Lunar Eclipse Surprise

 

It was "champagne Thursday" a couple of days ago and I was enjoying an evening of champagne, sushi and conversation at my friend Glenda's house.  Dave (Glenda's son-in-law) had joined us and when Dave and I were heading to our cars, he mentioned that there was supposed to be a lunar eclipse that night.  So I stopped and looked up and sure enough, it was happening as we were standing there.  

I only had my cell phone so I didn't think there was much chance of getting a decent shot but I was pleasantly surprised.  I adjusted the exposure on the phone and this one turned out pretty good.  You can see the shadow over the moon had covered all but the very edge.  

What a great way to top off champagne Thursday!

Lots of Wind, No Rain

 

We've had lots of wind and clouds lately but still no measurable rain.  Looking at my weather app on my phone is getting kind of depressing.  It's stuck in "extreme heat" mode with the occasional dust storm.  I'm hoping the heat spell breaks sometime soon!

Pretty Flowers

 

I have three more photos today that keep popping up on that little gadget on my laptop's desktop.  I was sure that this one got posted back in 2013 when I took the photo but I can't find it.  It's too pretty to ignore.

Here's another one that pops up often that I thought I had posted. It was taken in 2009 and is part of those photos I've been trying to correct the dates on.

Here's an unusual looking flower that Google identifies as Ranunculus asiaticus or buttercup.  It's another one that pops up every now and then and it was taken in 2012.

I love seeing these long-gone beauties!

Revisiting 2009

 

I spent quite a bit of time over last weekend working on my photo files.  I think I mentioned before that when I bought my first Macbook back in 2011, the Apple Store techs transferred all my photos over to the new laptop from my very old Dell laptop.  In doing so, they lost quite a bit of the metadata from my photos.  A big chunk of my photos all have a date of July 20, 2011.

I've been trying to reconstruct some of those dates as best I can by looking at what I posted during 2009, 2010 and 2011.  It's tedious but it gives me something to do when it's too hot to be outside.

While doing that, I found several photos from that very first Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden back in 2009.  These are glass sculptures that I don't think ever got posted.

I especially liked this orange one.  It makes me think of an orange-flavored dessert of some kind.

All three of these were located in the covered cactus garden.

I know I'm never going to get all the dates right on these old photos but they will be close.  

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night

 

We've had a lot of cloudy nights lately and some of them bring lightening displays but unfortunately, very little rain.  The top photo was take a week ago when there was lots of lightening flashing around under the clouds.

The photo to the left I took last Thursday evening when I was heading home from a friend's house.  I almost deleted it but, after looking at it a while I decided I liked it.  It seems to express that classic saying "it was a dark and stormy night" perfectly.  

Southwestern Wildlife

 

I haven't seen a lot of new murals lately but I did spot this utility box over the weekend depicting some desert wildlife.  On this side was a spiny-tailed iguana.

On one of the narrow sides was this Arizona gray squirrel.

On the side facing the street was a great horned owl.

On the other narrow side was a pair of battling hummingbirds.  

It appears the artist here is R Squared.  

Taking part in Monday Murals.

Nice Sunset, No Rain

 

As I was driving to my friends Julie and Dave's house Friday evening, I saw promising clouds in the south eastern sky.  It looked as if a storm might be forming with the possibility of some rain.  However by the time the sun was setting, the clouds had thinned leaving us with a colorful sunset but no rain.  

The view to the northwest was especially nice.

Even the view directly north was looking very pretty.  Pretty sunsets are always welcome but we really could use some rain.  

Party Wagon

 

I wanted to do some shopping at a specific store that is located in north Scottsdale so I braved the extreme heat and drove out that way. On the way, I spotted this hot pink vehicle parked in a shopping center parking lot.  So, I stoped to get a photo of it.  That is a vehicle built for partying. 

It's such a long drive out to Kierland Commons that I was hoping I'd see other things to photograph along the way but the heat was just too intense.  By the time I parked my car at my destination and then walked to the store, I was exhausted.  So I did my shopping and made my way back to the car and headed home.  This was all before noon.  It's simply too hot to be outside right now.  As I get older, I have less and less tolerance for this heat.

Boxes and Dust

 

I was doing some dusting last weekend when it occurred to me that I've accumulated a collection of boxes in a variety of shapes and sizes.  I don't actually collect boxes but it seems that I have purchased a few that have caught my eye.  The ones in the photo above are the oldest.  I bought both of these on my very first trip to Europe back in 1985.  Both were purchased in Germany.

These two were purchased closer to home and approximately 12 to 15 years ago.  They are both made of glass.  The black one I got at a street craft festival and the one with the shell embedded in it I found at a gem and mineral show in Tucson.

This last one was purchased in Costa Rica in 2007.  It's made of wood native to that country.  

Wednesday evening I got one of those noisy, emergency notices on my phone because of a dust storm.  When I checked outside, it was calm but I did see some clouds in the east.  It took 30 minutes for the storm to reach my place and once it did, the wind rattled the windows and blew things around for another 30 minutes.  The storm brought some rain too but not enough to make a difference.

All that dust blowing around will make it necessary to do some more dusting.  In the desert, there is no escaping the dust.

