And the Winner is….

Have you had enough of the Academy Awards, yet? If so, you can skip this posting.

My dear friend, Andrea, agreed to abandon her husband for the evening, and join me at our local art theatre for an 'Awards Party.' I was entirely ready for a dress-up evening away from the house and this fit the bill perfectly. 

The theatre even provided a red carpet….

and at the end of the carpet we found champagne and goodies.

We had an lots of time to chat with each other, 

a variety of fellow theatre goers….

and a few that dressed perfectly for the occasion.

Since I don't have a TV at home this seemed a fun way to watch an otherwise long and sometimes boring show---and I was right.

There was a bingo card game, drawings and guesses on who would win.  By the way, this guy was an excellent host.

Though, I admit, Ellen is my all-time favorite.  That pizza delivery boy will never forget that night.  I wonder what his tip turned out to be.

Seeing the program on the big screen made it really special, but the ads still appeared. However, it went so much faster because the sound of the ads was shut off while the host announced the winners of various games or just chatted with the crowd.

The Memoriams were particularly sad this year...

and stirred a lot of memories,

and regrets for talents wasted.

 Altogether it was a lovely time.  I could not argue with any of the winners and I think this year's movies were exceptional. It is interesting how many of them were based on true stories.  

So back to the house…and real life.

Almost There

I thought it was about time to check in and see if any of my readers are still around.

It has been a very long and arduous two months but I am still holding on and can see the end in sight.

 

The yard work has been a major slog. 

Two years without weeding or a good pruning and…

…even though it is the desert, everything gets unkempt and overgrown.

This giant is ridiculous..in the last twelve years it has frozen almost to the ground twice but each time it comes back with a vengeance.  Yep, even cactus need pruning.  The good thing is that this one is thornless.

But not this one...

Or this one.

And this is the one that got me.  I decided to prune it while wearing flip flops.  When one of those arms came down on my left big toe, well, I may have said a few bad words. 

Abandoning the cactus I hobbled to the backyard and decided to repot a small ficus tree that had become root bound in the pot shown here.  I tried to remove the tree from the pot by lifting the plant by its trunk but the pot came up also--only to give way when it got about 18 inches from the floor, coming down squarely onto my right big toe.  Hmm, How to swear like a sailor in two easy lessons.

Sigh Me continues to do her job of keeping my chair warm should I get a minute to sit in it.  She is totally unperturbed by the continuous stream of men clanging and banging all around her.   

And here are my heroes…Carpenter-plumber,  Rocco (in the center) with his crew,

Jeff who is installing the new air conditioner…

and painters, Carlos and Tony.  They are all the best.

The weather has been beautiful with seventy and eighty degree days, and finally, today we have some rain.  

 Everything is starting to bloom, and I am ready for a rest.  If all goes well this week then I expect the house to be listed by next weekend--only one week beyond my target date.  Please stay tuned.

It's all Thorny…

"Arizona's riparian habitats are shrinking.  One hundred years ago, perennial rivers like the Santa Cruz and the San Pedro were lined with thick groves of cottonwood or mesquite, while grasslands and cienegas were plentiful in the surrounding valleys."

 "Today, it's a different scene.  (The one thing that seems to grow with little effort, or water, is cactus).  Increasing urbanization, falling water tables, over-grazing by cattle, dams, development on floodplains, and a changing climate have all contributed to the loss of riparian communities throughout Arizona.  No more than 10% of our riparian habitats exist in their original condition. "

Even, however, the majestic Saguaro cactus is threatened.   Did you know that this particular cactus is so slow growing that it takes 75 years for it to develop  its first arm?  After that the arms sprout much more quickly but many of the cactus seen growing around Tucson are upwards of 200 years old.  These great sentinels of the desert were the main backdrop of the old western movies.  Whenever one of the cactus appear on the screen you will know that the film was shot in Arizona; these guys do not grow anywhere else other than a 1/2 dozen in California.  

They are accordion pleated and after a rain the pleats will suck up and store water for dryer years.  The circumference of the cactus will change greatly with plentiful moisture.  But right now, they are all pretty skinny.  We have not had a good rain since November.

