Road Trip - Day Three

The day before I arrived here in Phoenix my twin brother was preparing one of the upstairs guest rooms for my stay. He was trundling a box of books down the stairs when he had a severe asthma attack and blacked out a fell down the stairs. It has been three days and the only time he has been able to leave his bed is when I through a fit yesterday and told him he was going to get into the car and go to urgent care. They are treating him for the asthma but also a lung infection. So loaded up on antibiotics he will continue to be bed ridden the rest of my stay. Today I planted four hanging baskets of annuals, removed some flowering plants in his desert landscape that triggered his allergies, planted some lavenders and some gorgeous perennials called kangaroo paws and did some light pruning. This is the first physical labor that I have done since my surgery and I feel wonderful.

It was a morning well spent before the temperature reached 98

The pond got a bit of a facelift with some new plantings of lavender and kangaroo paws 

Kangaroo paws? Not in Oregon 

The bougainvillea is in full bloom 

I removed several large blooming Arizona yellow bells because my brother is very allergic to them.

I was quite surprised to find a nice cactus that I planted several years ago.

My twin brother is a collector, one is nice but more is better

 Front entry

 Rooms are filled with art

And books and more books

    

After working hard in the yard my father and I with long time family friend Don drove to Cave Creek for a delicous lunch at our favorite Mexican Restaraunt.

Road Trip- Day Two

Today we drove to Jerome, an ancient copper mining town that survives today on the tourist trade. It is also home to the "Haunted Hamburger ".

The atmosphere of the restaurant was as much fun as the food was great

Direction was simple and direct

After lunch we walked around town visiting a few of the many galleries and shops. We happened across this wishing well. Click on the photo you will be able to see the many coins around the toilet err wishing well.

The Arizona scenery was beautiful as well as the 95 degrees weather

Arizona wildlife 

Road Trip - Day One

My father who has been staying with my twin brother at his Arizona home decided he would like to return home to Portland.......great......fantastic, except he bought a car. So flying home is out of the picture.

This old gardener planted his feet on the famous PDX airport carpet.

Actually this trip came at a good time as the previous week I underwent surgery number four so a little recuperating in the Arizona sun will speed the process. I will stay a few days then my father and I will test drive that new car back to rainy Portland.