December 15, 2007

Well, the rain and cooler temps have certainly made one of our plants very happy. This is our freakishly large artichoke. I half expected the thing to talk to me like that plant in "Little Shop of Horrors." So far it's kept quiet but I'm still keeping my distance.

November 30, 2007

Well, November is heading out with a whimper. It's a gray overcast day - spitting rain. Not a lot so far - just enough to spot up the car and make the "dust" into "mud." Looking out the back bedroom window, though, the tangerines look bright and smiley. In Arizona, Christmas and Citrus go together! Ha!

November 23, 2007

Today, Steve and I started one of our "Winter Projects." We raked all the lava rock and bark out from behind the garage and the vegetable garden and then sprayed all the stray and insidious Bermuda grass with Round-up, after which we put down a weed barrier fabric and returned the rock and bark. I tell you, the grass is enough to make me pull my hair out! It sends out runners and gets Everywhere! We're hoping this strategy will cut down on at least some of the stuff.

Behind the Garage.

The Vegetable Garden - We're using raised beds.

November 17, 2007

More blooms. This is a bougainvillea on the back porch. Michael just loved this when he visited last month (it was blooming then, too). The pink "petals" are actually modified leaves, called "bracts." The flower itself is a tiny little thing in the center of all that pink. I was sitting on the porch this afternoon and thought I would try to snap a picture with the bracts back lit by the sun in the west.

November 16, 2007

I've been working out in the garage - which I've taken to calling "Studio Butler" - all week. It's been warm enough that I can keep the side door open and thus can hear the burbling of the waterfall in the pond. It's quite relaxing.

Our roses are blooming right now, too. That just seems odd, doesn't it? It's November, nearly Thanksgiving, and our flowers are still blooming! It's always this way and yet in the twenty years that I've been living here, I still marvel at how warm it is this time of year.

This is a sugar pine cone - the largest of all pine cones. I have one on the back porch and it just struck me as pretty. I had the camera in my hand and so, voila! There it is.

November 3, 2007

Lots of hummingbird activity going on, lately. I know Matt and Denise have feeders next door, and I am keeping mine filled with nectar, too. Autumn in Phoenix is almost like a second Spring. Although it is dry in the desert, the flowers in the watered yards are blooming in profusion. No fledglings but the birds are busy defending their territories nonetheless. (In fact, I can hear a hummer chittering right now!)

October 6, 2007

The weather has been quite nice - cool in the morning and evening - and we have been spending a lot of time visiting with Mom and Dad on the back porch.

Before Mom and Dad arrived, I bought a new hummingbird feeder, as my old one was leaking nectar all over the place (the ants were getting rough!). This one has met with overwhelming approval from the local avian set.

Below, a calliope hummingbird perches for a drink.


Slurp! Ahhhh...

The calliope likes to hang out on this branch and survey the territory (and feeder!), below.

August 19, 2007

Caught up! Whew! And tomorrow I head back to New Mexico! I tell you, the fun never stops. I don't even bother to unpack my suitcase, anymore. There is stuff in the bottom that I haven't seen in months (seriously - I never seem to dig that deep!).

Yesterday, I cleaned out the pond. The "waterfall" was down to a trickle. Turns out some of the plants' roots had grown into the skimmer and were choking the pump! It was a mess. I finished cleaning it out last night so I could stay out of the sun. Got up this morning and took this pic, though. You can see that the water is flowing just fine - for now!

July 8, 2007

O.K., I didn't take this picture today, but Steve did. It's shade cloth over our vegetable garden. If we're lucky, when we get back to Phoenix, we might actually have some produce still alive.

June 22, 2007

Back in the corner, left of the window, is our new photograph, "Sunstone," from Allen (who works with me in Hurley). I'm sorry you can't really see it, but it is a lovely photo of a winery and has just the right color yellow to compliment the yellow wall on the other end of the living room.

Aaaeeeiiii! The pond is out of control! The waterfall has slowed to a trickle and I found a dead gecko in the skimmer and one of my goldfish floating belly up (way too late for smashed peas!). Guess what I'll be doing this weekend!?

May 28, 2007

Artichokes! We're actually growing artichokes! Steve made a dish with the artichokes and beans. It was really good. But how COOL to actually grow them! (I'm excited, can you tell?)

May 17, 2007

I am so pumped, my water lily has its first flower! The pond has been in about a year, and I wasn't sure all the plants would make it through the winter (well, one didn't, actually), but the lilies have come back and I was thrilled when this flower poked it's head out of the murk. I've been watching it for several days, but today was the first time it bloomed!

April 22, 2007

Today was "clean the pond" day. The waterfall had slowed to a trickle and there were mulberries (from the tree strategically growing right over the pond), floating all over the place. The water looked kind of like tea, although the wee fish didn't seem to care a bit. They were busy frolicking about in the skimmer while the pump was turned off. (Some of the bigger fish like to swim in there when the pump is on, and then show how manly they are by swimming against the current back out, again.) Well, the pump is humming along and I thinned a few plants and planted a few fresh ones. It's a peaceful way to spend the afternoon.

April 14, 2007

Grapefruit - and lots of it. Today I picked 5 boxes and a large shopping bag full of grapefruit to take to St. Mary's Food Bank. I really like grapefruit, but there are waaaaay too many for Steve and I to eat ourselves.

April 13, 2007

Yippee! These green beans are fresh out of our very own vegetable garden. You have no idea how exciting it is to get "full size" produce! So often our veggies are of a "petite gourmet" stature, but these beans were the Mother Lode!

April 10, 2007

I find it thrilling when the first flowers of Spring burst forth (especially here in the desert!). This waxy yellow bloom is on a prickly pear cactus in the alley behind my fence. The flowers almost don't look real. Several bees were frolicking in the pollen (although there definitely seem to be fewer bees this season. I'm concerned.).

This lovely white blossom is in my pond, and the FIRST flower to bloom there. I have to look up what the plant is, as I don't recall right at this moment.

April 8, 2007

Ah, it's good to be home. I made it in time to see a most impressive display in the rose garden. My little slice of Heaven in the middle of chaos.

Bonus picture: I cannot BELIEVE how the asparagus fern has sprouted! Compare this picture with the one I took on February 27, and you'll see what I mean. I thought I'd killed that thing for sure!

March 18, 2007

A couple of years ago, Steve and I visited Tombstone, Arizona, which is the home of the world's largest rosebush - an impressive specimen called Lady Banksia. We bought a small cutting, and the thing has taken off. It is now up over the top of the pergola and is starting to bloom with the tiniest white flowers. We are very excited!

March 1, 2007

One (among the many), of the casualties of the freezing temps in January was my lavender. I just love the smell of lavender, so today I put in two new plants. One is in front of the small log by my pond. Ummmm.... what a wonderful fragrance!

January 19, 2007

Hooray, it's raining! A nice gentle rain. The birds are chirping at the feeders (which I need to replenish, soon). Hopefully, the rain will rejuvenate the vegetation ravaged recently by the freezing temps. It certainly has separated the Men from the Boys! (Aloe Vera: Boy. Broccoli: Man!)

Raindrops splash off a rosebush and hanging lantern.