Happy Easter

Something about chocolate and Easter just seems to go together.  That must be why I succumbed to the temptation and bought these two chocolate truffle eggs.  Luckily, I was able to limit myself to just these two.  I hope you are all having a fantastic (and tasty) Easter.

Pots!

If you are in the market for some decorative garden pots, Pearson & company in Scottsdale might be the place to go!

Cactus beauty

A couple of weeks ago the Desert Botanical Garden had their Spring plant sale and I dropped by to see if anything caught my eye.  I picked up that plant with the flower I posted (macro shot) earlier this week and I also got a cactus called a Claret Cup Cactus.  Before I could get that cactus transplanted, it started blooming with these gorgeous flowers.

There are 4 blooms right now but there are still several buds on the cactus.  Once they all bloom, I'll get it transplanted.  I don't want to jostle those buds right now.

Acacia Tree

The Acacia trees are blooming here in Phoenix and their sweet scent is wafting through the air.  I wonder if that is what is making me sneeze!

Yellow trim

I spotted this fellow while sitting at a traffic light.  I really like his yellow tires, yellow seat, and yellow handle bars.  It makes a pretty cool bike!

Eye-popping

I took this macro shot of a bloom on my clumping gazania plant in my back yard on Sunday.  I don't have the best of luck with plants so when I saw this bloom I thought I had better get out there and snap a few pictures quick.  I especially liked this macro shot.  I sure hope this plant survives my rather dismal gardening talents because these flowers are gorgeous.

White Peacock

This "white peacock" butterfly appears to be floating over these flowers but, I'm pretty sure it was sitting perfectly still when I took the photo.

Wildflower season

The wildflower season has begun.

Twins, Twins, & Twins

Even though I'm not much of a sports fan, the one sport I do enjoy watching is basketball and luckily I have a close friend who has season tickets and she invites me to go with her often.  On Thursday night, she was invited by the team to a special "season ticket owners" event at the U.S. Airways arena.  She invited me to tag along and I'm glad I did.  It was an enjoyable evening featuring many of the players and members of the staff.  In our group of fans was a young couple with twin boys and in one of the sessions, we got to meet the Morris twins, Markieff and Marcus who both play for the Suns.  When the tot's parents opted for a twin-on-twin photo op, I jumped up there and grabbed a shot too.  Do you think those two little guys might be future NBA stars?

Taking that top photo reminded me that I had the above photo in my archives.  I took this shot of Dick and Tom Van Arsdale a few months ago and forgot all about it.  When I first started attending Phoenix Suns basketball games, these guys were on the court and favorites of mine.  When I saw them at a game a few months ago, I asked if I could take a photo and they kindly obliged.

So as you can see, the Phoenix Suns have a history of twins on the team!

Flowering Pear Trees

I took this photo two weeks ago and forgot all about it and now most of the blooms are gone from these trees.  For a short time, usually about two to three weeks, these trees show off their showy white dresses all over town.  It's an amazing spring time sight.

I love lovebirds

I was out in Scottsdale last Sunday and I spotted these beautiful peach-faced lovebirds enjoying a rather large seed block that was sitting on someone's porch.  Thank goodness for that telephoto lens so I could zoom in and get a good look at these cute little guys.  I haven't seen the lovebirds that live in my neighborhood for a while.  Maybe I should get one of these seed blocks to lure them back.

Eye Catching Artwork

When I was driving on Scottsdale Road, I noticed these structures on the Paolo Solari bridge and I wondered what they were.  So, I parked the car and walked over the take a look and of course I brought my camera with me.  I couldn't find any information to tell me who the artist is so I did a little investigating via Google and found that this will be part of an event called Canal Convergence and these sculptures are by Kendal Buster .  The event will feature artwork, shopping, learning opportunities, and music.  I believe these might be called "Highrisevessels" by the artist but I can't be sure.

Something to ponder

Here is something for you to ponder for the day.  Tomorrow I'll show you what it is.

Conversation with Myself

I found this interesting sculpture in courtyard in the Scottsdale gallery district.  It's called "Conversation with Myself" by Lorri Acott.  I have conversations with myself all the time and now that I think about it, they do look a little like this!

What day is this?

I realized when I was getting to post something that today was St. Patrick's Day and I had nothing to post to commemorate the day.  So, I searched through the archives and found something green.  That will have to do!

Patience

When I was downtown for the Ghost Tour earlier this week, I had an opportunity to stand under the sculpture called "Her Secret is Patience" by artist Janet Echelman.  I featured it here way back in 2009 when it first went up in Civic Space Park.  Ms. Echelman said that she was inspired by the swirling clouds in the desert monsoon season and by the bloom of the saguaro cactus.

I can definitely see the monsoon cloud interpretation.
Our ghost tour guide was not a fan of the piece but, I like it.  It's a conversation piece.

Text Message

For at least 15 years of my career, I was traveling to different locations for a variety a projects I was involved in.  I will be honest, I loved every minute of it.  The only downfall was a lot of meals at restaurants on my own. I've always been a self-assured person, so dining alone was never a problem for me.  However, when I started on this  high-flying career, cell phones weren't part of the picture and dining alone was really on-my-own.  Now, dining alone is never really alone.  Last night, I had dinner at a restaurant all by myself but, I was never far from friends via text messages.  It made me think how greatly things have changed.  I can dine alone but, I'm not really alone.  I'm having lively conversations with friends while I'm dining.

