… morning walk

I just love it when the saguaro (pronounced 'sah-whar-oh) cactus bloom. And while, I must be honest, I'm not a big cactus fan . . . I do love these. They are so stately & carry with them such history, & to be honest some of them are downright cute with their 'arms' growing in all directions. One of the saguaro's on our morning walk is showing us all it's spring pretties. (You can also see all the buds of more flowers to come!)

These days (& here in Arizona) . . . we (Bailey & I) must get our walk in as early as possible, otherwise - once the sun rises - so does the heat! ( . . . & we are to get up to the 100's again this week . . . Hello summer!!!) This morning we didn't get out as early as we would have liked - so the sun was already doing it's warming. . . & when that happens, Bailey lets me know that he'd just as soon take the 'short-cut' - a path that goes between two houses - about 2/3 of the way of our regular morning route.

Bailey just couldn't take his eyes off the short-cut - in fact he downright stopped when we reached the path!

So, as there is much to do this morning. . . & our bit of a late start . . . we took the short cut. As we come through the other side - we get a peek at Pusch Ridge - at the end of the beautiful Catalina mountains that I love so much. I never tire of these mountains!

. . . & there it is. . . the back of our house. What I love about where it is - is that because of the little curvy cut-out behind us - there is really no one directly behind our house. The wall is high enough (6 ft.) that it provides us privacy & at the top of it (to the left in this photo) - it also is the stating point of the end-of -the-walk "mad-dash" that Bailey & I do. Bailey will do a 'sit-&-stay' & I take off his leash. . . & then I get to go to where the wall curves (about 2/3 of the way) & then I call, "race you!", & it's an all out race around the corner - for the front door. . .

I've only won once or twice. . .

. . . today we didn't run. . . Yep the heat. . . already. . . too much. So we took it at a nice strolling pace & said , "Hi!" to the little quail cutouts that grace the top of the wall. It's our version of a 'welcome home' to all the quail that make their home in our yard. We love them. . . & in fact we should be seeing some babies soon!

Since we were taking the slower pace today - we crossed the street to get this photo of the front of our home. We have to do the pretty much prerequisite gravel ground cover. . . but it's very different in the back (!) But nevertheless, it's home.

Home Sweet Home.