Olives!!

Olive trees are plentiful in the Phoenix area and every now and then I'll come across one that is full of fruit.  I liked the look of this one because I could capture both ripe and green olives.  I love them both!  Of course it's going to take a bit of processing to get these beauties to the edible stage.  I'll leave that job to the experts.

Look to the Sky

We've had some crazy fall weather over the past few weeks and one night my living room was glowing red.  I stepped out on my balcony and saw a spectacular sunset.  I'm glad I had the camera handy to snap a shot.

Family Dinner

I posted a similar photo a while ago but once again I caught a family having dinner together in total silence.  They had just placed their order and out came the mobile devices. One for each of them.

After they finished eating they were right back at the devices.  They didn't even see me taking the photos.  It really is kind of sad!

Pierson Place and Roosevelt Historic Districts

Pierson Place is a neighborhood dating back to 1934 with homes constructed before WWII.  There are a diversity of styles in this area but, most are single family homes of a modest size.

Obviously, this one isn't one of the historic homes.  In fact it's quite distinctly modern and sort of stands out among the houses around it.

The Roosevelt neighborhood was the first to be designated a historic district.  It was a "streetcar" neighborhood at one time with mostly large California style homes with a few Craftsman bungalows thrown in.  This neighborhood surrounds the Japanese Friendship Garden so I've driven through this area many times and I've always admired the fine homes here.

This one has a grand wrap-around porch. To me this looks more like something one would see on the east coast overlooking the Atlantic rather than in California.  Maybe that's just me.

Frida Kahlo

Yesterday I visited the Heard Museum to see the new Frida Kahlo exhibit of her collection of photos. There were 241 photos exhibited from her collection of over 6,000 that were carefully archived.  Many were taken by her father, some were taken by her and others were photos taken by various photographers.  They were all locked in a room in the Blue House where she lived most of her life and not revealed to the public until 2007.  It was a fascinating exhibit with photos of family and  cherished memories to photos that inspired her art and political activism.  Photography wasn't allowed in the actual exhibit but it was encourage at the entrance where this larger-than-life Frida was on display.

It was a very wet day in the Phoenix area so it was a perfect day for a museum visit.  All that rain didn't stop me from making a quick visit to my favorite sculpture garden at the museum.

There are no words.....

...to express the grief of the civilized world.

Colorful Phoenix Bird

I discovered another Phoenix Bird this time in a residential neighborhood on the fence of a house.  There is no explanation as to what it is doing there.  I can only guess that the owner of the house found it somewhere and decided it would look good on his fence.  Or, maybe he actually created this himself.

Artistic Tree

When I was at the Phoenix Art Museum for the Arts & Flowers show, I spotted this new artwork in the contemporary gallery.  It's called "Do you Really Want to Hurt Me" by artist Rebecca Campbell.  Do you see those little dots of blue sitting on the tree?  See the photo below.

Little glass blue birds are sitting in various places on the tree.  The description of this artwork says it's constructed from an avocado tree reinforced with steel and fiberglass, covered in velvet with glass birds that are filled with Windex.  Yes, you heard that right, Windex.  It further states:  "Named for a pop song by the British band Culture Club, Campbell explains that its genesis was the sight of a group of burned trees standing in bright snow."

I like it!  It's very striking standing in the center of this gallery.

Fall Blooms

A couple of weeks ago I took a short stroll through the Japanese Friendship Garden after it opened for the season.  I noticed quite a lot of these delicate looking little white blooms.  I don't know what they are called but, I loved seeing them there.

Do any of you know what they are called?  They were very attractive growing in clusters all around the garden.  I'll have to go back again in a few more weeks to see what else might be blooming.  The garden does a great job with fall and winter plants.

Waiting Around at the Mall

The lady in red has found a good place to wait for her friend to join her at Scottsdale Fashion Square.  The lady in the green has been waiting there for as long as I can remember but, it doesn't seem to bother her.  She's very patient.

Oakland and Phoenix Homesteads

I have two more historic neighborhoods today.  The first is the Oakland neighborhood located very near downtown Phoenix.  It was a working class neighborhood with strong ties to the Southern Pacific Railroad.  The houses are mostly bungalows and Spanish Colonial Revival houses.

In addition, this vintage apartment building is also located in the neighborhood.  

The Phoenix Homesteads neighborhood has a little different history.  It started as a subsistence farming housing project built during the Depression under a Farm Security Administration program.  All of these projects used indigenous materials and this neighborhood is one of the few remaining of these properties and the only adobe neighborhood in Phoenix.  All of the original homes were built by WPA Workers.  

One thing that really struck me about this neighborhood was the tree lined streets.  We don't usually see big tall trees like this lining streets here in Phoenix,  

While driving around here, I saw something unusual sitting on the patio of one home so I zoomed in to see what it was.  A dinosaur in a hat is not something you see every day.  

Grand Prix Scottsdale

Something new for Scottsdale, the first ever Grand Prix race with vintage racing carts.  They closed off several streets in Old Town Scottsdale to set up a race track and the sponsored carts plowed through the course.

The event was the brainchild of Andrew Bracanovich and Napoleon Smith III.  Bracanovich is co-founder of the Mesa-based Vintage Car Company and Smith is the executive producer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Smith brought is famous turtles with him and they were certainly a hit with all the youngsters in the crowd.  

I enjoyed watching the cars race around the track.

But, someone should tell this guy he shouldn't be watching the movie screen while he's driving.

