The first of four flowers on this amaryllis stalk opened last night and this morning. The nice red color has white highlights down the center of each petal. Click on the image to enlarge.

I posted about Casandro Wash a while back. Verna took the photo above (click to enlarge) of the little sign that identifies Casandro Wash next to the road where you would turn to go to our house.

I pulled up a more recent aerial map of the area and modified it to show the wash and it’s features. In the image below, the red rectangle shows the boundaries of our lot. The red circle shows the location of the sign in the photo above and the yellow line shows the path of the water runoff as it flows down the wash. All lines and symbols are approximate. Click on the image below to enlarge.

We made our monthly trip to the Phoenix metro area today to shop in Surprise, Peoria and Glendale, AZ. We had to get some supplies for the yard and garden at Lowe’s and to shop for some hard-to-find-in-Wickenburg food and kitchen items at Smart and Final. I snapped this photo of some newly-trimmed palm trees with puffy clouds as we drove through Peoria on our way home. Click on the image to enlarge.

We bought this bouquet of Red Roses and Stargazer Lilies at the flower stand in the supermarket yesterday. They look very pretty on the sofa table in the great room. Click on the image to enlarge.

I snapped this photo of the Weaver Mountains that are about 25 miles north of town. We were on our way to do our weekly grocery shopping. The cloud shadows give the mountains a very photogenic appearance. Click on the image to enlarge.

When we returned from running errands today, we were greeted by a covey of quail on and around the courtyard wall. We have seen them do this before, but this is the first time my camera caught them in the act. When we first arrived, there were five or six on the wall but as I approached with the camera, they started to retreat toward the wash. Click on the image to enlarge.

Here is how our new house looks as winter begins for us in the northern hemisphere. Verna put some red Christmas decorations in the palo verde (which means green wood) tree by the road. It looks very holiday festive.

Image: Our house on the first day of winter - click to enlarge

Today, we saw the coyote that has been hanging around our little hollow. Bay Bay barked at it and it ran away. Our little thirteen pound dog doesn’t understand that the coyote has at least thirty pounds on him. He also barks at the cottontails, jackrabbits, quail and squirrels that come around our hollow.

Verna and I anticipate a great week of football, food and enjoying our little family during the upcoming holidays. We hope that you will also have a good holiday season.