This meeting of our group was delayed by a little over a month because one of our members was seriously ill with Covid. He was hospitalized in intensive care for over a week and is now recovering from home. We were all very happy to see him again.
Our next challenge is "Time".
I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today. I'm taking a closer look at some fine art pieces.
Besides all the art, another really nice thing about walking in the Old Town Scottsdale is all of the flowers everywhere. Even though the streets are completely full of galleries, restaurants and shops, there is still room for small gardens scattered around. When I was there last weekend, I found these pretty poppies blooming in this flower bed.
The city of Scottsdale and the local merchants have made sure that there is beauty all around when shoppers are strolling the streets.
I'm not sure why I never noticed these condo units before. I guess when I've been in this part of Scottsdale I've been more focused on the galleries and art. When I went for my walk last weekend, I noticed that two of the gallery locations have apartments above them.
On both sides of the open space the buildings appear to have living spaces above the galleries and shops. I wonder if I would enjoy living right in the heart of all this activity. Something tells me I would love it.
I featured this fellow way back in 2012. He's been sitting in front of Gebert Contemporary Art Gallery in Scottsdale for many years now. The bright morning sunlight made him partially shaded in these photos but if you click the link, the photo back in 2012 had no shadow.
He's been there long enough now to become somewhat of a landmark in Old Town Scottsdale. If I want to meet a friend for a walk I can always say "I'll meet you by the giant blue head." My friend will know exactly where to meet me.
I was looking for some new scenery for my walk last weekend so I headed to Old Town Scottsdale where I could combine a little window shopping with my normal exercise. If I go early before the galleries open, I can peek in the windows and admire the art. Like this shop above, there is always something to see.
I found this sculpture in one of the windows and thought it was simply stunning. Even with reflection showing in the shop window glass it still looks gorgeous. I did a little digging and learned this piece is by glass artist Tom Marosz and it costs over $7,000.00. Too rich for my pocketbook. That's why I like window shopping. I can admire the art and it doesn't cost a cent.
When I created the post about the office building now called U-Haul Towers, I remembered that there used to be a set of Asian-style lions in front of the building. It looked like they were still there in the recent photo but I hadn't remembered for sure. So, I took a drive over to see if they were still there.
Indeed, they were still there. So today I follow up my Sunday post with some close ups of the lions.
I wonder why they were there in the first place. Was there an Asian connection to this building that I don't know about?
February is Black History Month here in the U.S. so I'm not sure if this is a temporary mural or if it will remain. I spotted it last Saturday on one of the downtown ASU campus buildings. It got me curious about the three people depicted on the mural so I did some research and found some amazing details. So here goes:
Marie Daly (1921-2003) was the first African American woman in the US to earn a PhD in chemistry. She made important contributions in several areas of chemistry and discovered the relationship between cholesterol and Hypertension.
Earnest Just was a pioneering biologist, academic and science writer who lived between 1883 and 1941. He worked in marine biology, cell biology and parthenogenesis. His legacy is the recognition of the role of cell surface in the development of organisms.
Dr. Patricia Bath (1942-2019) was an ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian and academic. She invented the laser cataract surgery (thank you Dr. Bath). She was the first African American woman to receive a patent for a medical purpose and ultimately holds 5 patents in total.
Truly remarkable people one and all! I thank ASU for putting this mural up and prompting me to learn about these fascinating and ground-breaking people.
Taking part in Monday Murals
I took this photo of an office building along Central Avenue back in November of 2008. It's been sitting in one of my photo files ever since.
I recently took this photo of the same building. I actually didn't realize I already had a photo of this building but I also didn't realize that the building's name had changed over those years. 12 years ago it was called Central Towers and now it's called U-Haul Towers. Somewhere in-between those years, U-Haul moved their corporate headquarters into the two buildings.
I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today. I'm visiting a famous tower in Chicago.
I took another walk around the neighborhood yesterday so I have a few more photos from my walk. Above, another one of the houses that I pass along the way.
Above is a view up one of the long fairways on the golf course. That grass is looking very green and healthy!
And to the left, another rose. One of the houses I pass has a large rose bush that grows around and through their fence. I stopped to smell this one. Well, not just to smell it but to take a photo too!
Back on Valentines Day, I posted a photo of some unusual looking roses I spotted while at Walgreens. Later that day I bought a bouquet of red roses at the supermarket and they have opened up beautifully. Above is one of the blooms.
That got me to thinking about all the roses I've seen lately like this Iceberg Rose that I saw the last time I was at the Desert Botanical Garden. They have several rose bushes but the Iceberg Rose plant is the one that blooms the most.
