Night Blooming Cereus

Tohono Chul Botonical Park here in Tucson boasts the largest collection of Night Blooming Cereus in the Southwest, some 300+ plants scattered throughout the grounds. The blossoms open at night (thus the name) and most of them wait for each other and bloom on the same night which is pretty amazing in itself. Tonight was the night! We have been on alert for a week as the park specialists watched the buds swell. Then tonight the doors were opened to the public and we all crowd in with flashlights and camera in hand. By tomorrow morning the pollinating sphinx moths will have made their visit and the blossoms will be limp and spent. They had their one night fling.

This is my jungle of pots and plants growing on my patio. Notice that big dark green pot. Yesterday it was full of overgrown and dying petunias which I decided to rip out as the summer sun is too hot for them anyway. Intended to leave the cactus and succulents as they will do fine. As I tore out the last big clump, I was startled to see 5 small, speckled eggs! A quail has decided this pot would be a nice place for a nest! This morning there were 6 eggs and she has been on the nest all day.

Look how she is tucked herself right down in there among the cactus spines. Apparently not a problem! This pot is on an irrigation drip so every other morning her nest and tail feathers have to get a bit damp. Apparently that is not a problem either!

We try to give her lots of room and not make any loud, sudden noises when we are outside so she will stay and be successful. Had my morning coffee out there plus we had lunch at the patio table. She doesn't move a muscle and we pretend not to look at her every 3 minutes.

This is our neighbor's saguaro cactus. I honestly have never seen a saguaro with so many blooms on it. Usually they are just on the crown but this guy has blossoms all over the place. They bloom overnight and by midday the sun has withered them and they are gone until the next evening's batch of blossom. This one will give us a show for at least another week

Who caught the biggest fish

Larry caught the biggest crappie of the week. . .UNTIL Jean caught a bigger one. However I didn't get a picture of that one. Go girl!

They all cooked up really yummy!

We're back home in Iowa and Arizona again. Was a big travel day as we drove back to Indianapolis and then caught our flight back to Tucson with a layover in Dallas. Was long but uneventful. Laundry awaits

Fishing at the lake

Maybe this makes the fish look bigger!

I am so amazed how quickly the time goes by when we are doing absolutely as little as possible! We fish a while, relax on the deck, eat, fish a while, snack, rest some more, watch the neighbors come and go, observe the resident wildlife, like the family of wood ducks that paddled by (tiny little babies), the brown water snakes are a curiosity (we've been assured they are harmless, but still creepy looking), Max the resort beagle who shows up for a treat at meal time, the family of squirrels trying to steal our garbage, and the red headed woodpeckers who put on a daily show. And then we eat some more and fish some more. . .and so it goes. Just what you want a week at the lake to be. Will and Larry and I got out yesterday for 9 holes of golf and plan to go out again tomorrow morning for another round at a different course. We have tickets to a local variety (Branson style) show tonight in town.
We took a drive out in the countryside today to a Mennonite community. Unfortunately for us a lot of the stores were closed today as it is Ascension Day and they were in church. We did see an unusually large number of horse and buggies on the roads and everyone seemed so dressed up in black suits and bonnets. Interesting sight. We came upon a large gathering of Mennonite families at one large farm place and were told later that it was a wedding. I would have loved to have gotten right out there with my camera as the little kids would have been some wonderful shots--but that would have not been too cool. I just sneaked one picture of some of the buggies.

Perfect day for fishing

Up at the crack of dawn to go fishing--for some of us that was 4am. I didn't make it quite that early, however that's when the fish were biting. The early bird gets the. . .fish!? Jean and Larry had the luck today but our time will come, I'm sure. Perfectly beautiful day at the lake. Fished some, relaxed a lot, took a nap in the sunshine.

By the way, Happy Birthday, Stephanie!!

Summer Tanager

This sweet Summer Tanager perched and posed for us unafraid. He seemed as interested in us as we were in him! He is a male, momma is not so colorfully endowed. She was probably close but this guy got all our attention.

Lake of the Ozarks fishing week

We stopped at a local nature preserve on our way out of St Louis this morning to see if we could find any new spring birds. Nothing we hadn't seen before but Powder Ridge Nature Center was plenty "birdy" on this sunny Sunday morning.
We purposely traveled west on I44 as that is the route of the historic Route 66. We hoped there might be some old remnants of the classic highway but we didn't notice much on the short piece we travelled. I think there probably are treasures to find if one takes the time to seek them out but we were sorta focused on getting to Lake of the Ozarks. Maybe another time.

We found our cabin on the water at Point Randall Resort and moved in. Made a run to the local Walmart for groceries and fishing license. Larry and Jean will be here in the morning. Can't fish until they get here as Larry is bringing his boat--and the fishing poles!

Indiana to Missouri-stop off in St Louis

It was a super early morning today. We got up at 4:30 to get Stephanie to the airport in Indianapolis for a 7am flight on her way to Tokyo. We've taken her to the airport lots of times over the years and I still miss her just as much when she's gone!

