The three of us love the Mama so we got the Daddy to go and get something shiny for her. She likes shiny stuff.
The Daddy says this is a handmade turquoise and coral necklace and earring set. A man here in town makes these and sells them in the old part of downtown.
The Mama was surprised and liked the present. She got a card that the Daddy signed for Bear, Bay Bay and Cabela.
Click on the picture to make it big.
. . . get out of the kitchen. Now that the outside temperatures are regularly above 90° and frequently above 100° (see inset in photo), I moved the baking chores to the patio. Meet my new best friend, the TOAST-R-OVEN.
We prepared our meal this afternoon mostly outside; I baked three potatoes in this oven and Bob grilled steaks on the outdoor portable grill. No heat in the kitchen!
I’m still rehearsing for the eclipse next week. Yesterday, very large sunspot 1476 was strutting its stuff across the solar plasma (still is today, I believe). I stepped out to the courtyard and captured this solar disk image using the techniques for previous solar imaging. If you look closely, you can see sunspot group 1477 above and to the left – look for a pair of slightly dark spots at about latitude 45. Click on the image for full resolution.
At long last, some of the ocotillo flower buds have opened. It turns out that the little birdies like to eat the flower buds, so it took a while for me to post opened flowers since I promised to a month ago. Anyhow, click on the image to enlarge.
This nice specimen is up the street from our road at the top of the hill overlooking north Wickenburg. Ahhh, spring in the Sonoran High Desert – just beautiful . . .
Two years ago, when Bob and I were just buying the lot to build our retirement dream home, the wild cacti on the hill and in the wash behind the graded part of the lot were teeming with cacti flowers. That’s still true today. I walked up the hill a bit to get this image of a beautiful cholla flower. If I recall correctly, a reader and commenter on our other website says this is a buckhorn cholla, a.k.a jumping cholla or a dozen other names. Whatever it’s called, the flowers are gorgeous. Click on the image to enlarge.
