African Daisy Season

It's African Daisy season here in the Valley of the Sun so we are seeing them blooming everywhere!  They are perennials so wherever they were last year, you are bound to find them this year.

I drove over to my old neighborhood last weekend to take some photos.  I remember all the yards that have them planted so I knew exactly where to go to get some photos.

And while I was snapping photos, this pretty little butterfly came flying by and decided to pose for a photo.  Wasn't that nice?  I couldn't have asked for a better model.

Baby Race

This was a totally new half time event for an NBA game, A Baby Race!  That's right, babies racing each other for a prize.  Above you see the parents all lined up with the little ones.

And then they were off.  Well this little guy was off and running crawling.  He stopped to look back to see how close his competitors were.

It was no contest, the others hadn't even left the starting gate.  So off he went to the finish line and was pronounced the winner!

These two and two others never budged from the starting line.

As I said, it was a most unusual event but fun for all. 

It Was a Good Game

After spending the day at the Indian Fair and Market last Saturday, I joined my friend Janet for a basketball game.  I haven't been able to attend one with her this season, so this was my first and it turned out to be a good one.  Phoenix Suns vs. the L.A. Lakers.  And guess what, the Phoenix Suns won that game.  That was totally unexpected.  We decided to have dinner in the club lounge before the game and this is the view from up there.

It was a typical NBA game with cheerleaders, a sold out crowd and of course free t-shirts being fired off into the stands.  I didn't get one.

Tomorrow I'll show you what the half time program was.  It was most unusual.

Native American Performers

Along with the vendors I featured yesterday, there were also several performances at the Indian Fair and Market at the Heard Museum last Saturday.

Above are some dancers who were dancing while this gentleman to the left was playing the flute.

Another set of colorfully dressed dancers.

A different group of dancers.  These appear to be Apache Crown Dancers.  They were very interesting to watch.

 Another dancer who was dancing with the crown dancers.

It was a day filled with art, culture and entertainment, all rolled into one event.

Blue Ribbon Craftsmanship

On Saturday, I went to the annual Heard Museum's Indian Fair and Market.  As always, it was a day well spent viewing extraordinary art and talking with interesting artists.  I'll show you a little sample here.

First up, is Ancient Dignity from Mark Fischer an Oneida sculptor.  You might remember that I spotted a life sized bison similar to this three years ago in Old Town Scottsdale.  You can see that one here.

Above is a painting by Carol Emarthle-Douglas.  Carol is Northern Arapaho - Seminole. I love the simplicity of this painting and if my walls weren't already completely covered, I might have been tempted to purchase this one.

To the left is a wonderful and whimsical sculpture made from clay.  It was created by Kathleen Wall of the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico.   I always enjoy seeing these wonderful characters.

And here is Rain Scott with his "paper sculpture" of a peacock.  He creates wonderful pieces using the origami technique.

I think he might be very new to markets like this because he didn't have business cards.  He simply wrote his name on a small card and gave it to me.

This last artist is a photographer, Cara Romero and she is from Santa Fe New Mexico.  I immediately fell in love with the top photo (and it's message) and asked if I could photograph it.  To see more of Cara's work, check out her instagram page.  She is very creative.

Tomorrow I'll show you some of the entertainment I saw at my visit to the market.

Symmetry....It's Everywhere

One evening last week I attended a lecture at the Desert Botanical Garden.  The speaker was Frank Wilczek, a Nobel laureate, physicist, professor and author.  His book is called "A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design".

His topic was "Symmetry" and all the places it's found in nature such as in plants and minerals.  He explained how natural symmetry influences almost everything we do.

He talked about how we find symmetry in almost everything we humans create.  It is present in architectural design, both old....

... and new!

When he started talking about how symmetry influences art especially with the assistance of digital programs, it made me immediately think of all those kaleidoscopes I like to create like this one that was once a poinsettia bloom.  I enjoyed his talk very much and it inspired me to keep on creating whenever I can.  

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm visiting a modern day cloister. 

Social Club

A few months ago I was invited to a fund raising event at a place in downtown Phoenix called The McKinley Club.  I had never heard of it before and had never really noticed the building.  I'm not sure how I missed it because it certainly has a wonderful entrance.  I found this information about it's history.   Reading about the spunky woman who dared to settle herself alone in the wild west in the late 1800's put a smile on my face.

