Photo: Baby Duck with Green Markings

We are back at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale walking along the Lakes and Indian Bend Wash.

And, here is this cute duck wearing what looks like a mask.

Look at the dark green and black on its face.

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Photo: House on Camelback Mountain

Here is a photo showing some of the houses built on Camelback Mountain.

These houses were nestled into an area on the side of the mountain.

The light colored houses does not blend in very well.

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Photo: Phoenician Golf Course

Here is a photo from a hike on Camelback Mountain.

You can see the golf course at the Phoenician Resort and the Jokake Inn.

The light glow is sunset light.

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Photo: Ducks with White Bills

Here is a photo from the lakes at McCormick Ranch.

These were black ducks with white bill. They looked like a painting sitting on the water in this random pattern.

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Photo: Navajo Nation License

Here is a photo of the Navajo Nation license plate.

Navajo Nation consists of over 26,000 square miles covering parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.

It is the largest tribal lands in America. The Navajo Nation was established by treaty on June 1, 1868.

Navajo Nation in Navajo is Naabeeho Binahasdzo.

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Photo: Papery Red Cactus Flowers

Here is a photo at my front door where these cactus flowers started blooming.

I love to see so many cactus flowers at this time of the year.

These red flowers lasted about 24 hours and they were papery thin and delicate.

You can see the cactus reaching towards the sunlight as they grow.

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Photo: Papago Park Mountain through the Cactus

Here is a photo from my archives that I really like.

You can see Papago Park Mountain, the cactus from Desert Botanical Garden, and Chihuly art blended in with the cacti.

Happy Easter!

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Photo: Orange Sunset

Our sunsets can be very brilliant in colors at times.

Here is a photo of the Sun slipping almost out of sight at the horizon.

I took this from the west side of the Desert Botanical Gardens employee parking lot.

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Photo: Earth Day

Green, green, green for Earth Day!

We must remember to take care of the wonderful planet in which we live.

I thought these beautiful, sharp points from my Blue Agave taken using a kelvin temperature on my Nikon seemed perfect for today.

Happy Earth Day! Go do something good for the planet.

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Photo: The Desert Wildflower Towers at Night

Here is a photo of the Desert Wildflower Towers at night.

These were created by Chihuly and the Desert Botanical Garden raised money to buy these as to create a permanent home for them.

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Photo: Art Gate

I was driving around and looking at houses in Scottsdale and saw this fabulous looking gate at the driveway entrance to this home.

Look at the custom gate of trees. It fits in nicely with the surroundings.

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Photo: Valley at Sunset

Here is a photo I took while hiking at Papago Park looking towards South Mountain.

You can see the Papago Park public golf course and the air traffic control tower at Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport.

The sunset light makes some of the buildings glow and provides a nice color and outline to the mountains.

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Photo: Lovely Lovebirds

I just love the Arizona Peach-faced Lovebirds.

They are so colorful and cute.

They are also very loud and like to chew. They will chew for hours on the bits and pieces that fall from my Chilean Mesquite trees.

And, they love the Chilean Mesquite beans that fall to the ground.

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Photo: Native American Statue

Here is a photo of a magnificent art statue that was at the Desert Botanical Garden.

I like the drama of this photo at night.

The lighting makes for a great effect.

It looks like a Native American dancer performing at night in front of the light of a fire.

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Photo: Elegant Bird in Flight

And here is a photo of the Great Egret flying over the water at Indian Bend Wash.

Indian Bend Wash is a great project and it runs for miles through Scottsdale.

You can walk or bike this area without being on the street.

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Photo: Great White Egret

Here is the close up photo of the board that was at the top of the tree in yesterday's photo.

This bird is a Great White Egret.

It is a very large bird. The Great Egret is the largest of the Herons and has a long slender, kinked neck.

It is surprising to see these birds in Indian Bend Wash here in the desert.

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Photo: Bird and Park

Here is a photo of a walk through Indian Bend Wash at McCormick Ranch.

Look closely and you will see a white bird at the top of the tree. I will show you a close up of the bird tomorrow.

I liked the reflection and colors in this image.

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Photo: Soleri Bells

This is a photo of the Paolo Soleri bells outside the front of the Gainey Ranch Country Club.

The light made an interesting shadow.

Some friends invited us to brunch and it was very enjoyable.

You may recall that Soleri bells are very popular in Arizona. Check out Soleri on my labels for my information about this interesting artist.

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Photo: Macro of Unique Flower

This is a macro of this tiny waxy flower that opened up at the top of the long green skinny desert plant.

The plant looks sort of like pencil thin bamboo.

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Photo: Diamond Cholla Cactus

Here is a close up photo of a diamond cholla cactus.

You can see the skin of the cactus is sort of like a diamond pattern.

These are hard to find and there is a guy who grows them in the Sonoran Desert and then he brings one or two each year to the Desert Botanical Garden to sell. I now have two in my yard.

The ends of the tips of the needles are yellow so at Sunset as the light catches the needles, it is very pretty.

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Photo; Morning Glow

I got up early to see the morning glow from the Sun was surrounding these unique looking flowers.

This photo shows a rather tiny but interesting flower from a tall slender desert plant.

Happy Sunday!

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Photo: Three Palm Tree Sunset

Here is a photo of a sunset taken from the west side of Camelback Mountain.

I like how the three palms are together and the yellowish light profiles the trees and bushes.

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Photo: Spring Butterfly

We all love Spring.

Here is a photo of a butterfly landing on a lantana in our backyard.

Look at the delicate spotted body. It looks like a leopard body.

We are so glad that the flowers are blooming.

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Photo: Heron

Here is a photo of one of the various Heron we have that temporarily live and fly around at McCormick ranch and along Indian Bend Wash.

There was also an Bald Eagle in the tree next to where this Heron was perched.

There is a lake below so the Eagle likes to watch and then dive for a fish.

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Photo: Rescue Helicopter on Camelback Mountain

What else comes with the hiking season at this time of year?

Snakes and helicopters.

Because Camelback Mountain is so popular at this time of the year, we see a lot of rescue helicopters.

People don't realize how hot it gets and become dehydrated and suffer from heat stroke, or the person falls and is injured and rescue help is needed.

People always underestimate the amount of water they should bring.

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Photo: The Boulders of Camelback Mountain

The weather is nice so we are back to hiking.

Here is a photo from our hike on the west side of Camelback Mountain.

Growing up in Arizona, I have always enjoyed rocks.

Tomorrow check out what happens during hiking season.

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Photo: Edge of House, Mountain and Sky

And, finally, the last day of my Edges interpretation.

Here is a photo of three edges: the sky, mountain and southwestern house with lodge poles sticking out from the stucco wall.

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Photo: Living on the Edge of Town

Here is another take on the theme day choice of edges.

In this photo, you can see that the owner of this house and farm chose to live on the edge of town.

I took this while visiting wine vineyards in the Sonoita region of Southern Arizona.

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Photo: Edges of Wooden Pallets

Yesterday was theme day on Edges so here is the photo I was going to use.

The edges of wooden pallets that are used to hold wine bottles being delivered in Arizona seemed to be a good choice for theme day.

Arizona has some good wine producers down in the Sonoita area of Southern Arizona.

Tomorrow I have another interpretation of Edges.

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Theme Day Photo: Edges

Today's theme day is Edges. Here is a photo of Southwestern edges.

This photo shows typical southwestern architectural style against the blue sky.

Edges has so many variations. I will show other edge photos over the next few days.

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