Gifts of winter

Not that winter is my favorite season, mind you. Oh, no -- I'm still in the process of shaking down a new heating system that's challenged when the early early morning temps drop down to the mid and lower 20s, as is predicted for Sunday and beyond.

Nonetheless, winter brings its surprises. such as this full grown critter which dropped onto the window sill from one of the hanging basket plants in my office the other day. I don't know his family, genus, whatever, but he stood still for a rather neat portrait and then disappeared, never to be seen again.

Today, the remains of those big Pacific Coast storms started rolling in, wetting everything from ivy leaves to stones with a high gloss.

Even a pine needle on cement created its own particular glow.

And, as every rockhound knows, the secret to beautiful stones is a surface coating of water. These rocks are all part of my big retaining wall. They're never quite as beautiful as when the rain heightens their color.

BTW, I'm dedicating the pictures of these stones to k, who has to travel miles and miles to gather stones for her remarkable southern Florida garden.

It's Spring...Another Neighborhood Walk!

And who better to welcome everyone along for the walk than the frog king! Frogs/toads are standard yard ornaments, along with snails, little heads, cupids, butterflies, even dinosaurs and scorpions. Among the missing: cats, dogs and horses. Don't understand why.

This property recently changed hands; the new owners made sure that these pleasant steps and little rock wall are now visible for passers-by.

On a more untouched street, I found this patch revealed when someone removed a rather large stone. Somebody's home stands naked! Ants? Beetles?

The first iris of the season, poking through a chain link fence. Guess you'd call this "ordinary cultivated iris"; whatever the name, it is well adapted to our climate and spotty rainfall. I've seen happy clumps of iris blooming on properties where the house must have burned down 50 or so years ago. Our native iris grow in seasonal streambeds and lakes at higher elevations.

Hard to photograph: the delicate little lavender mustard flowers that are among the earliest plants to blossom. In a big patch, the scent is almost too heady to bear.

Another spring herald -- one of several locally growing fleabanes, this plant with more of a lavender tinge than most.

Yet another bright harbringer of spring, the ubiquitous dandelion.

It wasn't all Nature on my walk. Here's a somewhat strange version of the "my kid is superior/above average at XYZ school" bumper sticker that almost every parent's car bears in this town (and I suppose most towns these days of self-esteem at all costs.)

Finally... I really do admire this bike for its excellent collection of stickers!

Stone Fences Make...

...good neighbor-hoods.

My late husband and I moved to the Prescott area in the early 80s. A Chicago native, my husband was smitten by the mountains, the scenery -- and, of course, the ROCKS!

You have to understand that the rocks you find in the Chicago region are small, few and far between, left behind when the Ice Age glaciers receded. There are a couple of limestone outcroppings in the city, rare and important enough as landmarks to actually bear names, such as Stony Island. By far the exception for a city that is sitting on a couple hundred feet of clay.

So, when LH arrived in AZ, he couldn't resist picking up pretty rocks, interesting rocks, or everyday rocks each time we went on an excursion. I had lived in the state as a youngster in the 30s and again in the 40s, so I was a little more picky. Needless to say, backpacks, the car floor and the yard were quickly weighted down by collections. Rocks of all sorts.


And whenever we had a guest from Illinois, it was rocks, rocks & more rocks -- until it was time to pack for the airplane, when reality set in. We, of course, were saddled with a bunch more rocks.

But all by way of introduction.


Because it's obvious that earlier Prescott people were also into rocks, for a more practical reason -- damn fine building material, right at hand. When you walk or drive around the town and older summer resort areas, such as Mountain Club or Walker, keep your eyes open for the wonderful stone cottages, outbuildings and fences.

For a great display of stone fences of various stripes and materials, I recommend a walk along Park Avenue. Because this street was carved into a hilly area full of granites, most houses starting at Gurley Street, heading south, feature a rock fence or retaining wall. Styles vary and in some cases, shaped blocks of granite are used. (As for the granite, I presume it's of local origin, though I've never been able to locate a one-time granite quarry on any of the area USGS topo quads.)


A problem: not all of those "retaining walls" that bound a front yard a few feet above the sidewalk were built as such. So I learned one day from an elderly mason. He was repairing one of those stone walls, which had suffered a breach after the water load in the soil uphill proved too heavy.

He researched old records and pictures, which showed that, when built, many of the walls were actually fences (to keep the local kids out -- Lincoln School is nearby.) The yards behind some of the fences sloped up to the houses. It was only later that people decided that level -- or less sloped yards were the Thing to Do (and easier to mow.)

Of course, some of the walls front yards that are high -- because the site is higher than street level. These are likely to incorporate boulders which were already there.

But take a look for yourself. The variety is to great to include here.