I took this photo of the flower that bloomed on my Astrophytum “Star Cactus” yesterday. Although related to my Bishop’s Cap Cactus, it doesn’t have flowers as often, at least not yet. This flower measured about four inches in diameter and is, as you can see, beautiful. Click on the image to enlarge.
Some of the lower flower buds are opening on the big saguaro cactus out in front of the garage by the driveway. The big cactus sits by the point adjacent to the where the courtyard walkway meets the main driveway slab.
When I took this photo of her, she was preparing to photograph one of the saguaro flowers on the arm closest to my camera. She did get a pretty good shot of that lowest open flower posted at this link.
We have a lot of flower buds still to open and most of them will be pointing skyward. I was thinking about getting the extension ladder to climb up on the garage roof to photograph them from a high vantage point with the 75 to 300 mm lens for close-ups.
Click on the image to enlarge.
This was our “Bear” relaxing on the RV drive five years ago today. She had just received a trimming of her normally long fur which was too much for the desert heat. She was such a sweet dog and family member and we still miss her. Click on the image to enlarge.
There is a giant agave flower stalk about five hundred feet down the road toward the pavement from our place. We have been watching it grow over a couple of months and now, with the top looming over twenty feet in the air, its flowers are ready to open.
I took my Canon EOS Rebel SL1 on our daily walk down the road and snapped this photo of the picturesque flower chandelier high atop the stalk. I actually had to take two images, above and below, and stitch them together to render the composite at the right.
Click on the image to enlarge.
This tiny Antelope Ground Squirrel is enjoying some of the leftover polenta from our recent Pork Stew dinner. It is our habit to distribute certain leftover food to the wash out back so the critters can come and enjoy.
I took this photo this afternoon using my SL1 camera and telephoto lens. The squirrel came close to me, within about fifteen feet, to get the tidbit. The birds and rabbits are more wary than this little guy, and generally keep a larger distance between us and them. Click on the image to enlarge.
My Astrophytum (a.k.a. Star Cactus) had a flower open today. We have been watching it since it was a bud a couple of weeks ago and today it opened wide. There are also some more buds that will likely produce flowers this spring. Last year, this cactus had flowers all the way into August, so we look forward to more of them. Click on the image to enlarge.
