Just a nice day

Nothin' much to report today. Just a nice day in Arizona with some slightly fleecy clouds in the sky.

Pretty much the same view, a little closer.

As you can tell from the grasses in the foreground, it's still dry here in Arizona. But HEY! It is a desert, y'know.

Baseball Season!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's that great time of year. Baseball season is coming! Oh, I know. Spring training isn't even underway yet. But today, several of Our Arizona Diamondbacks came to my town.

First picture, left to right, broadcaster Mark Grace, players Justin Upton and Stephen Drew, former player Jay Bell, and pitching coach Bryan Price.

That's broadcaster Darren Sutton on the left.

And here he puts his Sharpie skill to use to sign the back of a fan's jacket.

J-Up, Drew and Bell, all smiling about the upcoming season.

First time in many years I've had the chance to see some of my heroes up close.

There was a huge crowd and long lines throughout the Fry's store but everyone seemed to be in a great mood.

Play ball!

Afternoon at the lake

I stopped off on a sunny afternoon at Watson Lake recently. Gorgeous day.

There was a young couple taking a boat ride.

And some of the professional floaters enjoying a swim.

Yes, a beautiful day. And it was still January!

Desert Botanical Garden

Some photos of the "natural" beauty of the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

Chihuly at the Desert Botanical Garden

SWMBO and I made a trip to Phoenix yesterday to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden. The garden is a spectacular place on its own but the amazing glass art of Dale Chihuly brings it to new life. With, as they say on television these days "limited commercial interruption", take a look. (As always, the photos are much more spectacular if you click on them and expand them individually.)

Keep in mind that everything you see is made of glass. These next objects are hollow and, therefore, so light they actually float on the water in a pond.

If you'd like to more know about the artist and his work, you can find it here.

Ahhhhh, spring!

Doesn't this just make you feel like spring is in the air?

Sure made me feel that way when I saw this wagon load of flowers outside a shop in Prescott the other day. I had to go back the next day with my camera to get a few shots. But when I got up close, I discovered these were SILK flowers!

I stepped inside the shop to complain but was quickly shown a case full of REAL flowers.

They were even better than the silk ones outside so I promised the folks some free advertising.

Oh, so you say that's not enough? O.K. I also scanned their business card. (A little wobbly but you get the idea, right?)

Joe and Vikki are very nice people so give 'em some business. Buy some flowers.

C'mon, there's a recession on! Everybody needs a little help.

There's even a toll free number!

(Oh . . . and by the way . . . it's not really spring here yet. It only got up to 55 today!

Heh-heh-heh.)

Feeling burned up?

So, this fine Thursday, let's see what's going on in our neighboring "city".

Prescott is known to some as "Everybody's Home Town."

To others, it's just "P-town."

If you lived around these parts, you might have been heading for the hills this week.

Or, "from" the hills if they looked like this.

But, not to worry. It's just the annual ritual called "slash burning". The Forest Service burns off some of the dead trees to keep them from burning in an "uncontrolled burn" later in the year. One of those fires, apparently started by homeless transients, nearly burned the town out a few years ago.

So every year, the Forest Service tries to protect folks from themselves and we see letters to the editor in the paper about all the terrible smoke.

Ho hum.