It's the time of year when carved pumpkins show up in a variety of places. This fellow was part of the Halloween decorations at the entrance to the Desert Botanical Garden.
Here's the full scene. I looked for some "Strange Garden" things while on my walk but the only thing I could find was that giant praying mantis I posted yesterday. However, it was dog day too and there were plenty of dogs attached to their humans at the garden that day.
I took a walk at the Desert Botanical Garden yesterday morning and I found this praying mantis lurking on one of the garden trails.
This is the work of Alex Heveri and was gifted to the garden by Cliff Douglas.
I found quite a few more sculptures created by the same artist and all appear to be gifts to the garden. I'll show those sometime in the next few weeks.
I have a few more photos from the new exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden called Super Bloom. Walking down one of the main paths, I can see some pretty flowers blooming in distance.
The path leads to this central location where one of the glass houses sits surrounded by some pretty blooms.
The fall decorations at the Desert Botanical Garden are all centered around pumpkins, squash and gourds. Remember that tree composed of pumpkins that I posted at the beginning of the month? The theme of pumpkins, squash and gourds was followed all over the garden.
I believe that purple one on top is painted in some way. I did a search about what kind of pumpkin is purple and there doesn't seem to be any naturally that color.
I did see several of these cages filled with a variety of "cucurbita".
This wreath made of dried flowers and fruit was also an attractive touch. You get the feeling that fall is in the air even if there are days when the weather isn't agreeing.
There was no need for me to make another trip to the butterfly pavilion because there were plenty of butterflies flying around outside in the open space. The garden has planted a few more of the butterfly bushes that they like so much and a group of Queen butterflies were taking full advantage.
The two above were sharing one of the blooms.
This one latched on to a small bloom.
Like I did while watching the quail mentioned yesterday, I also spent some time watching the butterflies enjoying all the pretty blooms on the butterfly bush. These little miracles of nature are worth watching anytime the opportunity arises.
When I was at the Desert Botanical Garden last Sunday, I stopped at the snack bar for a drink and then I sat for a while and watched all the quail running around the area looking for scraps. They are so much fun to watch.
Many of them took to the table tops looking for crumbs that might have been left behind. That gave me an opportunity to zoom in on a few of them and snap some photos.
They were busy little fellows checking all the possible places where the humans might have dropped something they could nibble on. Occasionally they would scatter as people passed by and a few times they chased each other trying to hold on to some territorial space.
All in all, they kept me entertained for the 20 or so minutes I was there. I love watching them go about their little quail routines. They were always very quick to check any tables that had been recently vacated.
Right after that short downfall of rain that I mentioned yesterday ended, I walked past the spot where the garden has several rose plants. That's when I saw this beautiful rose. What could be prettier than a perfect rose covered with raindrops?
I snapped the photo above with my camera and the one to the left with my iPhone using the portrait mode. I like them both.
This rose was also looking very nice covered with raindrops so I snapped this one with the iPhone using the normal photo setting.
Then I snapped a second shot with the portrait mode on.
I like them all! That probably has nothing to do with photo techniques and everything to do with the beauty of the subject. A rose always makes a good subject.
I went to the Desert Botanical Garden on Sunday for a nice walk and at one point I had to take cover to get out of the rain. My weather app said there was a 40% possibility but that usually means it will pass us by. This time it didn't. It was quite refreshing and I enjoyed every minute of it.
And it did last just minutes. It came down really hard for no more than five or six minutes and then it was okay to walk once again.
I got some great photos to share this week. Those overcast skies provided some great light for taking photos.
I think this might be a chapel that belongs with the church I mentioned in yesterday's post. This is where I found that statue.
The main church must be a very popular because that parking lot I turned into was HUGE.
I would say that the parking lot was of Biblical proportions and now I see that the little garden is a Biblical Garden.
And all of this was hidden so far away from the busy street that I had no idea it was there.
Taking a wrong turn can sometimes lead to interesting discoveries. I turned on what I thought was a street but turned out to be a huge parking lot for a church. But I'm glad I made that turn because otherwise I wouldn't have discovered this lovely statue that reminded me of my encounter with a butterfly last weekend.
I can assure you, I wasn't wearing heels or a dress when that butterfly landed on my arm but the magic of that encounter is nicely represented in this sculpture.
This was found in a little garden attached to the church. A garden I wouldn't have seen if I hadn't made that wrong turn.
I can always count on the Toothpick cactus to have at least one bloom on it whenever I visit the Desert Botanical Garden.
I zoomed in on the bloom and caught three bees lining up for their turn at the flower. Don't they look like three jet planes lined up to take their turn landing at the airport?
The fall butterfly exhibit was open on Sunday when I was at the Desert Botanical Garden so I took the opportunity to visit with these beautiful creatures. There were lots of them to enjoy. Above is a Monarch butterfly.
We had quite a bit of rain over the weekend so when I was entering the garden Sunday morning, the air was so crisp and clean that I couldn't resist another photo of the Chihuly glass sculptures that greet visitors.
Then as I was leaving, I saw a puddle of water in front of those sculptures. It wasn't a big puddle but I decided to see if I could get a reflection shot in that little bit of water.
It's not the best reflection shot but it was fun trying. Right after I snapped this photo, two kids came running up the walk and then stomped right through the puddle. That ended my attempts at reflection shots but those kids were having a great time. Kids and puddles, they go together.
The new art exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden is called Super Bloom and features lots of spaces at the garden that have been converted into oversized garden murals.
There are also several of these glass "greenhouses" scattered around the garden.
This is the work of a group called Graphic Wilding and the two artists that make up the group, Lee Baker and Catherine Borowski.
I love this quote from them: "We've always wanted to bring art to people, rather than wait for people to come to art. Art doesn't have to wait behind gallery doors, it can meet people where they already are."
I was lucky to have been invited to the season opening performance of the Phoenix Symphony on Saturday evening. I snapped a quick photo of our new conductor Paolo Bortolameolli and the guest pianist, Olga Kern taking a bow after she played a Rachmaninoff concerto brilliantly. Of course she was accompanied brilliantly by our wonderful symphony orchestra.
On Sunday morning I went for a walk at the Desert Botanical Garden to see the new exhibit that opened this weekend. It's called Super Bloom and it features these wonderful displays of all kinds of flowers blooming all over the garden. I'll have more about this exhibit in the next few days. I took a lot of photos and they still need a bit of editing.
The "art season" has arrived with all kinds of things on the upcoming schedule!
I have three more paintings from the exhibit I mentioned yesterday. This painting is by Quincy Tahoma and is called "The Navajo Country". It was painted in 1948. The description card said that the large herd of sheep might indicate that this family had some wealth. It also shows how the herding work is a family affair. I think this one has a lot of appealing charm.
This painting is by Joan Hill and was painted in 1970 and is called "Cornstalk Shoot of the Cherokee".
This last one was painted by Milland Lomakema and was painted in 1969. It is a very contemporary view of a Ceremonial Dance Scene. I love the "edginess" of this painting. All those angles appeal to me.
There were so many more wonderful works of art in this collection of 70 paintings from the William P. Healey gift. I can't wait to see even more.
