Doves waiting for breakfast

When I moved to this newly built house four years ago, the backyard was leveled bare land. I quickly planted my beloved Peruvian mesquite and a couple of Red bird of Paradise bushes and quite a few more plants. I noticed one or two doves visiting the yard.

Then I started throwing some bird seed and then added bowls of water. Now the word has got out that there's a human sucker who comes out every morning to replace the water and throw some wildbird seed on the ground. Here's a picture of maybe 50 doves (and one pigeon) waiting for me on the top of the roof of my neighbor in back. They wait about five minutes to make sure I'm safely inside before they swoop down to their breakfast. Click on picture for a closer look.

Feeding them puts a positive note to the rest of my day.

My own backyard Tangerine

This is my Kinnow Mandarin in my back yard. The plant is three years old and this is the first time it has had an actual harvest. Before this it was just a few fragrant flowers and nubs of fruits that soon shriveled and died. I'm wondering if I am not giving it enough water, I have never fertilized it. Next year I will look into this and try to do the right thing.

I just ate my first the other day and it's nothing like you buy at the store. This is not bland but a very strong taste, a little sour but I like that. The only thing I don't like is that it has some big seeds. All in all I'm happy with it.

Chocaholic in Heaven

"And now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take
I pray they bury me beneath showers
Of heavenly scented Chocolate Flowers"
by PVC (me)

The Chocolate Flower (Berlandiera Lyrata)is also known as Chocolate Daisy, Greeneyes, Lyre-leaf Greeneyes, Brooch Flower. It has a strong chocolate fragrance in the morning when it's yellow daisy flowers are open. It closes them in the afternoon. The plant is drought tolerant when established and reseeds itself. It is native from Kansas and Colorado south to Arizona, New Mexico, West Texas, and northern Mexico to San Luis Potosi. It attracts butterflies and bees and other beneficial insects. The dried seed heads are attractive in dried arrangements. I have it growing in my fig tree area so that it will get some shade from the harsh Arizona sun when the fig tree matures.

"How time flies" is an understatement in this case!

WOW, it's been SIX long months since my last entry!

I have only excuses, not reasons. The only reason is plain laziness. The excuses are many. The two main ones are:

1. This summer here in Tucson was a real pain. Very hot and a long one. It was in the high 90's just a couple of days ago. I had shut off the central AC for the winter in the latter days of September and was not about to turn it on again. I can be stubborn that way, even if inside the house it was about 92 degrees. I just turned on a fan and opened the window in whichever room I was in.

2. Excuse number two is that since August I've been moving all my jewelry from Earthly Creations into my craft shop Arizona Skies. I see no reason having two shops in Etsy.com since jewelry and crafts are fairly similar. This started out as a hobby, turned into an obsession, and now I've relegated it back into a hobby status. After the holidays I will also close my shops at Dawanda and 1000Markets and then keep Arizona Skies as my official "outlet of creativity".

So, hopefully, now that my favorite season is here at last, Autumn/Winter, I will be more inclined to write in this blog. Perhaps twice a week? We'll see.

My newest creation, a pair of earrings that remind me of a frozen winter.

The time flies

Wow, how time flies! I had no idea it's been 12 days since my last post.

I can truly say I've been working, though. Last year it rained so much in the spring that my backyard was overrun with weeds. I was overwhelmed and did what ostriches are supposed to do, I buried my head in the sand of denial and refused to do anything about it. This year I resolved that I wanted to reclaim my pretty and tidy back yard, tend to my neglected plants, and sit again in my back porch to eat a lunch or sip coffee and watch the wildlife (mostly birds) enjoy my little spot of earth.

It's all done and mentally I feel proud of myself. Physically, every muscle of my body aches. But, it's a good ache, like when you've just worked out at the gym. Sore, but proud of yourself for taking control of your body and your life.

Here are before and after photos of a portion of the backyard =

I have always loved the USA Southwest, even before I ever came to live in this country. When a pubescent in Caracas, Venezuela I used to read crime stories and western paperbacks handed down to me by a family friend. I learned about mobsters and cowpokes. And I always dreamed of someday visiting this land of cowboys and cattle drives. But, somehow I imagined it as a dusty brown desert land. When I finally came to live in Arizona I was surprised that it was so green with creosote and desert brooms and the mighty "sentinel of the desert", the mighty Saguaro that can live 200 years and grow to 50 feet tall. And the mountains are so tall. They've hints of purple during the daytime and glow red when hit by the light of the setting sun. This is the Treasury I made about the Southwest, it evokes the colors and the "soul" of this great region.