Arizona

My whole 4th grade class made one of these paperweights in school. It's made in the shape of the State of Arizona, because that's where I grew up. We took our school picture, placed it in a mold and then poured some sparkly stuff over it that set up hard as a rock. And about 46 years later, it may be showing signs of age, but it's still solid as a rock - although the picture seems to have faded a little. It's about 4 inches high.

Pay attention to what's happening in Arizona.

This is a metal souvenir ashtray depicting Arizona. It belonged to my late Mother, and since we lived in Arizona for about 10 years, she collected things from there that had a Western theme. This was a test shot for my newly-acquired Minolta XG-A. Camera: Minolta XG-A Lens: Minolta MD 50mm, f/1.7 Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W (expired 10/2019) Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/11 Shutter Speed: “B” (bulb) 6 seconds Date: November 15th, 2025, 3.37 a.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals at 68 degrees Water pre-soak: 5 minutes Caffenol CM-RS: 44 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Ilfostop stopbath: 1 minute Water rinse: 1 minute Kodak Kodafix fixer: 7 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Minolta XG-A Fuji Acros 100 Test One 2025 17gf

When I lived in Safford, Arizona, we moved out past the edge of town and this was essentially what the view from our back yard looked like. We opened up desert land and built our house on it.

Mt. Graham, near Safford, Arizona. Taken in July 1977 with a Kodak Handle instant film camera. My family used to live right around this spot and this was our backyard view. (Without the buildings, of course. All we saw was desert all the way to the mountain's edge.)

This was my parents, Ken and Carolyn Harrelson, standing in front of our house in Safford, Arizona. It was taken in July 1966. Today, August 7th, 2020, would have been their 61st wedding anniversary. This looks to have been taken with a box camera and that's my Mom's Aunt Loreas and Uncle Vernon's 1963 Chevy parked to the right, so Loreas most likely took this photo. They lived fairly close by in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

This is a picture of my Mother in February, 1966. It was taken by some relatives of ours while visiting us at our new house in Safford, Arizona. They must have finished the roll of film and developed it back home in Illinois, for we never saw it until the day of Mom's funeral in January 2010. She never liked getting her picture taken, so that's why she's scowling in this shot. Our house was so new, the grass hadn't even yet been planted in the back yard.

This is my sister Karla and I on the lot of Old Tucson, Arizona. A place used for filming many Western movies and television series. The day we were here, back on February 8th, 1970, they were shooting the television Western series "High Chaparral" there.

My Mom, sister and me at the movie set for the television show, "The HIgh Chaparral." It was filmed in Southern Arizona, Old Tucson, to be exact. This was taken when it was still on the air, on February 8th, 1970. Looks like Dad must have taken it because Mom didn't want to be in pictures very often and was the family photographer. Scanned from a wallet-sized photo.

Dad, my sister and I, the day after Christmas. Looks like this picture was taken at our new house on 15th Street in Safford, Arizona. I found another picture from this date and it was taken in front of the house in question, so I'm pretty sure that's where it was. This one was most likely taken by my Mother, as she was the family photographer back then. Notice my sister in her white "go-go" boots. They look more like rain galoshes, but hey, they were white and looked like go-go boots that were popular at the time, so she was happy.

This was my Great Aunt and Uncle, on my mother's side, Loreas and Vernon Humphries, taken in December 1969. Most likely on Christmas Day or the day after. They were posing in front of my family's house in Safford, Arizona. Every year at Christmas, my family would either go to their house in Las Cruces, New Mexico or they would come to our house. Vernon was quite a character and when he was younger, he used to be a chuckwagon cook on cattle drives in the early 1900s.

A photo postcard of a place my family stopped at for a Coco-Cola on August 22nd, 1966. From the writing on the back of it, it looks like my Grandmother Wright, Mom's mom was there with us.

An old postcard depicting the El Camino Motel, located in Tucson, Arizona. It featured moderated rates, heated pool, cooled by refrigeration, kitchenettes and was only three minutes from downtown Tucson. Apparently, my Great Aunt and Uncle Loreas and Vernon stayed there for one night on September 22nd, 1969, and that's to when this postcard dates. And apparently, there was also a guy that held a woman hostage here at this hotel and tortured her brutally. Don't know which room it was - so you might want to ask about that at the front desk before checking in!

I believe this was from Fort Huachuca, which was an Army base near where I used to live in Southern Arizona, a town called Safford. Be careful pulling out those cactus spines! One of the post cards in my late Mother's collection.

My late mother wrote out this recipe and she got it from some friends and neighbors we used to have from out in Arizona. Lilly passed away a couple years ago, too. I cooked this recipe a couple nights ago in remembrance.

This Hopi Kachinka Doll made of porcelain belonged to my mother. It was a present from one of her childhood friends and she received it in the late 1950's. So, I've seen it displayed my whole life and have always been drawn to it's creepiness. The Hopi Indians would dress up and do a ceremonial dance wearing outfits such as this.

This is a turquoise bracelet that belonged to my mother. Ever since we lived in Arizona over 30 years ago, she always loved Southwestern-themed art, jewelry and decor.