Wall

One Word Sunday: wall

Thursday doors…open doors

“You should expect visitors when you leave the door open.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

If you don’t have hands, traditional doors are difficult to open, so you must leave your door open all the times as in this rustic birdhouse in the Preserve, which is just waiting for visitors.

“Unusual doors often take you to the unusual worlds!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

I first saw insect houses in France but you can find them in the U.S. as well. This one in Tohono Chul made me wonder once again what sort of insects live here and would I want them around my house. I imagine birds might love insect houses but not for the same reason as the insects!

“Doors to beautiful things do not remain open forever. Be fast to enter inside!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

Monday Lisa from Micro of the Macro drove down from Flagstaff to visit the Riparian Preserve with me and just generally hang out, a return trip for the one I took to Flag months ago. We’d only met once and I was afraid I wouldn’t recognize her or she me so I made sure to text her where I was sitting at the coffee shop where we planned to meet. After coffee and talk, we spent a long time enjoy spring at the Preserve. Near one lake, I turned to see this soft, lovely little nest made of found material right at eye level. While it might be true that feathering your own nest is not necessarily considered good for humans, it’s obviously a great idea for birds.

Yes, we did have a great time as well as a delicious and healthy lunch at a new restaurant called Flower Child. Now I’m looking forward to my next trip “up north” to Flag.

Thursday Doors 3.31.22

Animals of Tohono Chul…slow and steady

Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. ~James Bryant Conant

Before we were ready to actually move to Arizona, my brother and I went around with a realtor to see what sort of homes were for rent. At one house I walked into the backyard to find a gigantic tortoise! The realtor was quite surprised. I don’t think the tortoise was included in the rent. Although not a speed demon, it got around quite a lot faster than this one at Tohono Chul who also looks a bit morose. It was however about the same size.

Tortoises can tell you more about the road than hares. ~Khalil Gibran

How you start is important, very important, but in the end it is how you finish that counts. It is easier to be a self-starter than a self-finisher. The victor in the race is not the one who dashes off swiftest but the one who leads at the finish. In the race for success, speed is less important than stamina. The sticker outlasts the sprinter in life’s race. In America we breed many hares but not so many tortoises.

~B. C. Forbes

Animals of Tohono Chul…motorcycle vulture

Have an old motorcyle hanging around? Make some art out of it. 🙂 This reclaimed metal sculpture by Kioko Mwitaki perching in a tree at Tohono Chul made me smile and also muse about the ability to see a vulture from a used motorcycle. To read a bit more about the sculptor and see an awesome lion he created, click here. You might be surprised by his nationality. I know I was.

Animals of Tohono Chul…just being catty

I didn’t take a photo of the information for these sculptures surrounding a lovely little pond, but if you look at those ears, you know it’s not a house cat. 🙂 Mom’s on alert but everyone else looks pretty relaxed.

Animals of Tohono Chul…ants, no uncles

David Stone’s “Regal Horned Lizard” of ferro-cement, steel wire, and mesh at Tohono Chul is so realistic that I almost expected a gigantic tongue to flick out to scoop up a trio of snacks, despite the somewhat pleasant expression on its face. Thank goodness none of them are actually this big!!

If you live anywhere in the Tucson area, you really must visit Tohono Chul. Sometime during your visit, stop at the cafe and have a prickly pear lemonade. The color is beautiful, the taste sublime. If your taste inclines to alcohol, you can get a prickly pear margarita or mimosa instead. We didn’t order food, but everything sounded delicious and if you have a membership at one of a number of gardens, you might be able to get in free.

Thursday Doors…two doors and a gate

Time for us to head back to Tucson to the beautiful gardens of Tohono Chul (“desert garden” in the language of the Tohono O’odham people). There are a number of smaller, more intimate areas in the large garden, including this Meditation Garden. For now we’ll meditate on the door leading to it.

To paraphrase the old adage: “A nod is as good as a wink to a blind man”, a gate’s as good as a door to a Thursday Door-ite. Hmmm, that sounds a lot like Dudley Do-right of the old cartoon series and the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” show. But I digress. At any rate, here’s the gate. Oh, I’m a poet and I didn’t know it…until just now.

Here’s a final door, Spanish-looking, sturdy, and elegant with some ironmongery for who like that sort of thing (which is probably all of us.)

Thursday Doors 3.3.22

An odd dog

Tohono Chul doesn’t just have cacti and other plants. There was all sorts of art throughout the park. This guy’s doing double-duty as sculpture and plant holder.

SquareOdds 2.16.22

An odd skeleton

Tohono Chul featured cacti of all sorts but sometimes even a hardy cactus dies, sometimes leaving an intriguing looking skeleton such as this one.

SquareOdds 2.15.22

Peaceful

Although this video was taken at Tohono Chul some weeks ago, it’s a perfect representation of how I feel after a break of just one day.