I enjoy hearing friends talk about the plants that they’ve seen on walks or hikes and when we share our enthusiasm the jabbering is so sweet. The flowers on manzanitas look like small porcelain bells. These are on pointleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos pungens) and the photo was taken when we went out to gather firewood in the foothills of the Chiricahua Mountains. The small holes you see on the flowers are made by a few species of bees and wasps…nectar thieves. It’s fascinating and I intend to learn more about them. Stay tuned. 
The photo of the heart shaped prickly pear pad (stem!) was taken on a hike when Ms. Mesquitey had me photographing every heart shape pad we came across. Who knew there were so many heart shaped cactus pads out there in the hills to be photographed? 
You know you haven’t been hiking or botanizing out in the desert or grassland enough when you look to the roadsides for interesting plants,...
We love finding grinding holes in rocks when out traipsing in the wild. One of our favorite destinations when we lived in Tucson was...
It was a recent morning of watching mud daubers come and go through our barn door that reminded me of the small wonderful things...