Last Christmas Activity

There is an historic neighborhood in central Tucson called Winterhaven.  Every year for the last two weeks in December the homeowners go crazy with lights.  A few houses even had lights that were timed with music.  Lots of Star Wars themed houses this year.  It was good to go three days after Christmas because the crowds were very light.

Here is Dave, always happy to be photographed.

We went to a very popular Mexican restaurant, Guadalajara, that makes salsa for you tableside.

And they had roving Mariachi, which I love to listen to.

Gingerbread at the Ritz

Yesterday we drove about 30 minutes to the Ritz-Carlton resort in Tucson.  I think this is the fanciest hotel we have in Tucson.  The grounds are beautiful and it is at the base of the Tortolita Mountains.

Here are shots of the gingerbread jeep.  I thought it would be a full gingerbread construction but there is actually a real jeep under all the gingerbread and candy (500 lbs of candy).

The infinity pool had lots of fire pits going as it was a cold evening.  But no one was swimming.

Sunny Arizona?

Back in Tucson and hoping for glimpses of the sun.  Last night was a huge rain storm causing a dusting of snow in the mountains.  I think we will now be in a trying trend and I'm hoping the temps will start to get higher than 56.

Have already seen three deer, one coyote, one big fat javelina, and a falcon.  So the animals are out!  I just couldn't get any photos in time.

Finally, the Sun

It can be really hard to take photos of this babe due to the backlighting.  Sometimes I just aim and shoot because I can't see anything on my camera screen.  But I was pleased with his posing for this shot.  After today, the rest of the days are forecasted for mid-80s.  So we'll get to enjoy a couple of good days.

Cold, Gray Day

You can see there are no blue skies today, which make for good photo taking.  It's only supposed to get to 67 degrees today, which is probably 15 degrees below normal.  At least the owlet posed nicely for me today.

The Daily Owl

The owlets are getting active.

My favorite photo with both parent and child.

So Sweet!

Just the parent.

Mother (or father) and child.

The bambino!  He's starting to get really curious and active.  He was flapping his wings but I couldn't get the shot fast enough.

In and Around Saddlebrooke

This was the Curved Bill Thrasher nest from a couple of weeks ago.  I couldn't reach high enough to see the two babies, but they were in there.

Here is one of the babies, all grown up.  Last night he was snuggled down with his brother and not afraid of me.  But this morning he hopped out of the nest, ready to fledge.

The completed address sign for our front yard.  We got the flagstone from a stone shop in Tucson.  The owner was nice enough to tell us to just take a flagstone free of charge.

If you look in the very center you will see the Great Horned Owl on her nest.  Last night we saw one of her owlets peeking up while she sat in another tree.  So far, this morning, I haven't gotten a glimpse of the baby but I will check on them every day and hope to see them out of the nest.

I really wanted to get a frontal view of this older woman, but I thought that might be insulting.  Though, with this get up, she probably wasn't all there anyway.

Baby Animals

Spring is definitely in the air in the animal population.

Tomorrow I should have some pics of babies to share.

Nature and Our Anniversary

It's been the Year of the Snake.  At least for Dave.  He has seen two rattlers, then this fellow.  We thought it was a rattlesnake until we approached it and saw no rattle.  Turns out it's an Arizona Gopher Snake and harmless.

I took a short ride around the neighborhood to enjoy the 80 degree day and to look for wildlife.  And I found a very nice deer family.  All three were resting in the shade next to a home.  Notice the little one in the middle.

Last night we went to El Charro, a very old and celebrated restaurant in Tucson.  We ate at the restaurant that is not the original, but one closer to our house.  Finally, we have now found our favorite Mexican restaurant in Tucson!!  This marks 13 years of marriage.

More Flowers and a Bike Ride

Our neighbors across the street have this beauty, a Torch Cactus, near their front door.  One of the earliest I've seen with these sensational blooms.

Today we packed the bikes and did another section of the Tucson Loop.  It was a beautiful morning and we covered 20 miles.  Lots of wildflowers and other bikers.

Our view of the Catalina Mountains from the bike trail.

You can barely see a dusting of wildflowers in this shot.

The Rillito Park Bridge is known for its bats.  There are over 7000 who roost here.  We saw a few bats flying in and out.  We could also hear the babies peeping, but couldn't see them.

More "bat" art right next to the bat bridge.

Starting to See Some Color

These plants around my neighborhood are all early bloomers.  The sensational cactus flowers will be blooming soon.

Texas Mountain Laurel.

Hedgehog Cactus.

Some kind of Aloe.

Lady Banks' Rose

Orange blossoms from our orange tree!

Cactus Wren

Dave discovered a nice nest in a Cholla tree at the end of our street.  Because he is a lot taller he could see into the next better and was able to see two eggs.  When I got around to peeking in I saw one egg and one baby bird.

I tried to get a photo of the baby but if I stretch too much I will get stuck full of cactus.  But the baby is still doing well.  Maybe I'll get a photo of him one day.

I like how the nest has an inner, softer lining of grass.

Now that we are down to four weeks (less two days), we are really trying to squeeze a lot of activities into the calendar.  We can rest when we get home.

Event at the Zoo

The Reid Park Zoo is very nice for a small, quaint zoo.  It's much smaller than the zoo in Portland.  We went to the zoo in the evening to see the Chinese Lantern Event where over 400 "lanterns" would be lit.  There was also some Chinese acrobatic entertainment.  The entrance was stunning.

Me in front of a peacock lantern.

Real peacocks, of which there were many.

The lanterns were more stunning as the evening darkened.