Mexican honeysuckle?

I’ve been calling this climbing plant with orange, bell-shaped flowers “Mexican honeysuckle.”  Here’s a niceo ne climbing up the post on our front porch. But I just googled it and find that I may be wrong. Anyone have any ideas?

Quilt back is done!!

The current size is 121” x 109” -– It will get trimmed after it gets' quilted, which is the next step!  The top and the back are done.  Now I’ll go back to the quilt shop and get a big ol’ roll of batting and a yard of fabric for the binding!

Below is a close-up of the four fabrics I used for the backing.  The photo above does not give a true “read” of the fabrics.  They are really quite stunning – especially the one on the left, which is O’s favorite.  It’s a gorgeous turquoise and cobalt batik in a sort of coral reef pattern. It’s Ken’s fave, too. It did not work with the fabrics used on the front, so I wanted to make sure I used a whole lot of it on the back.  And I did!  Over 7 yards of it!

Soon, the evening monsoon

Tonight, two seconds before it starts raining, the evening monsoon sweeping in on sunset light, the sweet smell travelling ahead of the big raindrops. (Photo taken in our backyard, looking west, carport in lower right, house on lower left.)

What’s blooming today?

Purple blooms. White blooms. Up against the fence that surrounds our pool/backyard. Don’t know the names of these plants.  But I can tell you the plant to the far right is Texas Sage. And the sweet, feathery tree is the distance is a mesquite tree.

Cereus redux, seriously

Night-blooming cereus, redux, blooming in the daylight! Taken this morning in our backyard.  This bloom is about 8 to 10 inches across.  It’s cool that we are getting a few more blooms on this cactus, as the bloom season has long since past!

Broken Top

Our humble mountain view.  Photo taken from our carport – one of the few places we have a legit “mountain view”! This view is looking north, to the tallest peak in the Santa Catalinas called Broken Top. Especially gorgeous first thing in the morning and at sunset. Photo taken at 9am.

Monsoon Sky

Last night’s threatening sky, Photo taken from our backyard, looking south/southeast, out over our roof and the neighbor’s roof.  It never did actually rain.

Finished quilt top!!

Quilt top, without border

Now, it’s back to the quilt shop for border fabric – that baby is going to take almost 5 yards of fabric for the borders – PHEW!!

Camping at Spencer Canyon in the Catalina Mountains

My first car camping trip ever!

My sweet sweetie, Ken and his sweet sister Leslie, in our camp kitchen.

On the way to Spencer Canyon, elevation 8000’, less than an hour northeast of Tucson. Windy Point, Catalina Highway on the way to Spencer Canyon in the Coronado National Forest less than an hour northeast of Tucson. You can see Tucson off in the haze in the distance.

Rock spire, or "hoodoo" at Windy Point along the Catalina Highway. Elevation: 7000':

You can see Tucson off in the haze in the distance:

 

Looking down on the 108 degree haze of Tucson from Windy Point in the Coronado National Forest, on the road to our campsite (Catalina Highway). Elevation: 7000'. Temperature: 82 degrees. Tucson elevation 2500’. 

Looking down on the city lights of Tucson from Windy Point in the Coronado National Forest, on the road to our campsite (Catalina Highway). Those lights in the lower left corner of the photo are headlights of 3 cars coming up the mountain. These nighttime photos were taken from roughly the same position as daytime photos above.

Stunning to look down on Tucson from 7000’!