good-times-rollin: Desert flowers

Corona de Tucson

May 4, 2024

It is always a nice feeling to pull into the driveway after a great getaway. We were up early Friday. There were weeds to pull, birds to feed, trees to water, the patio to clean and cushions to put out, laundry to do and groceries to buy. It was a busy day as we set about checking things off the to do list.

Sally worked hard too. She hippy-hopped all around the yard...smelling this and that and keeping a close eye on us. She was happy to be home too !

Saturday, we were up and out early. One of my favorite days of the year !

B&B Cactus Farm was our first destination. The farm specializes in cacti and succulents on a sprawling 2 acre site. The grounds are beautiful and the staff is very friendly and helpful.

There are several greenhouses and hundreds of varieties and sizes of cacti and succulents. The pots and yard art are gorgeous and reasonably priced.

This is our fourth summer in our home and every year so far we have added a new cactus and a new pot to the backyard. We purchased this year's pot at Son-Silver in Sedona and took it with us to the Cactus Farm. I wanted succulents and am happy with my choices. It was a small fee to have them planted in the pot.

The photo doesn't show the fourth pot on the back side...

We added another torch cactus in the back corner by the fence. It is a beautiful orange/red color and fingers crossed it does as well as the yellow one.

Civano Nursery was our next stop. I like to buy annuals there as they grow them in greenhouses located on their 70 acre farm in Sahuarita. The begonias and other plants are "desert adapted" and grow until it snows in the winter. It's nice to have a little color in the yard !

Tuesday was the first of two highlights of our delightful week. We had company ! Not just any company...Taos came to visit and he brought good friends Sue and Dave with him.

Joe and I are in love. And sharing all Taos' many wonderful traits would easily become a book. He is loving, handsome and very, very smart. And to add to the list, he is the best behaved puppy EVER and so sweet to and considerate of Sally. And to top it all off, he has the bestest slobbery kisses I have had since we lost our handsome Wrecks in 2015.

We all had lunch...

and I didn't get one single photo of Sue and Dave. Shame on me, but there was lots of conversing. It was a delightful visit and over way too fast, but Joe and I have enjoyed the sweet fragrance and colors of spring all week. And we are hoping to see the Bank clan again...soon !

Walking in Saguaro NP-East and taking the one-way loop road thru the desert is a favorite pastime. The jeep just seemed to head that way this week...imagine that! We enjoyed looking for flowers, taking in the beautiful view, and the pleasant morning weather.

And our state flower...beautiful bouquets just beginning to bloom.

The second highlight of the week was meeting Jamie and Andra in Tucson.

The kiddos are looking to downsize from a king size bed to a queen size. There is a shop in The Lost Barrio warehouse district that makes furniture so we met there mid-morning on Saturday. The shops along the street in this colorful historic neighborhood offer old, contemporary, unique and hand crafted furniture and one-of-a-kind "treasures". It's a good place to start.

Afterwards we enjoyed a burger and beer at Barrio Brewing.

Back at the oasis, there has been a good amount of patio time. One evening after supper we served up a bowl of ice cream...

and sat on the patio to enjoy it. All of a sudden we saw the swoop and a great-horned owl perched on the fence post. He sat a few minutes before flying to the pine tree. We love life in the desert !