Cactus Monday

Happy Cactus Monday!

Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii)

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, 
if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, 
if the simple things in nature have a message you understand, 
Rejoice, for your soul is alive.
~ Eleanora Duse

For more cactus fun, visit Teri's Painted Daisies.

Cactus Monday

It's a dreary, drippy day here in Southern California,
so how about a bit of color?

Mojave Mound / Claret Cup (Echinocereus triglochidiatus)

As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.

~ John Lubbock

Be sure to visit Terri's Painted Daisies for more cactus beauty.

Happy Cactus Monday!

Cactus Monday

How about a delicate beavertail bloom for this Cactus Monday...

A woman should be like a single flower, not a whole bouquet.
~ Anna Held

Happy Cactus Monday!

For more deserty delights, visit Teri's Painted Daisies.

Cactus Monday

The desert is definitely blooming! We were out over the weekend and were astounded at how green and yellow the East Mojave is right now. It is simply carpeted with flowers. It was a working weekend, so I didn't have time to take many photos, but we could not drive by this beauty without stopping.  This is Mojave mound cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus), also known as claret cup for obvious reasons.

Happy Cactus Monday! 
See more treasures at Teri's Painted Daisies.

The earth is like a beautiful bride who needs no manmade jewels to heighten her loveliness.

~ Kahlil Gibran

Cactus Monday

One of our tiny cacti that I thought was dead suddenly sprouted buds. And then there was this treat on Saturday.  Certainly not dead!

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

~ Thomas Jefferson

Happy Cactus Monday, everyone!

For more cactus beauty, visit Teri's Painted Daisies.

Cactus Monday

Happy Cactus Monday
This cottontop cactus is very serious about protecting its blooms!

Echinocactus polycephalus

A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.

~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Visit Teri's Painted Daisies for more cactus fun...

Cactus Monday: Play-Doh Cactus

Okay, so that's not its official name. 

But doesn't it look like it's made of Play-Doh??

Coastal Prickly Pear (Opuntia littoralis)

Happy Cactus Monday, and Happy March!

Play is the beginning of knowledge.

~George Dorsey

Be sure to check out the lovely cacti at Teri's Painted Daisies.

 

Cactus Monday

Bunny Ears Cactus (Opuntia microdasys)

The beginning and the end reach out their hands to each other.
~ Chinese Proverb

To see more cactus beauty, visit Teri's Painted Daisies.

Happy Cactus Monday!

Cactus Monday

Happy Cactus Monday!
Be sure to stop by Teri's Painted Daisies.

What is this life if, full of care,
we have no time to stand and stare?
~ W. H. Davies

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

dried ocotillo blooms

As promised, here are photos from our weekend camping trip in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (in Coyote Canyon, for those who might know the area).  I'm including a handful of my favorites and you can see more in the slideshow below.  I enjoyed the cacti and other plants, as they differ from what we are used to in the east Mojave desert.  I have always loved ocotillo, but this is the first time I've ever seen them up close.

ocotillo

As you can see, we had amazing weather; absolutely clear, mid-80s during the day and mid-50s at night, and an occasional,just-right light breeze.  The sky was an unbelievably deep blue.  We were serenaded by an owl as we lay in our cozy tent to go to sleep, and the desert was aglow all night from the light of the nearly-full moon.  I serendipitously awoke at 4:30am to witness it slip silently behind the hills.  Simply magical.

buckwheat

(not sure what this is?)

And more...



(I apologize if there are any issues with this slideshow - experimenting with Flickr)

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Cactus Monday

There aren't many hours left on this Cactus Monday, but I'm squeaking in with this barrel cactus from our trip to Anza-Borrego over Halloween weekend. Will have more photos to post this week. Happy Cactus Monday, everyone! For more Cactus Monday delights, visit Teri's Painted Daisies.

The empty vessel giveth a greater sound than the full barrel.

