Beauty is a Prickly Thing

On safari in the desert.  Trekking through the desert?  Walkabout in the desert.  How about meandering through the Desert  Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona yesterday to take a gander at all of the cacti varieties?  That sounds less adventurous, but alas, more like the truth.  Can I proclaim to the world that I have fallen in love with a Saguaro?  He’s tall, handsome, and……prickly.  Kind of hard to get close to.  These are awesome beasts of the desert landscape and provide quite a service to the resident birds and animals who inhabit this dry, dry land.  I have several pictures of the king of cacti that I plan to do something with.

Below is a version of a Prickly Pear Cactus, taken yesterday, artified today.  Purple is a hot color in my world – I especially like it mixed with lime green or a very soft blue-green.  The double doors to our home are purple, two walls inside our home are purple, and I just scored on a muted grayish purple scarf the other day, which I’ve worn three times hence.  I don’t ever tire of a color, really, but it must change with the time and grow along with me. 

Being surrounded by area cacti, they’ve become common subjects for me to photograph and work with.  I’ve learned to never touch them, even though some of them look so soft and fuzzy!  Classic bait and switch maneuver and I refuse to fall victim.  I fell backwards on a very large prickly pear cactus some ten years ago; thank goodness the human brain assimilates such information and categorizes it into a “DANGER, Will Rogers” compartment.  Yowza.  That took months and months to recover from and may it never happen again!  

Here’s a new take on the Prickly Pear Cactus, and it’s titled Beauty is a Prickly Thing.  Soon to be listed on Etsy.

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