Children . . . Blink and They're Gone!

We are so fortunate... we had a visit this past week from daughter, Sherilee and son-in-law, Alan. It was so wonderful to see them. As we were driving to the airport to pick them up I couldn't contain myself, trying to will other drivers off the road in front of us.

Now they are gone to their home and there are a lot of sighs here and memory smiles.

But we did have good visits and a wee bit of touristing...

Friday afternoon we took the tram in Sabino Canyon all the way to the top and then walked most of the way down. This is one of our favourite places to hike.

It is a narrow road with lots of hikers, bikers and the occasional tram; hence the sign...

We looked at this...

and that...

and the other things common to the desert.

One day we headed out with a picnic to the Saguaro Park on the west side of town...

This may look bristly and yet soft but do not be fooled, it would not feel pleasant at all.

After our picnic in the park we headed off to the Desert Museum where Sherilee beetled off to the hummingbird house immediately.

Sometimes I get so excited watching my photo subject that I forget to even capture the pic... but here we have a little lady sitting on her nest. In this small hummingbird house I suppose the birds have actually gotten quite comfortable with all these humans staring at them, poking lenses in their habitat. The birds fly right by the people, enjoying buzzing us...

Sweet, sweet birdies...

Outside again we looked around and followed the trail down the hill. The next search was for a javelina...

This metal sculpture of a javelina is most likely not exactly what Sherilee and Alan had in mind on their search but it was very handsome, I thought... The javelinas we found later were lazing around and not looking at all ferocious and fearsome like they appear in the wild.

I love to look at the patterns in the desert, in the cactus and the succulents.

And, of course, we had to introduce our guests to the crested saguaro. We love to see these extraordinary tops on the lofty saguaro plants.

And out in the 'wild' I found another hummingbird to capture.

Who can say the desert is a dull, unattractive place to visit? Look at the details and patterns everywhere.

We enjoyed watching this fellow... king of the castle, well, his castle... there were two ladies in the same enclosure vying for his attention.

Not sure if the plant above is the Parry's Century Plant... looks similar to a drawing I have.

Sweet kitty...

And one of our favourite plants... the Ocotillo... is about to bloom throughout the land. It is an odd plant... Sherilee thought it looked like her rose bushes in winter in the north, but the canes slowly leaf out and get these striking orange/red blossoms on the tips. Striking plant.

Not sure of the name of this delightful little pink blossom but I had to snap it!

And to end the blog I captured this road runner yesterday at the golf course. Sherilee and Alan wanted to see one but we never did come across one as long as they were here.

This fellow came up very close to our cart while Doreen and I waited for Sherwin and Peter to tee off. I did not want to scare him by moving quickly for my real camera so I just quietly snapped him with my iPhone. He is losing one of his tail feathers... was hoping he would drop it before he left the scene but the guys came back from their tee box and he quickly scooted away.

Too soon over but very much appreciated.

Bye, adios, ciao...