The nastiest cactus -- the cholla

There's a very common cactus here in the Southwest that I don't write about much because I don't like it, but now that it's blooming I thought I'd introduce you to what I consider the nastiest, most dangerous cactus:

The cholla

(pronounced choi-a)

The dead ones look like zombies (above) and the live ones are thick with barbed spines that are really hard to remove once lodged in the skin. 

And they jump on you! If you barely brush up against one, it will break at a joint and attach itself to you, like what happened to these unlucky guys who I found by googling "pictures of cholla cacti stuck on people."

The first one fell while ATVing in the Nevada desert. I don't know what happened to the one below, but it looks like medical help has arrived.

In my four years of hiking here, I've never been stuck by a cholla because I'm terrified of them and give them a wide berth and a lot of respect. On my first Meetup hike here, our leader advised us to carry combs in our packs to remove cholla joints that might get stuck on us. There's no way you can remove them with your hands, because they would stick you again.

They bloom April-June, and they're everywhere. I took some of these photos in Catalina State Park and others along a walk by my neighborhood. They'd make a good security fence!

There are more than 20 species of cholla with some colorful common names such as teddy bear, devil, chain-fruit, club and jumping cholla.

The flowers are pretty, but beware of the rest.

Have a colorful day

More art listed in my shop

 

"Canyon Wind"

It's getting too hot to spend a lot of time outside, so I've been inside listing more quilts and spirit dolls in my online shop. I have about a hundred more quilts in storage, more than I'll ever list in my lifetime! 

Click on Pages - My Art for Sale on the right side of my blog if you're on the web version. Otherwise: my-little-art-for-under-100.html should get you there.

Here's a sampling. 

Click on photo for larger view.

"Yellow Vase"

"Spring In the Desert"

"Sea Glass and Fog"

"Pink and Orange Hills"

(Or it could be a sunset)

"Joy"

Detail of Dream spirit doll

Detail of "Canyon Wind"

Make my day and buy something!!!

Art walk color splash!

Barb and I went on a First Thursday art walk on a balmy evening last week at Plaza Colonial, a Mediterranean-style paradise of gardens, galleries, restaurants and shops tucked away near a main intersection in Tucson's foothills but a world away from the traffic.

Musicians added to the festive ambience, and there were refreshments in the galleries.

At Jane Hamilton Fine Art we were gushing over a magnificent glass sculpture when we discovered that the woman standing nearby in an equally magnificent tunic was the artist, Mary Sherwood! I'm sure it's even more beautiful with the sun shining through the colored glass.

Here's more of her art, below. Her card says, "The interplay of transparency, color and light in glass is an ever changing process. Working with glass is a choreographed dance of art, chemistry and science to achieve a desired result." 

Tucson's art is very colorful ...

... and there's an abundance of outdoor art because we can enjoy the outdoors all year here, with much of our lives transpiring on patios and in courtyards.

 

Now that I'm putting this blog post together, I realize I didn't take nearly enough photos of the art.

But I did take a picture of "Saguaro Moon Landing" by Tom Murray for a friend who's interested in UFOs. When I stepped outside, I realized that the sky was the same color as the one in the painting, with saguaros piercing the sunset. (I didn't spot any UFOs.)

Afterward we went to Frost for a gelato dinner. 

And to show you some color at home, look at this crocheted afghan that I just got from my daughter's Etsy shop, DesertspringVintage!

Signing off from my back yard, where it's 86 in the sun but perfectly pleasant in my patio shade with a pitcher of sun tea brewing.

Have a colorful day

Magic is all around us!

I believe there is magic all around us if we just open our eyes to it, so today I pulled out some photos that I took in the last couple of years that I think are magical.

 

Sunsets always blow me away, and the ones I see from my front porch since I moved to Tucson are the best. Every night it's a magical show of color and light.

And plants!

The closer I look the more unbelievable they become.

Who pulls the magic out of us better than babies in all their innocence and perfection? When I met my new granddaughter in January I couldn't stop marveling at the perfection of her tiny fingers as they grasped mine. Pure magic!

I'm always in awe when I'm out in nature and a sunbeam suddenly pierces the sky and touches the ground.

So here's wishing you a weekend of magic!

Have a colorful day