Four birds on a wire

photo by Ballard Blog

So, do you think they measure it out? One foot between mates, two feet between couples?

Daffodils

photo by Ballard Blog

It's always great to see the daffodils bloom. Even more than the croci, it means spring is on its way. But they're such strange looking flowers. The center cone looks like some sort of weird alien from Star Trek looking to suck all the salt out of your body or something. I like my daffodils but just keep them well away from me, OK?

Friday Cat Blogging: Frida Leaps Into Action

photo by Ballard Blog

We're looking after our friends' three cats while they look after things in Vancouver, BC. Here we see Frida leaping out from under the chair to chase the laser pointer dot. That's Emma up above. She couldn't care less about the laser, but she loves the feather-on-the-end-of-the-string toy.

Morning Moon

photo by Ballard Blog

Wednesday morning the moon was setting over the Olympics as the sun rose over the Cascades.

Putting Out to Sea

photo by Ballard Blog

You can put your kayak in the water at Golden Gardens and if your arms were strong enough, you could paddle to Japan. If they weren't so strong, you could paddle to Bainbridge Island. In either case, you'd be happy to step onto the shore, I'm sure.

A Sign From Above

photo by Ballard Blog

The old firehouse has a new restaurant inside. The other side of the hose tower says "EAT" but the sun was setting nicely on the "DRINK" side. After taking the picture, I followed these instructions to the letter.

The Gull Nearly Got Away

photo by Ballard Blog

So you try handholding a 10x zoom digital camera while tracking birds across the sky.

Friday Cat Blogging: Flipper

photo by Ballard Blog

Staying low under the radar, she is.

A Picture of Us

photo by Ballard Blog

It was a sunny day at the park.

Fire at the Firefly

photo by Ballard Blog

Forget Phoenix, Tucson's the place to be. More down-to-earth, more funky, more real, less pretentious, less glittery, less Republican. I like the area running from the old part of downtown to the University of Arizona, so when the rains drove us to indoor amusements, we went to Tucson.

4th Avenue is the University district's commercial street and we had lunch at a little wrap café across the street from the former Firefly nightclub. It's "former" because there was a fire at the Firefly. The proprietor of the café was very circumspect when telling the story of the Firefly's demise. Hmm. Was there something fishy going on at the Firefly?

And with this burnt-out nightclub we conclude our Arizona interlude...

Poppies

photo by Ballard Blog

Enough with the cacti. The first poppies were blooming on the slopes of Picacho Peak and very sweet little flowers they are.

Cholla

photo by Ballard Blog

You want to touch them to feel if they're soft and fuzzy. They're not.

Cacti

photo by BallardBlog

Last week we had croci, this week we have cacti. It's a little early to see the cacti blooming but this barrel cactus is getting busy getting ready.

For Want of a Cable

Sitting on the desk in BallardBlog tower is the little gray cable I need to transfer pictures out of the camera. Hence the text-only post. It's sunny and 70 degrees here in Arizona. It's been a wet winter and the desert is green. It's early for most of the wildflowers but some of the poppies are blooming. The mourning doves wake you in the morning if the mournful train whistles haven't kept you up all night. It's really a lovely place, the desert. Too bad the folks who live here treat it like a toilet. Worse even. I suppose sometimes they clean their toilets.

Phoenix

photo from Landsat satellite

BallardBlog is relocating to central Arizona for a week. This is what it looks like from space. Strip malls and sprawl are best appreciated at a distance.

Friday Cat Blogging: Flipper Stare Down

photo by Ballard Blog

With a dismissive flip of her tail, she stares down the paparazzi.

Habemus daiseum

photo by Ballard Blog

The croci are not the only flowers waking up. This is the first bloom on an African daisy that is wintering over nicely in a box at the foot of the porch stairs.

Northward facing Croci

photo by Ballard Blog

Last week we found croci blooming in a nearby southward facing garden. Well, today I'm happy to report that croci in our northward facing garden are coming up, too! Spring's always a week or two later on the north side of the house.