One of the Easter lilies opened up to its full glory on this Easter Sunday. I placed it in the shadow in the courtyard such that the back of the flower was in sunlight. I like the “light from within” effect. Click on the image to enlarge.
Other than this Rick McKee cartoon depicting one depressing fact about the left, please try to enjoy a happy and blessed Easter Sunday.
I took pictures of these flowers over the past week. Most of them at or near our house. The flowers (in order) in this slide show are:
Click on the image to advance to the next picture.
Damsel took this photo of a tongue-in-cheek bumper sticker in the supermarket parking lot yesterday. I say tongue-in-cheek because one may as well implore for the cessation of sun spots and solar activity. Given the latter being the main factor in the Earth’s climate, I think this sticker is poking fun at the Greenbats of the world.
Over the past week, I have read about some member of parliament of where Great Britain used to be, proclaiming that humankind had better desist with consumption of legumes because of the methane generated. What a crock (literally).
I also read about some nutcase that said we should all be eating roadkill instead of raising livestock for our protein needs. Another group a while back intoned we should be eating insects. Ugh! You first.
Once you get past the inhospitable cactus spikes and look closely at their beautiful flowers, you can see just how delicate and beautiful these desert plants can be. This is a close-up of one of the three Argentine Giant Cactus (Echinopsis candicans) flowers that bloomed on Monday. I took this image on Tuesday morning before the flowers wilted. Click on the image to enlarge.
I saved one of the flowers in hopes of developing into a fruit from which I can extract seeds. That is, if the javelinas don’t eat it first!
It’s too bad that Obamacare can’t be permanently derailed. Firing Sebelius just ensures that another disposable Obama shill will occupy that cabinet post until the make-excuser-in-chief needs another scapegoate to take the blame in the REAL war on women.
Our congressman, Paul Gosar (R-AZ), released this statement regarding Sebelius’ “resignation:”
I join with many of the American people tonight in happily accepting the resignation of Secretary Sebelius. Under her watch, and through her incompetence, our nation’s healthcare system has been harmed, hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted, 5 million people lost their chosen health insurance, and the country was far worse off than it was when she started. She directly supported the “Lie of the Year” by falsely claiming people could keep their insurance and their doctors. Under her watch millions saw their policies cancelled, many saw their rates increase, many have lost their physicians. Her departure is welcomed by Americans everywhere.
Gary Varvel cartoon via The Patriot Post.
Beautiful! My Argentine Giant (echinopsis candicans) cactus flowers have opened this evening. I took this photo at a little after six this evening. These flowers will still be open in the morning, but will fade soon after. This is our once-a-year blooming for this cactus we installed shortly after having the place landscaped in 2011. The three pods last evening were still unopened, but the flowers showed up late today. Click on the image to enlarge.
There is an agave flower stalk about four hundred feet east of our driveway. I don’t know the timing on agave flowers, but I imagine this will be sprouting flower pods in the near future. We have been watching the flower stalk grow over the past several weeks and today I estimate it to be about fifteen feet tall. I will be sire and get flower pictures when the agave finally starts producing them. Click on the image to enlarge.
While I was up on the hill at the back of our property last week, I found several more of the Arizona Queen of the Night cacti. This one, in particular, is very weird; the woody part of the cactus comes out of the ground at the lower left of the image and winds up and across the branches of a palo verde, then descends toward the right side of the image before splitting in two and connecting to two fleshy stems rising upward. Roll your mouse over the image to highlight the strange routing of this specimen.
Realizing that the image above is lacking in detail, I uploaded a larger highlighted image here. I also uploaded images of the other three queens I found up on the hill here and here.
Since I know that this variety of cactus has a ball root, I imagine the big one must have a whopper. I read somewhere the roots could weigh in at hundreds of pounds.
The ocotillos all over town are in bloom. I finally found an ocotillo near our favorite Mexican restaurant with canes low enough for me to get a close-up of the little red flowers. Click on the image to enlarge.
We had the landscaper install an ocotillo a couple of years ago, but sadly it seems to have died. The plan is to get them to replace it this summer. Hopefully I can take this kind of picture next year in our yard.
Permalink Comments off
