Leap Day 2024

Ferguson Looking for a Valentine — *Ferguson was looking for a date for Valentine’s Day…*

Robert Indiana sculpture at Scottsdale Center for the Arts

Whew, it’s a good thing there is an extra day this month or I would not have made a February post. Those 29 days have just slipped away into oblivion. But we had a little fun this month where Ferguson decided to become a fundraiser for a local cat rescue group (chelescatcare.org). He had some headshots made of him looking his professional best and offered to mail one to anyone who would give at least $5 to Chele’s nonprofit. We had a decent response and matched some of that money so he is encouraged to try further philanthropic endeavors. If you want a photo, let us know…(continental US only)…

Professional Shot

The Taste of Money. — *He loves the taste of money but all for good…*

Head Shots of Me! — *Checking out the goods…*

We’ll see how his career unfolds. Of course, his siblings helped out some, too, Bouche and Torti.

We were happy to see our friendly Greater Roadrunner drop by after a 2 month absence but, of course, it did not wait for me to go get my camera. Hope to see a little more of him/her from time to time.

Birding in our yard has been slooooooow but here are a few shots from the last few days.

Abert's Towhee on Gloomy Day — *Abert’s Towhee*

He's Judging Me — *Curve-billed Thrasher as Angry Bird*

Curve-billed Thrasher — *Peanut for a Thrasher*

Verdin in Pine — *Verdin in Late Afternoon Sun*

Anna's Hummingbird — *Anna’s Hummingbird*

Rosy-faced Lovebird on Agave Stalk — *Rosy-faced Lovebird…time to stock up on seed bells again*

So that just about wraps up this short month that was a little longer. Hope it was a good one for you. And here is a shot that I took back in 2016…so this is its third time around…

Cinco

Okay, you get the idea.

Five years of blogging. I started blogging on February 13, 2009. I’ve posted 521 times with thousands of photos.

Happy Blogiversary, Glenrosa Journeys!

Gimme five! Thank you for reading my blog. I’ve seen so many bloggers come and go but I’ve never felt like quitting yet. I love taking photos and putting them up here, hoping someone may like them, and I love reading your blogs, too, and getting to know you better!

In appreciation, I’m having a little giveaway. I’ve done this in past years (2012, 2011, 2010) although I skipped last year. Please leave a comment if you would like a chance to win. You don’t have to be a regular reader at all.

To commemorate Valentine’s Day, as well as my renewed interest in journaling this year, you can win this journal (as well as a couple of my postcards):

Of course, I ordered one for myself, too, can’t have too many journals. The deadline to enter will be February 22 at 12:01 am. My cats will draw the winner later that day.

Enter to win! Tell your friends! And…

Hearts and Flowers

Flowers are beautiful hieroglyphics of nature, with which she indicates how much she loves us. ~ Wolfgang von Goethe

♥Happy Valentine’s Day!♥

3 Years and Counting

Amidst Valentine’s Day and Arizona Centennial Day, another minor exciting (to me) event occurred…the third anniversary of my blog, my blogiversary! The actual date was February 13th. My last post, The Valentine State, was also my 350th post. So…to keep my tradition going, I am having a little giveaway as I did for my first and second blogiversaries to let you know I appreciate you.

Above is the official first day of issue stamp celebrating Arizona’s centennial, the newest Forever stamp. That’s Arizona’s State Bird, the cactus wren, perched there. This commemorative piece can be yours! And, since that doesn’t seem like much of a giveaway, I’ll also enclose a little surprise, something else Arizona-y. And…I’ll enclose a print of one of my recent photos, either this one or this one, whichever looks better printed. Maybe not the most thrilling giveaway but, hey, it’s free!

Everyone in the continental U.S. is eligible by leaving a comment. As in the past (year one and year two), one of my cats will choose the winner. It’s really Abbey’s turn but the boy cats always horn in when she’s trying to do something constructive. The winner will be chosen on February 26th so get those comments in and tell all your friends!

See what my darling husband, Tony, gave me for Valentine’s Day? This was our first year married, although our 18th Valentine’s Day together. We had a long courtship.

Here is Paul McCartney’s original song, My Valentine, which you may have seen him perform on the Grammys last week.

“Um, where’s my valentine?” asks Google. “Shouldn’t that say, For My Google?”

Incidentally, the Arizona Forever stamp is available for purchase everywhere in the U.S. now. You should get some 🙂

The stamp was done by Arizona artist, Ed Mell, and depicts Cathedral Rock in Sedona. Here’s another view of Cathedral Rock from last summer.

Thank you for reading my blog!

The Valentine State

Arizona has been referred to as the Valentine State because it was admitted to the union on February 14th. Today is not just any Valentine’s Day in Arizona, it is Arizona’s Centennial, 1912-2012! This is a 1912 map of Arizona I superimposed on a large saguaro in Papago Park, which is probably way over 100 years old.

Arizona was the last of the contiguous 48 states to be admitted to the union in 1912. It was another 47 years later that Alaska and Hawaii gained statehood.

Since I couldn’t think of anything fitting to honor Arizona’s 100th birthday, here are a few more photos (that I have taken the last 3 years) of cacti, which seem to be synonymous with Arizona.

And, as an aside…here is Svengali’s valentine to everyone. I was trying to take a photo of a red boa in my front yard Sunday, a very windy day. All of a sudden Svengali came snooping around to see what was up. I thought that might make a cute valentine if he did something interesting. Little did I know that he would think I was preparing him a spot to, um, well, relieve himself. Fortunately, I grabbed the boa before he was able to implement his plan.