Procsciutto and happiness

This sign was hanging on the wall in a downtown restaurant and I didn't pay much attention to it until I was about to leave.  Then I noticed the funny twist on words.  A very clever American twist on a very Italian product.

An unusual sighting

As I was getting out of my car in a shopping center parking lot, I saw something moving in the car next to me but no one was in the car and it was locked up.  What I saw was this little flower pot sitting on the dash and those leaves were slowly moving up and down as though they were waving at me.  I thought it was so strange that I decided to shoot through the car window to get a photo of it.  Have you seen anything like this before.  I'm not much for car trinkets but, I am curious to know if this thing has a purpose.

Elegant Dinner Party

My good friend David had another one of his very elegant dinner parties last Saturday night.  He served a seven course meal for eight people and each course was truly delicious.  Once again he got out the good china, silver and crystal and set a beautifully elegant dinner table.

Here is the dinner menu:

Amuse Bouche - caviar and creme fraiche on a nut and berry cracker paired with Champagne

Seafood - Lobster, crab and shrimp cocktail paired with a French Rose

Soup - Rustic garlic soup paired with a Napa Valley Fume Blanc

Grapefruit sorbet

Entree - chicken breast stuffed with pistachio, parsley and bread crumbs and covered with an apricot, mango and ginger sherry sauce.  Served with lemon-scented saffron rice and steamed asparagus drizzled with balsamic reduction; paired with a Spanish Granacha 

Salad - Baby kale in a blood orange, jalapeño, white wine vinaigrette sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and cashews, paired with Sonoma Pinot Noir

Dessert - Fresh strawberries topped with Grand Marnier sauce, paired with an Italian Moscato, or 20 year-old Port and coffee service.  And, Julia Baker chocolates.

It was all extremely delicious and presented artfully.  David is truly the master of the elegant dinner party.

The Birds

I had a little Alfred Hitchcock flash back when I pulled in to my local grocery store a few days ago.  There was certainly a large gathering of birds going on right by the entrance.  I took my chances and went in anyway!  I hope they weren't plotting some nefarious crime.

Red Rose

I just wanted to follow up that "prickly" heart from yesterday with a soft red rose.  This one was growing at the botanical garden and it's labeled a cherry bomb rose.  I think it lives up to it's name.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm remembering a trip to New Orleans.

Happy Valentine's Day

Even the prickly pear cactus find room for a little romance today!

I love it when I find heart shapes in nature!

Happy Friday

Is anyone happy it's Friday besides me?  I thought I'd post this cheerful African daisy to help put smiles on faces.  It's been a busy week and I'm ready to kick back and relax.

P.S. I took this photo exactly across the street from the little free library I posted yesterday!

Free Library

I finally found one of those Little Free Libraries.  I've seen photos of them posted on other sites but never saw one in Phoenix until this last weekend.  I found this one in one of our historic neighborhoods.  I'm glad to know it's alive and well in my town.

Ride the Grid

Phoenix has a new bike ride share program with 500 bikes located in 50 locations.  This system works with a mobile application.  You use the app to reserve a bike, enter the PIN you are given to unlock the bike and away you go.  You can even stop somewhere to shop or have a meal by placing the bike in Hold status and locking it to any bike rack.  When you are finished, return it to any of the GRID bike racks to lock it in place.  The fares are $5.00 per hour or you have the option to subscribe for $30 per month or $79 per year (students, $59 per year).

You can tell from the top photo that the service has already caught on.  Many of the bikes in that rack were in use when I took the photo.

Bloom'n Gorgeous

There may not have been anything blooming at the Japanese Garden on Sunday but all around town, the flowering pear trees are in full swing with their explosion of white flowers.

And the bees are just loving the huge selection of blooms available to them for tasting.

I stopped to photograph this group of trees on the campus of the Camelback Bible Church near where I live.  They have a beautiful little courtyard with several of these trees scattered around.  

Dress-up Day

I went to the Japanese Friendship Garden yesterday to take a walk around and I spotted this group of young ladies feeding the koi.

I have no idea why they were dressed this way.  I was going to ask but, they kind of isolated themselves in one spot and were busy conversing with each other.

I only spotted one flower blooming at the garden so it was good thing these young ladies were there.  If they hadn't been, there wouldn't be much to take photos of this time.

Art with moving parts

While I was in east valley on Friday, I stopped at an office complex in the city of Mesa and found this whimsical art piece that moves with the wind.

If I worked here, I'd be out here several times a day to watch it move and change shapes.  

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourn day and it's all about Florence Italy.

What's good for the goose....

I drove out to Gilbert yesterday to visit the Riparian Preserve at Water Park.  I hadn't been there in over a year so I thought I'd see what kind of birds I could spot out there.  We are experiencing some unusually warm weather for this time of year so it was a bit of hot walk (83f/23c) and the place was packed with people so the wildlife weren't very cooperative.  Well, except for this goose.  He was not the least bit camera shy.

And, these two were quite happy to swim around in front of my camera.

I did get a rather good shot of this black necked stilt who was prodding around in the water for bits to eat.  The Riparian park wasn't my only stop in the east valley.  I'll show you some more photos from other stops in a future post. 

In need of a little TLC

I found this house in one of the historic neighborhoods that is undergoing a little gentrification.  I'm hoping that someone has bought this place and is going to refurbish it to its original glory.  It's a cute little bungalow that has a good potential.

