Searing hot steering wheels and seatbelts. A decidedly un-fall looking fall season. Air conditioning bills the size of tuition payments.
These are staples of living in The Desert.
I know I’m crazy, but Gimme Gimme Gimme.
I genuinely LOVE the heat. When the temperatures climb past 100 I may be the only person in town jumping for joy. Granted, I do looove our gorgeous springs – and I’m a total Spring Training baseball junkie – but when I can open the front door at 8pm and step out into a blanket of warm dry air, I’m in heaven.
But no matter how much I beg summer to stay, eventually October arrives. Weird, wonderful October. It makes me remember that the approach of fall in Arizona is pretty nifty, too. So far October has brought 104 degree heat, an awesome and destructive storm that blew out 3 windows and a skylight at my parents’ house across town, and today’s breezy 80 degree lunch hour on the back patio.
I’m enjoying it while I can, because I know I really only have until Halloween before it becomes ungodly cold outside (aka 55 degrees) and I’ll rarely venture out of the house without my snow boots (no joke) and knit cap. Inside I’ll be wearing my fluffy brown slippers that Handsome Mr. Mustache calls my Potato Feet.
Side note – I know that Halloween will be cold because the gods of modesty have seen to it that around here it stays warm right up to All Hallows Eve, and then that night the temps drop sufficiently low so that all the “Angels” at the block party – costumed in only white lacy underwear, wings and stilettos - look like shivering q-tips.
So before that happens I thought I’d share with you some photos I took on a recent hot afternoon at the Desert Botanical Garden. Hot afternoons are a great time to go to the DBG because almost no one else is around to be offended by your swears about how damm hot it is.
Desert Botanical Garden
Star shaped cactus!
Do the twist.
Pretend there aren't lame shadows. Thanks.
Hairy men!
Flower. Duh.
Carl and his daughter, My Favorite Five Year Old.
Loved this crazy guy.
Scavenger hunt.
Cactus disguised as rocks.
If you’re familiar with the DBG you might notice that these pictures are all from the same area of the garden. That is because at first I could only think Aw shit why didn’t I bring a hat I’m a moron! In fact, none of us had hats. Apparently Carl and I both thought it was fall or something…
But then after a few sunny sweaty trails it occured to me duuude I should be taking pictures of all this! And so I did and that was fun too.
Finally we realized we’re friggin hungry. And we’d seen everything so we left.
Hot sun, crazy plants, favorite peeps. Great day.
Beautiful pictures! Wish I could live in the desert… Only got 2 months of “calor” here… And winter (I mean real winter with at least 6-8 feet of snow in the driveway and icy roads) is coming… beurk!
Great shots! Looks like you guys had a lovely time.
I could never survive a Canadian winter! I’m sure the countryside is beautiful, but I’m just such a wimp! Although I AM jealous of the fertility of your soil… I suppose there’s something to be said for all that snow. :)
Beautifully crisp photos, Dena.
When we were living in the south of France a friend showed me how to eat prickly pear. Its jewel-red colour and the shine of the moisture look great with salads or a three-pear desert with avocado and “normal” pear.
Thanks Jenny! We’ve got plenty of prickly pears here in AZ but I’ve never eaten one with a salad. It sounds wonderful!
A good friend of mine, Kelli, taught me how to make prickly pear jelly last year. It was quite an operation!