travels, and made us supper. Thank you, Val, for wonderful fish tacos and some enjoyable conversation. Greg and I have been pleasantly surprised by how much we've developed relationships with the people we've house sat for so far; it's been an unexpected perk of this adventure.

Val skinning and filleting yellowtail fish

Today we walked two of the dogs in the neighbourhood. We thought it best not to attempt three on leashes, so we had the oldest one stayed home and she seemed quite content. All of us enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.

The Palo Verde (Spanish for green stick) tree in the photo below, with its distinctive green bark, is Arizona's state tree. It was designated as such in 1954 ... a great year (says she, who was born that year). These trees are quite common in this area and add a nice touch of colour to an otherwise neutral palette of whitewashed houses, sand and rocks. That's in addition to so many green cactus, of course.

Behind the house in the photo you'll see Lookout Mountain, which I guess gets its name from the view from the hiking trails. For us, so far, it has that name because we can see it when we look out the window of our home; we have yet to tackle the trails!

No post from me tomorrow. As well as being born in 1954, I was also born on February 14th. Like me, I hope you get to spend your St. Valentine's Day with the ones you love!