The 2012 annular solar eclipse is just over two weeks away. We are still scheduled to witness this magnificent event from Page, Arizona, almost exactly on the centerline of the annular eclipse path. The eclipse will occur about an hour before sunset, so the sun will be low in the western sky at the peak of annularity.

I took a minute this afternoon to check the SOHO website for active sunspots and found that large spot 1472 is currently showing midway between the center and the limb of the sun. I went outside with the SX-40 and the solar adapter to take some practice shots. For the image at the right, I used the filter (of course) 1/1600′ shutter speed and F8.0 aperture with a film speed of 3200. Sunspot 1472 shows up at about 7 o’clock on the solar disk in the image.

I wanted to make sure that my earlier experiments would work when we are in Page on May 20th. I think that using the filter, a very fast film speed, a fast shutter speed and a normal aperture will enable me to capture the lunar/solar images just fine. Now, if the weather will cooperate, we have it made. Click on the solar image to enlarge.

Today, we went to do our weekly grocery shopping. I picked out a couple of bunches of flowers for the great room. Thse are nearly-white Vendela roses and white carnations. Both look and smell pretty. Click on the image to enlarge.

Many of the saguaro cacti in the area have started to bloom. The saguaro flower is the state flower of Arizona. I took this photo at the shopping center at the west end of town this afternoon on the way home from the dog park. Click on the image to enlarge.

At the end of spring 2011, the landscaper planted shrubs and a small tree in the courtyard. Now that spring 2012 is here, the courtyard is dominated with the blue blossoms on the three Cleveland sage bushes. The little pink blossoms on the plum tree are all but gone and soon the vivid red and yellow flowers on the red bird of paradise shrubs will dominate. Click on the image to enlarge.

I saw several prickly pear flowers on a cactus near the post office in town today. I just love springtime in the desert! Click on the image to enlarge.

This amaryllis isn’t as bright nor was the lighting as good when I took a photo of a flower exactly one year ago today, but this one is still very pretty in spite of those things. I planted the bulb on the side of the California house last year and today there were two amaryllis flowers open. Click on the image to enlarge.

Having a photo of an iris flower on a post about the recycle center might seem a little weird, but in the case of the county recycle center at the landfill in Palos Verdes, CA, there are pretty flowers all around. In fact, the South Coast Botanic Gardens is located just across the boulevard at the site of another landfill. Since the county maintains the garden, I assume they also provide the landscaping for the Recycle Center, although there are more exotic plant species over there.

Image: Iris flower at the Recycle Center. Click image to enlarge.

As for recycling, we brought 2½ 33 gallon-sized bags of crushed aluminum cans for which they paid us around sixty-five bucks. They also take glass, numbered plastics, newspaper and used motor oil. Even though we aren’t greenbats, we do believe recycling is a good thing, especially if we get some cash for doing it.

Today was shopping day in the Valley (Surprise and Glendale, AZ). We were in the parking lot of a store in Glendale where the mesquite trees were flowering like crazy. We don’t get as many flowers until later in the spring at our higher elevation in Wickenburg. Click on the image to enlarge.

I spotted this pea hen on a neighbor’s roof. Their house is about eight-hundred feet down the road from our house. We have seen peafowl in the downtown area, but never this far out into our semi-rural area.

I looked at peafowl on the internet and think that this is a female Indian peafowl. She was just standing on the roof in the shade of a couple of eucalyptus trees. Click on the image to enlarge.

These are three flowers on a prickly pear cactus up the road from our house. New flowers are blooming every day, so expect more pictures of them. I love spring and the desert. Click on the image to enlarge.