The monsoon season reliably brings the cloudiness that often results in spectacular sunsets. Tonight was no exception when the setting sun played its magic on the bases of the clouds.
The weather is forecast to clear overnight with an excessive heat warning over the next few days. We’re ready for it, though, since no outside work is planned.
This one isn’t as bad as the record-breaker of July 18, 2015, but it deposited quite a lot of rainfall. Panning from right to left above, you can see (through the patio screen) the waterfall on the hill behind the wall, fierce rain falling on the RV drive and the rain gutter overflow from the roof.
The retention walls did their jobs though, keeping us dry inside and diverting wash runoff down the road via the west wash path. The capital investment in walls and pavement have paid off this season 100 percent.
We returned from the California trip to see the new grandbaby on Sunday, which would normally be a cooking day, so all we had on that day was some leftover bean soup. It was a hearty soup, though, and more than adequate for our Sunday meal.
One of the nice things about retirement is that you have a week full of virtual Saturdays to do whatever the hell you want, so today, I pulled the grill to the back of the patio and grilled up a couple of petite beef tenderloin steaks. Verna had some leftover Broccoli Mac’n’Cheese in the freezer, a can of green peas and some Romaine lettuce for a Cesar salad on the side.
This Monday meal was as good as any Sunday cooking day could have been. Click on the image to enlarge.
A curious goldfinch perched on one of the racemes growing on the red bird of paradise shrubs in the courtyard. Sort of like a yellow bird on a red bird.
The finch was probably attracted to the feeder I have just outside of the courtyard wall, but was momentarily distracted by the flower bearing shoots. It perched on several before lighting on this one. Shortly after this photo was taken, the finch returned to the feeder.
The Arizona Queen of the Night Cactus on the east side of our house had two open flowers last night. If you catch them early enough the morning after, these flowers are still quite beautiful before they fade away in the sunlight.
Last evening was good for night-blooming cacti in the area; the flowers above (two of them) opened east of the house and the Argentine Giant had three flowers still open this morning. It’s a one-night-stand with both of these flower types. Click on the image to enlarge.
Two of my favorite cacti were in bloom today; the Star cactus flower on the left is the third flower that has opened this summer on my astrophytum ornatum. The flowers on the right are on my old reliable Bishop’s Cap cactus, astrophytum myriostigma. Both cacti are in the genus astrophytum of which there are five major species and a bucketload of variations.
The latter cactus above gets clusters of flowers on a monthly basis it seems, all spring summer and fall. The other flower is only the third one to open on that cactus, but there are more buds and I expect others to open as the summer progresses. Click on either image to enlarge.
