Cactus Ranch

My throw-back Thursday image is one that I really love. It makes me a little homesick for the desert and the Catalina Mountains I saw every day. I think I took them for granted. Sorry!

When I first got my Nikon camera, I played a lot with settings and this image is one that came out pretty good, I think. The sun was starting to set on the mountains and peering through the storm clouds that were gathering for a summer rain that evening.

We called this place the cactus ranch because it was eight acres of cactus; all shapes, sizes and varieties. But even cactus has it’s own beauty.

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

Cactus and Caddies

Going through my photo archives today, I found images of two of our “past life” cars. Both of our Cadillacs were purchased from a friend of my Mom’s who took excellent care of them.

1993 Coupe De Ville

The Old Saguaro

1997 El Dorado Coupe

I have a penchant for giving our cars names. The Coupe De Ville was GRACE. And the El Dorado was LADY PEARL. Such great memories of my life in Tucson. My Mom and the lady who sold us these cars are both gone now along with the Caddies. But life moves on and so do we.

We estimated that Saguaro to be approximately 500 years old because each arm takes 40-50 years to grow. Amazing! We dubbed it Woody’s Hotel because of the woodpeckers who raised their babies in the holes.

Be good to yourself and each other. Namaste’

I Didn’t Really Want to See That

While at the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson, I was trying to catch a good shot of the flamingos but ….

No, I don’t need a model release for this shot … hahaha! Namaste’

Regina (Reggie) Arnold is a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist, and photo blogger.

Night Bloomer

The southern Arizona desert has some interesting plants and flowers.  Recently I was combing through some of my images and found these.  The top one is an image of a night-blooming Peruvian Cereus, which was in our back yard at the “Cactus Ranch.”  Unfortunately, the hard freeze that we had a few years ago destroyed the plant.  I found that to be particularly sad, but everything has a life cycle, including us.

The good news is that we can leave behind something of beauty if we choose.  We all have that opportunity.  I’m grateful to our Cereus plant for sharing her beauty with us, and that I was able to capture these images for posterity.  I did some digital enhancements on the top one because I’ll be using it for cards.  The bottom image is what the plant looks like with several blooms.  Namaste’

Regina (Gina) Arnold is the author of Uncomplicated Ways to Find Your Financial Freedom, a “flunked retirement” entrepreneur, co-author of The Art & Science of Recruiting, an award-winning photographic artist,  and photo blogger.

The High and Mighty

On my way home I noticed the mighty Century plant reaching for the heavens with the Catalina Mountains as a back drop. Sweet!

Coolness on a Hot Day

Well, my friends, it’s going to be a hot time in the Old Pueblo today … weather-wise.  Supposed to be 103 today and 104 tomorrow.  Lucky us!  Ha!

So I thought I’d post this image of flamingos that I took at the zoo earlier this year (and never had time to post).  Makes me feel cooler just looking at them.

I’m jealous that they have their feet in the water 🙂  Namaste’

In Like a Lamb

Here in sunny southern AZ, I’m finding that Spring is edging ever closer.  New plants are starting to come up all around me and I love it.  I just wish I could send it to the other parts of the country that are still knee deep in that cold, white, frozen precipitation.  They’re getting all of that, and we’re praying that the prediction of rain for us tomorrow will actually come to pass.  Go figure.

Mother Nature can be tricky sometimes but she always escorts Spring in like a lamb.  It just takes longer to get to some places.

I did manage to see this crop of yellow wildflowers and since they were on the ridge behind our house, I had to stand on my tiptoes and zoom way out to get this image.

So this is for all of my friends who are still frigid.  Don’t take that the wrong way 🙂  Namaste’

Maybe She is Crazy

I attended a wonderful brunch yesterday that a dear friend hosted.  Had a lovely time and ate waaaaaaay too much, but c’est la vie. 🙂

When I left her house and walked outside I noticed these clouds in the sky over the Catalina mountains.  Now I’m no weather or cloud formation expert, but I found them to be something that I’ve only seen once before.  I’m not sure that the image (taken with my phone) even does them justice.  Seeing them with my own eyes was one of those moments that takes your breath away.

People think I’m crazy when I express that I think we have visitors from space.  So if that’s what YOU think, hey, that’s fine with me.  I just happen to personally believe that we are not alone in this beautiful universe and that our little blue planet is not the only one with life.  I don’t believe in aliens (the kind that Hollywood depicts as being malicious).  But I do believe that our star brothers and sisters exist and that they are benevolent in nature.  Namaste’

Without Words (Almost)

It’s hard for me publish a post with just a few words, but this morning’s sunrise over the Catalina Mountains kind of left me speechless.  As you probably know, I’m a huge fan of desert sunsets but a sunrise is completely different.

It marks the beginning of a brand new day.  A chance to start over … fresh with no baggage from the day before unless we bring it with us.  This morning I chose not to.  I watched the sun start to illuminate the mountains and realized that I am right where I need to be – in the moment of NOW.

Fortunately I had my cell phone outside but before I checked anything in the digital world, I snapped this photo.  Namaste’

Tres Amigos

You know how sometimes friends move away and there’s a geographical divide as a result?  Not some short distance, but a long one.  One that’s not drive-able over a weekend?  And yet you get together again and it feels like no time has passed.

Well, that’s the case with these three lovely people.  They moved a while back from Tucson to the beautiful (but cold) state of Minnesota.  And we’ve missed them.

Last week they came for a vacation back to Tucson and we were able to get together at one of our favorite restaurants – El Charro – the oldest Mexican restaurant in southern Arizona.  The original one is downtown and opened in 1922.   We had a fabulous time and talked more than we ate, a first for me 🙂  These guys are really smart … they picked the best time and weather to come to southern Arizona.  It was beautiful.

As we were taking pics that evening, one of the waiters obligingly placed the sombrero on mom’s head to make it a fun picture indeed.  Please come back soon, you guys!  We love you!  Namaste’