I bought my Christmas Amaryllis bulbs about three weeks too late, but, now in the second week of the new year, they are coming out bright and beautiful. This is the first stalk out of three that will produce these beautiful orange flowers. We have never seen flowers this shade of orange, but they are very nice. Click on the image to enlarge.
According to the Wickenburg Book of Face page, the town has not had a snowfall like this in twenty years. We didn’t measure the depth of snow, but it seems to be the better part of an inch deep. Very slippery on the concrete driveway – we both had our feet quickly replace with our backsides. No harm, though, just a broken nail and wet clothing.
The dogs don’t seem to mind the snow. They just think it’s something new to sniff and explore. We adults played in the snow a bit as well.
I took this photo of the house showing snow still falling with accumulation on the ground, courtyard wall, saguaro and cholla cacti. Click on the image to enlarge.
Our regular shopping schedule has been perturbated by the holidays. Today, we shopped for the weekend a day later than usual.
I bought a dozen of these pretty cream-colored “Vendela” roses at the flower concession in the supermarket today. I put them in a vase where I already had some white Asian lilies. I expect that they will look very nice together as the roses and lilies begin to open up.
The Vendela is a very popular rose according to FiftyFlowers.com:
Vendela Ivory Rose is our #1 selling cream rose. Its very large head opens into a cup-shaped bloom with well defined, slightly curled edges. Vendela is greatly admired for the hint of pink found on the petal edges. This champagne ivory rose would add a special touch to a wedding bouquet, table centerpiece or flower arrangement.
We have been getting delightful rain showers for the last two days. The forecast says it is just about over, though. We welcome the rain anytime in the desert as long as it isn’t one of those destructive microbursts like we had last summer.
This picture was taken during a lull in the shower activity. I noticed the water droplets clinging to the Palo Verde out front and thought they looked very pretty. Click on the image to enlarge.
I bought a potted seasonal cactus at the supermarket earlier this month. The flowers have been opening on it ever since then.
This variety is frequently called Thanksgiving or Christmas Cactus since the plant flowers bloom during our year-end holidays. See the Wikipedia reference to Schlumbergera.
I took this photo yesterday in our outdoor patio. Click on the image to enlarge.
I haven’t posted a picture of this unique mountain peak for over a year. At that time, the weather conditions were clear and not with clouds as in this photo. There was a chance of showers yesterday when we were at the dog park, but they never materialized.
Some interesting facts about this mountain range from Wikipedia:
The Vulture Mountains are about 29-mi long, and east of center, about 13 mi wide; the range is somewhat crescent shaped, mainly trending east-west, and narrowing westwards. The northeast is followed by the course of a southeast stretch of the Hassayampa River; the river turns due-south west of Morristown, on US 60, making the east terminus of the range about 7 mi wide, at the rivers floodplain. The Hassayampa enters the north of the Hassayampa Plain, so a small river canyon region lies at the Vulture Mountain’s northeast, with the Wickenburg Mountains northeast, and the Hieroglyphic Mountains east.
The highpoint of the range is Vulture Peak, 3,658 feet (1,115 m)), at the center east of the range. Another major peak anchors the west region of the range, Black Butte, at 3,612 feet (1,101 m)).
While we were shopping yesterday at the supermarket, I noticed that they had orchids in the flower concession. I had never seen blue nor green phalaenopsis orchids before, but there they were. I did some research and found that the blue orchids are really white orchids injected with blue dye.
From BlueOrchid.org:
During the growth process, the stalk of a white phalaenopsis orchid is injected with a blue dye solution. The intervention is performed in an environment that keeps the infection risk for the plant at a minimum. The blue color is absorbed by the orchid and creates a blue flower.
I assume the same is true for the green orchids. Click on the image to alternate between photos I took of blue and green orchids.