Halfway there and going strong

Well, Sandy's radiation treatments are half over. Her assessment with the doctor Thursday came up roses; everything's going fine! Two more weeks to go.

A schedule of driving over on Monday and returning on Friday is working out pretty well, except I have trouble remembering what time it is. Arizona doesn't go on daylight savings time, so it's an hour earlier in AZ than in NM, and we're going back and forth regularly. Come June it'll all settle down.

Our lodgings at the Sleep Inn in Scottsdale are fine - Sandy got a good rate, nice pool, we get the same room, facilities and breakfast are satisfactory, close to the Mayo, etc. - but it's always nice to get back to sleep in our own bed, with the windows open instead of processed air. The deer have ambled by, the resident jackrabbit just went down the slope and the birds are busy. I'm watching the dawn arrive beside the dog in the recliner, with a view of the birds on the slope behind the house.

At the base of the slope, there's a little rocked-in pond, with a waterfall. Next to that is a big cholla that we can see from the dining table. For weeks, I've been watching the buds form on the cholla. They grow, and grow, and grow. The bottom picture is how one set of buds looked before we left Monday morning. Actually, the bud clusters are fascinating for their symmetry and intricacy. The top picture is the three blossoms that had (finally) opened yesterday.

I've noticed that, as the buds were swelling, more and more ants were on the cholla. Yesterday we noticed that the curve-billed thrashers that hang around the little pool and the cholla were building a nest in the cholla. Aha! Mother Nature's plan is for the insect-eating thrasher to nest in the cholla at just the time when the cholla's natural cycle makes it most attractive to the bugs the birds eat! And we get to be appreciative spectators to the whole cycle.

We did venture out Tuesday to the north of Phoenix, ostensibly to get pictures of saguaro blossoms. Not having an extension ladder or a telescoping boom, we didn't get much! Maybe next week we'll find a location where we can get above the saguaro and shoot down into it.

We did enjoy exploring Carefree and Cave Creek, though, especially the latter. We wandered the galleries and shops, had a delightful lunch al fresco at the cantina shown (the photographer just inside the arch is the other half of FeVa Fotos) and enjoyed catching the sun on other cactus blooms.

The crown of yucca blooms is outside the Mayo Clinic hospital where Sandy's radiation treatments are done. Their landscaping is beautiful and there are succulents blooming everywhere.

So, the sun is up and I need to be, too. Today is get-ready-to-go-back-to-Phoenix day, plus meeting for worship, followed by a committee meeting. Plus mowing the lawn for the first time; Sandy got some trimming done on the roses yesterday. Life is good! tv