Happy Heavenly Birthday to our Mom, Kate, who would have been 103 years old today. Inset is her wedding picture from 1938 and Morro Rock is where her ashes were scattered in accordance with her wishes.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Flowering Hedgehog Cactus in 3D
Well, Spring is here and the cactus flowers are blooming. I composed this anaglyph image yesterday of one of our Hedgehog Cacti with open flowers on it. You will need a pair of red/cyan or red/blue 3D glasses to view the image in stereo. If you don’t have a pair, you can see the 2D image here.
Easter Sunday 2023
One of the Hedgehog Cactus flowers opened up just in time for Easter Sunday. Click on the image to enlarge.
Luke 24:1-7 (KJV) —
Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
Happy Easter Sunday to all. Verna and I will start the day with our Resurrection devotional service and Communion. Later, we will celebrate with an Easter Dinner here at home. He is Risen!
Lenticular Clouds and a Flower
The Wickenburg and surrounding area forecast called for high winds (to 40 MPH) all day today. In the sky (clickable image above) we saw several areas like the one depicted having lenticular (altocumulus lenticularis) or lens-shaped clouds. Sometimes called “standing lenticulars,” the clouds appear stationary in the sky but the truth is they are in a very high winds condition usually downwind from mountain ridges. The clouds condense at the tops of the “mountain wave” where the airmass is rising and descending as it moves away from the ridge, I think they are very pretty to look at, but I wouldn’t care to be in an aircraft anywhere near them.
In other news, we had an Argentine Giant Cactus flower opening up on Palm Sunday evening. The photo below is that flower in the broad daylight of Monday afternoon. Click on either image to enlarge.
Photo Update
It’s been eleven months since we did a photo update. Here we are in the courtyard enjoying a nice spring day with the temperature up to about 72° with an expected high of 76°.
Today, we’re going to grill up a couple of Filet Mignon steaks and Verna will fix a nice salad to go with the meal. Yes, the dogs will be getting some of the scraps.
Image taken with my ancient Canon Powershot A710 IS using the delayed exposure timer. Click on the image to enlarge.
Vernal Equinox 2023
OK — the first day of Spring and the Equinox are here. The nights of darkness and days of sunlight are of equal lengths, according to the official astronomical ephemeris. However, at our particular latitude and longitude here in Arizona, the day length grew to just over twelve hours last Wednesday per the actual observed sunrise to sunset times. So, we can look forward to longer days peaking at the Summer Solstice and then on to the Fall Equinox when they fall back to be less than 12 hours again.
As of a couple of weeks ago, the Turkey Buzzards have begun to migrate back to Arizona and other northern places, I assume. These vultures bring the promise of warmer conditions for us, although there is still some cooler weather and precipitation still headed our way.
Even though it will be a month or more before the Pride of Barbados or Red Bird of Paradise shrubs to return from their winter slumber (we cut them back to nearly ground level in the fall). We expect that the hummers will begin to take advantage of the nectar when the gorgeous flowers return to our courtyard.
Enjoy the warmer weather and longer daylight. We know we will be enjoying the spring weather, birds and flowers.
Images courtesy of Verna.
