Cellpic Sunday – 2 May 2021

Phoenix, Arizona.

It’s been a long year of relative isolation from family and friends. Now that we have been vaccinated, we have been looking forward to meeting with my sister and her boyfriend, both now vaccinated as well. It has been an annual event for them to come to visit in January during the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction. Since the auction, too, was delayed until March, it seemed a great time to invite them to stay with us in Buckeye for a few days. Our plans always include finding something else to do while they are in town.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Getting to Know You

Buckeye, Arizona.

This week, scillagrace guest-hosts the weekly photo challenge. She writes, “My invitation to you is to present a “Getting To Know You” post showing your relationship with a subject you’ve photographed. The subject could be a Person, a Place, a Culture, an Object…anything that has captured your attention, won your affection and taught you a thing or two.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

Almost a decade ago, my wife and I made a decision that changed our lives. We decided to spend our winters in Arizona. With that decision, it didn’t take long for me to realize that I could forget almost everything I thought I knew about “the desert.”

Cellpic Sunday – 18 April 2021

Buckeye, Arizona.

This week I thought I’d share the Cellpic Sunday image in a different way. On a beautiful Arizona evening, we walked just short of a mile to the nearby Sundance Golf Course and Restaurant. From the patio of the restaurant, there is a great view of the putting green and some of the course. In the background is the White Tank Mountain Range.

Cellpic Sunday – 11 April 2021

Buckeye, Arizona.

It wasn’t our first hike on this section of the Verrado Trails, but with a cloudy sky and cool temperatures, it was more pleasant than if it was under the typically hot Arizona sun. The hike is a giant loop clocking in at about 2.5 hours and 5.5 miles (8.8 km).

Cellpic Sunday – 4 April 2021

Peoria, Arizona.

I always enjoy the views of the saguaro cacti on our hikes in Arizona. As I have commented many times over the years, this species of succulent is found only in the wettest desert in the world, the Sonoran Desert, mostly in Arizona and northernmost Mexico.

Barrett-Jackson 2021 – Better Late Than Never

Scottsdale, Arizona.

Delayed by the pandemic, Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale came and went in late March 2021. Since my first visit in 2012, I have never missed this gathering of classic and modern automotive technology. I don’t have the finances to support buying at the auction, let alone having a place to store all of the beautiful vehicles that I come to see. No matter, I’m like a kid in a candy store with no money in my pocket when I get there. I can look, but I mustn’t touch.

Cellpic Sunday – 28 March 2021

Peoria, Arizona.

It’s about an hour’s drive from our house in Buckeye to Lake Pleasant. It’s a long way to go for a typical hike, but it’s such a beautiful location, I usually try to hike the Pipeline Canyon Trail at least once a year. That’s two-miles out, two miles back, and we get to cross a canyon on a floating bridge in the process.

Cellpic Sunday – 21 March 2021

Buckeye, Arizona.

In November 2020, on one of our first Arizona hikes for the 2020-21 hiking season, our group was hiking in Skyline Park on the Granite Falls Trail. For me, it was the first hike of the season. We took it easy to “break-in” these old hiking legs.

Cellpic Sunday – 14 March 2021

Buckeye, Arizona.

On a cool January day, we enjoyed the usual Arizona sunshine, but for the last couple of days, intermittent rain showers rolled through the Phoenix metro. On the road back from a trip to Skyline Park, I noticed Estrella Mountain in the distance. With the normal level of air quality in the metro, there is usually a haze obscuring a clear view of the mountain from here. The rains, however, have washed the air, and the namesake of the Estrella Mountains was unusually clear in the distance.

Cellpic Sunday – 14 February 2021

Buckeye, Arizona.

Regular readers know of my love of Arizona sunsets and my regular trips to the desert a couple miles from our house to photograph them. Well, I missed the trip to the desert for one spectacular sunset. You see last week was Superbowl Sunday. Of course, I had to watch it. By half-time, the game was all but decided and though it was no longer interesting, I sat and watched like some robot.