~ John Lyly

Cactus Monday

We went camping in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park over the weekend, so I'm sharing this cholla with its appropriate bit of spider web decoration for Halloween. As the deep blue sky (not Photoshopped) indicates, we had absolutely gorgeous weather, and the almost-full moon was spectacular. I'm hoping to find the time to share more photos later in the week. In the meantime, Happy Cactus Monday, everyone! Visit Teri's Painted Daisies for more cactus beauty.

A wisp of gossamer, about the size and substance of a spider's web.

~ Monica Baldwin

Happy Cactus Monday!

Silver cholla (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa)

I'm still knee-deep in book editing (I never knew how much work goes into creating an index until I first worked on one myself), but it's been so long since my last post I wanted to pop in and say hello to everyone.

Since it also happens to be Cactus Monday, I'm sharing these silver cholla blossoms. This is one of the photos I included in my 2010 calendar, "Mojave in Bloom," for sale in my Zazzle shop. The calendar includes cactus and desert wildlfowers, all found in the East Mojave.

Mojave in Bloom 2010 Calendar by dragonflyseye

There's also a second calendar of East Mojave desert scenery and I've also been working on one of garden flowers as well. There are simply not enough hours in the day for all the things I want to accomplish.

I hope all of you are enjoying this change in season we're experiencing. We here in Southern California are enjoying a bit of rain and I know many others are already experiencing snow. Time for soup and sweaters!

You can check out other cactus delights at Terri's Painted Daisies.

The leaves fall, the wind blows, and the farm country slowly
changes from the summer cottons into its winter wools.
~ Henry Beston, Northern Farm

Happy Cactus Monday

Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris)

For more colorful cacti, visit Terri's Painted Daisies.

The more ugly, older, more cantankerous, more ill and poorer I become, the more I try to make amends by making my colors more vibrant, more balanced and beaming.

~ Vincent van Gogh

Cactus Monday

How about a desert bouquet for Cactus Monday? A bright pink beavertail, desert chicory, and a bee thrown in for good measure.

Even numbers tend to add too much symmetry,

and then your bouquet won't look natural.

~ Amanda Gain

Cactus Monday

Opuntia littoralis - Coastal Prickly Pear

Happy Cactus Monday!

The world is full of cactus, but we don't have to sit on it.

~ Will Foley

Cactus Monday

I thought I'd post this today since it's Cactus Monday. This is a buckhorn cholla bloom, photographed in the East Mojave Desert in early June. The buckhorn cholla is a particularly thorny cactus that I tend to avoid at all costs, but it has absolutely gorgeous blooms.

Be sure to check out the beautiful art and photos posted for Cactus Monday at Teri's Painted Daisies.

"He who wants a rose must respect the thorn."

~ Persian Proverb

Dance of the Bees

We spent a wonderful long weekend in the East Mojave desert. We enjoyed astonishingly perfect weather, wildlife sightings, and bountiful blooms. I'm still trying to get around to tinkering with photos, but I did steal a few moments to create this little "bee movie." Seems someone else is really enjoying the blooming cacti too.

Let us dance in the sun,

wearing wild flowers in our hair.

~ Susan Polis Shutz

Circus Cactus!

I am merely sharing a giggle. I was taking photos of some of the new cacti we planted along our front walkway on Sunday. I snapped a couple of this yellow blossom before it occurred to me that the large, funny-looking stigma was actually a little pumice stone! I had scattered what was left of the pumice that came with the cacti, and apparently this cactus caught one. What a nifty balancing act! Here's what it looked like after I gently removed the stone...

Night-blooming Cereus

The cactus blooms posted for Cactus Monday by Margaret Ann at Water Blossoms reminded me of the night-blooming cereus, so I had to hunt down the photo I took of one several years ago. They are absolutely beautiful and amazing to witness. As DesertUSA so eloquently explains, "for one midsummer's night each year, its exqusitely scented flower opens as night falls, then closes forever with the first rays of the morning sun."