So we packed up our stuff and left town also. Made it as far as St Louis by early afternoon and decided to stop and find something interesting. Morning rains turned into sunshine although the winds like to blew us away. Maybe that will blow out this rain for good! Found a big city park called Forest Park in the heart of the city very near Washington University. Was a happening place on a spring Saturday afternoon. Strolled through the St Louis Art Museum (which was a neat old building from the turn of the century) and found lots of goodies including one of Monet's Waterlilies and some interesting modernist works like this Mapplethorp close up of a flower. Spent a couple of hours in the St Louis Zoo which was also a part of Forest Park. Was a fun afternoon, however we called it an early night.

Blooming Bloomington

The topic of the day continues to be yesterday's tremendous rain. There was another boomer thunderstorm over night. Steph's house survived just fine, she has no basement so not the worry of water in the basement--friend Kristi did, as did lots of people in Bloomington! But all this spring rain makes for some beautiful flower gardens. Stephanie has a profusion of orange poppies and her peonies are just beginning big time! I had forgotten how fragrant they are.

Will did some more Dad-type jobs in the house, like replace a ceiling fan, installed a motion light on back porch. Stephanie did a thousand and one things she needed to do to get ready to leave for Japan. Ended the day with another fun dinner out at Upland Brewpub with Steph's "family" Joanne, Kristi, and Brigitta.

Spring showers

The sky opened up and rained today like we have not seen in a long time! Lightning and thunder and the works. Streets flooded all over. Good old fashioned thunder storm. Not good for picnics, however. So we brought the picnic indoors and went to plan-B. We had a birthday party for Steph at her house and prepared our grilled dinners in the oven instead of over an outdoor grill. Joanne made a birthday cake and we celebrated with friends Rachel, Sam, and daughter Nel, Kristi, Joanne, Will and me. Nel had to help blow out the candles.

At home on Howe Street

We're hanging out in Bloomington, spending as much time with Steph as her schedule allows. She's got things to do, and places to be and she is trying to get packed and ready to leave for Asia on Saturday. She will be gone most of the summer doing research in Japan, attending an academic seminar in Shanghai, (spending a little quality time with her brother at the same time) and a yoga workshop in Hong Kong.
We were able to do some spring clean up for her at her house. Trimmed some bushes, pulled some weeds, planted a couple of new shrubs and dug up and discarded some old ones. Will repaired a broken wall. Looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. A few inside fixes on the agenda for the rest of the week as weather seems to be turning to rain.
We are going to try to get a picnic in tonight to meet a few more of Steph's friends.

This is where everyone in Bloomington goes on a hot summer night--or after a long afternoon of working outside--for a treat. The lines are always long, but the ice cream in always the best!! Called the Chocolate Moose.

Mother's Day in Bloomington with Stephanie

We were delighted to meet two of Steph's great friends--

Christi and Joann--and spend the afternoon with them.

Stephanie and friends took us out to Brown County State Park to Abe Martin Lodge for a Mother's Day buffet lunch. We all ate way too much Hoosier down-home cooking so decided to hike a trail through the park so we didn't feel so guilty! Beautiful forest walk on a lovely spring day with all the new spring wildflowers making their first appearance of the season--some good bird sightings, too. The best of southern Indiana.

Had a Mother's Day phone call from Doug and Tammy in Shanghai so my day was grand.

Indianapolis to Downers Grove to Grand Rapids

I'm whiling away some time (is whiling really a word? I've never actually written the word before and it looks funny--anyway I'm enjoying some time to myself) in a Panera, savoring an Asiago bagel with sun-dried tomato reduced fat cream cheese. It is sooo yummy and sooo not low calorie!! Panera is one of the cafes we miss from the midwest and it has free wireless so I think I will sit here a while and just enjoy. I might just order another bagel.
We're in Grand Rapids, Michigan this morning. Will is attending a board meeting for Partners Worldwide and open house for the new building they have recently occupied. They are growing and needed new space so they broke some old ties and moved away from the Kalamazoo address that they shared with a bunch of other Christian Reformed people and into a location all their own. Pretty nice. They do good things. Will has enjoyed 6 years with them and though this will be his last as a board member, I think he will always have room for Partners.

Yesterday we made a side trip through eastern Chicago to stop to see Gene and Elaine Heskett for a wonderful couple of hours. Gene and I first met back in 1966 when we were working for the Burlington Railroad in Chicago and our families' lives have been intertwined ever since. Not to give a lady's age away, but Elaine is 90 years young this May 24th. They remain dear, vibrant friends and we had a delightful visit.

Same ol', same ol'.

Life has just been perking along in Tucson. Not much exciting. Doing stuff we do every day. Working at odd jobs around the house--like taking the big sliding glass door out in the family room so that we could re-lubricate the roller wheels. Its a very heavy door, but now it works so smoothly, and I am very happy. That is about as exciting as it gets some weeks! A few church meetings, workouts at the Y, bike rides, mornings at the pottery studio for me, laundry, meals out and lunch with friends like Irene. . .
But today we are packing our suitcases because tomorrow we are flying to Indianapolis. We'll make a circuitous route to visit friends and end up in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a day and then spend a short week with Stephanie in Bloomington.
Since I can't post without a picture, here is a little Wilson's Warbler that was in my neighborhood. Pretty sweet little guy with that little skullcap. He's headed for the Northwest for the summer.