Saguaros and Skies 2

For Mersad's Through My Lens, an awesome photography meme, and super fun Skywatch Friday later in the week, here is my second series of saguaro cactus and lovely skies in Tucson, AZ.

Five Things This Week

For Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday Five, Amy's Five on Friday and Cath's Fun Friday Favorites I start with an announcement:

1.  This summer, after five years here in Tucson, AZ where we moved to be close to our daughter, SIL and grandson, we are all  moving....to Oregon!  BIG change from the Sonoran Desert.  It will be here before we know it, and I have a LOT to do to get ready.  I am excited for this new chapter of our lives...this new adventure.  A little sad, though.  I will miss my friends, and the uniqueness of this area.  But I am ready for this move!  How we have missed trees and rivers and seasons!  I am weary of the severe heat of summer, but we will be exchanging that for a more severe winter. :-)  Life is fun, isn't it!?

2.  Qigong is going great!  I really am happy the V.A. is offering this to us!

3.  Here are some recent sunrise photos to share with Skywatch Friday...

4.  We've been watching the PBS series offered by Lifetime of War & Peace...it's been excellent!  Can't wait for one of our favorite series to start again soon...Vikings.

5.  A little moment of Tucson architecture....

Saguaros and Skies 1

I am starting a little series of photos to share with Through My Lens with Mersad, and Skywatch Friday with Yogi, Sandy and Sylvia and any other meme that fits over the next few weeks.  Thanks to all the hosts!  I was going through my archives and I have some really nice saguaro and sky shots of Tucson that I thought would be fun to re-share....Oh, and for those who asked about the skeletal remains of the saguaros in my landscape pictures a couple of weeks ago, yes, that's the "spine" or skeleton of a saguaro that is left after it dies.  It's posted HERE.

 

Thoughts on Color

Interestingly enough our Quilt Guild speaker chose to talk about color.  I think about color a lot.  The name of my blog is A Colorful World.  Throughout my life I have embraced color in painting, embroidery, photography, and quilting.  At times I have felt since we moved to Tucson that there has been less color here than other places we have lived...the trick at times has been finding it.  I get excited when the palo verdes bloom....splashes of yellow all over town!  And those orange or pink blossoms on the cactus...heavenly!  Sunsets reflecting back off the mountains give them new and varied attire.  So, I decided to devote this week's Five to "color."  And join in where appropriate to some other memes....First, however is Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday Five and Amy's Five on Friday.

1.  The burst of color that came into our home just before Christmas was my Bird of Paradise flower bloom....it is only now beginning to fade.  When you look closely you see the oranges and purples and pink and cream of a tropical sunset! (Joining Denise's Today's Flowers)

2.  Sunrise is a glorious time....joining in with Skywatch Friday:

3.  Our speaker at the Tucson Quilt Guild meeting was Rose Hughes. She had volunteers demonstrate the color wheel. She talked about the primary, secondary, tertiary, complimentary and analgous colors plus tints and shades.  Things I remember from art classes.  And I've always seemed to have a natural talent for putting colors together well.  But, this was fun, and a good reminder....

4.  Then she showed some of her quilts that exhibited some of the color combos we were just speaking of.  To see more than the photo below, look at my quilting blog, piece-fulness by clicking HERE.

5.  Did you know that the human eye can see 7,000 different colors!  And that 3,000 of them are greens!  Maybe that's why I feel the "lack" of color here....not as many greens as my eye is used to seeing.  Oh, there are definitely greens!  We actually have quite a few green plants here in the Sonoran Desert.  Even the cacti are green.  But, not as many greens as, say, the Virginia mountains or the Alabama countryside.  Perhaps that desire for more color sometimes hearkens to my roots.  It truly is beautiful here, especially if you look for the beauty and appreciate how unique it is.  Color is something to be sought out, savored and treasured....and captured with a paintbrush, camera shutter or fabric choice.  Wherever you are, isn't this a beautiful, colorful world we live in!

Skywatch and Shootout

I am combining these two Friday memes to share a couple of recent sky photos for Skywatch Friday and my take on "Forests" for Friday My Town Shootout:

 

 

In the forests of Mt. Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountain range North of Tucson....

 

 

There is a blanket of snow in the winter....(photos taken from my back porch late afternoon January 7th)

 

 

My Lens on Fall Skies

We were still having some storms, though not as violent as during our summer monsoons, throughout fall this year, and I have additional dramatic sky photos to share.  I loved the colors captured in the clouds!  Connecting with Through My Lens with Mersad, and later in the week with Skywatch Friday.  All of these shots were taken off my back porch at the eastern-south-eastern sky toward the Santa Catalina Mountain range during sunset in October.

Through My Lens

I want to share additional sky photos from my area for Through My Lens, and also later this week for Skywatch Friday.  Thank you Mersad for this wonderful photography meme, and Yogi, Sandy and Sylvia for this wonderful sky photography meme.  Thoughts and prayers today for the people in Paris!

Not bad for photos all taken from my back yard! :-)

Skywatch and Other Friday Things

For Skywatch Friday again I am tripling up with my Friday memes with Willy Nilly Friday Five and Five for Friday....

1.Some more lovely Tucson skies, looking east as the sun sets on the opposite horizon:

2.  I am sorry for those of you who have already seen the best of Autumn and now have Winter approaching.  We are just now into the beginning of Autumn, with no real Fall color to boast, only cooler temps.  And yes, happily the hummingbirds will be with us all year....

3.  I miss my almost daily Cooper's Hawks visit from about four weeks during the summer....this is the only view of I get of them now as they fly by....

4. Veterans Day turned out to be pretty awesome....First I went to Quilt Guild with my dear friend Paulette while hubby went to his free Veterans Slam at Denny's.  Later at home, we were having a quiet afternoon.  Russell received about twenty Veterans Day messages from family and friends.  Then Paulette called and said she wanted to bring over something for Russell.  It was an Army lapthrow she had made for him.  Such a sweet thing to do!  She took photos...I will share later when I have copies.  A gentleman who used to go to our church, and whose wife is now in a home because of Alzheimers, called Paulette.  He was also a vet, and Paulette carries him places when he needs a ride (he recently had surgery) and he wanted to take her with him to Golden Corral to eat.  Well, that's where we planned to eat as well, so we all decided to go together.  I can't begin to tell you what a wonderful event Golden Corral put on for the veterans!  There was an ROTC color guard, boy and girl scouts handing out coffee and cookies to those waiting in  line.  There were several wheel chairs outside for those who had to wait.  The Pledge was said, and there were Army jeeps and other equipment on display.  Inside, the DAV was there, one man playing a Wurlitzer organ they were having a drawing for.  Of course, the vets ate free.  We had a lovely meal with friends.  It was such a sweet afternoon!  Thanks to the Golden Corral, the DAV, and all the others who made the day possible!



This display just as you entered the line inside brought me to tears...it is the empty place at the table for the POW/MIA.

5.  We had our first flirt of a freeze that night...not a severe hard freeze but a very close with the temps none-the-less.  I went out and covered up my plants.  But Thursday was in the 70s during the day and today (Friday) it's supposed to be 78.  I'm still hoping for a bloom in that Bird of Paradise!  Hope all the veterans and their families had a very blessed day!