Category Archives: Arizona

Creating a Website

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I did it! My website featuring my photography greeting cards is live! Two friends of mine who were graphic designers I worked with during my PR days, pre kids, suggested I turn my nature photography into greeting cards. We live within a few miles of each other all these years later. They’ve been very supportive and full of ideas for me.

I jumped in and applied for a business license. I signed up to create a website. I ordered a few test cards of Red. I fiddled with different weights of card stock and finishes. I liked the look of glossy cards, but as a left-handed person, my writing smeared. I tried to order a card that I could write on and have my penmanship legible. Lots of little tweaks and more ordering cards.

Then I tinkered with the website itself. Lots of revising, editing and more editing. Deciding what photos I wanted to create cards with. I used Squarespace for the first time and the learning curve was doable but not foolproof.

When I finally published my website this week, I placed a test order. It didn’t work. I spent several hours with their AI chat bot. I followed all the directions, but nothing happened. Then AI said they’d send me to a real person! Woohoo! It took them less then two minutes to figure out my issue and now I’m in business.

The next step is to go in person to local gift stores with a few packets of card to see if they’ll accept my cards for sale. Yes, that makes me more than a little nervous…

When my son was in middle school and high school, he created and managed our swim team’s website. Back then, when he’d make a change he’d have to upload the whole site which would take six to eight hours. Now I can make a change to and it’s done instantly.

You’re more than welcome to check out my website HERE.

https://www.wickhamworkscards.com

Busy Bee

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I spotted this blossom bursting from the side of a cactus. It was so unusual and when I took my macro lens to take photos of it, a bumblebee was buzzing around.

Here’s another shot of the bee and you can see the cactus in the background. I used AI to identify the type of cactus. It said “Peruvian Apple Cactus.” Whether this is correct or not, I’m not sure. Do any of my blogger friends know for sure? It did say the blossom would last one night. It was blooming in the daytime, but wilted by the next day.

Our pergola created interesting shadows in the background on a stucco wall.

Here are a couple other photos I took while I had the macro lens engaged:

One final fun photo:

I hope you enjoyed my photos today and have a great week!

What are your plans this week?

In case you were wondering about Red…

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He’s still looking gnarly with his late summer molting, but his crest is coming back.

Red can be seen most days feeding his adopted Cowbird. If you missed the post about Cowbirds, I wrote about them HERE.

I haven’t seen Mrs. for a few weeks. Although there was a very young female Cardinal who stopped by. Maybe Red is in charge of all the children, legitimate or not?

Red’s current look makes me miss the days of old when Red was the most handsome bird in our desert.

Happy Friday! What are your plans for the weekend?

It’s a Jungle Out There!

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bobcat on the patio
This precious kitty was inches from our bedroom sliding glass door.

I was wondering what I was up to five years ago. I looked at my blog and this is what I found:

My husband called to me from the bedroom. “The bobcat is here!”

“Where?” I asked scanning my view past the fence in the backyard.

“Right here.”

Wow. The bobcat was lounging inches away from our sliding glass door. She looked hot with mouth open breathing. But instead of panting, she was scenting her next meal. My cat Olive used to do that when scouting for birds in our backyard — before we moved to the wilds of Arizona.

The bobcat nonchalantly grabbed a bird midair and took it behind a potted plant to munch. She climbed a tree and came down with another snack of a baby bird. Another baby bird was hopping on the patio oblivious to the danger. That life ended quickly.

The bobcat moved into the shade and fell asleep on our patio, sated with an afternoon meal.

Climbing into a tree to fetch a baby bird snack.
Arizona desert bobcat
Acting casual before catching a snack.
She looks like she owns the place!

I’m a little nervous to go outside after dark. You don’t know what’s out in those trees or under our patio furniture. It’s literally a jungle out there!

Thanks to my sister-in-law for the amazing videos.

Olive cat the barfly
Here’s Olive our wild cat who is hanging out on the bar.

Birds and More Birds

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This is a juvenile Harris’s Hawk who stopped by last week. The spotted chest and leggings are why I know it’s a juvie. Adults are solid brown in those places.

On the smaller side of birds are these two House Sparrows.

A Mourning Dove enjoyed the bird bath too and got fluffed up.

A quail couple feasted on the birdseed block.

A Roadrunner took over a bench in the backyard.

Another look at the Harris’s Hawk.

