Waaay back when I said I'd post photos

**kds** · 05-24-2005, 11:32 PM

. . . and this evening I am studiously avoiding aforementioned packing of lunch and ironing of clothes, so I will now post some photos I took of our trip to Tuscon over spring break! How's THAT for late?!?

Let's see if these work.
The first one here should be the mosaic artwork on the highway overpasses. So many of the bridges and highway access areas had beautiful art mosaics and paintings on them - even huge old photographs.

This next one should be my son in the morning in Tuscon.

The cacti everywhere was just amazing. I'd never been anywhere that you walk out the door and there it is! This is a fishhook barrel cactus, I think:

Yep, big lizard. No idea what kind it is, but it was beautiful.

Also no idea what kind of flower this is, but it was in the Hummingbird House at the Desert Museum in Tuscon. They have some extraordinary number of species of hummingbirds there (none of which I got a picture of because they were too fast, but I did get to see a nest).

We have prickly pear here in NC (a lot), but it is NOT like it is out there! In Tuscon it was HUGE, green, healthy. It was so big that it was used like a decorative tree type thing by the front of the house, or on either side of front doors. I just couldn't get over how huge they were. This photo is of some smaller ones. Mountains in the background.

And this one should be the view from the desert museum. That is a saguaro on the right and there are palo verde trees, brittlebrush, prickly pears, teddy bear cactus and all sorts of things. The saguaro were very interesting. I learned so much on this trip. Did you know that saguaros don't even start growing arms until they are between 60 and 75 years old? It's true! And that the saguaro ribs (inner woody part) can and mostly used to be used for wood for various things (cabinets, roofs, furniture)? It's true!

Here's a very close up shot of the saguaro ribs on a dead saguaro that is still standing.

Here's the teddy bear cholla cactus. Called that because it looks so cute and teddy bearish. But it is mean! It seems to stick you if you walk within a foot of it. I had to pull several of its spines out of my backside.

And here are my kids at the famous Boot Hill Cemetery outside of Tombstone. This was the most interesting part of our day at Tombstone, as the old town itself is pretty much a tourist trap. It's sad because so much could be done with it. The cemetery was very interesting, though - brochure tells you all about the people buried there and how they died - rough place back in the day!

And you all may not think much of this shot, but I took it to show my students - 2 out of 30 of them had ever been on an airplane. They had no idea what it looks like inside, so I took a few shots to show them.

Also took this one of my daughter in her seat in the plane:

The Catalina Mountains are covered with saguaro:

We learned so much on that trip - it was very interesting. Almost too big a trip for spring break, though. I brought back books about saguaros to share with my students, brought in all my photos (more than this!) to show them, and even brought back some Mexican chili pepper sugar candy to share with them. I think they really enjoyed seeing it all. I know we enjoyed the experience.

I suppose I have to go pack my lunch now. Heavy sigh.

**jennyi** · 05-25-2005, 12:27 AM

Great pictures. We used to go to Tucson when my husband's parents lived there. I would LOVE to take my class on a field trip to the Desert Museum. Trouble is, I don't think hauling second graders on a 1,100 mile trip would be go over. lol
Your pictures made me want to go back, but we won't since his parents have passed away.

**JohnBoy** · 05-25-2005, 12:30 AM

Here's something I learned from a Latino friend- some of those prickly pear type cactus flowers are in fact edible. There's one growing under my window, and he plucked one off and ate it one day. He said bad things happen if you pick the wrong ones though. Those are some nice pictures!

**Butterfly03** · 05-25-2005, 03:01 AM

What part of NC has cacti? I wouldn't have ever thought of the state having any but I have never visited.

**sushi** · 05-25-2005, 04:14 AM

Wow Kara! Did you take those? You are quite a talented photographer!

So great to see you here again! I have missed you!
How's Jamie doing BTW?
Hi to Teryn from me!

Shari xx

**sushi** · 05-25-2005, 04:15 AM

Wow Kara! Did you take those? You are quite a talented photographer!

So great to see you here again! I have missed you!
How's Jamie doing BTW?
Hi to Teryn from me!

Shari xx

**kds** · 05-25-2005, 01:28 PM

JohnBoy, we actually ate some prickly pear cactus candy (kind of like gummy candy) when we were out there. It was red and quite tasty! Also, my favorite plant when I was learning all that stuff there was the agave, or the Hundred Year plant/Century Plant. I found out that it was actually grown as a crop! Since not much else would grow in that environment this succulent was actually cultivated as a crop - the part that is eaten is the bulbous root. When it is large enough, the plant is dug up, the top leaves cut off and the root roasted in a dug out earthen pit for a day or two. I would have loved to taste some - I wonder if it is like potatoes or yams?

Hi Shari - I missed you too! And yes, I took them! I was playing with my digital camera and having a ball doing it. Jamie made it through the school year, ending with Ritalin. Today he is at work with me in my little closet of a classroom trying to be quiet while classes around us do re-tests - with no Ritalin! He's hanging in there. Anxiety has been worse for the past month, hoping summer and no Ritalin will help that. Teryn had her 8th grade graduation yesterday and now she thinks she's grown since she will be a high schooler next year. Goofy girl! I hope you are hanging in there, Shari, and things are starting to look up for you?

Butterfly03, prickly pear cactus is used quite often as a decorative plant here. It is drought tolerant, and some parts of NC get hit with drought and heat pretty bad. It also makes a good city/urban planting for the cities to put in their beds because it is low maintenenance. There are also tons of little ones that spring up constantly at the beach in NC - at Kitty Hawk, anyway. The largest NC prickly pears I have seen are in Durham at a parking garage - they are planted at the sides of the garage and have grown so large that they overhang on each story and kind of cascade down. But they are still nowhere near as large and healthy as the ones in Tuscon! NC gardeners also seem fond of using various types of ornamental desert grasses and they seem to do well here, too.

**Ima Teacher** · 05-25-2005, 02:07 PM

Nice photos. I've never been west of the Mississippi River. I need to travel more!

**Ima Teacher** · 05-25-2005, 02:08 PM

Nice photos. I've never been west of the Mississippi River. I need to travel more!

**sushi** · 05-27-2005, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by kds

Hi Shari - I missed you too! And yes, I took them! I was playing with my digital camera and having a ball doing it. Jamie made it through the school year, ending with Ritalin. Today he is at work with me in my little closet of a classroom trying to be quiet while classes around us do re-tests - with no Ritalin! He's hanging in there. Anxiety has been worse for the past month, hoping summer and no Ritalin will help that. Teryn had her 8th grade graduation yesterday and now she thinks she's grown since she will be a high schooler next year. Goofy girl! I hope you are hanging in there, Shari, and things are starting to look up for you?

.

You're kids are so sweet, Kara, they are both great kids. Tell Teryn Congrats on her graduation, she'll be a big high schooler now! It's always a scarey but exciting thought. She'll do well in everything though, she's a sweet girl.
Will be praying for Jamie, and a pat on the back for him for being a top kid.
If Teryn has time, she can email me and share her excitement of graduating, if she wants.
I'm doing well myself, thanks, the new meds have made a good difference, apart from the annoying side effects. But I've been pretty good actually.
Talk to you soon!
Shari xx

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