Winged Observations

 

I enjoy watching and listening to the birds I find around me.  Here are a few I've seen in the last few days.  This Gilla Woodpecker was chipping away on a palm tree in the courtyard where I live.  I heard him first and then I saw him.

This little sparrow was singing his heart out just outside my balcony.  I moved rather stealthily to get the photo and not scare him away.

I spotted this busy little hummingbird hovering around some aloe blooms.  I was able to get several snaps of it before if flew off in another direction.

When I took a walk past the golf course, I saw this heron sitting on the water's edge and watching the aquatic activity.  

I love having such a variety of birds near where I live.

Towering Over

 

I took a turn down a residential street that sits just behind a big commercial area and was struck by the sight of this modest house towered over by a very tall building.  It almost seemed like that building was sitting in the back yard of that house.  

A little further down that same street, I saw two houses with very large trees in their front gardens.  

They are living in the shadow of tall buildings but the tree-lined street still has that residential quality.  

Beautiful and Delicious

 

A few weeks ago, I was talking with my friend Riley and he mentioned how he sees gorgeous fruit tarts in grocery stores and bakeries but when you purchase one it just never tastes as good as it looks.  On Saturday night, David and Riley had a small dinner party at their house and Riley decided to try his hand at making a fruit tart.  This is the result.  Isn't it beautiful? And, believe me, it was delicious and nothing like the ones you buy at a store.

Riley did most of the cooking while David arranged the table and the flowers and did the serving.  The two of them are a great team and the perfect hosts!

Agave Bloom

 

I saw this yellow bloom peeking out between the branches of an agave plant.  Usually these blooms rise on a long stem several feet above the actual plant but this one was right down at the same level as the plant.  I zoomed in close in the shot above to get a good look at the flower.  I see some ants were also having a closer look.  

I do enjoy the vast variety of plants to be found in the desert southwest.

Hiding in a Corner

 

When I was at the Phoenix Art Museum last weekend, I happened to step into a little windowed alcove and discovered this fellow sitting there and enjoying the view.  You might remember him.  He's been on my blog several times before.  It's a sculpture called "Naked Man" by Viola Frey.  

The museum staff tend to move him around quite a bit.  At present he has this small alcove all to himself.

You might remember that I found his fully-clothed "sister" at the Tucson Art Museum back in 2024. 

I hope he's enjoying this nice quiet spot.  Who knows how long it will be before he gets moved again.

Theme Day: Fruit

 

My good friend Riley made this blood orange cake during the holidays and I can tell you it was absolutely as delicious as it looks.  

Today is the first of the month and the theme for City Daily Photo bloggers is Fruit.  There are lots and lots of oranges grown in Arizona so choosing this fruit for the theme seems perfect to me.

You can click here to see fruit themed photos from other bloggers.

Wanderings Around Town

 

Barnes & Noble recently opened a new book store not far from where I live.  I stopped in last weekend looking for a book.  There are two floors of books piled up inside this store but they didn't have the one I was looking for.  Go figure!

I met friends two weeks ago at this new bar on Central Avenue.  It's called Horse and Hyde which in my brain kept coming out as Horse and Hound. I must have been thinking about the movie "Notting Hill".  This photo pretty much covers the entire place.  We were seated at an indoor/outdoor counter at the front of the place.  It must get very loud in there when a band is playing.

I love these light fixtures inside Blanco Tacos restaurant at Biltmore Fashion Park.  It's not far from me so I sometimes stop there for lunch.

Just a little further down the street is an In-N-Out burger place.  That's another place I might stop for lunch during the week.  This place is so busy it usually takes 30 minutes to get through the very long drive-thru line.  

Just a few place I've visited in the past week or two. 

More Garden Lights

 

Here are a few more lights from the Desert Botancial Garden's light show.  To the left is a couple of yucca plants with a sort of pinkish glow from a light across the trail.

Some colorful lights shining on those very tall cardon cacti. 

This tangle of lights hangs just under the cover over the entrance to the garden.  

You can see a bit of that tangle of lights in the background of this photo of the Chihuly sculptures that are permanently on display at the entrance to the garden.

Weekend Roundup

 

I was in downtown Phoenix Saturday evening to attend a symphony performance and this group of demonstrators were marching in front of symphony hall when we arrived.  They were part of a hospitality workers strike from the Hyatt Hotel across the street.  