Pomegranate Tree

 

Pomegranate trees grow well here in Arizona and about this time of year, they are full of fruit almost ready for the picking.  You can see just a touch of pink showing up on these two.

It won't be long before these three are ready to be picked and put to good use.

I see those ruby-red seeds used in salads and other dishes.  Or they can be crushed and made into a syrup and used as flavoring for drinks and other things.  

Do any of you use pomegranates?

Mountain Homes

 

I happened to be in a neighborhood that gave me a good view of some of the houses that cling to the south side of Camelback Mountain so I took the opportunity to snap a few photos.  These are all what you would call luxury homes so many of them are very large.

These will all give the homeowners a nice view over Phoenix with a glimpse of the downtown high rise buildings to the west and the urban sprawl to the east.

Living on the mountainside has it's challenges as my friend who lives on the north side of this mountain will attest.  That said, the views really are spectacular.

No More Saks

 

Our local Saks Fifth Avenue store has closed its doors for good after serving the community for 30 years.  The closing has to do with the bankruptcy of Saks Global.  It's not a store that I shopped at often but I did find things there occasionally.  It's kind of sad seeing this once grand store sitting empty.

This is the front of the store last winter when they were still open.  It was an anchor store for the Biltmore Fashion Park shopping center so I wonder if another store will move in.  It will be interesting to see what happens next.

First and Last

 

I had dinner with my good friends David and Riley Saturday evening at a place close to where they live on the edge of downtown Phoenix.  They had been to this place before but it was my first time and I loved it.  It's called First and Last and they serve an assortment of seasonal dishes creatively prepared.  

I snapped this photo as we waited to be seated.  We ended up at a table down near the end of this photo, closer to the windows.  I absolutely loved the atmosphere of the place.  It was busy yet cozy with a great cosmopolitan feel that really came to life as the sun went down.

I had the Tagliatelle al Limone which was delicious with a delicate lemon and basil flavor.  But, I think my favorite thing was the Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread Focaccia.  It was light and fluffy and served in that iron skillet you can see just the edge of at the top of this photo. 

I'd go back to this place any time.

Special Treat, Guest Photographers

 

My good friends Julie and Dave have spent the last two weeks on a cruise around Greenland stopping in some incredibly beautiful locations.  They have sent messages along the way with lots and lots of breathtaking photos.  I decided to share a few.  I had no idea that Greenland was such a beautiful place! The city above is Ittoqqortoormiit.  

They had the opportunity to hike in several locations and sent photos of arctic wildflowers along with some pretty fabulous views.

That is their National Geographic cruise ship in the background along with some colorful icebergs in the foreground.  

Here's a closer view of the ship taken as they were taking a zodiac to the shore for another hike.

I expected to see lots of snow and ice but I didn't expect such a diverse landscape.  The scene above looks almost desert-like.  

They got to see icebergs up close.  

They also got to see the eclipse last week from a "totality" vantage point.

Judging from their messages full of exciting adventures, I'd say they enjoyed this trip very much.  

Julie and Dave can now say that they've covered the globe from top to bottom!

Backyard Desert Rose

 

I was at my friend Glenda's house Thursday evening and one of her desert rose plant produced another flower.  Actually it produced two blooms but the windy rain storm we had this week knocked one of the blooms off.  

This is the same plant that had a bloom a few weeks ago.  Her other three plants still haven't produced a bloom.

If you look closely, you will see another bud at the base of this bloom.  She should get a second flower in the next few days.

Broken Blocks

 

In one section of the Desert Botanical Garden, there is a wall that has been created from broken concrete blocks.  We are used to seeing walls made of concrete blocks, they are quite common.  This wall has a taken a new spin on that common sight.  You might call this an "inside-out" concrete block wall.  It's a completely different look.

Lunch Box Collection

 

Ten years ago I posted about a local wine bar called Postino's that decorated a new location with a wall covered in old matchbooks.  You can see that post here.  Last Sunday I met friends at a different Postino's location and I discovered this wall covered with lunch boxes.  When they were getting ready to open this location, they must have put out a call for lunch box donations and they accumulated quite a collection.  

Here's a closer view.  They are fun to look at.  I see a couple of Star Wars boxes here and that Superman one is easy to spot.

I Do Love Hummingbirds

 

I have two more hummingbird photos from that file of 2012 photos taken with the Sony DSLR camera.  I love being able to capture these tiny little creatures as you all probably know since I've posted many photos of them on this blog.

I love the soft colors in both of these shots.  

From the Heard Collection

 

I have four more paintings from that display from the Heard's collection of paintings.  This one is called "A Nickel for Your Thoughts" and it was painted by Jaune Quick-To-See Smith.  

This one really drew me too it.  I thought it looked like those awful brush fires that are happening all over the world.  It's called "New Blood" and it was painted by James Lavadour.

This one was composed of four panels and was created by James Schoppert and is called "Kaa Gee Soak" which I'm assuming comes from the Tlingit language.  I tried to find a translation but only found that "Kaa" means person.  

This last one has a touch of humor to it.  It's called "Tall Visitor at Tacito" and it was painted by Gary Cohoe.  

I enjoyed seeing all these large scale paintings in one gallery setting together.  The exhibit contained quite a variety of subjects and styles.