Blooming Arizona

Arizona has a lot of very dry landscape and very hot desert. It also has some exquisitely beautiful flowers, both on the ubiquitous cactuses and in the spritely gardens and near the mountain streams in Scottsdale, Camp Verde, Sedona and Jerome.

I've put together a video photo album of some of my favorite shots of the flora I saw in Arizona (I visited from April 28 through May 4), and added some fun music, called Carry On Bach, by Paul Arden Taylor, performed by the Academy Wind Trio.

Below are four of my favorite still shots from the video. To see all of the shots, visit the Blooming Arizona page.

A Roadrunner in Arizona

I spent a week at the end of April/beginning of May in Arizona. While in Camp Verde, I got to see my first greater roadrunner on May 3, the last day of my trip, in the backyard of my hostess's house. It was a thrilling sight. I took a little bit of video and as many photos as I could in the short time the bird visited.

Before I saw the roadrunner, one of the cats I shared the house with was playing with a little snake. I took some video of that. When the cat moved away, in came the roadrunner to grab the stunned little snake.

I grew up watching Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoons. This was my first chance to see a roadrunner. I didn't see a coyote, or any Acme logos anywhere. Maybe next time.

I did a short film of the roadrunner, which I've added to the Filming the Feathers collection of Silly Videos by Susan Kirby. I set it to music by Debussy. It's very short!

These photos are in the video, but I like putting them here as well.