This red beauty is one I saw at Steele Indian School Park. They have quite a few roses that are blooming this time of year.
I photographed this pretty pink rose at my local nursery. I love roaming around the paths at the nursery and admiring all the blooms on the various plants.
This rose was in a bouquet that was on the desk of a co-worker back when I was actually working in the office. So it's not as recent as the other photos but it was so pretty I decided to include it too.
I hope you enjoyed seeing all these pretty flowers. I felt like today would be a good day for my blog to feature some natural beauty.
I was attracted to the architecture of this office/shopping complex in north Scottsdale so I stopped to take a few photos. It was mostly home to insurance and real estate offices but there was a breakfast restaurant at one end.
That slightly curved staircase looked very appealing with the colorful tiles on each stair.
This skull has been on the wall of a Scottsdale art gallery for as long as I can remember. It is located high up on a narrow side wall which makes it difficult to photograph fully. But, I keep trying. This is my latest effort.
Casa de Artistas is a Scottsdale gallery that I like to visit every now and then. They specialize in southwestern art inside.
The paintings to the left are by Rick Kersten who paints brightly colored southwestern scenes. His works are a good example of some of the beautiful artworks I've enjoyed seeing there.
Back in 2013 I discovered a golf club in far north Scottsdale that was built in Spanish Mission style. It was kind of an accidental find because it was way off of the main road but it was a wonderful discovery. The beauty of the place appealed to me and I took lots of photos while I was there.
It turns out that it's a good thing I took all those photos back then. When I tried to return about a year and a half ago I discovered that it had become a private and rather exclusive club and visitors were no longer allowed on the property.
I'm glad I got to explore the place when I did. I loved everything about it. It was so peaceful and quiet that far away from the city noises.
You can see the posts I did about this place here and here.
I have a few more photos from here so I'll squeeze them in some time in the future.
Last Thursday I visited the Soleri Bridge and on Friday I featured Paolo Soleri's home and studio. I thought I'd follow up today with some examples of the wonderful bells that are created there.
These two photos show some of the bells that were hanging in the various studios.
Above are some of the designs I saw in the gift shop on the property and to the right is another that has several bells combined into one piece.
They have a very mellow tone that I got to hear Saturday night when we had a rather windy evening. With all the wind we had, I wonder what it sounded like here at the studio. It must have been wonderful.
Valentine's Day is all about flowers and chocolates. My kind of day!
I picked up the chocolates at the grocery store. Cute heart-shaped box but it only contains two chocolates.
The roses I saw a Walgreens of all places. I was really struck by the unusual colors. I would have bought them but I had several more stops to make before going home. I hope they put a smile on someone's face!
I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today. It's a short one about a singing tower.
I had a bit of an adventure yesterday and it's all because of this cute little fellow. My sister Judy has been trying to find a puppy to adopt but, she lives in a smaller community in northern Arizona and every time she has tried she was just seconds too late.
My close friend David works for the Arizona Humane Society as the Senior Philanthropy Officer so I told my sister we might be able to find a puppy for her down here.
She was thrilled but she won't drive down here in the valley because our traffic is so awful and she just isn't used to it. So, I told her if she found one she wanted, I'd take care of all the arrangements down here and then meet her half way to make the exchange.
So meet Pepper, a cute little shih tzu - chihuahua mix. He is simply adorable.
Pepper was not too fond of riding in the car in that little crate. He made quite a fuss for about 30 minutes but finally tired himself out and went to sleep.
To the right is Pepper when I was saying goodbye to him after meeting my sister Judy in Anthem Arizona. I talked to Judy a little while ago and she said he's settling in but has been sticking pretty close to her.
It turned out to be an adventurous day but time spent with this cute little fellow was well worth it.
Yesterday I featured the Paolo Soleri Bridge in Scottsdale, today I'm making another visit to Cosanti, Soleri's former home and studio. I've featured photos from this place before. You can see those posts by clicking here. Above is one of the unique gallery areas.
This is a work area where students and artists work on creating some of the wind chime bells that have become so famous.
One of those domed areas is crowned with a bright, stained glass window. It casts a red glow over the area below.
If you walk back far enough on this property, you can spot Paolo Soleri's former home. Soleri lived and worked on the property for many years and he passed away here in 2013.
Next to the home is this patio area. On the other side is the swimming pool. You can see the water reflected on the ceiling of this place. When we get to a point of feeling more comfortable visiting places, I'll make a return to this place. I haven't been here in at least 3 years and it would be fun to see the newest collection of bells.
