Happy Birthday Will

Will turned a young 64!!

Thanks kiddos for remembering!!

Those are the biggest sunflowers in the world, and wait until those iris really open up. Stunning.

Those are giant strawberries dipped in chocolate with pineapple numbers for an edible arrangement. Ooooooooh Yummmmm.

Dewain and Linda

We had such a good time catching up on all the family news and stories from Minnesota with Dewain and Linda. They are special friends, for sure. . .no trouble picking up right where we left off the last time we were together.

Enjoyed a few hours discovering what's new at the Desert Museum. Good place to introduce people to the Sonoran Desert--and can't get enough of watching the Harris' Hawks perform at the afternoon bird show.

Look who's here!

Dewain and Linda Goff stopped in Tucson for 3 days on their tour of the Southwest and stayed with us. While they were here we gathered other midwestern types who happened to be around for an evening to renew old friendships and celebrate Will's 64th birthday! Amy and son Chase were visiting Pete and Alice so we got a double treat to spend time with them also. Just like "old times" in Minnesota!

Amy and Chase. . .Alice and daughter, Amy . . .Wil, Judy Massey, Alice and Linda G filling plates buffet style.

My Lady Banks Rose

This is my Lady Banks Rose that is blooming in all its glory right now. It started out as an accidental planting when we moved in 5 1/2 years ago and it obviously likes me! Too bad it doesn't last long--only gives one big show in the early spring.

According to Guinness, the world's largest Lady Banks rosebush was planted in Tombstone, Arizona in 1885 and still flourishes today in the city's sunny climate. This rose bush now covers 8,000 square feet (740 m2) of the roof on an inn, and has a 12-foot (3.7 m) circumference trunk. Mine has a ways to go.

Tucson

Tucson Festival of Books

This was the greatest! The entire mall of U of A was covered with tents and canopies of books, media, and related "stuff." Tons of authors in town to do all sorts of talks, seminars, book signings, lectures. I ambled along eating my kettle corn and took it all in. Sat in on a wonderful interview of Luis Alberto Urrea--such a story teller. I've read, The Devils Hiway and the Hummingbirds Daughter--great writer. Everything from Southwest cooking to science fiction to children's books. It was all there.

Hiking the Tucson desert

Hiking season is coming close to ending in the desert as the day time temperatures begin to move upward. We picked a unusual partly cloudy day to hike a 6 mile trail in the shadow of the Rincon's east of Tucson with Darrell and Melinda Steed this week. You can see the cityscape of Tucson from the trail but when you drop behind a rise, you think you are in a wilderness. We saw plenty of evidence of new life in the desert as wildflowers and new growth were abundant.

This huge saguaro just made us chuckle--looked like it was on steroids.

This dam is evidence of a cattle ranch that was here in the not-too-distant past.

I think there might be a few more treks yet this spring.

This posting is a little out of order but our friend, Darrell just shared with us the pictures he took during a performance at Tohono Chul Park that we attended together. This is the amazing Baxter Black.

Chihuly and Don and Betty

Dale Chihuly did another installation art project and this time it is at Phoenix Botanical Garden so we had to go see it. We have managed to see a few of his dramatic exhibits, most notably in Kew Garden in London in 2005 so we really enjoy his distinctive wild imaginings in glass. Just the sheer scope of the conception and setting these things up blows me away. It was great, we had 4 o'clock tickets which allowed us to view them during daylight and then after sun went down and they were illuminated. They are placed all throughout the landscape and become not only an accent piece but a part of the desert landscape.

We also took advantage of the trip to Phoenix to stop in Chandler to have lunch and a nice visit with my hometown cousin Don and Betty Nobiling who spend their winters at Sunbird Resort.

Easy prey

Nature's survivors sometimes have it pretty tough. I watched a Lesser Goldfinch with a lame wing manage a precarious life today in my backyard. I first noticed him climbing up the trunk of my mesquite tree and hop and skitter out some branches making his way to the thistle feeder. He hung on and nibbled seeds until a larger house finch bullied him off the perch where he immediately dropped down to the ground and started the climb all over again. Later I watched him scoot all the way to the end of a branch and then glide to the bird bath for a drink. Living is hard for a bird when it can no longer fly. He's pretty industrious but I just wonder how long he can survive before our neighborhood Coopers Hawk takes advantage of the easy mark.

my back yard in March

The Linn's

Long time friends Marlene and Larry Linn came to Tucson and spent three fun days with us on their road trip through Arizona. We had a good time showing them the highlights of Tucson ending with a day at the Rodeo. We managed to gab nonstop the whole time--lots of memories of our years as neighbors and friends in Oakdale as our kids were growing up, various mission trips, and days at 3M.