I read from the book I’m in Charge of Celebrations, but I could have read from many others. If you live in Tucson or in the desert nearby then Byrd Baylor’s novel Yes is Better Than No is required reading. I’ve included a photo of our tattered copy from the late 1970s. It was republished in 1990 and illustrated by Leonard Chana, which makes it a wonderful copy to have as well.
I had a few chances to chat with Byrd over the years and every time was special. In the early 1990s I wrote a radio episode about Fremont wolfberry plants blooming on A Mountain near downtown Tucson. Byrd told me when she heard it she immediately drove to A Mountain to find them. I swooned.
Anyway, I guess that’s all. Byrd Baylor loved the desert and lived a long life. How lucky for us we had her. Below is a link to a nice piece by Tony Davis in the Tucson newspaper that may be of interest.
On cloudy mornings Petey likes to trot across the grassland. Or is that the lala land? Cloudy monsoon mornings are wonderful and there is...
Petey discusses the predicted rainy weather in song.
Over the years I’ve found populations of desert honeysuckle with different colored flowers, so I’ve grown plants with red brick colored flowers, with orange...