With Summer ending this week, I am glad that we’re still getting our red bird of paradise flowers. Enjoy them while you can! Click on the image to enlarge.
Arizona
A Rustic Wagon
We passed this rustic old wagon on Wednesday during our scenic drive. I took a photo as we drove by. It looks like an old photo when you add the sepia effect. Click on the image to enlarge.
Panorama of Hassayampa River and Wickenburg
We took a scenic drive up to the northeast from town today. When we got to the summit of Scenic Loop Drive, Verna took an image back toward town. I cropped the image into a panoramic view of the Hassayampa River with Wickenburg in the distance and Vulture Peak and the Vulture Mountains beyond. Click on the thumbnail below to see the full-sized panoramic image.
Lightning and Thunder
Over the past several days, monsoon season has been in full swing in Arizona and other areas. We listen to a local radio station where the National Weather Service has the capability to override regular programming with NWS warnings. They have interrupted a couple of times today with alerts for severe thunderstorms in Maricopa and Pinal counties.
Image – Lightning over the desert
Verna and I were out walking Cabela a few minutes ago when we observed a four-engine jet airliner flying above us (VERY unusual). Since the plane flew overhead eastbound and then turned to a southeast heading toward Phoenix, I can only guess that the crew diverted to this area to avoid the severe storms in progress in west-central Maricopa county and were proceeding toward Phoenix Sky Harbor.
We haven’t seen lightning shows as awesome as those depicted above, but the past several days and evenings have put on a pretty good show of lightning flashes and rolling thunder. We have had a little rain including a steady downpour for a half hour or so two or three evenings ago.
The New Entertainment Center
The cabinet makers delivered our entertainment center today. We asked them to match the knotted alder wood cabinets that they installed while the house was being built. I think they did an excellent job. We’re watching football this afternoon, so this will be a short post. Click on the image to enlarge.
Xeriscape Vegetation
Last week when we visited the Glendale Xeriscape Garden, I took this picture of a giant saguaro surrounded by a yucca (left), ocotillo (right) with an evergreen elm tree in the background. All of these are examples of low-water consumption vegetation. Xeriscape comes from combining the words landscape and xeros, the Greek word for “dry.”
The holes in the saguaro are usually burrowed out by flickers or woodpeckers but can be occupied by cactus wrens, elf owls and a variety of other desert birds. We really are enjoying learning about our desert environment. Click on the image to enlarge.
