Desert Botanical Gardens

Dueling Butterflies
Originally uploaded by Thee E. Aldriches

On Sunday, Erin and I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. They were pretty crowded, but they're nice. We didn't do the trails because we went to see the butterfly garden. This too was crowded and a bit chaotic. It seemed like whenever you were ready to take a photo of a butterfly or flower, someone would stand right in your light. For that matter, it was fairly difficult to even look at the butterflies. No one was rude or anything, it was just a popular exhibit.

In spite of the chaos, it was still fairly enjoyable. Erin was afraid that she wasn't getting any good pictures of the butterflies, but when we got home and loaded them on the computer, we were pleasantly surprised.

Check out the rest of our butterfly pictures here on our Flickr page.

Actually, we use Flicker a lot. I update the pictures on our Flickr page more readily than the blogs. We still enjoy the blogs because you can write a lot more and do more with formatting, but Flickr is fun and convenient. So, remember that our Flickr address is http://www.flickr.com/photos/erinanderic/.

Enjoy!

One Year Ago...

Tikal
Originally uploaded by Thee E. Aldriches

It was a year ago last month Erin and I were on our honeymoon in Belize. This picture was actually taken in Tikal, Guatemala. We were a little crazy that day. For one thing, we carried way to much camera gear. Secondly, we hiked up and down stone steps at 70 degree angles wearing flip-flops because our shoes were wet from river tubing in a cave the day before.

It does feel pretty odd that it has been a year since that trip. I remember talking to our Canadian friends that we made there (Dennis and Joan) about how we didn't even know where we were going to live in one year. Well, we know now! Arizona!

It's been a busy couple of years and it shows no signs of slowing down.

I learned that I can post blogs from our Flickr page. I use Flickr a lot; therefore, there will probably be an increase in blog postings now that I can do them from Flickr.

We have over 100 pictures of our honeymoon on our Flickr page. Check them out here.

Sedona

A couple weeks ago, Erin and I joined a bunch of friends from ASU on a camping trip to Sedona. What a beautiful place! It was great to get out of the city and hang out at a campsite. We had a campfire and roasted some vegetables. I got stung by a bee, which was a bit stressful considering that when I was younger I had allergic reaction to bee stings, but I ended up being fine. The picture above follows the Sadie Hawkins picture tradition begun by Veau and Emily several years ago in Las Vegas.

Actually, everyone split really early after we woke up and packed up the campsite except Erin and I and our friend Brian. Brian had recently visited Sedona with his family and taken a guided tour. He has a pretty awesome memory, so he drove us around and recreated the tour. He remembered pretty much everything.




We can never pass up the opportunity to take a picture of a pun.





This is my friend Brian. He's in the MFA program at ASU. He's a fiction writer. I heard him read last Wednesday and I wasn't disappointed. He's really good. He's also a hell of tour guide if you ever go to Sedona.

This formation is called Bell Rock. It's pretty impressive, but somehow in Sedona it get amalgamated into the spectacle that is the overall landscape. It wasn't until I started looking at the pictures that I realized how amazing some of the rocks there really are. There's a certain sublimity about it when you're there.


Brian took us up to a famous Catholic chapel that is built on the side of one of the mountains. For some reason, we failed to take a picture. However, this pricey bit of real estate sits at the bottom of that mountain. It has an observatory. We saw the owners outside when we drove by. They had a shitload of little, white dogs.


The rocks are red because of a high concentration of iron. The iron is oxidized, so basically, the famous red color is the result of the iron in the rocks rusting. There are other sediment layers of softer material, like sandstone, which accounts for the stripes.



One of the great things about Arizona is the proliferation of authentic Native American art. This gem was in a gift shop. Notice the busty cactus cowgirl sneaking into the picture on the right.

There was so much to see, but I don't feel like inundating the blog with a million picture of red rocks that don't do justice to the actual experience. I can't wait to go back to Sedona.

I dreamed my hall filled with wild swine...

...and my true love a-swimming in blood. An interesting line from a Jean Ritchie song called "Sweet William and Lady Margaret". The line reminded Eric of our exploration of an old pig farm in Northbridge at the end of October. It's at the end of Castle Hill Road and was very photogenic with the sun and sky while we were exploring and taking pictures. I meant to write this blog a long time ago but we have pretty pretty busy, with getting married and all. So I just wanted to share some of these pictures. Now that it's getting cold and all wintery, these pictures let us hold on to the brief period of time that we call autumn.

Some of the structures at Castle Hill reminded us of a Spanish Mission that we have only seen on tv. I've always wanted to see the sparrows of Capistrano, thanks to Looney Tunes.









Dilapidated barn with Eric and Sean in a field of ticks. Man I hate ticks. Actually we didn't get any ticks here. If we were only so lucky all the time.











It's strange that two strings of barbed wire rusted while the other two didn't.











I was really working the in focus foreground and out of focus background on this day. I like how one of the weed things almost makes up the collapsed part of the barn.
























Eric close-up with the Minolta. Lookin all gruff and lumberjacky.












Eric far away, allergies in the foreground.












You know you're in a good place when there is graffiti around. This says "blood and bong rips" and "beware of undead be careful". Thank you, Stoned Sir, I will be careful of the Undead.









At the time, Eric didn't know he was going to die by standing in that doorway. Luckily he's still with us today because I stopped him. The same can't be said for the many little piggies that surely didn't make it when this place was up and running. RIP Oink and Oink Oink Small. Friends and family may have eaten you at that porketta when I was a little girl, but you will always be my pets.






















View from inside (not the building that looked like it was going to fall over). Ahh fall foliage, you might soon be a thing of the past.










Oh my God! An apparition! Call TAPS!!!












A view into what looks like the watering area for the pigs. This was on the second floor.











The way the bacon went to get a drink.












View of the courtyard.












This place was pretty neat. I'm sad it's getting colder and we're losing time to get outside and poke around without feeling the pangs of windchill in our bones.