After I posted photo of Sky Fire Roses last week, I had been hoping to post an actual sunset photo with those gorgeous colors. Well, last evening the weather cooperated with me and presented this brilliant sunset. I took this image of the sky from our courtyard looking west. Click on the image to enlarge.
We postponed our usual Thursday trip to shop for groceries until today because we were out in Palm Desert to visit our little grandson again. We got back home last night and shopped this morning. With the snowbirds back in force, the supermarket has taken on the aisle-clogged snow-zombie effect that we experience every fall and winter and it seemed to be worse on Friday.
The good news is that the flower concession had these beautiful “Sky Fire” roses. I bought a dozen plus some pine limbs and arranged our centerpiece for the weekend. I took this photo of the arrangement this afternoon. Click on the image to enlarge.
We just about have all of our Christmas decorations in place and only a few more items to get for gifts which we hope will be complete in the coming week. Then it will be packing and shipping.
For several years, I have had a collection of cacti in pots in and behind the patio. This week, I moved several of them into the courtyard where we will be able to enjoy them more than out back.
The potted cacti include some recently acquired ones courtesy of Crotalus, our friend in the California desert. Thanks to him for those. Several of these will await next spring to display their flowers, while others will continue to grow to the point where We will need to re-pot them or put them in the rock and cactus garden.
We took an after-dinner walk down the road this afternoon as we usually do when we finish eating. I noticed the moon rising over the desert mountains in the distance and our local hills in the foreground. Having left the camera in the house, we finished walking the dogs and went back down the road for me to get this nice shot of the moonrise.
Later in the evening when we walked the dogs just before total darkness outside, the waxing gibbous moon was so bright, we could see our moonshadows on the driveway. Click on the image to enlarge.
I was in the courtyard today with my camera intending to take some photos of Bob planting a couple of new xeriscape acquisitions when I noticed this little goldfinch taking seeds from the front feeder. He was not startled by my appearance in the courtyard and just stayed perched on the feeder taking the Nyjer seeds. I approached him and got several shots like the one above before he finally took off.
I looked up goldfinch on Wikipedia and found that there are several varieties of them. The ones that come around here are called the Dark Backed “Lesser” Goldfinch. They are a very small songbird according to the Wikipedia Article:
The lesser goldfinch or dark-backed goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) is a very small songbird of the Americas. Together with its relatives the American goldfinch and Lawrence’s goldfinch, it forms the American goldfinches clade in the genus Spinus sensu stricto.
The American goldfinches can be distinguished by the males having a black (rarely green) forehead, whereas the latter is (like the rest of the face) red or yellow in the European goldfinch and its relatives. North American males are markedly polymorphic and 5 subspecies are often named; at least 2 of them seem to represent a less-progressed stage in evolution however.
The end of the showers associated with the cold front that passed through here last evening produced this nice desert rainbow seen above our little cottage and the big saguaro as the sun began to set. Today, the cold air mass left in the wake of the front held our high temperature to about 61 degrees. A far cry from what it was a scant 30 days ago with daytime temperatures over 90 degrees. Oh, well, we just put on the long pants and sweaters and we’re OK. Click on the image to enlarge.
These petroglyphs are clearly visible from US Highway 60 as we travel through a little mountain pass between Hope, AZ and Harcuvar, AZ. I captured this image as we drove through the pass just before the curve where you exit the pass and go into Harcuvar, just to the east of the etched rocks.
The symbology on these rocks is similar to other native petroglyphs readily available to be seen throughout the southwest US. Although we did not stop this time, I can tell you from previous visits to this place that the inscriptions are well-preserved and, fortunately, not tagged or disrupted by modern day idiots would-be petroglyphographers. Click on the image to enlarge.
