FROM SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA

Cactus & Quail: A Desert Tale

SCOTTSDALE, June 4, 2007 - I am back home now.  So I took a picture yesterday of the cactus at my front door (click on right thumbnail to enlarge).  Just over a year ago, it was merely a little stump (the 2005-size in the photo).  And look at it now.  And it is still surging!  Isn't it amazing how fast cacti grow in the desert?  And not just cacti...

A few weeks ago, a quail (left thumbnail) had decided to lay her eggs in that flower pot at my front entrance.  She laid on them patiently for weeks, at first fluttering out every time I would walk out the front door; then settling down like a "domestic" bird after she realized I meant her no harm.  About two weeks ago, I came back from the pool and heard all this ruckus and chirping at my front door.  About a dozen or so little quail were running around that doormat.  When they saw me, they all ran away, led by the mother.  I never saw them again.  The only evidence that they were ever hear were the broken egg shells inside the pot.  (They are still there).

Just amazing, isn't it, how easy it is to be a baby bird?  One moment you're an egg, the next a "grown up." [at least as far as being able to run off into the desert].  No diapers.  No nannies.  No nighttime feeding.  No citizenship issues.  No taxes... 

Remember the expression "free as a bird"?  Makes you want to be one, doesn't it?  :-)

In the same spirit, I wanted to free that now large and bulking cactus from the confines of a flower pot.  So I have my gardeners transplant it later this morning into the natural desert in front of my home office (right thumbnail).  They managed to do it without breaking the delicate long and narrow new top.  But I did anchor it for balance, just in case. 

By the way, should it have broken off, all one would need to do it stick it into the ground.  And the cactus would continue growing again.  Miracles of the desert.  And the end of my little cactus and quail desert tale.

Sunset at Grayhawk

SCOTTSDALE, June 7, 2007 - Today I got two new Persian rugs for my office and master bedroom (right thumbnail).  Then as I sat down to watch the first game of the NBA finals, I realized that the setting sun is playing interesting light tricks in my living and family rooms.  

Take a look...

Isn't this light show something?  Like a magic wand, the setting sun is lighting the swan aglow.

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