I have to tell you that when this whole "text message" idea struck me, I had to ask the waiter to take this picture for me.  Bravo to him for accepting the challenge and doing a great job of getting exactly what I wanted.

Green Thumb

One street over from my house is the home of someone with an outstanding green thumb (something I don't possess).  For the past 3 weeks, I driven by this house and actually slowed down to get a better look at the lush garden they have created in front of their home.

Oh how I wish I had the talent to do this!

Ghost Stories

Lately I've been finding some unusual things to do in Phoenix and last night was one such event.  I went on a Phoenix Ghost Tour, a walking tour of downtown Phoenix.  Our group learned some interesting things about some of the older buildings in our downtown like the San Carlos Hotel pictured above.  I've actually toured the San Carlos before when they had a special open house and I learned about all the famous people who have stayed there back in the days when Phoenix was a Hollywood escape.  But, on that tour I didn't hear any of the ghost stories I heard last night.  It seems there are some very strange occurrences that take place in the rooms and halls of this hotel.  And, it's not the only building with stories to tell.  We learned about strange occurrences in quite a few downtown buildings and one sighting that actually takes place right out on the streets and has been witnessed by many people including several policemen.  If you live in the area and are interested, click on the link.  It was a most enjoyable tour that I highly recommend.

T-Shirt Time

I went to a Phoenix Sun's game again last night with my friend Janet but we lost, rather badly so I concentrated my photography on other subjects.  I wonder if all the pro-teams do this crazy free T-shirt thing at their games.  Here you see the team mascot "The Gorilla" loading up his giant T-shirt shooting gun with the help of one of the Sun's Dancers.

And, here he is firing it off into the arena.  I always have to laugh at how crazy the crowd gets trying to catch a $2.00 T-shirt.

Large format photography

Here's something you don't see very often any more.  Yesterday morning at the botanical garden, I found a group of photographers all with large format cameras doing some serious studies.

The owner of this brand new camera told me he was shooting black and white film.  They were all on their own special art challenge Ansel Adams style.

Devoured

Yesterday was the annual "Devoured" event at the Phoenix Art Museum.  I went with my good friend David (above) and we ran into Gabe Bertaccini who was sampling some fabulous Italian wines.  You might remember Gabe from a post I made back in 2011 when he hosted a wonderful underground dinner event that I featured here.

Yesterday's event took place mostly in the sculpture courtyard of the museum where the valuable sculptures were all enclosed in covered boxes with these signs on them to remind you to be careful around the art.

And, with crowds like these you can understand why the signs might be necessary.  There were times when it was difficult to move.

But all in all, there was great food and wonderful wine to enjoy in spite of very un-Arizona-like weather.  It was cool and spitting rain most of the time we were there.

Wash

Not "wash" like laundry but "wash" like arroyo or a place where the water runs when it rains.  We had another very rainy day yesterday and once again the washes have filled up with water and in some places have closed roads.  Believe it or not, this photo was taken in the heart of the city only a few blocks north of Camelback Road but close to the foothills.

Pay no attention...

Ah...hem...pay no attention to that sign behind me.

Honoring Veteran's

On a recent drive to the west-side city of Glendale Arizona, I found this beautiful Veteran's Memorial on the grounds of a Glendale Public Library.

It consists of five steel trees representing the five branches of service, Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy, and Coast Guards.  The leaves on the trees represent the thousands who have served and those that are currently serving in one of those branches.  The piece was part of the percent for the arts in Glendale and it was created by artist Joe Tyler.  It really is a very impressive artistic creation.

ASU Art Museum

The Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe was built in 1989 and was designed by architect Antoine Predock.  The entrance to the museum is one level below ground level.  In that entrance way, there are stairs going down to the opening.  I felt a little like I was entering an ancient tomb when I walked down there.  The museum has three floors and a playhouse also occupies the same building.

Parallel

When I was downtown last weekend I noticed this line of palm trees underneath a parallel line of clouds.  I'm not sure what caused the clouds to line up like that but it makes a fun picture.

Poppies

On my way to lunch a few days ago, I spotted a big patch of poppies in front of a house in one of our historic neighborhoods.  I decided they might make a cheery sort of photo.

I put my camera near the ground and shot up skyward catching these yellow beauties from the underside.  I think I like them this way.

Ballet Folklorico

I went downtown yesterday to see if I could find something interesting to photograph and I happened to stumble upon a a group of young dancers performing a Ballet Folklorico routine.  What luck!

All the beauty and color brought a smile to my face.

I'm in Love...

Just look at that gorgeous bird....

I caught this roadrunner fascinated with his own reflection.  Shades of Narcissus?

Theme Day: Cafe Chairs

Someone moved this bright yellow chair away from the tables and there it was sitting all by itself.  Makes me wonder if some diner had to take a "time-out".

To view other City Daily Photo bloggers theme day entries, click here.