June 1 was a stellar day - I moved into my new nest. After being on the waiting list for some time, it is a joy to finally be where I have been longing to live, ever since I first started looking for an apartment last fall..
The Buckeye Senior Apartments suit me to a "T". One level, only 4 units per building (so we all have outside walls and windows), low population (only 40 of us!), a nice community room with TV and tables for projects like puzzles, laundry room, grassy areas, bird feeders, lots of outdoor lighting so we always feel safe walking after dark when it's cooler. Everyone is friendly and we watch out for each other. Nice neighborhood!
Being at the end of a street, the view includes farm fields of alfalfa and corn, backed by the "blue" hills and mountain ranges of this low desert area.
Another bonus: I'm only 2 blocks from the Buckeye Community Garden, where I have a veggie bed, and serve on the garden board of directors. Good stuff.
My little corner, walking from the community building.
The velvet mesquite tree near my door had beautiful blossoms this spring, which I wasn't here to enjoy. Now the seed pods are falling, much to the annoyance of our maintenance man. John spends a certain amount of time weekly on the landscaping, which includes tidying up the mesquite pods and other stuff that falls off the palms.
I got a kick out of these curly pods - until my neighbor Pat showed me the scorpion she murdered in her bathroom. It looked enough like the pods that now I'm scanning them for movement before I walk out on the gravel!
The summer "monsoon" season is finally here. Sounds like an oxymoron...
After 4 months of no rain, the desert is eager to soak up whatever falls from the sky. The drops are HUGE, and the storms last only 15 minutes or so as they quickly pass through. For the next two months, we can look forward to these spectacular displays of lightening and fierce downpours - along with swift flash floods in dangerous low road areas.
As exciting as it is to watch a storm advance with hanging rain curtains and light-and-sound show, what I find even more spectacular are the incredibly swift reactions of desert plants. There are ocotillo in the landscaping near where I park. One day the limbs were bare thorn-laden dead looking grey sticks. It rained during the night. The next morning as I walked by the nearest specimen, I was stunned to see 1-2" long bright green leaves the full length of the stalks. The ocotillo blossomed during the spring, so I'm. curious to see if they will again. Fascinating!
The other beauties right out my door are several varieties of cacti. Again, after the spring blooming season, I was surprised to see how quickly blossoms re-appeared following some rainy bursts over about a week.
This orange-blossoming cactus is in a pot on a neighbor's patio. She has a varied collection that will be fun to watch cycle through blooming periods.
This ocatillo photo is actually from spring, showing the flowers which only appear on the very ends of long (up to 12'!) stems that grow as a cluster from a single root. Most of the year they look totally dead (and dangerous - THORNS). The over-night transformation is stunning.
I'm enjoying learning more about the wide variety of flora here in the desert. The monsoon rains bring a totally new wave of beauty.
And humidity. Don't let anyone kid you, it is not ALWAYS a "dry heat"...
