I'm in Tucson!.....

Greetings from Tucson!  Sunshine, hot temps, lots of cactus and brown :-)  

 I had to include a couple of cloud shots from the plane.

The view from my sister's front window of the Catalina Foothills mountains

 My sister has a very nice backyard for birds.  A female Cardinal  Even though the Cardinal is the state bird back home in Indiana, the ones out here are longer and leaner and very red.

 We decided the difference is a longer tail.

 I always love seeing the bunnies :-)

 Gila Woodpecker male

 Sharing with a House Finch

 The male has a small red spot on the top of its head.

 House Finch

 Singing his heart out

Some of the House Finches here look either yellow or orange.

 Mourning Dove

 A different dove....the White-winged Dove

 You can compare it to the Mourning dove.......white along the wing, no spots, and a white tail when seen underneath, and a hash mark on the cheek.

 Phainopepla  male

I think these are beautiful birds and they like to sit high in the tree looking out over everything.

 Gambel's Quail female strutting across the yard

 A male with two females

The male Gambel's Quail.  These guys scurry around so fast, I have trouble keeping up with them, but I think they are cute birds.

Spring is springing!......

Spring is busting out all over!

 Crocus

 Daffodils

 The female Mallard with the leg band that shows up at my house every spring arrived with FOUR males this year!  Here are the three extras sunning themselves on the dam.

 "We understood this place had good food......and all we get is stale cereal!"

 Forsythias are blooming

 The first spring "weed".....Henbit shows up in the yard.

 I'm surprised this Quince bush has any flowers.  It tried to bloom two times when it was too early and the flower buds got frozen.  But it still managed to come up with some flowers at the right time.

 Robins always mean spring!

"Do you think she can see me here?  I'm going to check out that new feeder she hung up."

"The-cat-that-thinks-it-belongs-to-me"....a.k.a. Shadow....... holding down a sunny spot on the railing near the bird food.  I let Shadow sleep in the garage this winter when it was cold and fed him, so I think he is mine whether I want him or not.

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We are heading to Tucson tomorrow afternoon!

Hopefully I will get lots of good photos of birds and flowers and whatever......but I hope no more photos of these two that I almost stepped on one year!

Odds and ends.....

I went back through my more recent files to see if there was anything I haven't posted.  I just haven't been taking any photos recently!  These were from Feb. 16, but I didn't post any of them at the time.

 Bluebird female

 Bluebird male found a piece of suet mix I made.

 Cardinal male

 Downy coming up under the suet cage.  Interesting toes.

 Downy on the stick

 House Finch male....I haven't seen very many of them so far this year.

 Mockingbird....a.k.a. Mr. Mean

 Red-bellied Woodpecker female

I really need to get out somewhere and take some photos!  

Everchanging River quilt exhibit.....

We went to a quilt show in Bloomington, Indiana yesterday.  I haven't had any bird photos to post lately, so I thought I would post one of the exhibits from the quilt show.

This exhibit was the result of a challenge that was taken up by three groups of quilters to make a continuous river.  They had certain guild-lines to follow as to size of each piece and the size that the river would be when it entered their piece and exited it so they would all fit together when hung.  They were all given the same fabric for the river part.  I thought they came up with something pretty amazing.  I'm sorry the photos aren't better.

I think that I photographed most of it, but some are closer than others.  The beginning of the river.  It was interesting to read what each quilter wrote about their part of the river.

Various techniques and embellishments were used.

I thought the second one here with the feet dangling in the river was a neat idea.

Of course, I like the ones with animals and birds.

I liked this group of the frog, the Mallard, and the houseboats on the River Wye near Tintern Abbey.

I'm amazed at how well they did matching up each part of the river to the next.  Love this crane.

A very interesting interpretation near the end of the "Spirit of the River".

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I may post more of the other quilts in my quilt blog when I have time.  I met up briefly with Rose (Pics & Pieces and Time Stand Still blogs) and her husband Roger while there!  Always nice to join another blogger with similar interests!
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For anyone who has been hearing about the tornadoes in this area, we are OK here so far.  One went south of Evansville on Wednesday and today one went north of the city, not very far from us.  The worst damage has been in Kentucky, Illinois, Ohio, I think.  Keep this area in your prayers right now that there won't be any more tornadoes coming through!