The Desert in Bloom

We went to the Tucson Botanical Garden on Saturday, my elementary school friend and I.

She was in town for the UofA's graduation, featuring Brooke, god-daughter extra-ordinaire.

There was a lot of sitting and clapping and eating; I took her around town for some fresh air and sunshine. 

The Botanical Garden is right around the corner from waffles-and-chicken where they'd had brunch; it was an easy destination. Standing under this tree, looking up, relaxing into the earth... 

it was a tonic for each of us.

We've been achy and surgerized and less able and out of sorts for about the same amount of time.

We weren't whining, we were sharing a common thread.

We weren't wallowing, we were in the company of a kindred spirit.

 It was nice to relax into the moment.

 We walked past these blossoms, very much in the present,

yet, for me at least, very much in the past.  

We caught up on family and friends and then all conversation stopped.

We'd stumbled into the birdhouse exhibit.

 These are obviously practical appliances, as the nest in the bottom circle attests.

Repurposed saguaro ribs with a nifty chapeau made me smile.

Am I the only one who sees a face?

 Some were not immediately understandabl.e

 This glass one would make me smile even if there were never a bird perched behind the butterfly.

 Boots with license plates on top

 looked like a one season wonder to me.

There is absolutely no cleaning that out.  

Nope.  

 This reminded me of the cabin in Yosemite's Curry Village, 

when the kids were just the right age to enjoy it.

 Ceramic flowers in a flower garden always seem a little creepy to me.

 There were benches in the shade for resting my body, which ventured through the whole park without benefit of assistive device.  It never crossed my mind to bring my hiking pole. 

I seem to be getting better without noticing it.

 Is this over-the-top or really pretty?  

I like ambivalent art, I think.

 And then, because every botanic garden needs one, 

there was a dinosaur.

Don't ask me why.

I have no idea.

Kind of like rehab - you think you have it figured out

 and then there's an allosaur in the middle of the road.

Being out among what passes for greenery in the desert Southwest does feed my soul, and lead me to flights of fancy...... and that's a good thing.  

Thanks for listening.