Tucson Botanical Gardens March 7

Wanderings

Our original plan were to drive to Tubac, AZ (much like Long Grove, IL.- lots of very interesting stores)  However, there was a forest fire close to Tubac and the a severe wind advisory for dust storms.  Having experienced a very dangerous forest fire in Tahoe, and remembering the horrible multi car pile ups caused by dust storms, we decided to stay local and visit the Tucson Botanical Gardens.   It was a wonderful decision.



Butterfly Magic Exhibit.  A magnificent tropical  greenhouse houses butterflies from eleven countries.  The flowers were so beautiful.  It was easy to take pictures because the butterflies would pose for us.

This butterfly is named an Owl Butterfly because the circle looks like an owl's eye and the wing colors match an owl's feathers.

 Butterfly breakfast - a slice of banana

 

This is an Atlas Moth.  It is as big as my hand.

The tropical green house had beautiful, colorful flowers.   

Goodbye butterflies

Now for the outside grounds - Cactus Land

This wind chime is made from Saguero cactus spines and branches

 This is called Spruce Pinecone cactus

Would you believe these are called Baseball Cactus!!!! 

 This is named Old Mexican Man cactus

A wonderful railraod layout, but not running when we were there.

The Chidlren's Garden

Bunny Rabbit Bench

Must have a garden with a Scarecrow

 The outside Butterfly Garden

A stone Turtle  

Tiny oranges

                                                             Beautifully decorated wall

St Frances of Assisi , a most appropriate statue for this magnificent garden

March 5 Tohono Chul Park

Wanderings
Back to our favorite local park.  What a remarkable difference between the flowers last week and this week.  None of our pictures quite display the lovely shades of yellow, pink, and orange wild flowers.

Jim and I with our hiking sticks. 

My sister -in-law Janet

Quail bronze birds, one of the beautiful decorations at the park. 

Another amazing rock full of minerals

The children's area of the park.

Called Mission Cactus.  It can grown into a huge spreading tree

This large pipe organ cactus stands next to a vulture metal sculpture.

Labeled "Cactus Man"

I'm not sure what vine grows this lush around this entrance doorway.

These Texas Laurels are in full bloom.

Close up of the flowers and dried grape cluster looking things

First snake of the season.  The docent thought it was a gopher snake.

Medication Garden

Desert Tortoise sculpture.  There is family of turtles that live at the park but they have not come out of hibernation yet.

French Canadian Invasion March 2

Wonderings
Bonjour.  About 20 French Canadian serious racing bikers are staying here.  They are part of a training camp from Canada.  One gregarious Frenchman(really from France) tried his broken English out on me.  We managed to share our love of the sunshine and the fact that I am here for 2 months and he is here for 1 week.  He explained that it was -16 (drew - 1 and 6 in the air) and very icy now in his hometown in France( demonstrated by pretending to slide)  Later, a lady biker could speak English came along and we invited them to the every Friday 5pm social hour at the Gazebo.  At 5pm, my outgoing Frenchman appeared with 7 bottles of wine, water bottles and pretzels( we all bring something to drink and a beverage.  I made the salami wonton rolls ups).  Gradually more of the team appeared and we learned about their training.  One coach is assigned to the Americas which means he travels both North and South America.  He is going to Argentina next week. My talkative Frenchman is named Regess ( perhaps Reggie in English, but his accent his hard to decode.  He could not say Martha either.)  But he is a jolly soul and makes lots of gestures and laughs alot.  It turns out that Regess is really the driver of the van that carries all the bikes.       He was wearing 1 black tennis show and one white tennis shoe with opposite colored socks of each foot.  He explained that one foot is larger than the other, so he bought 2 pairs.  He owns 2 solar companies in France, but we could not understand much more of what he was saying.   He did love the salami roll ups.  He is quite a character.
Several of the Canadians can speak English well.  We asked if they brought their own bikes and yes, their racing bikes are all very specialized with lots of technology.  One biker paid $300 to ship his bike which has its own travel case and another $100 in baggage fees on United.  We all moaned the state of air travel these days.  The traditional word "camp" as we understand it hardly describes this bunch. They are all in great shape, have all the streamlined biking clothes and helmets and an assortment of serious 2 wheelers.  Every morning they gather around the 2 mini vans and a flurry of front wheels and back chassis are assembled among melodic accented conversations

There were 4 other American, retired couples at our Friday Social Hour, so we all had a wonderful visit and good munchies.  I have heard that the French are quite rude to Americans who are visiting in their country.  So, I wanted to be very welcoming to these visitors.   However, Regess kissed me twice and kissed Jim's hand, so I think I'm going to ease up on the welcoming!!!     

