Spring Flowers in the Desert

March and April are filled with wildflowers here in the desert. Yellow California poppies start the color show. We hiked in Catalina State Park on March 4 and saw these lovely flowers all over. It was in the eighties and lovely. There were also lupine and owl's clover.

By March 3 the Tombstone rose bushes surrounding the waterfalls at the resort were in full bloom.  They don't have thorns!

The palo verde trees are covered in yellow blossoms, Tom said they reminded him of forsythia although the blooms last much longer and the flowers look rather like little orchids.  As I write this there are still some blossoms on trees outside the window about two months after they started.

Lots of yellow, but wait until you see the cacti!

February in Tucson

We have had lots of visitors since the last post. The world's largest gem show takes place in Tucson in early February and both Karen and Mary visited to shop and see some of earth's amazing creations. Marybeth Johnson (www.mialena.com) took Karen and me to a couple of venues and Bones and Stone lapidarist Kevin Graham took Mary and me to some of his favorite shows. On the right is a malachite crystal I couldn't resist. Arizona is a big mining state (copper and uranium), and there are many gorgeous minerals. It makes me want to go exploring mines! Bisbee is on our list of places in Arizona to visit.

Tom and I visited the artist's colony, Tubac, in between visitors. Tubac is so close to Mexico you go through a border checkpoint on the way back.

It snowed here on Valentine's Day. Here is the snow coming down in our courtyard. It had been 80 on Saturday! The snow was gone within a half an hour. It is pretty much an ideal snow experience.

I've started whacking tennis balls after a thirty-year break. Everyone who has gone to one of Coach Leigh's tennis classes (Zen-nis Tennis and Just Play) has had a blast. She even worked with five-year-old Francisco yesterday when he had a family lesson with his parents. Consider bringing your racquet, although Leigh has some available.

Tom and I are both fans of the new Naga treatment (Thai massage with silks that hang from the ceiling for the service provider to use to moderate the weight they put on you as you lie on a futon mat). Tom talked Linda into getting one, and she raved. Stu enjoyed his Athlete's Massage with Michael. I wish Stu had experienced the Sensorium - an amazing auditory-vibratory experience. You feel like you are inside the sounds that come through the headphones.

Last evening one of the resident bobcats crossed our patio - thrilling Stu, Linda and Cisco. It is early spring here - we are starting to see lizards out (one was sunning himself inside our house as Cisco arrived - Stu caught him and relocated him outside, sans a piece of his tail,

to Cisco's consternation). Ian, who took us all on a nature hike yesterday said that when you start seeing lots of lizards, start watching out for snakes, so we will. We are on Waterbreak Hill on the right - Cisco burrowed there - he loves playing in the sand.

There are lovely yellow poppies popping up all over the place and the desert is turning green. Many of the trees (mesquite, I think) are dropping their little leaflets so our views are changing a little bit, reminding me of 8 Wilrich Glen where the views changed so dramatically.

We've gotten our Arizona driver's licenses, and Tom has his new license plates. We had a big classical music weekend with three concerts last weekend - violinist Midori with the Tucson Symphony Saturday night, the Symphony's celebration of the Arizona Centennial Sunday afternoon followed by a recital by Itzhak Perlman. This Sunday will be LeAnn Rimes for something completely different. The Centennial concert (Arizona became the 48th state on Feb. 14, 1912) was great - we particularly loved photochoreographer James Westwater's photographs of the Grand Canyon which were choreographed to Ferde Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite.

February is a big month in Tucson - besides the gem show, there is a big rodeo and the Accenture Golf Tournament at the Ritz at Dove Mountain. I won't make either of them this year as I'll be out of town at conferences Feb. 23-28. Tom will be on his own at Miraval. This weekend there is a 24 hour bike race - there are lots of outdoors activities around here.

Wildlife at Miraval

There are lots of wild animals on the property here. We have seen coyotes just off the patio several times, and we hear them close by most nights. They are a little less loud in the guest casita.

We have been hearing about the bobcat family at Miraval, but I didn't see any until Dec. 14 when this 'kitty' came and sat on the corner of our patio, just the other side of the fire pit. The next afternoon I was walking down to take a photo of Albert (a sculpture of Einstein out by the entrance of Miraval) and saw a bobcat sitting on the sidewalk by the Exclusive Resorts villas. As it moved at my approach, I saw the other two were there too! They trotted off up the hill. By the way, you can see Albert's photo elsewhere on this site.

On Monday night we finally saw javelinas - wild pigs that live in this area. Clark and Natalie (visiting from Pennsylvania) got to see them too. I saw some at Miraval a few years ago, but we hadn't seen the since moving here despite reports of a herd of about 20 including babies on the property. Monday there were at least six in the wash behind our patio.

There are lots of birds - my favorites are the quail with their little topnots and the roadrunners. We saw a hummingbird a few days ago - in January! A nice thing about the winter - the snakes hibernate.

So come visit us and drink in the natural beauty of Miraval and the desert. There is such a variety of plant life - and so far there is always some kind of flower in bloom. The night skies are beautiful, and you can see some of the sunsets around the site.