(Lyn's note: Please feel free to send us any pictures you'd like included.  If your photos are for sale, let us know and we will put them under that category.  We have a special section for that purpose, and have just added some art as well.  Check out Tom Baker's photos for sale.  He's the photographer who took that gorgeous photo in the Carefree Gardens Photo Contest that was both the judges' first pick and the public favorite.  It's now featured on the Town of Carefree website, and will be the cover of the 2014 Gardens calendar that will be for sale later this summer at Carefree Town Hall.  If anyone would like to buy a print of any of Herbert's photos, all profits will be donated to one of the local non-profit organizations.)  Here's the link to this week's Pictures of the Week.

http://carefreetruth.com/Carefree_Truth/Photos_5-19-14.html

Here's the link to the latest Desert Foothills Chronicle:

http://carefreetruth.com/Carefree_Truth/DFC_Inc_5-10-14.html

 

Thanks Lyn- appreciate the summary.

Fred Layman

(Lyn's note: The Ed Lewis Easy Street Project)

Thanks Lyn,

The kids have worked so hard and done such an amazing job!!! I’m so proud of them.

--MB

(Lyn's note: We are always happy to support the Desert Foothills Theater in Carefree Truth.  Good job!)

 

I know that I am being nit-picky...BUT...for the sake of accuracy, please bear in mind the additional information

21.  When England's famous  London Bridge was replaced in the 1950s, the original was purchased, dismantled,  shipped stone by stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it  still stands  today.

 [Response/Comment]  Less than half of the bridge was reconstructed at Havasu City.  When it was in London, it was at a point over the Thames where the river is near its widest till it opens up into an estuary.

57.  The two largest man-made lakes in the  U.S. are Lake Mead and Lake Powell,  both located in Arizona.

 [Response/Comment]  Arizona can only claim about half of each lake and that could be questionable.  Half of Lake Mead is in Nevada and half of Lake Powell is in Utah.

Arthur Gimson 

 

 

Sometimes the story about the photos we take add a whole different experience for those we share our photos with...this is one of those times for me.

Phil Corso

This is a true tall tale about a lizard......a big Chuckwalla lizard named  Sally. Sally and her friend Harry are the Lizards of Lazy Lane. I've been trying to take Sally’s photo since I first met her early one morning in February 2009. Well, a few years later I did. Here’s the songline...

 I moved into this house on a hill in Carefree in December 2008 and quickly discovered that taking a stroll on my driveway hauling a full trash container on wheels downhill to the street is an adventure not unlike a fast run on an icy ski mountain trail. If you survive, going back uphill is just crusin’ in the sunshine. I first saw Harry and Sally on one of those early morning uphill walks lounging on one of boulder outcroppings.

Hoping to get a photo or two, I quickly went inside to get my Nikon. When I returned and clicked the camera shutter, Harry took off instantly down into the crevices between the rocks

 

Harry   2009

 

Sally was cool and just looked at me for a moment while soaking up some sunshine then casually strolled away without looking back.

 

 

Sally   2009

 

 

I’ve seen Harry and Sally a few times since then but have not had a camera nearby to take a picture. Each time they notice me, Harry takes off into the shadows while Sally lingers for a moment before walking away.  I don’t know what Harry’s problem has been but I think Sally has just been playing coy and hard to get... until a recent Carefree day.

As I was driving downhill, I noticed Sally sitting on top of a boulder again. Luckily I had a camera with me...the one that comes with my Android smartphone. In the past, Sally was always hanging around with Harry. But he was now nowhere in sight. My guess is that Harry had some unfinished projects on his “honey-do” list...or taking his siesta nap.

My guess is that Sally had probably heard enough of Harry’s whining and decided to work on her tan in the desert sun and maybe even flirt with anyone that happened to cruise by.  Still, I was surprised when Sally let me get so close taking photos that I could have almost petted her. But tease that she is, after posing for pics at high noon she just strolled away and disappeared into the boulder outcropping...never looking back.

