An Iron Saguaro

 

I took these two photos back in 2014 but they never made it on to my blog.  Last weekend, I walked by this sculpture when I was at the Desert Botanical Garden. It reminded me that I had photos I had taken back when this was new.

The sculpture and the iron box for the tree were created by Jeff Hebets in honor of his cousin Phil Hebets who created the boxing methodology that allowed the salvaging of plants so they could be moved from one location to another.  The saguaro is made from the pick heads used for digging up and salvaging plants.

I took this photo last weekend because I wanted to show how birds have built nests in this iron saguaro.  However, I notice that the nest is almost impossible to see because that boxed tree has grown so much in the past 12 years. 

So that nest might not be visible as I had planned but it gave me an excuse to find the old photos and finally show this great sculpture.

Did Someone Call for a Doctor?

 

I recently spotted this "fellow" standing on the bar at a tiny little cafe. It took me a minute to figure out what it was.  It looks like if you call this doctor, he arrives complete with a bottle of wine.

That's a pretty clever bottle holder.  

Up, Up and Away

 

My car was parked in a parking lot that happened to be across the street from St. Joseph's Hospital when I heard the roar of helicopter blades revving up.  I looked over in time to see one lifting off from the helipad on the Hospital's roof.

I took three photos in rapid succession and caught it on it's way.

It reminded me of the time I spent one night in a hospital for some tests and my room overlooked the heliport on that hospital.  It was a good thing I was only there for one night.  The roar of a helicopter right out your window is pretty loud.

Weekend Recap

 

This last weekend was a busy one for me with that Desert Botanical Garden brunch that I posted about on Saturday morning which was followed by dinner downtown and the symphony that evening.  

Standing on the front patio of Symphony Hall, I snapped this photo of a residential building that looms one block away.  You also can see our Art Deco styled street lamps that can be seen all over downtown.

On Sunday I met friends for lunch at the Phoenix Art Museum before we went to a play at The Phoenix Theatre which is right next door.

I snapped this photo of an ikebana arrangement in the Asian gallery as I passed through to the restaurant.

The play we saw was "Come From Away" which I had seen before several years ago with a broadway cast.  This was a local production and it was every bit as good as the broadway one. 

The play is about the 7,000 people that were stranded in the town of Gander in Newfoundland on 9/11.  It's a heartwarming account of people coming together to help each other in a time of crisis.  It's a great story told in a fun way with humor and heart.

You can read a full synopsis here.

Some Quick Shots

 

Upon a closer look, I see that some of my iPhone shots at the garden on Saturday turned out quite well.

Above, the photo of Papago Buttes framed by some desert plants is display worthy.  

But the one that truly surprised me was this one of a tiny hummingbird.  That's a pretty darn good photo for an iPhone photo.

I like this one of a bee enjoying a pretty desert marigold too.  

I'm always amazed by the quality of iPhone photos these days.

Spring Gathering

 

Yesterday I got to experience the Spring Patron's Breakfast at the Desert Botanical Garden.  My friend Julie is garden patron but she was on her way to the airport for a trip to Venice so she couldn't go this time.

I loved how they decorated some of the tables with these small vases of flowers arranged down the center of the long tables. It certainly gave the place a spring-like atmosphere.

The flowers were too pretty to pass them by.

After the breakfast, I did take a short walk around the garden but since I was there for this event only, I didn't bring my camera.  

I did take some photos with my cell phone and I can pop one or two of them onto the blog sometime soon.

A Home for the Birds

 

When I first saw this birdhouse, I thought it was attached to that saguaro "skeleton" at the front of this house.  Later I saw that it was actually sitting on top of a wooden plank.  

The birdhouse looks like a very roomy, ranch-style house with a nice balcony surrounding it.  The wear on the paint around the opening makes me think it has housed many feathered residents.  

Parking Lot Odds and Ends

 

Meeting some friends for lunch, I arrived about 15 minutes early.  It was such a nice day, rather than wait in the car or inside, I wandered around the parking area looking for anything interesting.  This reflection in the window caught my eye.  I liked the slightly blurry signs.

