Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Nature

First of all, I have to ask, "If it's such a dry heat, why am I sweating?" Although as my aunt said when she and my uncle left Sun City and moved back East, "I don't care what anybody says, when it's 114, it's hot!" It hovered around the 100 degree mark today and will remain there for a week. Fun.

As promised, I have some nature shots to share. About 1/4 mile from our house is a nature trail maintained by our 'over 55' community and the neighboring one. This is a true case of making lemonade out of lemons since the area is under the high tension lines. They have created a lovely one-mile trail with landscaping and identifying signs. We plan to volunteer to help maintain this area next winter. In addition to the water aerobics I intend to start, this should put me in pretty good shape.


You can see how nice it is. Oh, BTW, this was a week ago when it was only in the 80s. We're not that crazy.


Most of the cacti are finished blooming, but this late one was pretty with the pink flowers and the yellow seed pods.


I have always wanted to see the saguaros in bloom, but we were never here for that event. Well, they're blooming now! My challenge was to get a picture of a bloom. The flowers are usually way out of reach and even with zooming and cropping, this is the result.


However, I've been watching one just a few houses away that had buds forming on lower arms and today I hauled the 7-foot ladder down the street to capture it. (Ron said the lady on the corner came out to see what I was doing.)


Now I can cross that off my life list.

8 comments:

  1. The huge Saguaro cacti amaze me. Twenty feet tall with the tiniest little flowers on top while the little one foot tall cacti have HUGE flowers. Thanks for the close up of the flower. I've never seen them up that close and personal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are so resourceful! Very nice shot of the Saguaro flower.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Barbara, that saquaro cactus flower is magnificent! You should do something special with that picture, feature it on the blogsite...or something!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Since we left Arizona on April 16, I am really glad to see the saguaro in bloom. Thanks for climing the ladder so we could see it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The saguaro cactus flower pictures are terrific. I too have always wanted to see them in bloom, but never had the guts to stick around until May.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the picture of the Saguaro bloom. I've always heard the desert in April and May was gorgeous. Thanks for the pictures. Hope to see you guys soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Love the picture of the Saguaro bloom. I've always heard the desert in April and May was gorgeous. Thanks for the pictures. Hope to see you guys soon.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love your cactus bloom shots.

    ReplyDelete