This is another saguaro boot, or shoe (described in the posting on DeGrazia's gallery).

And this is the famous "Jumping Cholla".

The thorns are very painful and many a pet has been 'attacked' by one of the vicious flying clumps.

(I'm kidding, of course)

This cactus drops little clumps of thorns at the base and pets and little desert animals will wander on to them.  The local tale around here is that the thorns are so hard to remove that they cause infection and some desert animals will die and leave behind  their bodies to act as fertilizer for the next generation of Cholla germinating in the fur.  There is some truth to the tale I am sure as seeds, are imbedded in the clumps and the darn plants are everywhere throughout the desert. I am always finding 'volunteers' in my yard. 

This cactus is downright creepy as it grows, snakelike, along the ground.

 

But this is one of my favorites.  I don't know the name but I love the way it grows--Willy Nilly.

And with wonderful faces peeking out.  I believe that if we ever step onto another habitable planet, the vegetation  most likely to be found will be some form of cactus. 

The cactus in the above photo (slightly to the right of center) is almost as tall as the pear tree that lives behind it.  It is a 'thornless' cactus that sits in the center of my backyard and grows almost as fast as Jack's Beanstalk.  The thing has frozen to the ground twice in the last ten years but it continues to come back--with a vengeance.  I will be pruning it back along with all the other overgrown stuff in the yard in an attempt to get the house ready for sale.  I hope to have the house ready to list within the next two to three weeks but it is taking every bit of my energy right now. 

In the meantime, I will put the blog on hold until March 1st--so check back then for an update.  

A Return to Tohono Chul

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all."

(This blog is still a problem with all kinds of error messages.  But I took the computer to the library for a few hours and was finally able to load the photos.  Their Wifi is better than my Verizon hotspot.) 

Last week I took another visit to Tohono Chul.  The park is one of the most interesting places I know to walk and it is less than a 10 minute drive from my house.

The sculptures throughout the park are created by an artist from Kenya, named Kioko.

They are all made from 'scrap metals' and every sculpture is a delight.

Some of the parts are very recognizable….

others, not so much. 

  

The really interesting thing about his creations are that some are made from 'animal traps' that he scavenged in Kenya.  The traps were set out by poachers and Kioko is finding a way to make sure they are not used that way again. 

Knowing that, made me appreciate them even more.

Nature's sculpture.

Ancient artist.

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."  John Muir 

This morning, as I was sitting by the kitchen window having breakfast, a very large hawk settled on a branch, not 10 feet from where I sat.  He cocked his head to the side and looked straight at me through the open window before he unfolded his wings and glided away. He was easily as large as Sigh Me and I wondered if I should be worried because I often let her out into the backyard to bask in the sun.  

My Back Yard

Arizona has the most incredible sunsets.  These photos were taken in my back yard.  Okay, I know these intense colors are caused mainly by the sun reflecting off of pollution in the air but I try not to think about that when I have such a spectacular display right outside my back door.  Actually, I believe this one was due in part to the forest fire that was in Southern Calif. last week.

I hope there are still a few of my readers left out there.  This blog has been on hold for a week now because the photo program (Picasa) has refused to transfer any photos to the blog.  Once again I turned to son Ron, who helped me out but there is definitely a glitch in the program somewhere.  

However, there has not been much to chronicle anyway.  I am hard at work trying to get the house ready to put on the market but find my energy level to be way below what it was 15  years ago when I moved in here.

(A friend sent me this:  "Old age is when it takes longer to rest than it does to get tired.")

The simplicity of RV life is sorely missed but I am determined to get back to it.  Sadly, I am so spoiled now that I may never adjust back to a house that has no wheels. Even Sigh Me has not settled down.  She paces and yowls until I pick her up and cuddle with her,  then she follows me from room to room as though she were a puppy.

Something to share:  I found this young Russian lady's photography on line and think it is just lovely.  The photos are of her family.  She has only been at it a few years and her work inspires me to learn more.