Then I was attracted by the "dream catcher" hanging from the mirror in this car.  After downloading the photo, I see something even more interesting.  Is that some kind of camera with two lenses attached above the mirror?  I've never seen anything like that.

My last observation is the brightly colored Union Jack decorating the rear-view mirror on a Mini-Cooper.  

I found plenty to see while waiting those 15 minutes.

A New Gallery Close to Home

 

A new art gallery has opened up at Biltmore Fashion Park which happens to be very close to where I live.   It's the second art gallery to open in this area that houses mostly retail shops and restaurants.  It will be fun to watch the exhibits and artists they feature. The gallery is called Biltmore Fine Arts.

Right now they are featuring the work of John Nieto an artist who concentrated on Native American themes.  This one is called "Mystic Warrior" and was painted in 1984.

This one is called "Peace Pipe Ceremony".  

This last one is called "A Timely Approach".  

Nieto lived in Santa Fe New Mexico where there is a gallery bearing his name.  I love how he painted with such bold colors.

Antique Decor

 

I was in the mood for some good pasta so I stopped at Pizzeria Bianco for lunch last weekend.  Their restaurant at Town and Country Shopping Center is decorated with antiques in every room.  While I was waiting for my penne pasta with a chicken ragu, I looked around the dining room at all the antiques that filled the room.  Those chandeliers over that extra long table were especially attractive.

I caught reflections of them in the antique mirrors hanging on one wall.

But the reflections above didn't catch the one chandelier in the center and It deserved a photo all its own.  That is a very unusual fixture.

I eat at Pizzeria Bianco more often than I thought.  I posted photos from here three times just last year.  You can see those here, here and here.

Night at the Opera

 

I was in downtown Phoenix Saturday evening for the season opening performance of the Arizona Opera Company.  They did a wonderful job with "Madam Butterfly", a classic opera with an inevitable dramatically sad ending.  At intermission I stepped out onto the Symphony Hall patio where there is a great view of some of the Phoenix Convention Center buildings all lit up at night.  My Uber driver told me that there are two very large conferences starting this week in downtown Phoenix so I'm guessing this area will be hopping with activity.

Facing the other way, I saw one of the Symphony Hall chandeliers framed perfectly in that tall, narrow window.

Here's what they look like inside the hall.  

All About the Sauce

 

I found this mural on the side of "Sauce" restaurant which happens to be located on Camelback Road just one block east of Central Avenue.  So that explains the painted street sign.  This is one of those murals designed to attract customers.  I've never eaten at this place so I can't vouch for food however I do like those red cars. They're the color of pizza sauce.  

Taking part in Monday Murals.

Theme Day: Double

 

On Friday it suddenly dawned on me that I needed a theme photo for today's post and I didn't even know what the theme was.  So I had to do some quick work to find the theme and then I scrolled through the photo files to find an appropriate photo.  This one popped out sooner than I expected.  Two almost identical horses at work pulling a wagon.  This will work for the February 1st theme of "Double"!

To see more "double" photos, click here.

Light and Water

 

As I parked my car at my friend's house, I noticed the late afternoon light on the fountain in the parking area.  The light from behind the fountain was making the drops of water glow.  

Seeing things in better light can lift the spirits!  

Those Lovebirds

 

Seeing that peach-faced lovebird that I posted yesterday reminded me of all those birds that used to visit my yard when I lived in the house on the other side of town.  I went into the archives to look at some of those photos.  If you have followed my site for the past 12 years, you might remember how they used to flock to my yard because of the seed blocks I put out for them.  I found this photo in the archives of one of the lovebirds inviting a little sparrow to take a bite.

For those of you who haven't followed me that long, here is what it looked like back then.  I would get a big block of bird seed, and put it on a big rock in my back yard and these cute fellows would show up and feast on the seeds.  I miss seeing them all the time so I'm happy when I spot them around town in different locations.  

I See You!

 

Look who I saw!  Actually, I heard this fellow before I saw him.  When I heard that familiar squawk, I stopped to see where it was coming from.  That's when I spotted this fellow.  I'm lucky I had my camera with me.  I could hear a few others but they must have been up in the branches.  I only saw this one.

