Chihuly and desert flowers in red

When I put this picture up on Facebook, Peter Perry, who is now pastor for 2 churches in Alaska made a comment about how this would be a great picture to put on the altar on Pentecost. It got me thinking how the desert plants and flowers remind me of Chihuly sculptures. I've put up pictures comparing desert plants to Chihuly's red sculptures which look so much like the fire of the Holy Spirit which touched people in the early days of the Christian Church. In the Old Testament fire was also connected with God's presence (the burning bush for example). Thanks to Peter for turning the everyday into a sermon!

This is an Indian Paintbrush, also called Prairie Fire! I love when I find this growing in the wild. I have a spot around our Flagstaff townhouse where I find it every spring and summer. I have tried harvesting some seeds from there early Fall and have sprinkled them in front of our porch, but haven't gotten them to grow yet.


I like the way these red sculptures are nestled among the old men of the desert, the Saguaro.




I love these flowers. They are some kind a penstemon. Possibly a Cardinal Flower. The hummingbirds love them also. I actually took this picture at Red Mountain north of Flagstaff.




This is an Aloe vera plant which gets lovely red blooms, loved by hummingbirds also. The aloe is a succulant. If you pick a leaf and break it open, the flesh is moist and slippery. It has great healing properties for minor burns.
This is a desert Globe Mallow plant get beautiful dark orange/red flowers
These remind me of a orange cuctus as the cactus below.

Glass Shines in the Desert

We went back to the Desert Botanical Gardens. It is such a delight. Chihuly glass sculptures shine in the light and seem to blend into the weird and unusual shapes of the desert plants. The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, so enjoy. Can you tell which picture has no glass?

Comedy of errors!

Well yesterday was a great day, it just had a frustrating ending. Yesterday I went to the gym at 5am (impressing huh), went to work, came home, called Faye. She came over and walked with us in the neighborhood. Then she had dinner with us. Then Faye and I played "Possum" (she flute, me piano). We measured her car and put a glass outside table top into her car. Then it was time for me to go to choir practice. I went outside, got into my car, backed up. I can't believe I did this, I had just said goodby to Faye, gave her a hug, walked outside to my car and proceeded to run right into the side of her car! I went inside, told Faye and Julian what I had done. We all went outside checked out the damage. Faye said, should I move my car? I said, I know it's there now, I won't run into it again. Well, I didn't. Instead I ran into our new fence with my side mirror! I was being very careful not to hit her car again and instead I hit the fence on the other side. I hadn't even had anything to drink! The moral of this story is, Faye said, " I thought as I was pulling up that I should park in the street instead of the driveway." So always listen to that little voice inside of you and maybe your Mom won't run into your car! Thanks to Julian who called the insurance company and arranged all the repair work!

Christmas is over with all it's traditions, gatherings and parties. Life returns to normal, such as it is. I have to go to school. I will finish this later. I forgot my google e-mail to sign in so struggled somewhat. Well, I'm back. Just got back from school. Faye is coming over we will all walk together (Julian, Faye, Mom and myself) and Faye will stay for dinner. Family time, how great is that? We are having a Greatest Looser contest between staff teams at school. Wednesday is our official weigh in day. This is our 2nd week. We also had a greatest looser challenge today after school. We had a stair climbing relay. My team (admin) didn't win, but we all had fun.

Yesterday was the Inauguration of President Obama. I didn't vote for him, however, I am thrilled that we have our first Black President. It just goes to show you how far we have come. We still need our first woman president however. I am actually pleasantly surprised that he seems to be moving much closer to the center than his campaign retoric and his voting record indicated. We shall see. Thing are very bad financially over here (this is for my Aussie Rellies). Everyone here knows how bad it is!

