Desert Wonders & Lego Mania!

I took a brief trip to San Diego over the July 4th holiday to beat the Phoenix heat. Along the way I stopped at the Desert View Tower, which is located just a few miles east of Jacumba. The last time I visited was 35 years ago when I was a teenager. It hasn't changed a bit. This time I took some time to really soak it all in. The place has several levels and contains interesting artifacts and works of art. The highlight for me was the vintage 1933 Jo Mora "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" poster, which he had created in honor of the California Rodeo in Salinas. I grew up with this poster and the cowboys it commemorates -- it holds a very special place in my childhood memories. Here are a few vignettes from the poster.

While in San Diego, I visited Legoland. Since the place is geared for small children and their parents, I wasn't sure what to expect, but to my surprise I found that Legoland has
something for everyone. Besides, I'm just an overgrown kid anyway, so I had a blast.

Besides the rides and usual amusement park attractions, the next best thing about Legoland has to be "Mini-land." What a trip! It's amazing what can be created using a little lego block! Here are two of my favorites. I have way too many to share here. I'm thinking about posting them on the web through Flickr or Picasa. If I do I'll come back and update this post with the URL.

San Francisco's "Painted Ladies" (I was blown away!)

Mt. Rushmore (no, the faces are not photoshopped on)

Rainy Riparian Preserve

My final photo foray in May was to the Riparian Preserve near my home. It had been raining quite a bit, so I was curious as to what was going on there on a cool rainy morning. I came across more critters than I expected. I had to use my zoom quite a bit, but I got lucky with a couple of the birds who allowed me to get closer than usual. There were a couple of guys lugging huge zoom lenses, which I am sure guaranteed them spectacular photos, but I guess I enjoy the "hunt" so to speak. It's much more fun to me to try to get as physically close as possible without scaring away my quarry. Click on a picture to see the actual size image.

Brush Bunny

Mourning Dove on her nest

Great Egret

Greenbacked Heron

Great Egret (l) and Great Blue Heron (r)

Great Blue Herons

There was so much rain, the constant weight of the droplets caused one of a Yucca's spikes to completely bend over.

Here's a closeup of some of the flowers.

I came across some wild sunflowers, I guess they could be considered weeds, but the light, plus the moisture made them look prettier than one I would buy from a florist. This one was especially pretty. In one of the flowers, a large bee was doing his best to snuggle up to the flower to avoid the rain.

Playing Catch-up

It's been forever since I've posted anything. I guess it's been so nice outside for the past two months I didn't want to stay inside and post to my blog. Well, now that we're getting into the triple-digit temps, I thought I'd play a little catch up and add some highlights from the past two months.

In April, while cleaning the glass door leading out to the patio, I noticed a smudge on the stationary panel. It took me a couple of moments to view it in just the right light to make out the shape. It's a tiny handprint from my grandson, Raine. Who knows how long it has been there. I don't clean my glass more than a couple of times a year, it that, so I'm guessing it must be from about a year ago when Raine was almost 3. So far I haven't cleaned it off. I don't get to see my grandson as much as I would like, so every once in a while I sit down and look at it. It was a bit of a challenge to photograph it, but I think it came out okay.

In May, I gave myself a Mother's Day gift. For the longest time, I've wanted to convert my whiskey barrel planter to a fountain. I looked for kits on the Internet and at garden centers, and settled on one from The Home Depot. It's still a work-in-progess, but it's shaping up nicely so far. I added some artificial ivy and my oldest daughter purchased some cute little "froggy fats" that I perched on the rim of the fountain. Here's a closeup of the little froggies.

My family is really fond of a game we call "Zonk". In this game, you roll 6 dice, with the hopes of being the first person to score 10,000 points. In the scoring system, rolling six of a kind is basically an automatic win, as you are awarded 10,000 points. I've been playing this game for over 20 years, and for the first time in my life, I actually rolled six of kind. Six sixes, to be exact. Sure, I could have faked the photo, but I have a witness! I snapped this photo once the shock wore off.

Later in May, I took a solo drive out into the desert. I headed out through Queen Creek and passed by the SanTan Pet Cemetery. It's up for sale if you're interested.

I ended up just southeast of Picacho Peak and snapped a couple of cactus blossom pictures.

Lost Dutchman State Park - Spring 2008

This post is long overdue. Back in early March, my friend Karen and I went on a day trip out to Lost Dutchman State Park. We stopped at the park to take some photos and continued on AZ 88 to Roosevelt Dam.
At first, we thought we wouldn't have a good day for pictures due to the unexpected overcast skies, but once we arrived at the park, the clouds started to break up and moved East. I'm thankful they were there because they provided some beautiful backdrop to the majesty of the Superstition Mtns. I put together a little movie of our trip that I hope you enjoy.

Extra special thanks go to James Taylor for writing such a beautiful song.

Spring Has Indeed Sprung!

And it's about time! Well, I can't complain too much. Living in Arizona is a lot like Spring all year round, except for those three hellish months in Summer. I was sitting on the front porch this morning marveling at how green the trees are and how quickly their leaves appeared. They seem to sprout leaves overnight. Something I find amusing is there are about eight leaves from last year that have refused to let go. Normally, the trees completely lose their leaves each winter. But this year, a handful have vigorously held on. Click the picture to get a closer look. I also snapped a picture of a pink Hibiscus growing in my neighbor's yard. Whenever I see one like this, I think of my late father, who made a stopover in Hawaii during WWII and fell in love with the Hibiscus flower. I always thought this odd, because my Dad was a really manly man. I'll never know, but I like to think that maybe he loved the flower because so many pretty Hawaiian girls wore them in their hair.

Chiquita, the Wonder Dog!

There's something special about little dogs. For some reason, they think they are absolutely invincible. Either that or they have no idea how small they really are. Case in point, I purchased a new vacuum cleaner today and gave it a whirl and Chiquita makes a bee-line for it. She actually tries to bite it as it's moving. I'm not sure whether she is mad at it or is trying to protect me from it's menacing ways. The funniest part is the noise she makes as she is trying to bite the vacuum -- an extremely high-pitched "Yiii-yi-yi."
I only wish my camera could capture sound. 
You really have to hear it to appreciate her efforts.

Rainy Days and Fridays Never Get Me Down

Remember that old Carpenter's song? You know, "Hangin' around, nothin' to do but frown. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down." Well, that's definitely not me, especially when it's a rainy Friday (or Fried-day as Larry at work likes to say). Contrary to what some people think, it really does rain in Arizona. I got home early from work and decided to see what I could capture outside my house. One lucky guy had Cosmo Park all to himself and his two dogs -- he didn't let the rain get him down. In my backyard, I found some beautiful symmetry in a puddle created by the run-off from our roof. I like the way the ripples and circles interlock, and the middle of the puddle looks like the water is bubbling up from below. Another raindrop made a large vertical splash that reminds me of an upside down icicle. I love the way a camera's flash freezes everything.