It's always a fun to see these cute little peach-faced love birds around town. 

Singer

 

I saw this in the window of a tailor's shop and boy did it bring back memories.  My grandmother had one very similar to this.  I loved watching her use the foot pedal to increase the machine's speed while she was feeding the material through it.  I can almost hear the sounds it made. 

Anyone else have similar memories?

A Little Floral Beauty

 

I haven't been out taking photos for the past few days so I scrolled into the archives and snatched a couple of photos from last year's orchid show at the Desert Botanical Garden.

I spent most of the weekend watching and reading news and writing to my representatives.  

Flowers mean a lot of things to different people at different times but their beauty is universally recognized by all.  We can all use a little beauty right now.

The Ladies of the Intertribal Greeting

 

When I was leaving the Heard Museum last Friday, I caught sight of these ladies who stand guard in front of the museum.  They were created by Doug Hyde and they have been standing in front of the museum for a very long time.  The light on them that morning was appealing so I stopped to take some photos.  I've pictured this sculpture before.  The last time was back in 2022.

They were looking so good, I decided to take some close-up shots of each of these lovely ladies.

They all look so good with their various hair styles and their lovely beads.

This group of young ladies are the perfect ambassadors greeting guests as they arrive at the museum.  

The Chosen Paintings

 

Yesterday I posted about a new exhibit at the Heard Museum featuring Kay WalkingStick's paintings.  Today I have three of the paintings from the Heard Collection that she chose to go with this exhibit of her works.  I found the one above fascinating.  It's by Dennis Numkena who was an architect as well as an artist.  He formed the first Native American owned architectural firm in Arizona.  This painting is called "Sky City" and it is described as "imagining a future world informed by Hopi cosmologies and ways of being." To me it has a "Star Wars" look to it. I like it a lot.

This painting is by Darren Vigil-Gray and it's called Motherland of Basketmakers #16.  He is an Apache artist and musician who studied at Santa Fe's Institute of American Indian Arts.  He has painted a series of paintings with the same name and featuring this type of lush landscape.

This last painting is called Sun's Power and it was painted by David Chethlahe Paladin.  Paladin was an influential artist in his contributions to contemporary Native American arts.  His paintings always contained Native American symbols and patterns many of which were formed into something new and imaginative.  

These are three completely different styles of art but I can see why they would appeal to Kay WalkingStick and her artistic vision.  

This is another great show that makes you think about what you are seeing.  I'm sure I'll tour it again before this exhibit ends.

Another Opening at the Heard

 

Yesterday morning I attended a special member's opening for a new exhibit at the Heard Museum.  This exhibit is called Kay WalkingStick/Hudson River School.  This show was organized by the New York Historical Society after they purchased the above painting of Niagara Falls.  It's the first painting by a Native American artist in it's collection.  Kay WalkingStick (b. 1935) was inspired to create a painting of Niagara Falls after viewing an exhibit at The Historical Society in 2022 of paintings by members of the the Hudson River School, a group of 19th artists, mostly men who helped to forge an American landscape tradition.  She said she considers it to be one of her best.

Kay's landscape paintings include Native American symbols and patterns that in a way reclaims the land as native.  She says that after all, "every American lives in Indian territory". The painting above is called St. Mary's Mountain.

This painting is called "Our Land".  Kay WalkingStick is from the Cherokee indigenous people and she has a strong bond with the Heard Museum.  She worked closely with the Heard Museum curators to meld this show as it appeared in New York with paintings from the Heard's own collections.  I'll show some of those in the future.  They included some that haven't been on view in many years and all were selected by Kay WalkingStick.

Another great exhibit at the Heard!

Red Hibiscus

 

The gardening team has been giving the grounds where I live a big landscaping update.  Yesterday when I went to get my mail, I saw new sets of plants have been added in multiple places.  This big hibiscus plant caught my eye immediately.  It was full of beautiful red blooms.

They were too pretty to pass up.  I had to grab a few photos.

The brilliant red of these flowers makes them stand out among all the other plants.