Flood and Aftermath Return of Spring in Arizona

The flood on Oak and Spring Creeks came and went this past week, but what a difference in the land surrounding the creeks.  At the same time as we got our 4 inch rain the fruit trees were becoming showy and the leaves on the Cottonwoods are beginning to green.  It was an exciting week to observe the changes.  Some of the sand dunes and charred wood came from Oak Creek Canyon above Sedona where they had a bad fire last May called the Slide Fire.

Great flood sculptures have been created by the wood debris.  The green is very bright right now, bit the grass and the leaves that are beginning to pop out.

Cornville, AZ Attractions Eliphante in Kaleidoscopes

According to Wikipedia, my Arizona winter home town has only one attraction. I tend to disagree and think the fish hatchery and Oak Creek are pretty spectacular, but here it is in black and white: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornville,_Arizona#Attractions. Interestingly, they call the attraction Eliphante: a kaleidoscopic, hand-built sculptural village in Cornville. The name sake Eliphante is one of the buildings which actually looks like an elephant's trunk on the exterior.  The green grass was beautiful against the wintery look of the large cottonwood trees.  Eliphante is still trying to get the last funds to own the land that the structures are on, please help if you can by donating:  http://www.eliphante.org/donate.html

Here are some links to eliphante for your reading pleasure:  

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g31202-Activities-Cornville_Arizona.html

http://curious-places.blogspot.com/2011/04/eliphante-cornville-arizona.html

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/eliphante

Here are a few pictures and kaleidoscopes I made:

Amazing Arizona

Most people think Arizona is hot and dry and it is in some places, but it has amazing diversity.  This week we got around 3 inches of rain and now we have below freezing temperatures in the mornings.  However, the daytime temperatures are IDEAL!  Along Oak Creek I found the most amazingly large fungi mass.  The sunglasses in the kaleidoscopes are put there to give a sense of scale!  And yes we have grass here also...

original photo is almost as impressive!

Fungi Mass along Oak Creek in Cornville, AZ

Come and visit us this winter.  Take a http://paintsedona.com/ Plein Air Painting Workshop!

Back in Sedona for the Winter

We've been home for a WEEK and I have managed to clean up the landscaping, take 2 hikes, put our furniture back in it's place as our first summer tenant decided to rearrange our house, and BUY another property!  This one is a good samaritan deal for Brian and Sharon Bieberle.  Brian has worked on the past two renovations I have done, one in Oak Creek Valley and one in Lubec, Maine, and he needs to be a homeowner again!  So we are working out a deal for him to buy this home from us and he will fix it up for himself and we get payments for the next 15 years(or less).  It's actually a great deal all around for him, us, and the community of Oak Creek Valley since it was a vacant foreclosure.

One of my two hikes was to Fay Canyon where the meetup group we created had a paintout:  http://www.meetup.com/Plein-Air-Landscape-Painters-of-Sedona-and-the-Verde-Valley/.  It was not very well attended, but we did have great weather.  Below are 4 kaleidoscopes I made of the Fay Canyon area.

View from the parking lot at Fay Canyon

Michael Chesley Johnson at his easel

On the Road Again!

We had a few days before we left our beloved island, to do some exploring.  Saba got a chance to do a last swim in the Bay of Fundy.  This year we do not plan to visit California as we have the past two winters, so this is our last view of the broad ocean for a while.  The weather cooperated and we harvested veggies from the garden and got both our Campobello Island and Lubec, Maine homes winterized.

Superdog Saba

Super Dog Swimmer...that water is cold in the Bay of Fundy!  She is amazing for a dog well over 14 years old as she can walk miles, swim, still loves to hunt, and is an amazingly happy girl!!  I hope she lives to 20...

View from the edge of the Bay of Fundy

Yellow Lichen on Rocks

We are now off to southern locations for Michael's teaching, then we make the long push west in 3 and 1/2 days from St. Augustine, FL.  If you want to follow along see Michael's schedule and you will see that he has very few days off right now!  Workshops on the road are all full which we are grateful for.

http://www.michaelchesleyjohnson.com/html/workshops.htm  We do have time to visit Michael's parents in GA next week which is nice since they are 84 and 87 and still going strong, but at that age you don't take nearly perfect physical health for granted.  We are lucky since very few couples in their mid-50's have both sets of parent's living beyond the normal life span and in perfect health at the moment, still gardening, taking care of their homes, and driving(except for my dad), and doing deep thinking....