Apache Cradleboard

Another wonderful Allan Houser sculpture at the Heard Museum in Phoenix.  This one is called "Apache Cradleboard".  Cradleboards were used by generations of Apache women to hold their babies and the sweeping of the mother's wrap around the baby conveys the parental protection between mother and child.

Different ways to relax

There are all kinds of ways to relax during an Arizona winter.  You might play a round of golf on one of the many golf courses.

Or maybe you'd like to take an outdoor yoga class on the lawn at Biltmore Fashion Park.  I bet I know which activity a few of my readers will choose.

Fog in the garden

After I drove around the city in the fog on Sunday morning, I headed to the Desert Botanical Garden to see how all those cactus look shrouded in fog.  I found the very big Cardon cactus standing tall with birds perched on each tower.  The birds seem to be dismayed by the wall of white surrounding them.

The Chihuly glass towers were looking equally misty with the fog surrounding them.  I had a pleasant walk around the garden but by the time I went home, my hair was wet enough to have to be blown dry.

Misty Morning

Sunday morning opened up with a huge fog covering the entire valley and further south.  In fact, I heard on the news that it was foggy all the way down to Tucson.  The first report I heard said it would burn off by 10:00 AM but at 10:00 it was every bit as thick as it was when I woke up.  It did start to burn off at noon and soon cleared up into pretty day.

I grabbed my camera around 8:00 AM and headed out to take some photos to share with you.  More to come in the future.

Theme Day: What would you miss?

City Daily Photo Bloggers all post on one subject on the fist of the month and this month's theme is "What would you miss if you had to move from your city to somewhere else".  Well, I'm sure that most of you would guess that I would miss the Desert Botanical Garden, cactus blooms, wild love birds, roadrunners and good Mexican food.  But, what I would miss most of all is my circle of really great friends.  There is simply no way around it.  If I have to move, they have to move too!

To see what other City Daily Photo Bloggers would miss about their cities, click here.

Best laid plans....

I had great plans for Friday.  I was going to take the light rail downtown to get some shots of all the Super Bowl goings on.  I hear there is quite a lot of attractions down there to go along with the NFL experience that is filling up convention hall.  But, Mother Nature had different plans.  I never complain about rain because we can really use it but, this weekend was not the best time to pour it on.

I took a short drive around the Camelback Mountain hills to get these pictures instead.  If you look closely, you can just barely make out the shape of the Praying Monk through the mist.  The Praying Monk is a rock formation on the side of the mountain that I've shown you before here.

When I was headed back home, I spotted these guys strolling across the street in their cowboy gear.  Some of you might think this would be a common sight here in the southwest but, I assure you it is a rare one.  That's why I rolled down the window and took a shot right from the car.

One last photo of what has to be the lamest Super Bowl decoration I've seen.  Yes, those are fake tortillas rolled up in the shape of Roman Numerals.  It is Super Bowl XLIX after all.  Now where's the giant bowl of salsa?

May I join you?

I was sitting enjoying an iced tea when this little cactus wren joined me at the table and stayed for quite a while.  He was pecking away at those white dots which I think is just pollen from the tree I was under.  Cactus wrens are a friendly bunch!

City Garden

In the very heart of downtown Phoenix, right next door to City Council Chambers and surrounded by high-rise buildings sits a little garden with very tall sunflowers and a few herbs.

In additions there are colorful flowers surrounding the garden....

.....and a little patch dedicated to roses.  That is truly an urban garden.  I do wonder if the city attends to it for if it's some kind cooperative.  There are no signs to give it away only beautiful flowers and plants to admire.

Super Bowl Madness

Super Bowl madness has hit the Phoenix area and our downtown is decked out with all the money making schemes it can pack into one small location.  I haven't been down there this week but last week when I took these photos, it was already a mess trying to get around.

Street closures have led to virtual gridlock in many locations.  If you are headed downtown this week, think about taking the light rail.  If it doesn't save you time, I'm sure it will save you frustration not to mention money for parking.

The Last Whistle

There is a lot of feeling in the face of this bronze statue.  This is another sculpture from the Celebration of Fine Arts event I went to last Friday.  This is by sculptor Ken Newman of Cambridge Idaho.  This one stopped me in my tracks.

I've been trying to figure out why this particular sculpture moved me the way it did and all I can come up with is that I grew up in factory town.  My grandfather worked for Gardner Denver (compressor manufacturing) for many years and my father worked there too for a short time before starting his own business. But, the city also had many other factories like Motorola, Moorman's Manufacturing, Quincy Compressor, Quincy Soybean (now ADM), Knapheide and Electric Wheel (now Titan Wheel).  I'm certain there are more that I'm not remembering.  While growing up I saw many scenes like this sculpture, men leaving the factories with lunch pails in hand and coat collars turned up against the cold.  This sculpture seems to bring all that back to me.  I stared at it and a flood of memories washed over me.

Mr. Newman packed a lot of emotion in this bronze.  It's a powerful image.

Dinner guests

I had friends over for dinner Saturday night and I thought the table looked really nice so I took a photo of it.  Even though I had my camera sitting at ready on the kitchen counter, I totally forgot to take any pictures of the food.  I guess that's what happens when you get caught up conversation and laughter.