It's difficult to choose pictures for this entry as there was so much to photograph at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix yesterday morning.
We were drawn to the location for the glass art that was integrated into the desert plants at the gardens as well as the butterflies at the pavilion.
Dale Chihuly's: The Nature of Glass was displayed throughout the gardens vibrantly and was a spectacular sight. We could see how the shapes and flow of his work reflected nature in the context of the desert landscape which was highlighted by the light passing through the coloured glass.
Upon arrival, we spoke to a volunteer who told us that the piece, The Sun took 5 men, 6 days to put together. All the pieces are handblown and were individually wrapped and shipped; each one having its own crate. We asked if anything broke along the way or during installation, but apparently not... This is all quite amazing as there are hundreds if not thousands of pieces of glass set in his work throughout the park. Wow! We can't imagine how much time, care and sweat went into these works of art.
We went early in the morning as the afternoons have been quite hot this week. Also, it is great to see the butterflies in the morning as that is when they do their 'puddling' as they seek food to eat. They stay put longer for photo opportunities at this time as they are too distracted sucking nectar...however, you do have to walk carefully so as to not step on them on the ground. This pavilion was small yet full of gorgeous flowers and a pond of fish. Josh observed a butterfly fall into the pond and was eaten up by one of the orange fish! Other than that, they delightfully flitted along from flower to flower. Favorites were the zebra longwing, julia and several swallowtails.
As we walked around the park, we noticed many lizards scurrying rapidly across paths and in between plants and rocks. We believe we saw mainly the Sonoran Spotted Whiptail and perhaps the Giant Spotted Whiptail whizzing by... It has been an interesting change since we've been here as at the beginning the kids really had to search for the lizards, now you can practically see them from your car at the side of the road. They are everywhere! We almost wondered if they were somewhat tame at the park as they didn't exhibit as much fear as other lizards we had seen- they stopped longer, went on the roadway and even came to check out flower petals Josh threw towards them as if to see if it was anything tasty to eat and then moved on...Anyways, this was a highlight for the boys as was the cool gift shop at the end. I really enjoyed spending time with the boys at this beautiful location and will not soon forget the time we spent together.