Theme Day: Green

There is a big office building on the busy corner of Camelback Road and 24th Street.  I've featured pictures of it before here .  Behind that big building right off of two very busy streets, is this pretty and quiet green space.  It isn't a park, it's just a very nice green space that very few people get to see.  I bet the people who work on this side of the building enjoy looking out here from time to time and seeing that patch of green below them.

On the first of every month, City Daily Photo Bloggers post photos based on a theme.  The theme for March first is "Green".  To see how others represented green, click here.

A Bit of a Rant

I think I mentioned last summer that I bought a new Mac computer at my local Apple store at Biltmore Fashion Park.  That store was very convenient to where I live and it was always busy, busy, busy.  So, imagine my surprise when about two months ago, I went there to look at something and found the store closed with a note on the door that they had moved to Scottsdale Fashion Square.

Sure enough, they moved the store from Phoenix to Scottsdale and located it at the east end of the shopping center in a spot where Barney's of New York used to be.

The new store is a huge, two-story glass enclosed spot with all kinds of room for classes and demonstrations on the lower floor.

I have to admit, it's a beautiful store but, it leaves Phoenix with no Apple store while Scottsdale as two.  That hardly seems fair to me.  After all, Phoenix is the bigger city.  Anyway, I filed my complaint when I visited the new store knowing full well, that my voice will have little impact.  I just hope that more people have been doing the same.

So, that's my rant!  Come back to Phoenix Apple people!

While I was taking these pictures of the new place, I couldn't resist zooming in on the guy with his dog waiting outside the store.

Potpourri of Houses

Today I have some photos of houses that caught my eye for a variety of reasons.  I found this house (above) on the west side of town backing up to the Encanto Golf Course.  I hope it has some windows on the back side facing the golf course because it looks pretty black here.  That long, thin window has a metal shade screen over it making me wonder if the owners of this place are only here part time.

This house sits in the Camelback Mountain foothills and is taking advantage of a higher elevation with all that glass in front.  However, I did wonder about that large metal pole that seems to run through that room and press up against the glass.  What could that be?

This house in South Phoenix reminded me so much of houses I've seen in the midwest that were built many, many years ago.  Those houses used to have stables for animals on the ground floor and living quarters above.  The warmth of the animals helped to heat the living quarters above.  It makes me wonder if this was a similar arrangement at one time in its history.

This place caught my eye because of those window-style air conditioners on the second floor.  I don't see many air conditioners like that any longer.  When I was a little kid, we had several in our house in Illinois to cool down certain rooms when the summers got too warm.

Snow on the Mountains

I went to Julie and Dave's house last Saturday evening for dinner and I was there in time to see some snow on the surrounding mountains.  Right across from their house on Camelback Mountain, I could see a dusting of snow on the mountains of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.

And, the mountains just slightly east of the top view.

And then, further east, the McDowell Mountains were covered in snow.  The sun has been shining steadily since then so I'm sure this is all gone by now.  It was fun to see from the high vantage of Julie and Dave's home.  

Flowering Hair

I'm not sure this counts as a mural but I'm using it anyway.  I found it over the weekend inside Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall.  It was on a wall surrounding a store that is undergoing a makeover.  It's such a beautiful way to hide the construction going on behind.

To see other murals from around the globe, click here.

Stormy Skies

When I made that short errand on Friday, I took the opportunity to snap a few more stormy-sky photos while I was out.  The gray cloud really makes the white of that house stand out.

Here is a favorite house of mine.  It's located very near the Hermosa Inn not far from where I live.  Those rustic doors and open windows lead to a courtyard perfect for relaxing when the weather is right.  I love that adobe style brick too.

The desert landscaped yard next to the house looked quite attractive with that gray sky background.

I have a new post on Sharon's Sojourns today.  I'm following up on my visit to the Cloisters.

Gray Day

I only went out yesterday for a short period of time to run an errand but, I did make a sweep around Camelback Mountain to see the low clouds.

It was a very gray day with moments when the clouds would thin and sky got brighter.  But, those were only moments.  It was a perfect day to curl up with a good book which is exactly what I did as soon as I returned home.

It's Not All Blue Skies...

...and palm trees.

The rain and cold have come back to the desert southwest.  We can certainly use it but it does make for long and dreary days.

Cloudy days do give some interesting lighting.

At least it doesn't look like this!  My sister sent this photo of her backyard.  She lives just 90 miles north of here.   Brrrr...