Cactus - what makes a seguaro plant decide to put out an arm and how long does it take to grow the arm?
Are there two colors of prickley pear cacti, green and purple, or do they change from green to purple?
The is a real art in the field of masonry. Freeway walls have aztec and Indian patterns of various colors and designs. People's driveways have swirls in the concrete. Yard landscaping is done with bricks, tiles, rocks of different colors plus desert plants and I've even seen yards with their rocks painted green.
Some people have orange and grapefruit trees sculpted as topiary trees yet they still bear fruit. But why do they paint the first five feet of the trunks white?
Palm trees come in all sizes from short to very tall but I haven't actually seen any coconuts. I have seen a date palm. I would not want to be under either one when the fruit starts dropping.
We drove up Pinacle Peak road where we saw the site for the new Phoenix Temple to be built. There is a wilderness hiking trail nearby. Last Friday the local newspaper ran an article about local protesters. There are hardly any homes close enough to be affected by it. It reminded me of Sonia Johnson chaining herself to the Seattle Temple gate and the big flap over lighting at the Portland Temple. It will all blow over when it is built.
I never expected to see a boat in the desert. Well I did see one being towed on a trailer, probably came from Lake Powell. In this area there are man-made shallow lakes with big, expensive homes lining the edges, having real green grass in the yards. They each have a big porch where folks can sit and look at the water. Each home has its own boat dock and sitting on the water at the docks are these boats that look like 2-seater sedans with open sides and multi-colored striped awnings for sun covers. It looks to me like they have to be pedaled to move them. I can hear in my mind the tune: "Cruising Down the River on a Sunday Afternoon."
Why was it 80 degrees here today, and in the 50s in Washington? We missed out on last summer due to our surgeries, and now we'll miss one of my favorite seasons, Spring. Pink flowers look so out of place here.
I'm going to get some yellow and orange gerber daisiea to put into blue pots. And I've collected some Mexican pottery art to put on our book shelves. It's fun to do something different!
Next week I'll add some more Arizona observations.