Another Friday, Another Sun's Game

Little did I know when I set up yesterday's post that I would be going to another Sun's game this last Friday night.  I got a call from another good friend who happened to have gotten a hold of two floor seats for Friday night's game against Detroit.  I've always wanted to experience what it would be like to view a game from those exclusive seats and I thank my good friend for thinking of me when this opportunity came up.  The seats are great but they are also a little scary.  Every time the ball came flying my direction, I didn't know if I should duck or trust that someone would get it.

The floor seats come with dinner in the arena before the game with a very nice buffet set up just on the north side of the court and hidden under the north end seats.  Who knew all that was going on behind the scenes.

The Morris twins used to both play for the Phoenix Suns.  I even featured a post with them in it back in 2013.  Now Marcus plays for Detroit and Markieff is still with the suns.  At one point they were side by side on the free-throw line right in front of me.

It this a little brotherly love or just strategic blocking?  Who knows!

I thought I'd throw in this picture just for fun.  It was taken during one of the breaks when the Phoenix Sun's dancers perform.  Just look at all that hair flying around! 

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  Today I visit an architectural gem.  

Ring of Honor

This is the last of my posts from my busy weekend last weekend. Last Friday night I attended the Phoenix Sun's game with my good friend Janet and we witnessed the Induction of Steve Nash into the Ring of Honor.  Steve was by all means a star player for the Phoenix Suns and I for one miss him on the court.

Steve Nash retired form basketball this year which makes him eligible for this honor.  His photo and name will appear from now on along the Ring around the arena.  In the photo on top you see him giving his thank-you speech and seated on the floor around him are previous Ring of Honor players.

My favorite photo of the night was this one that I took as he was exiting the floor after the ceremony. I love that big smile!

I have another busy weekend ahead of me.  The camera is all charged up and I'm ready to go.

White Umbrellas

While I was in Scottsdale on Saturday, I stopped in to the Scottsdale Center for the Arts to renew my membership.  That's when I noticed the addition of these white umbrellas suspended from the ceiling.

I had a great time photographing them from different angles and directions.  I loved the white on white effect in the top photo and when taken from a distance how the white background becomes grey.

I might have to play around with these photos and add bits of my own color and shape to them.  

Escape from Earth and other adventures

Last Saturday I went to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Arts to see what exhibits were on.  I found some interesting exhibits that I enjoyed seeing.  I think my favorite was one called "Orion Tide" represented above by this somewhat fuzzy photo I took.

I snapped a second photo with my cell phone but the darkness and the movement in the display made photography pretty tricky.  The artist is Kelly Richardson, a young woman who "crafts video installations that offer imaginative glimpses into the future and prompt a careful consideration of the present."  She states that Orion Tide is created from a photo of the Texas desert to which she has added the continuos eruption of rocket-like vehicles into the night sky.  She leaves the message open to interpretation but, as I sat there watching it, I had a feeling that it was message of all of us humans escaping the planet for some unknown reason.

The artist had another piece there which was a huge picture of the surface of Mars complete with blowing dust and moving debris that was left there by our explorations.  It was so big, it felt like you could walk right into it and find yourself standing on Mars.  Here is a link to her site.  There is a picture of the Mars piece on the banner of her site.

Dia de los Muertos

Early Sunday morning I headed to the Desert Botanical Garden to catch a few of the dia de los muertos events going on.

I found a display of several dia de los muertos altars built by different local artists.  This one was outside near the entertainment area.  Others were found in one of the exhibition halls.

When I was getting ready to leave, I came across a group of native American dancers dancing to a steady drum beat.  There were a lot of things happening at the garden that day but I couldn't stay for them all.  I had to move on the the next event that was on my schedule.

Sunday at the Shemer

Before heading downtown to the art museum, I stopped at the Sunday at the Shemer Family Arts Festival for a quick visit.  There were a lot more artists there than I remember from previous shows and it was fun looking at all the beautiful creations.

In the far right of the top photo you can see a painting hanging on one of the booths.  This is a closer look at that one.  I took this photo with the telephoto lens and I just now noticed that "No Photos" sign on the right side of the painting so, don't tell anyone I took this picture.  It'll be our little secret.

The White Shirt.....

....According to Me, Gianfranco Ferre

This was one very busy weekend for me.  I saw a lot of things and took a LOT of photos.  I thought I'd start sharing some in reverse order starting with the most recent event I attended.  That was the member's preview day at the Phoenix Art Museum for a show called "The White Shirt According to Me, Gianfranco Ferre".  It was a show organized by the Gianfranco Ferre Foundation in Milan Italy displaying some of the designer's outstanding couture designs.  

It was displayed so beautifully that it stopped me in my tracks when I entered the room.  All of those beautifully designed shirts hanging in rows in a dark room with spot lights over each display.  

A description of the show states that:  Known as the "architect of fashion" and the purveyor of "power dressing", Gianfranco Ferre never ceased to view the white shirt as the archetypical expression of his approach to design and style.

I think this one was my favorite shirt in the show.  I loved the tie and puffy sleeves and....

....when I saw the back, I loved it even more.  Very classy!

I went to two other events before going to the museum on Sunday. More about those in the next two days.  And, that only covers Sunday.  I had things on Saturday and Friday too.  I did a good job filling up the photos files this last weekend.

Theme Day: Ephemeral

Just a fleeting glimpse of light behind the clouds lights up the edges of the clouds with brightness and casts sprays of light rays across the sky.  And then, as quickly as it appeared it was gone.

The November 1st theme for City Daily Photo Bloggers is "Ephemeral" a brief shimmer of light that is there for a moment and then gone.  To see ephemeral as other City Daily Photo Blogger depict it, click here.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm visiting a different kind of castle today.