I wanted to explain what the above picture is because it is part of our family Christmas tradition. We get these English Christmas Poppers (silver tubes above). Everybody gets one by their plate at Christmas dinner (or brunch as it was this year). After grace we all pull them apart, they make a popping sound (like a pop gun). Inside are silly hats, silly jokes and cute little toys. Most of us wear our hats (crowns) for the rest of the meal or till they break or fall off. Thanks Mom! We love all our English/Australian traditions!
I decided to show you all flowers that are blooming in my yard right now. Above are African Daisies. I really like the dark background of this picture. I have no idea how I did it, so couldn't repeat it if I tried. I know that all the information is attached to the picture, so I could look at the settings, however, I don't seem to have the time.
It is pretty much the end of the roses for the winter season. I need to prune them way back so I will gett more beautiful blooms in the spring.
These Paper Whites line the front of my yard. They come up each winter and are blooming their little heads off right now. These are part of a number of my flowers and bulbs that have sentimental value. These came from my Grandma Cooley. She had them growing at the downtown apartments, passed them on to my Mum who passed them on to me.

These Nasturiums come up each year, some by themselves, some I replant in pots after harvesting the seeds. I love them. The flowers are great to eat, a little sharp or peppery tasting. They make a great colorful addition to any green salad. They are starting to bloom right now and will bloom till it gets really hot. WE are so Blessed! Thanks God!

And the nights and days before Christmas

Ryan and Christina helped decorate the tree.
We make an advent calender for the Chartier Christmas party.
The last day of school and 2 more parties land on the same day December 19. Makes us sound like party animals doesn't it???


The boys have a day with Grandma Carol. We played baseball in the street and returned to the ditch even though it is now winter. The boys now have on long pants. I tell them it will be too cold, they don't care. They're tough. They still wade, still have fun sending those sturdy boats on their short journey. They make a boat catcher out of sticks so they don't get sucked into the great abyss. Of course we didn't remember to bring towels, cause we're caught up in the moment of excitement of going to the ditch. We end up on the canal bank, trying to skip stones on the smooth water of the canal. This is a little bit of my childhood within walking distance from our house. It has it all a canal, a ditch with flowing water dependent upon irrigation, a dirt road, cottonwood trees, desert plants and animals and citrus trees. The only thing missing is cotton fields. I grew up next to another canal in south Phoenix and played in the ditch and irrigation whenever possible. Niko, Nathan, Maceo and Jeremy being boys.


Jeremy who doesn't really like to have his picture taken. Somehow I got him to not look bored and half smile. He's a teenager don't you know. Ryan and Kristina decorating the tree again. I also got Faye to help one day when she was here, but didn't get her picture.

Chihuly, Luminaria at Desert Botanical Gardens

Happy New Year!
I will spend some time looking back on the Christmas 2008 since I was too busy to write.
We started out the Christmas Holidays by going to the Luminaria and Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens on December 20. Mom, Jules and I went with my friend Elisa (we were roommates in collage, can you believe it!) and her husband Bill. All the paths of the desert gardens are lined with luminaries (brown paper bag with sand and a candle in it). The glass exhibits are by the world renowned glass artist Dale Chihuly. We had seen a Chihuly exhibit in Atlanta, but this has many more glass sculptures and most of them rest amongst cactus which they look similar to. They are magical and look like Dr. Suess or other worldly cactus creations


Strolling through the magical setting really put us in a Christmas spirit.

It is so magical that we will go back to see Chihuly during the day and night again. The exhibit will be there till the end of May although I can't believe that there is another garden anywhere that they seem to fit so perfectly into the setting. It looks like a cactus flower or fireworks. Elisa took these pictures and sent them to me. We really didn't want to leave but our stomachs forced us. We ended the evening at eating Mexican food at Manuel's. We even shared desert. The Sopapillas were good (puffed, fried pastries with powered sugar and honey). They reminded me of Grandma V (our Yugoslavian neighbor when I was growing up.) We would always visit when she was baking because we knew that at the end of the day we would get a treat. We would help kneed the dough. We had to wait while the bread rose. We would come back later, or stay around and visit till she started baking. I can smell the aroma of the bread baking now in my mind. It's funny how smell is like that. Your mind doesn't forget the best smells and brings back whole memories. She would always fry the leftover scrapes of raised bread dough and give them to us dipped in powered sugar. They were really a treat. She didn't have a name for this delicious treat that I remember, but it was the same as Mexican Sopapillas. I would bet that many cultures who bake bread have this desert!