Ready for Their Close-Ups

 

My exposure to the outside was rather limited this last weekend.  Our summer heat has arrived and I need to get used to the idea of 100+ temperatures before venturing out in the heat.  That's when the photo archives come in handy.  I pulled out three floral close-ups to share.  This first one of a gerbera daisy is almost as bright as the sun is.

This African Lily grows at the front of my complex and it blooms all year long.  I think the blooms look so exotic.

This one is a cluster of blooms sitting on top of a barrel cactus.  Barrel cacti bloom in the spring but I've seen blooms showing up well into summer.  

Competing Trees

 

I saw these two trees that seem to be competing for attention.  They were on either side of the driveway for a house.  

The one in the back looks like a full sized ficus tree and the one in front on this photo is a palm tree.  Two totally different trees but both big and bold.  

Disclosure Day

 

I went to see the new Steven Spielberg movie "Disclosure Day" and loved every exciting minute of it.  And, there were a lot of minutes to enjoy, it runs 2 hours and 25 minutes.  That might seem long but the time just flies by.  The movie is in same genre as "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".  It also has all the heart-racing excitement of "Raiders of the Lost Ark".  

Can you tell I loved it?  I might even go see it again and that says a lot since I've only seen 3 movies  inside a theatre since 2020.

Bougainvillea

 

Bougainvillea is one plant that is abundant here in the desert southwest.  It is actually, everywhere.  The main reason is that it can take full sun, does not need a lot of water and it blooms all year long.  It also has wicked thorns so when you trim it, be prepared for some scapes and scratches.  

I recently saw a red bush right next to a pink bush and thought they made a great contrast.  

Oh yes, one more thing to keep in mind.  Those petals are like paper and they fall and blow in the wind like crazy.  Clean up is a constant problem.  That's another thing to keep in mind when planting these beauties. 

Another Look at SkySong

 

I was near the SkySong campus last weekend so I stopped in to see if anything had changed since the last time I visited.  The campus continues to grow and at this point, there is no way to get a full photo of those white sails that anchor the center of this complex.  There are now tall building on all four corners.

I can still get some dramatic photos by standing under those big white covers.  

SkySong is a campus of Arizona State University in partnership with different industries in order to facilitate rapid development and distribution of ASU discoveries and inventions.

To see all my SkySong posts, click here.

It's Champagne Thursday

 

I have a little indulgent secret that I'm going to share with you.  For the past two years, my friend Glenda and I have been celebrating Thursday by drinking champagne and talking about the week's events.  We call it "Champagne Thursday".  We usually split a bottle of champagne while munching on lite snacks.  Sometimes it will be popcorn other times potato chips and every now and then cheese and crackers.

Last year when I took that iPhone photography class, I got into the habit of taking an iPhone photo of my champagne glass using the portrait mode.  Then I got to thinking that I would create a little photo book with some of the photos I've taken.

We usually meet at Glenda's house. I'm always looking for the perfect place to take the photo and Glenda decorates for the seasons so around the holidays, there is always some new place to get the shot.

One day last spring, we sampled a sparkling wine from South Africa and I thought putting the glass on the desk in front of this photo would set the mood.

So now you know my little Thursday night secret.  I decided I'd gather a year's worth of photos and then put a little book together to celebrate my indulgent habit.  I might put one or two on this blog from time to time.

A Flash of Color

 

A flash of bright colors caught my eye as I drove past this house so I tuned around to see what it was.  

The homeowners have added some colorful glass sculptures to the front of the house and one along the side where the garage is located.  They are beautiful works of art and they look very nice against the dark color of the house.  

An interesting addition to the front of a house.

Garden Decorating

 

If you need to spruce up your garden a bit, the garden center also has everything you might need such as these colorful ceramic pots.  There are always lots of these at the garden centers here because desert soil is not the best for growing things.  Most people have lots of pots in their gardens where they can control things a little better.

For those without a live pet to roam their garden, a cute little statue might work.  I thought this little fellow was quite cute but, he had a rather large price tag hanging around his neck.  Luckily the iPhoto "erase" tool made it disappear completely and you'd never know it was there.

I also liked this colorful pot in southwestern colors and design.  And, that wooden rabbit was pretty cute too.

There was lots more to see at the garden center besides the flowers and hummingbirds.

Floral Pick-Me-Up

 

I stopped at the garden center to give myself a little floral boost and that it did.  Walking among the flowers is always good for the soul.  

They had several of these hanging baskets on display and several hibiscus plants.  This yellow one caught my eye.

 I found this plant equally enjoyable to watch.  There was a slight breeze blowing and these wispy blooms looked great swaying with the breeze. Google identifies it as silver coxcomb.  

Resourceful Hummingbird

 

On a whim, I stopped at the nursery and garden center just up the street from me yesterday morning before it got too hot.  My objective was to see if I could see any pretty blooms.  While I was in an enclosed area where gift items are on display, I saw some movement just passing past my head.  I looked up and saw a tiny little hummingbird buzzing around inside this light fixture.  Then the little fellow sat still.  Can you see his tiny little head peeking out just to the left of the light bulb.