Which birds are your favorites out of this batch of photos?

Liquor Store Mexican Food

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My favorite Al Pastor tacos at Kim’s Liquor Store during our recent beach vacation. This was my “go to” meal.

One of the things I like during our beach vacation is Mexican food in California. It tastes so much better than what we have in Arizona. After living in California for more than 30 years, it’s what I’m used to. California Mexican food is Baja style while Arizona is Sonoran. They are different.

I wrote about our favorite liquor store Mexican food being torn down on an earlier trip HERE. In that post, I pointed out changes in what once was a quaint sleepy beach town. Nothing stays the same.

Since our favorite Mexican take out spot no longer exists, we had to find a new one. And we did last summer. It’s called Kim’s and it’s off the beaten path next to orchid farms between our summer rental and our favorite beach.

This is the outside of Kim’s. It has a wide variety of items, from frying pans to Mexican spices, cereal, milk, automotive needs, fresh produce and liquor. In the back is a clean little kitchen run by chef Beto and his wife. We became regulars last summer and did take out even more this summer. That’s because it was unusually hot in the 90s and I didn’t feel like cooking. Our son and DIL loved it too. We ate a few take out dinners watching the sunset at the beach.

The first day we ordered at Kim’s during this year’s trip, Beto waved from the kitchen, gave us a big smile and shook our hands welcoming us back.

This was the best Chile Relleno I’ve had in my life with Beto’s homemade pico salsa on top plus rice and beans.

The Chicken Enchiladas with tons of avocado were pretty, pretty good, too!

We told the owner of Kim’s that we’d be leaving town. Then the next day we came back in for our last meal. Beto and his wife waved good bye. They thanked us. Then the owner gave us a bottle of Pinot Grigio and thanked us for all our business. Like my daughter said, “It feels good to be a regular and appreciated.”

What favorite restaurant or coffee shop do you where everyone knows your name?

What types of ethnic foods do you like in your area?

Remembering 9/11 and Red Update

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This was one of many U.S. flags at our favorite beach. Many of the homes fly them daily.

Remembering 9/11:

I was getting my kids ready for school. Our son was in third grade and our daughter in kindergarten. They were in their Catholic school uniforms of khaki shorts and a white polo for our son and a forest green plaid skirt and polo for our daughter. I was glancing at the TV in our bedroom, waiting for them to brush their teeth when I saw the first plane crash into a tower. I had no idea what was going on. I thought it was an accident.

Then the second tower was hit. I didn’t know if I should keep my kids home from school that day. I was scared to drop them off. But in the end I decided to try to keep the day “normal” as possible for them and not interrupt their routines.

My husband worked for Merrill Lynch in Palm Springs at the time. We had a close friend, who was his former boss, who worked in an office next door to the Twin Towers when it was bombed in 1993. My husband knew many people that he talked with daily who worked on Wall Street and in the Twin Towers. September 11 was a scary day while he tried to account for people he knew.

We soon learned a parish member from our church was aboard the plane from Boston.

I see a divide in my life before and after 9/11. Our world would never be the same. My heart goes out to everyone who lost family members on that tragic day or from the results of health issues caused by the terrorist attack.

Red Update:

Before we left for our beach vacation, I noticed a few changes in Red’s appearance. I wrote about the black spot on his head HERE.

We got back from vacation and Red was in the back yard singing to me. I was thrilled of course, but you can imagine my surprise when I saw Red looking like this:

It’s called molting. Red is losing his feathers and growing new ones. He needs a high protein diet so I’m feeding him his favorite peanuts and sunflower mix.

Another strange thing I noticed was Red hanging out with a juvenile bird. I used my zoom lens and saw that it was NOT one of his fledglings. It was a Bronzed Cowbird! Why was he feeding a species of bird that was not his?

I read that Cowbirds are “parasitic breeders” and they don’t build their own nests, but lay eggs in other birds’ nests including Cardinals. A brood parasite is an animal or bird that tricks a host parent into incubating and raising its young. The Cowbird lays it’s eggs in a Cardinal’s nest because they are similar in size and color.

Red’s juvenile Cowbird. Not only is Red a delight to listen to and see, he’s a generous adoptive dad. I remember an odd looking baby cardinal. At first Red and Mrs. had two babies, then a third one appeared that didn’t match the others.

What are your memories of September 11, 2001?