 

Sally   2014

 

Chuckwalla Lizards are indigenous to the upper Sonoran desert. Unlike their cousins, the Gila Monsters, who are a highly poisonous, protected species of lizard, Chuckwalla lizards are harmless. They are also vegans. Go figure. As I drove away, I wondered for a moment why the behaviors of two lizards so closely resemble that of their human counterparts... and I just chuckled.  

Quite often, observations like my encounter with Harry and Sally have resulted in my writing song lyrics or some silly poem that captures the moment in verse and rhyme. A narrative like this arrives later as the songline that tells the tale. In this case, I was reminded about a summer song I first heard called “Off to See the Lizard” and a time long ago spent chasing Geeko lizards on Maui with my sons. As life came full circle for a brief moment  I just smiled...

Post Script

Its said that the lense of a camera sees the world differently than the naked eye just like our minds can play tricks on us when we see things from just one perspective. I have discovered that to be very true here at Lazy Lane. You see, Carefree was founded with an eye toward art when two developers saw something other than a goat ranch on the land they purchased to create their vision. Over the years, the desert foothills that surround Carefree have attracted artists of all sorts. Some of my favorites are the works of the Anasazi and Hohokum, the native people who inhabited this area a few million years ago. They left behind their art in the form of petroglyphys carved into the boulders. Modern day artists have followed their path and have sculpted stones in their natural surroundings.  My favorite ones are the pieces that make you wonder.  Sort of like these.

Take a close look. Is this just the camera playing tricks or did an artist decided to carve a face into the stone where I found Sally working on her tan today?

 

 

Off to See the Lizard

Jimmy Buffett

 

I was raised by a maid who came from Martinique
She wore geckos round her neck and bracelets on her feet

Click the “Click to Listen” button above to hear a live version recorded in 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona

A superstitious woman from the land of sugar cane
she’d sing the sun to bed and dance out in the rain

Dance out dance out dance out dance out in the rain

She'd excite us with his legend that the Africans had told
About a red iguana who turned lava into gold
We'd mount an expedition headin' out into the bay
Superstitious children playing pirate for a day

Off to see the lizard...Off to see the lizard
Deja deja deja vu, believe it And it will come true
Veja Veja Veja du What works for me might work for you

Bein' rich and famous seems to have its ups and downs
That's the price you pay for being troubadours and clowns
Godzilla's halitosis it be vaporizing cars
Elvis up in Michigan or maybe out on Mars
Dance out dance out dance out to the stars

But livin' in the briar patch ain't what it appears
Sooner or later you gotta face your fears
I heard it from the parrot verbalizing in the tree
I heard it in the song lines of the aborigine

Off to see the lizard...Off to see the lizard
Deja deja deja vu, believe it And it will come true
Veja Veja Veja du What works for me might work for you

Does it work for me?... Yeah yeah
Will it work for you?... Yeah yeah
If you believe it will... Yeah yeah
It will come true

I got problems with my brain underneath my curls
Problems wif Loraine and all the other girls
Love a wealthy woman and the pretty plane she flies
If you think this songs confusing you should see it through my eyes
Dancin, dancin, dancin through my eyes

I'm turning off the waterfall the tourists can go home
Feel it time to travel time to write a poem
Time to seek some therapy I'm goin' walkabout
Answers are the easy part questions raise the doubt

                              Off to see the lizard...Off to see the lizard
                              Deja deja deja vu, believe it And it will come true                           

                             Veja Veja Veja du What works for me might work for you

 

Phil Corso

Carefree, Arizona

“A State of Mind...A Sense of Place

(Lyn's note: Phil also included this link, which I was unable to open, but maybe you can.  I'm hoping the photos come through, as when I copied and pasted the Word version he was also kind enough to submit, the photos didn't copy, so I went back and copied each of them separately.  I'm hoping they show up when I send it to all of you.  If not, try this link.  I loved your photos and your story, Phil.  Thanks for sharing!)

https://secure.logmein.com/f?00_dbK.gfrkhPu2kvF8lXL.EylQGwi7g8fFvTgxdld9

Click here for page #2