Bakers' Blessings: Beautiful, Wonderful, Fun

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Beautiful, Wonderful, Fun

Where do I begin?

First, Don went for his morning walk and came back telling me to "grab the camera and lets go over to the Cactus Garden!"

Here is the Star of the Day at Sunscape: Toma's new YELLOW Trichocereus. Yellow is the order for the day... out in the Triangle Garden outside the gate is yet more yellow trichocereus blooming.The bees are busy, busy, busy here in the desert valley. And Jack and Maggie's Argentine Giant trichocereus is showing off again. I mean.... REALLY! Snookie, you must get some of the "babies" from here and plant them around your park model in the fall. They are so easy to transplant and usually bloom the first season you transplant them.Toma's Apricot Claret Cut didn't want to be left out of the show, so it's blooming again. Well, we rush back to the Quantum to finish getting ready and to get Don's Sunday's Coming sent out.

OK, Mike and Madeline Moore and Virgil and Linda Rothra picked us up at 10:30 AM and we're off to Patagonia Lake State Park for a picnic.

Enroute to PLSP Before Patagonia is Sonoita, AZ. This is the Inn. Not there yet, but almost. We're at around 4,000' elevation. Don has spotted the water! And it is a beautiful day... slight breeze... temp in the mid 80's. We arrived at our shaded picnic site around 1:00 PM... none too soon, we were all hungry. Don is in hog heaven... surrounded by water. View to the right View to the left. Linda and Madeline are getting the picnic ready. They brought the whole meal and would not allow Don and I to bring anything.Oh, my! Look at that sandwich. Madeline made two of these giants. The guys wait patiently for lunch as they admire our peaceful surroundings.Ready!This was one divine sandwich! Linda made chicken pasta salad and apple pie. Madeline made this fruit salad. That's one BIG bowl of wonderful fruit.

Full and happy. It's time to take some pictures.

Don and LaVon. Virgil and Linda.Madeline and Mike.Bird watching was great. Mike and I decided this is some kind of bunting.Don, Mike and I took a walk so Don could show us what he had discovered while Mike and I were ~~taking~~ trying to take pictures of birds. This arch bridge is what Don had found. Views from the top of the arch bridge. Can you see the eagle soaring over the park?How did Don get to the top of this bridge?? Well, I didn't carry him. Almost everyone we saw in a boat had at least one dog in the boat with them. We had a wonderful time at Patagonia Lake State Park and made plans to return in the fall. The view from the road back to Nogales was thick with ocotillo in bloom.That small pool is part of Patagonia Lake we just left. We turned the corned and there it was standing majestically on top of the mountain... a Crown Saguaro! They're very rare. I first learned about the crown from Mike Moore and he was very excited when I started yelling, "There's a Crown! There's a Crown!"Here's the crown Saguaro beside a normal Saguaro. As the shadows are getting longer, our next stop was the San Xavier Mission.The mission is under renovation. Do you see the black speck at the top of the Saguaro cactus on the right? That's a black bird that was there when we first arrived. We got there about thirty minutes too late. The mission closes to tourists at 5:00 PM. The present church was built from 1783 - 1797 by the Franciscan Fathers Juan Bautista Velderrain and Juan Bautista Llorenz and is still active.We walked all around the grounds taking pictures of plants and birds. I like getting different angles framed by tree branches. The bell tower is to the left of the main church building. Madeline and I climbed this hill and walked between these two huge lions to walk around the path just below the white cross on the top. The views of the surrounding area from the path half way up the hill. The pictures do not do the view justice.That's Tucson in the distance.After at least an hour of walking around, climbing the hill and taking many pictures, I returned to the entrance gate where the sentinel was still watching over those coming and going from San Xavier Mission. We will return to San Xavier again when it is open so we can see the interior. It was close to eight o'clock when we got home after a wonderful day with terrific friends. We had such a time of fun, food, laughter, and admiring the beautiful surroundings God created for us to enjoy and to testify of Him and His existence and His love for us. Thank you God.