Great Gatsby Play, at the Temple of Music and Art

Wanderings March 1
Ray and Bonnie invited us to go to the premier of Great Gatsby, the first time the novel has been produced as a play. The Temple of Music and Art was impressive.  The outside has a restaurant, lovely courtyard and fountain.  The inside has smooth beige adobe walls with columns and concave shell like decorations.  The plaster carvings over the stage has the traditional comedy/ tragedy face.  We had second row balcony seats.  The play followed the book closely but ended with Gatsby's death.  We also had a yummy Italian dinner at Giuseppe's.
Wonderings 
 I read The Great Gatsby when I was in high school as an effort to "read" the classics.   I remember being frustrated by all the problems the rich were having and never finished the book.  Amazingly, our condo had 3 F. Scott Fitzgerald books and Gatsby was one.  So, I reread it and now that I am older, I can understand  the themes, the characters and reasons for all the angst. 

Star Gazing at Ironwood Picnic Area, Tucson Mountain

Wanderings
An amateur telescope club set up 5 telescopes and 1 set of very powerful binoculars and mirrors to
view Venus, Juptier and the Moon.  The Arizona sky ( away from civilization) is a perfect place to view the
stars.                                                      
The craters on the moon were magnificent.  I saw the 4 moons of Jupiter.  Jim was able to see 2 of Jupiter's rings.  Jim also was able to see the actual meteorite impact point in the middle of the crater on the moon.
But, I saw the shooting star (without a telescope)while they were all talking !!!!
We stayed until 8pm and Jim saw the closest galaxy.  We saw people point their iPhones to the sky and identify constellations.  Now the Xoom has Planetariax Pro.  Hopefully we can attend another of these telescope meetings in March. 

Tucson Mountain



Jeff's 6 inch computerized telescope



18 inch  Telescope($13,000 used)



 Dave's 8 inch computerized telescope



Kathy's 6 inch computerized telescope



The crowd gathers to wait for darkness

Beautiful Sunset

Twilight

The craters on the moon were magnificent.  I saw the 4 moons of Jupiter.  Jim was able to see 2 of Jupiter's rings.  Jim also was able to see the actual meteorite impact point in the middle of the crater on the moon.
But, I saw the shooting star (without a telescope)while they were all talking !!!!
We stayed until 8pm and Jim saw the closest galaxy.  We saw people point their iPhones to the sky and identify constellations.  Now the Xoom has Planetariax Pro.   





 Wanderings
Feb 28 we toured the East Saguero National Park.(Tucson has an East and West Saguero National Park).  This area has  been set aside to reserve the majestic saguero cacti forests that used to dominate the landscape.  The narrow road winds up and down through valleys and rises. Always the mysterious, rugged mountains frame the views.
The desert and mountains have a slight green haze to them.
 There has been enough rain to start plant growth. 



This decaying Saguero displays the most amazing wooden
frame which is rock hard. 



Winding road



Many sagueros were "frostbitten" in last year's cols snap.



The National Park has purchased the grazing rights to both East and West parks. 
This saves the cacti seedlings from being destroyed by roving cattle. 

Wild flowers at this elevation

They are such a surprise burst of color

I count 15 arms.  This one wins!!!

Another great trail

The ancient palo verde tree has sprouted new branches





This overlook shows rocky water run off paths



The deep depressions hold water.

Look left

Look right

Orange flowers - a new color

Named the Javelina Rocks because they resemble the wild javelinas



We were trying to find small sagueros.  This is a "nursemaid" tree
which shelters other plants so they can grow.