Arizona

Swimming Pool for Bay Bay

Swimming Pool

The Mama and the Daddy went to the big store today and bought me a big pool to get in. I like to get wet sometimes on hot days to cool me down. I had a small tub before, but now I have plenty of room to get in and get wet. Click on me to make me big.

Birthday Dip in the Spa-a-a-a-a-h

Birthday Dip

What better way to spend a birthday at our beautiful retirement home in the desert, than to relax and enjoy a dip in the spa with a cold beer? Of course, this was not the only thing we did to celebrate. Verna served a wonderful pasta and salad dinner with garlic toast and limoncello. Earlier, she gave me a funny birthday card which made me laugh.

Gerbera Daisies

Gerbera Daisies

We had to delay our Thursday grocery shopping to Friday this week because we were returning from our California trip yesterday. While shopping, I found these nice Gerbera daisies in the flower concession. I arranged them in the vase in the great room on the sofa table where they will look great for several days. Click on the image to enlarge.

Red Bird of Paradise

Red Bird of Paradise

The red birds are doing great in the courtyard. I took this photo a couple of days ago when the sun was shining. Now, however, the clouds are overhead and there is a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms. The flowers in the courtyard like the rain. Click on the image to enlarge.

New Artwork Added to Office

Office addition

Last week, we sent our granddaughter a baby care package. Verna picked out things that a new mother would need after giving birth plus some little outfits for our first great grandson. The granddaughter, in return, sent us a wonderful gift: a framed 3D ultrasound image of his little face with a colorful card.

I just hanged up the picture in our office today where I can see his little face as I sit at the computer. Click on the image and the picture link to enlarge.

Sun Rays Among the Clouds

Sun Rays

Last evening, we were bringing the dogs back from walking when I noticed the sun rays among the cloud build ups over the house. I call this effect a “glory,” but it does have a technical name, crepuscular rays.

Wikipedia has this about crepuscular rays:

Crepuscular rays (also known as God rays) in atmospheric optics, are rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from the point in the sky where the sun is located. These rays, which stream through gaps in clouds (particularly stratocumulus) or between other objects, are columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed regions. Despite seeming to converge at a point, the rays are in fact near-parallel shafts of sunlight and their apparent convergence is a perspective effect (similar, for example, to the way that parallel railway lines seem to converge at a point in the distance).

The name comes from their frequent occurrences during crepuscular hours (those around dawn and dusk), when the contrasts between light and dark are the most obvious. Crepuscular comes from the Latin word “crepusculum”, meaning twilight