Left in Tucson

As of August 1, the Summer 2016 Fig Crop is in jeopardy.  Up until last week, I had been seeing these huge beetles flying around our Tucson backyard.  However, for some reason I was not recognizing as beetles but as our amusing carpenter beetles just looking for a home for their next brood.  I must have been in denial or something.  Several days ago, as I was checking for newly ripened figs, I discovered that Figaro was being infested by the notorious and feared Tucson and Sonoran Desert gardener's nemesis, the FIG BEETLE   .  These guys are huge compared to my old New Jersey Japanese beetles. These guys fly very slowly and bump into all sorts of things and structures.  While they may be very bad fliers, they are extremely efficient at gobbling up figs and leaving nothing but a limp, brown fig skin hanging from its stem.  They will crowd onto one fig to the point where you can not longer see the fig, just a mass of these green-black iridescent b...

A couple of months ago I noticed a volunteer plant growing in my backyard garden here in Tucson.  I took a few photos of it clearly showing the leaves and the flower; shared it with my Master Gardener friends and a local landscaper but no one seemed to recognize it.  Finally, Jim, in his persistence found it online.  It turns out some bird or a gust of wind brought an Arizona native wildflower, an  Indian Mallow Plant  to our garden.  I must remember to save the seeds from this one.

The Best Fig Recipes from Bayou Woman Here we are heading into prime fig season  in Tucson AZ.  A great time to re-introduce you to some of the best Fig recipes I have found.  Enjoy!

Shall We Dance, Tucson's best dance studio.  Following are video clips of this season's Cactus Classic performances.

Wow! New York! Skyscrapers and everthin'! What is your vision of New York City?  From the deepest depths to the highest of heights.

Phylicia The Elephant Day 1 Hello, my name is Phylicia. Today, is my 10th birthday and my Dad just gave me this diary as a present. He said that I should write something in it every day. Anything that I am thinking about or anything that I discover about the world around me. He also told me it would help me learn how to write better. Gee, thanks Dad! Why does he always have to turn everything into a school lesson? I will start by writing about who I am, how I came to be 10 years old, and living in this place. I was born 10 years ago to my Mom and Dad in a wildlife preserve in India in the state of Kerala, the most literate state in India, according to an International survey Dad just showed me. Dad also explained to me that he read in National Geographic magazine that our sanctuary is known as one of the "ten paradises of the world." We are Indian Elephants, belonging to the Asian Elephant family. We are not the same as African elephants. We are not as tall as African elepha...