Arizona

Christmas Eve 2024

First of all, Happy Birthday to my sweet wife, Verna! She got a new Iona Celtic Cross and chain for the occasion. It’s 14k white gold (the chain too).

As to the Arizona Christmas Eve Sunset, we’re quite lucky to get these quite often. Always a beautiful sight. Click on the image to enlarge.

We will be quietly spending Christmas Day here at our desert abode, just the two of us, since closest family is over 300 miles away and some even further out. We will be talking and/or texting to some of them, however, via the various electronic and social media. Our Christmas Feast will consist of Chicken and Dumplings, a wonderful southern favorite modified slightly for Keto diet purposes.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Remember the reason for the season – Christ the Savior is born!

Winter Solstice

Today marks the first day of winter in the northern hemisphere. It is also the shortest day for us with only nine hours and fifty-six minutes of daylight.

In Wickenburg, we’re enjoying a nice sunny day and expecting a high temperature today in the mid-70s Fahrenheit. It is also The Sabbath, God’s Day of Rest. We will be preparing our feast of “Gumbolaya,” which is a combination of Gumbo and Jambalaya, two very favorite Southern (Cajun) stews. If we add okra to the Jambalaya, it becomes Gumbolaya.

Tomorrow, for Sunday Dinner, we will be having Crockpot Roast Top Round of Beef. Check the Food Blog for photos of the eats.

Image above: Waning Gibbous Moon over the big Saguaro Cactus in front of the Garage.

Rosemary Flowers with Dewdrops

Here we are in the middle of November and the little Rosemary shrubs behind the RV drive (which goes around the house) are getting their little blue flowers. In this image (click to enlarge), the dew drops gather at the bottom of the petals to form little prisms/lenses.

The “dew drops” may actually be residual water droplets from the irrigation system that runs for ½ hour at 4AM to water the landscape flora.

We never have to shop for rosemary in the supermarket, since it is abundant and available year-round on our shrubs all around the rear of the house. Just look at the beautiful sprig in the photo. Image is from Bob’s Samsung S23 Phone Camera.

We’re still in “second spring” with day temperatures still in the high 70’s to low 80’s, but that will soon give way to our usual winter weather over the next few weeks.

Halloween 2024

Verna has the Halloween decorations up in our little house for us to enjoy. Since we’re located on a dirt road in a semi-rural area with no street lighting and the potential for nocturnal critters like Javelina and Coyotes to be present, we get exactly zero trick-or-treaters. So, the decorations are for us alone.

The (clickable) image above came from the Bing® AI Image Generator with the Halloween lettering overlaid with Irfanview™. I suggested that the AI generate an image that was “dark and sinister,” and this was the result. I assume it figured out that Halloween was nigh and this seemed appropriate.

So, for all who celebrate “All Hallows Eve,” we wish you a happy time of it. And watch your six. Be safe in these “dark and sinister” times.

Classic ’58 Chevy Convertible

We may have posted a classic Chevy like this one years ago on the Minstrel site when we saw it in Torrance back then. Today, however, this classic rolled up into the parking lot while we were collecting mail from the PO Box. A very nice gent allowed as how he would be OK with Damsel taking these photos of his treasure.

Images: 1958 Classic Chevrolet Impala Convertible with Continental Kit in mint condition – credit Verna – click on any image to view enlarged.

July Flowers

July has always been a good month for desert cactus flowers opening. After only three days, this month gas been no disappointment. All the flowers shown below have opened on or since July first.

This first photo is of a peniocereusgreggii “Queen of the Night” flower, two of which opened up last night (July 2). They are short-lived like many cacti flowers and were mostly gone this morning. We were lucky to spot them last evening to get this photo.

These next beauties also opened overnight. They are “Cherry Red” (trichocereus) cactus flowers and look almost hot pink in the morning sun.

Our old reliable “Bishop’s Cap” cactus produces flowers many times during the year. We bought this cactus over 25 years ago in a three-inch plastic pot. These were open on the first of July.

The “Star Cactus” (Astrophytum) is also one of those that produce flowers several times a year. This flower also opened on July first.

Lastly, is our showy “Red Bird of Paradise” or “Pride of Barbados” shrub which will produce these brightly colored flowers from April through September. We have three shrubs in the courtyard.

That’s all for now. Click on any image above to view enlarged in a new window or tab.