Chihully at the Desert Botanical Gardens

In December the Desert Botanical Garden does Noches dos lumanarios. That by itself is very cool. They have many of the paths lined with lumanarios, lit by lots of volunteers. Throughout the gardens they have different musical artists playing and singing. It's all very nice. You can even choose to buy dinner there if you want.

This year is even more special though. The famous glass artist, Chihully, has done an installation throughout the garden. His pieces are fantastic. The glass will be there through May, but it is only now that they have them illuminated at night. I bought a ticket to see them during the day also, because I thought I wouldn't be able to see them very well at night. Boy was I wrong! Not only are the fabulously lit, but they are so dramatic and vibrant at night!
Cindy went with me and we had a delightful evening. It was a mild night, full moon and a beautiful place. Enjoy the photos! And make plans to go see the glass yourself. You won't regret it.

(Only the last one is lit from inside. It's neon tubes. The rest are lit with spotlights, even though they look like they are glowing. cool.)

Hiking with Penny

The day after Thanksgiving, Penny and I went on a hike in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve. We took a route that Cindy and I had done once before. It's close to 3 miles and took us a couple of hours. It has some pretty good ups and downs. It was a beautiful day. It had rained the day before and the air was crisp. In the photos it looks smoggy downtown, but it was more foggy/misty actually. We saw quite a few people out with the same idea. We even passed one group of 20 that were hiking with some of the Phoenix park rangers. Penny said she had never been hiking before and had a quite a bit of commentary to make about hiking. It was kind of funny. She walks a lot, but wasn't used to the uneven path and ups and downs. Here are the photos! Enjoy! We are taking a big hike the Monday after Christmas for anyone who wants to join us.

This Fish hook barrell cactus was pretty cool. Talk about making the best of a tough situation. I think this would make a neat cover on a card.