Earlier in the day, I spotted another lovely hibiscus blooming on the complex grounds.  I can never resist a hibiscus photo.

Speaking of which, I had dinner at a friend's house Sunday evening and she has a beautiful multi-colored hibiscus plant in her garden.  It is one hybrid plant that produces three different color blooms, red, yellow and pink.

This yellow one was the first to catch my eye.

On the other side of the plant I found a pink one.  Such pretty blooms!

A Variety of Wildflowrs

 

Those pretty purple and white flowers that I posted yesterday weren't the only wildflowers blooming at the Desert Botanical Garden.  There was a nice patch of Mexican Hat coneflowers to admire.

Some Baja Fairy Dusters were scattered about.

The Indian Blanket flowers were making an appearance.

And there were plenty of chocolate daisies pushing their way above all the other flowers.  There was certainly an explosion of color along the wildflower trail Thursday evening.  Seeing all those wildflowers will make up for the fact that I missed the prime cactus blooms.  My timing was off when it came to catching them this year.

Wildflowers

 

When I went to the Desert Botanical Garden on Thursday evening, I arrived at 5:30 and walked around the garden before having some dinner at the restaurant.  That way, I got to see the wildflower garden during the golden hour before I went for the after-dark stroll to see the lights.  In between, I got to enjoy a delicious meal.

The Wildflower Garden was overflowing with these pretty flowers.  I believe they are Doubtful Knight's Spur but there was no sign to confirm that.

The occasional coneflower was popping up among the purple, white and pink to add a splash of yellow in the background.

Garden of Lights

 

  

I went to the Desert Botanical Garden Thursday evening to see the light show they have going on at the moment.  There were all kinds of neon-like lights making the garden glow with color.

In addition to the light displays, they had colored spot lights lighting up some of the cacti and trees.

There were lots of little "fairy" lights scattered along the trails.

Even some of the potted plants were given some lights around them to make them glow.  Although, this one looks like the dirt around the cactus is on fire.

It was fun exhibit and a good excuse to take an evening walk.

Desert Rose

 

Around this time last year, I posted photos of the desert rose plant that resides at the Heard Museum.  I mentioned in my post that my friend had a desert rose that she got around 2023 and that her's had not yet bloomed. 

The plant to the left is that same plant from the Heard Museum.

It's still producing lots of blooms.

Sometime last year, the Heard Museum acquired a second desert rose plant.  That one has no leaves on it but it does have some pretty blooms.  

My friend Glenda was with me when I took these photos and she said she felt a bit jealous of these two plants.  Hers still hasn't produced a bloom.  I told her to keep the faith.  It will one day.

New American Doll

 

Continuing with more photos from the Phoenix Art Museum's exhibit of Cara Romero's photographs, this section was called "New American Doll".  Although the descriptions didn't mention it, I immediately thought of the American Girl dolls that have been so popular for the past 20 years or so.

Romero created box like structures to highlight photos of young women in various native regalia.  This one is a photo of Naomi and is themed California Culture.

This one is a photo of Julia surrounded by nature's bounty.  I loved how she created these elaborate borders around each box setting.

I was quite mesmerized by this last photo.  It's a photo of Nikki in the traditional birthing position.  What I found so appealing about the photo is how the shape of the body perfectly reflects the pattern on the rug she is standing on.  This photo was put together brilliantly.  

Living Light

 

While I was at the Phoenix Art Museum last Friday, I stopped in the contemporary art gallery to see a new exhibit of photographs created by a Native American artist, Cara Romero.  She combines traditional stories from her tribal experiences with messages about injustices, humanity and vitality.  Her work celebrates the beauty and resilience of the Native People. The photo above is obviously a play on The Beatles Abbey Road album cover. The name of this photo is "17 Mile Road".

This photo is another obvious take on the famous Annie Leibovitz photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.  She calls it "Two Virgins". 

The exhibit was broken into several themed sections.  The section above dealt with female empowerment.

Another section was about how Native Americans are fitting into the future.  The photo above depicts coyote woman as an astronaut.  Just aroud the corner from the photo, I found the actual coyote woman standing guard.

She created a lot of messages and social observations in these photos.  I'll show you a few more tomorrow.