Happy Easter! This is a repeat of an Easter lily photo I posted back in 2007 . . .
This photo of an Easter Lily is unretouched other than cropping and resizing. A sunbeam coming through the window over the staircase hit this flower at just the right angle and place to make it look as though the inside of the flower was producing the light.
I have several gorgeous amaryllis flowers opening this weekend. This one is brilliant red and white. I have another one that is pure red that will be opening very soon. Click on the image to enlarge.
We’re back at Casa Grande* for Easter weekend. When we arrived yesterday, we were surprised at how well the garden was doing with virtually no attention for over a month. The poppies were going crazy with their bright orange flowers and the artichoke had produced these wonderful flower buds, one of which we’re going to steam early next week and eat it for lunch. Click on the image to enlarge.
* We’re now in to referring to the 2700 square foot two story house in California as Casa Grande (Big House) as opposed to the little Arizona home which we now call Casa Bonita (Pretty House).
Spring has sprung in the desert! The high temperatures here over the past several days have been between 80 and 95 degrees and the cacti flowers have been popping open like crazy. This slideshow is a sample of the flowers that I have photographed over the past few days. You can pause the slideshow by rolling your mouse over the images and resume by rolling out.
We planted a new cactus the other day, and last evening a flower opened up on it. To our surprise, this flower did not have the delicate fragrance of our California cereus cacti which are a different variety. Click on the image to enlarge.
UPDATE: the two buds seen in the image above opened the next evening:
We were on the patio this afternoon when this colorful bird perched on a mesquite tree on the hill behind the patio. I took several pictures with my Canon Digital Rebel XTi camera through the telephoto lens and this one came out the best.
We didn’t recognize the species, so we looked it up in our “Birds of Arizona” pamphlet. It is an adult male Gila Woodpecker – note the little red patch on the top of his head. Immature and female birds do not have the red patch. Click on the image to enlarge.
Wikipedia describes this bird’s habitat and some other interesting facts:
The Gila Woodpecker (Melanerpes uropygialis) is a medium-sized woodpecker of the desert regions of the southwestern United States. They range through southeastern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.
This woodpecker’s habitat consists of low desert scrub typical of the Sonoran desert. They build nests in holes made in saguaro cacti or mesquite trees. Cavities excavated by these woodpeckers in saguaro cacti are later used by a variety of other species, including the Elf Owl. There, they typically lay 3-5 white eggs.