I cropped the image so you could get a better look. 

It turns out there is a tiny little nest attached to the inside of this light fixture and that's where this little fellow was sitting.

After I watched for a while, the little guy flew out of the fixture landed on this grating that was hanging from the ceiling.  

That was a totally unusual find but I guess living at a garden center is a pretty good option for a hummingbird.

Super Humans

 

As a follow up to yesterday's post, I decided to do a little more playing with that editing app to see what other "Superman" images I could conjure up. 

This one is from a photo of me with Tower Bridge in the background.

It looks like the River Thames has been paved over!

This one is also a photo of me standing next the Tardis from Dr. Who.

In this one it looks like Superman has brought along the instruction manual for operating a Tardis.

And, here I am sitting on the front patio of my friend Glenda's house.

Just look at those muscles!

I tried the same effect on a photo of an angel statue and this one turned out rather strangely.  There is a sort of sinister look to this guy. I think he might be about to cast a spell.

Artistic Expressions

 

I was playing around with one of the options in my photo editing app and discovered one particular option that intrigued me.  I used a photo I posted back in 2024 of an artwork at the Celebration of Fine Arts.  You can see the original piece in my photo here.  I loved this version of that same art work created by my editing app.

When I'm working with a photo, this option gives me multiple versions but in order to see each option I have to select the each of those samples at the bottom of the screen one at a time.

Once I've selected them all, I can choose the one I like best to download.  Once I download the one shot, this page closes and I have to repeat the whole routine if I want another version.

Even though it can be a bit tedious to repeat the process to get a second or third option, I still enjoy using this particular option because of the variety it produces.  There is always one with a metallic look like the one to the left.

There is always one option that produces a 'Superman' themed image.  That particular one always makes me chuckle at the way it incorporates Superman into the image.

I enjoy playing with this option.  Especially when I find the perfect photo to work with.

Alvarado Historic District

 

I took a little detour through the Alvarado Historic District last weekend and stopped to snap a couple of photos of some of the houses there.

Each of the houses in this district have their own unique style.  

This neighborhood is near downtown Phoenix and right in the backyard of the Heard Museum.  There are lots of interesting houses on these streets. 

Historic Tomb

 

Papago Park is where we find the tomb of Arizona's first Governor.  I posted the story of this unusual tomb back in 2011.  (Yikes, 15 years ago.)  You can read about this unusual pyramid tomb in the link to my past post.  Governor Hunt began serving as governor before Arizona was a state.  He guided the way to our statehood.  The tomb has been here since 1931 and is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Between the Rocks

I drove out to Papago Park on Saturday and made my way up to the top lookout point at the park's edge.  I noticed the steady stream of planes coming in for a landing.  The park is located under the flight path for Sky Harbor International Airport.  I waited so I could capture one of the planes between these two huge rock formations.

I actually went there to see if I could photograph any of the waterbirds that hang around the lagoon but, the park was too busy so the birds were staying away.  So the only photos I got were of the buttes that surround the park.  This view is looking north and the top view is to the south.  

Theme Day: Sky

 

Clouds make a sky so much more interesting so when I planned for this post, I searched my archives until I found a sky photo with just the right amount of clouds to make it interesting.  Living in the desert, I'm much more likely to see nothing but a large expanse of blue.  

The theme for June 1st is "Sky" for us City Daily Photo Bloggers.  To see other sky shots, click here.

Zuni Girl

 

Zuni Girl is a sculpture by Native American artist Doug Hyde.  She stands in a quiet corner near where the parking lot meets the courtyard at the Heard Museum.  I thought I had posted a photo of her before so I went back and looked and sure enough I did a post a photo of her 10 years ago. 

Back then, there were no plants around to shade her.  She looks much better with all the plants around her and casting soft shadows.

Short View, Long View

 

I met a friend that I don't get to see very often for lunch yesterday.  The Heard Museum is about half way for each of us so had lunch at the museum cafe.  The food there is always excellent so it's always a good choice.

I was a few minutes early so I wandered around the museum courtyard taking photos.  This view was taken at about the halfway mark of the courtyard looking toward the entrance with that fountain leading the way.

This one was taken all the way to end of the courtyard with the second fountain leading the way.  The two fountains sort of mirror themselves making it look like one continuous fountain.

We had our lunch just to the left at one of those tables.  One last al fresco lunch before the heat starts to set in.

Sunflowers, Large and Small

 

I see lots of these small sunflowers growing at the Desert Botanical Garden.  They tend to be scattered among the wildflowers.

In the Phoenix area, we see more of these small ones than any other kind.

However, every now and then I'll see one of these jumbo sized sunflowers.  I saw this one at a local plant nursery.  No matter what size they are, they always catch my eye.  They make a good photography subject.  

Copper Cluster

 

I was attracted by this cluster of copper colored pottery when I was at the Desert Botanical Garden.  I found them decorating a quiet little corner near the herb garden.  Those three pots together were complimented by the copper-like wall in the background.  It makes a lovely scene with a warm glow.