A colorful artsy Sunday

Mary Sherwood is a fabulous local glass artist who I met last year when she was exhibiting at an art walk. Yesterday I went to the opening of her solo show at the DeGrazia Gallery In the Sun where she is exhibiting for the next two weeks at the Little Gallery.

Her clothes are as colorful as her art!!!

Here's the other post I did about her at the art walk:

art-walk-color-splash.html

This is the adobe gallery where she's exhibiting. It was built by the artist Ted DeGrazia from the earth that surrounds it and is infused with artistic touches, like the rectangles in the walls that let the sun shine through colored glass. The picture below is what it looks like from inside the gallery.

DeGrazia's compound is a work of art itself, including the grounds full of native plants like the yellow brittlebush that's in full bloom.

The fireplace is in the softly colored living room of the little adobe house he built and lived in with his wife.

I left reluctantly, but next stop was La Encantada shopping center where I went to get my glasses adjusted and discovered some beautiful art murals by local artist Diana Madaras. Click on the signs to make them bigger if you have trouble reading it.

Her paintings were in the perfect setting at La Encantada, with its own arches, desert hued walls and spectacular bougainvillea in cobalt blue pots.

It was an inspirational day!

Have a colorful day

Linda's too short visit

My friend Linda flew into town this week to escape the gloomy cold weather in the Northwest for a few days. We started where I start most of my company, at Guadalahara's because it's bursting with color and good Mexican food. And they make salsa to order from a cart by your table.

She's a fellow quilter and fabric artist, so of course we stopped at a quilt shop. She bought  these beautiful ribbons to use in a pillow to go with a bed quilt that she's making.

Since fabric shopping makes you hungry I asked what she felt like snacking on. She said DONUTS! So I put donut shops into my navigation and it led us to BoSa Donuts about a mile away. Oh my were they delicious. And it's open until 9 PM so you don't have to get there early in the morning like most donut shops.

Then I took her to the Happy Saguaro, which carries crafts from Mexico. She bought this beautiful wool weaving of birds.

In the same shopping center is Nest In the Desert, a home decor shop where we took our picture reflected in a mirror. They had a spectacular huge fake bougainvillea that I wanted, but it was $400.

The prickly pear lemonade was at another gift shop. Notice the saying: "When the mountains turn pink, it's time for a drink!" And the mountains really do turn pink just before sunset, like the picture below.

I took her hiking in Catalina State Park so she could see the wildflowers. We had to cross over a few streams, but there were stepping stones to use. Here's Linda assessing the situation before crossing.

 

Another place I like to take visitors is the Tucson Botanical Gardens, and I lucked out and scored two free passes at the library. Can you believe this canopy of trees is in the desert? The prickly pear cactus below is called Bunny Ears.

We visited some friends of Linda's one afternoon and spotted this fan palm near the community pool with big glossy clusters of fruit.

Her friend's husband took a picture of us and used AI to turn us into a cartoon, which I liked better than the original!

I sent it to my kids and my son shot back with another AI version giving us hats and pets. Linda's visit was really fun but too short!

Have a colorful day

 

The kids are in Key West

 

Here's a change from the desert scenery I usually show. My son and his wife are vacationing in Key West and sent these photos. I can almost feel the gentle sea breezes and warm ocean water, sigh.

And here's me (above left) near Key West in 1985, the only time I've been there. I went on an Outward Bound sailing trip because I thought it would build up my confidence. It didn't, but I made some good friends and weathered a scary storm. We were in an old whaling boat (below), which could be powered by two sails, oars, or by towing, which is what we're doing above. No bathroom, totally open, with a bunch of strangers. We spent about a week sailing from a small key (Little Deer, I think) into Florida Bay. Afterward we celebrated in Key West.

And here's some different scenery. This is the view from my ex's room in Tallberg, Sweden. He was supposed to be on a backcountry cross-country ski trip, but he injured his foot and ankle and had to bag it. So he's at a hotel until he can get a flight home.

And now we're in California, where my parents' house just went on the market. It was sad looking through the listing photos. They did virtual staging in the living room and kitchen, and I didn't like the white modern look they gave it. 

Signing off now with sunset photos from Tucson.

Have a colorful day

The desert is flowering and streams are full

 

Tucson's wildflowers are going wild, especially in my friend Sandy's yard, above. She didn't plant a single one of these poppies, but a few years ago they started popping up in her yard. Every spring she gets more, and this year they're practically a solid gold carpet! There aren't any in my neighborhood, sadly, and when I planted seeds they never came up.

But on my desert hikes I'm seeing plenty of gold flowers. I'm not sure what this bush is -- maybe brittlebush -- but there are clusters of poppies sprinkled along the trails among the saguaros.

These are on my favorite trail, Canyon Loop in Catalina State Park, which I've been told is featured in this month's Arizona Highways. I'll have to pick up a copy.

 

There are also some purple flowers. I think this is lupine.

And our recent rains and snow melt from the mountains have filled the streams and washes. Someone made a little pool beside this stream along Canyon Loop. Barb and I hiked it yesterday and had to wade through icy cold water at about four spots, but we didn't mind it because the weather was warm and sunny. This was my 18th hike since my birthday on my challenge to do 70 hikes for my 70 years.

Instead of hiking today, I spent a lazy Sunday morning outside with the New York Times and iced tea.

Have a colorful day

Road trip to California

I took my new car on its first road trip last week -- to visit my mom in Oceanside and then up the coast to spend a few days with my friend Carol. She's renting a condo on Balboa Island, which is across a little bridge from Newport Beach.

My big bag of peanut M&Ms kept me company on the road, plus I found a wonderful cafe in Yuma, Daybreakers Cafe, where I stopped for lunch both ways. It has this sign by its bake case:

Mom has settled into a routine at her assisted living place, where she reads her daily paper with a second cup of coffee every morning. The rest of the day she works on crossword puzzles. Her broken hip has healed, but she has to use a walker and is still doing PT to strengthen her legs. She's 94 and had never needed a cane or walker before she broke the hip.

Then I drove up the coast to visit Carol. I'd never been to Balboa Island and didn't know what to expect. It turned out to be a mixture of quaint old cottages and huge modern houses, all standing shoulder to shoulder, plus lots of tourist shops, restaurants and beautiful flowers everywhere. As you can tell by how we're dressed, the weather was sunny and perfect.

This is the view from a little ferry that we took. It only held three cars plus bicyclists and walkers.

We did a lot of walking on paved paths that go around the island. Here's the Grand Canal.

We caught this beautiful sunset on my first night there.

That's me among the crowd waiting to get a seat at Wilma's Patio, where we had brunch my last morning. Excellent French toast!

Color, color, color!!!

The blue house is the exact color of the sky. The house below is crammed with Teddy bears in all the windows and they're changed to fit the season and holiday. This time they were decked out for Valentine's Day. Someone taking pictures said there are more than 6,000 Teddy bears inside!

More color, color, color from the flowers! Some of these are on the island and some are at the Sherman Library & Gardens in nearby Corona del Mar.

No, we didn't go on a dolphin siting boat. This is a mural at Wilma's!

And now for a mystery. We found these two knitted objects in the condo and can't figure out what they are. We think they look like mermaid getups but we don't know what to do with the open part at the top. Any ideas? The colors are luscious.

Have a colorful day