We have this sign at the end of our road just before the pavement begins. Somebody (not us) adorns the sign with a rope and an old hat. The old hat that was originally on the sign blew away, I guess, and there is a little funky sun hat as a replacement these days. Click on the image to enlarge.
The cirrus clouds in front of the sun contained enough ice crystals to create this rainbow halo around the sun today here in Wickenburg. It was 82 degrees and an absolutely beautiful day.
I was photographing some work that we did in the rock and cactus garden this afternoon, when I noticed the solar halo. I walked over to the shadow of the big saguaro out front by the garage to get this shot. I adjusted the gamma shading and chromatic saturation of the image a bit to get this nice effect of a “divine saguaro.”
We went shopping today and since the flower department has bunches of tulips and Gerbera daisies, we bought a bunch of each. When I got home, I placed them in a vase on the dining room table. I took this close-up of one of the Gerberas. Click on the image to enlarge.
We have lived in our little house here in Wickenburg for just over five years now. Every day that the weather is clear, we can walk down to the road in front of the house, look east and we see this beautiful mountain ridge, located about 20 miles from us.
It is a ridge and mountain peak in the Hieroglyph Mountains and is the third of three ranges, the first being just east of town. The first range is covered with saguaro cacti, the second with more mountainous vegetation and the last ridge is mostly rocky. The colors are just beautiful, varying with the time of day and weather composition.
We love it here in our retirement house.
This is one of several clusters of paperwhite flowers now showing in the courtyard bulb planter. The tiny (½ inch) buds are closely related to daffodils which are in the same planter but have not come up as of yet. Perhaps they will in a week or two. The temperatures have turned very spring-like for mid-February. Click on the image to enlarge.
It doesn’t matter what the season might be, but the cardinals are always visible. Unlike many of the other desert critters that blend in with the colors of the desert (some changing with the colors from season to season), the vivid coloration of the wide ranging Northern Cardinal (cardinalis cardinalis) is always bright and easily observable.
From Wikipedia:
The northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is a North American bird in the genus Cardinalis; it is also known colloquially as the redbird or common cardinal. It can be found in southern Canada, through the eastern United States from Maine to Texas and south through Mexico. It is found in woodlands, gardens, shrublands, and swamps.
The northern cardinal is a mid-sized songbird with a body length of 21 cm (8.3 in). It has a distinctive crest on the head and a mask on the face which is black in the male and gray in the female. The male is a vibrant red, while the female is a dull reddish olive. The northern cardinal is mainly granivorous, but also feeds on insects and fruit. The male behaves territorially, marking out his territory with song. During courtship, the male feeds seed to the female beak-to-beak. A clutch of three to four eggs is laid, and two to four clutches are produced each year. It was once prized as a pet, but its sale as a cage bird was banned in the United States by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
Click on the image to enlarge.
