Last day in Apache Junction

The pictures do not lie, but neither do they tell the whole story.  They are merely a record of time passing, the outward evidence.  ~Paul Auster

Our last day with brother and sister-in-law in Mesa.

We stopped at the fire department to check out nephew's engine.

The truck needed to be taken "out of service" for a quarter hour,

so nephew agreed to take us for a ride.

Headphones and seatbelts required.

No lights or siren.

It was really pretty cool.

I found this lamp at the local Goodwill store.  I fell completely in love with it.  It is not practical as the lamp is made of glass bowls and saucers.  Notice the palm trees?  My indulgent sister-in-law went back to the Goodwill unbeknownst to me and procured the lamp for me.  We paired it with a lampshade we picked up earlier while shopping at IKEA.

Night falling on our final night in Phoenix.

Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind.

~  Nathaniel Hawthorne

Murals of Phoenix

One beautiful afternoon, brother and SIL, consort and I decided to drive downtown Phoenix and go on a walking tour of the Murals of Phoenix.  It's interesting to note that while I am the navigator in our travels, every time I try to navigate while walking, we get lost.  Seriously, I just did it again today.  We did manage to locate quite a few of the murals and I'm including the visuals for your enjoyment.

Hands down best sign I saw all day.

Desert Botanical Garden

 in Phoenix

Baja Fairy Duster

If you're ever in Phoenix, especially in April, make a point of visiting the Desert Botanical Garden.  You can thank me later.  On the day we went, the temps were mid 70s.  We enjoyed a leisurely walk through a large portion of the 140 acre garden.  It seemed like most everything was in bloom.  I'll give you a small glimpse of what we saw with some pictures.  It was truly spectacular.

Birds nesting in cacti.  Lots of mourning doves.

This is the Boojum tree.  It is said the tree got its name from a mythical character in the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem, The Hunting of the Snark.  I read a different version of how the tree was named online.  In the story, Alice in Wonderland, also by Lewis Carroll, Alice runs into a forest of strange trees that looked like they were upside down.  Alice was so startled she yelled out, "A BOOJUM!!"  And the name stuck.

This is a glass sculpture of cacti at the entrance to the gardens.

The sculpture is by artist Dale Chihuly

There are even heart-shaped cactus.

These are Saguaro cactus.  There are only three places on planet earth where these giant cacti grow and one of them happens to be in the Sonoran Desert, which encompasses all of Phoenix.  The cactus does not grow its first arm until it is around 100 years old.  The bloom of this cactus, the Saguaro Cactus Blossom, is the state flower of Arizona.  

The picture below is of another Saguaro.  I thought the top was interesting.  

Apparently I found the root of this random tree photo-worthy.  The adjoining pic has consort pictured in the foreground.  Kind of gives you an idea how large some of the cactus are.  That particular cactus is an Organ Pipe cactus.

You probably already figured out this is a picture

of a bee bathing in pollen on a sunny afternoon.

If seeds waited for perfect conditions to grow, there would be no plants in the desert.

                                                                                                  ~ Matshona Dhliwayo

Scottsdale Nightlife

 

We drove over to Scottsdale one afternoon to spend time at the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall.  It was an afternoon of bliss.  I have never been to a mall as large as this.  We walked and shopped for several hours and did not even come close to making our way through the entire mall.  I bought a few dishtowels at Crate and Barrel I'll eventually embroider, and I believe SIL purchased one or two goodies for her granddaughter who is about to turn one.  We stopped for a bite to eat at the Shake Shack.

This would be granddaughter, my great niece,

posing with the monkey I made her.

I was impressed with the crowds out having dinner and enjoying life

in Old Town Scottsdale without masks.

Scottsdale is a pretty city that lights up quite nicely at night!

This I love.  These two businesses, Club Tattoo and

the Christian Science Reading Room, share a building.

I really hope these videos work properly.  When we were out walking around we heard interesting music playing.  We looked around for the source and found a guy driving a miniature car down the road.  The car was about the size of a go-kart.  We opted not to go for a ride.