in this random rambling thread we post random pictures

[RowanTheRed]

View attachment 1092352 Sharing everywhere! One of the granddaughters staying with us came upstairs and says, hey grandma, I painted this for you. I cried. She is 17. View attachment 1092352

that is a very beautiful picture your granddaughter painted for you. She is very talented.

 

[RowanTheRed]

Rowan fantastic cell phone pictures - wow. Is that a baby 'praying mantis' on your finger?
I've been seeing pale, tiny green ones in the yard. Do they only last till fall?

thank you very much. I have a really nice Nikon, but I love trying to push my skills with my cell phone's camera.

And why yes, that is a baby praying mantis on my finger tip! We have a weeping Japanese maple that they love to set their crystalis in. We get lots of babies every year, but this was the first time I had seen one so tiny.

you can actually raise them as pets. One took up residence in our garage last year. The garage is actually Ron's "man cave" complete with TV, grill and fridge stocked with his favorite beverage. It would hang out with him all day long, sitting on top of the grill. If was really smart and figured out that if it stayed near his drink and waited the flies would light on the edge of his drink and it would pluck them off! It was so cool. It stayed there all summer and even laid it's own crystalis in a little cage that he set up with some plants and sticks. Sadly, she was accidentally stepped on when she decided to leave her perch one evening and ended up on the floor. With the dim lighting he didn't know she was beside his foot. We had grown to love that cool bug, I am net sure which one of us was more heart broken at her demise.

this was her

 

[azurbanclucker]

 

[drumstick diva]

absolutely gorgeous - water lily (?) Love that shade of pink. Must be wrong, there isn't any water in Arizona I reckon.

 

[azurbanclucker]

absolutely gorgeous - water lily (?) Love that shade of pink. Must be wrong, there isn't any water in Arizona I reckon.

Super close. Pink Lotus. While there is water in AZ, lotus aren't native. This was at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, which is where the Phoenix Open golf tournament is held if you're a golfer. There are a number of ponds and streams on the hotel property, and many of them have water lillies and lotus.

I'll put up a pic of some native water in AZ next for ya.

 

[azurbanclucker]

AZ isn't all desert, cactus, and tumbleweed. We have water, and even alpine forest. There's a crazy amount of biodiversity here from low desert all they way to tundra. You just have to know where to look.

Christopher Creek. About 5000 feet elevation

West Fork of Oak Creek, Sedona AZ.

Monsoon at Canyon Lake, Just outside of Phoenix. No, I very likely should NOT have been there to get this shot.

Another shot of Canyon Lake

Lockett Meadow, near Flagsataff (~8000 feet elevation)

 

[theoldchick]

 

[theoldchick]

 

[drumstick diva]

I didn't know Arizona was so beautiful. I've never been much of anywhere.

 

[summerb123]

Somebody needs to let her know she is NOT a lap dog!