Seasonal greetings from an Arizona garden

The lilac is blooming, the daffodils and tulips are past, the irises are especially nice right now and my neighborhood has yellow, purple, and white varieties blooming now, the weeds are growing, and people are starting to mow.  One thing that surprises me is that many of the plants that do well in my Canadian garden also do well in my Arizona garden with no added water, but Spring here is approximately 60 days earlier.  This means I get to experience Spring for a long time since my lilac here will fade by April 15th, but now begin to bloom until at least May 15th there...

Bamboo in my garden
Surprisingly this grows well in AZ even without added water.  I was afraid it would become invasive, but it seems to not expand without added water, but is a pretty spring green year round.

Iris in my garden
I planted many bulbs of irises last Fall, but did not have great luck with getting lots of flowers probably due to the gophers, but this is one that did  bloom in it's first year!

Gopher Plant or "Gopher kill"
There are many varieties of euphorbia.  Gopher purge (Euphorbia lathyrus), also known as gopher spurge or mole plant, does not necessarily repel gophers, but the latex found in its roots, leaves and flowers is poisonous. Once the animal gnaws on the plant, it will become sick or die. When gopher purge is planted in the gopher’s main tunnel, it will protect other plants from the gopher’s teeth.  Living down by Oak Creek, we have an abundance of gophers!  That is probably why most of my bulbs end up becoming gopher food!

Mulberry catkins
These are pretty, but messy as they drop off the tree before the leaves come out.and we have two large trees in front of our house.  This year we probably will be leaving before they completely drop.

Lavender among the red rocks

This is another plant that seems to like both my Arizona and Canadian  garden, but thrives more in my Canadian garden. I have several lavender shrubs now in Canada.  The snows protect it during the winter.

We will be in New Mexico for most of the rest of the month which is probably my favorite state overall.  We lived in NM for over 5 years of the past 15 and we are planning to move back when we find the right situation.  We want to live on a large parcel of land with some other like minded quiet artistic types.  For us, the "quiet" part of community is most important.  Minimal engine noises, minimal dog noise, dark night skies, affordable housing, and respectful neighbors are what we are looking for.  Anyone know of such a place????

2013 A New Year and Clean Slate Day

I was speaking with a friend about how New Year's was one of my favorite holidays since you get to start over again with all your resolutions and she named it "Clean Slate Day".  So to celebrate this day, I have 2 kaleidoscopes for your viewing pleasure.

One was created from a photo taken just down the street yesterday morning when we he had a dusting of snow on Spring Creek. I have to say that I love that my experiences with snow in Arizona are usually of snows measuring less than 3 inches which is great!  The second kaleidoscope was taken at the Page Springs fish hatchery where they had many four wing saltbush shrubs which were the subject of the second kaleidoscope.

Spring Creek Snowfall

Four Wing Saltbush

Michael started the new year right by teaching today.  Make your plans for taking a plein air workshop in  Sedona or Campobello Island, Grand Manan Island, or St Andrews by the Sea, NB now!  

Michael Chesley Johnson Plein Air Workshops

Week Thirteen.....What and Where is this!

Cows and the Open Range of the West!

I am enjoying exploring the area around my winter home which is open range for cattle between here and Sedona.  This time of year the cows and calves are everywhere and the grasses are just beginning to green up for Spring.  This morning we came upon brown cows, black cows, black cows with white faces and every other variety of coloration.  Saba loves them and the wide open vistas of the west are truly stupendous.  I walked for an hour this morning and took 54 wonderful photos which are destined to become kaleidoscopes.  The first one is called white cow face!

 

8 x 8 in black frame $50

original photo below!  

Week Twelve.....What and Where is this!

An intriguing old stone building in my winter home town of Cornville, AZ an unincorporated community adjacent to Sedona, AZ where a surprising number of exotic animals are raised:  emus, llamas, goats seem to be in many dooryards!  Strong elements like fences, and hazy skies seem to compliment the composition don't you think.  8 by 8 inches framed, $50.

Original photo:  an old building on one of the ranches.