13 September 2012 - A Week with a Friend

I have been having a wonderful time!  My friend Amy is here for a week and I am busy wearing both of us out. I totally forgot that the altitude change can do flatlanders in, and here at my house we are on the one mile high mark. In retrospect, a quiet day or two so Amy could adjust to the altitude would have been a really good idea. Next time we'll pay more attention.

But we did the town and them some. Amy arrived Tuesday. We did have a fairly quiet day. She got the whole house and yard tour, plus the walk around the loop. Dinner and lots of catching up followed. 

Wednesday we went to Red Butte Gardens. My favorite botanic garden and I knew she would love it, too.  We had a gorgeous day with blue skies, and it wasn't too hot. 
 
The autumn clematis were in full bloom. Beautiful and sweet smelling. One of the many things I love about Red Butte are all the lovely places to stop for a sit. 

This was my fourth visit to the gardens since May. Every time I have come, it has been completely different, presto chango--new colors, new plants, everything!  
Once again, it was it was a like a brand new garden. The fragrance garden had been a riot of yellow, red and blue on my last visit,  now it had  a softer palette of pinks, oranges and dark reds. The big bold flowers of August had changed to much smaller and lacy varieties.  And best of all, it was full of hummingbirds. 

 You could tell that we are moving toward fall. Leaves were starting to show color, the grasses were in full feather, and flowers were putting out interesting seed heads.

 This tree had beautiful swirly seeds. I thought I'd remember what it was. Ha. I need to start writing stuff down. Amy keeps a little notebook and uses it. I should follow her example. 

The clematis also has lovely seed heads.

We had a great time at the gardens. Amy dug out a couple quarters for two handfuls of fish food and it was fun trying to get the food to the fish before the ducks gobbled it up. 

 Lots of art at the garden too. This bird looks as though it should have come from Alaska but it came from Africa. Either way it a nice addition.                     

 I also like to see the juxtaposition of colors and types of plants they put together. It is a good source of inspiration for my own garden. 

These orange fuschias mixed with the deep purple leaves are a hot combination,while the white morning glory with the delphinium is a calm, cooling combination, very refreshing on a hot day.


On Thursday we went to the Tracy Aviary.  The aviary has had two major updates since we left Salt Lake. Jack and I had it on our list of want-to-dos, so having Amy here was a great excuse to check it out. 

The aviary is housed in Liberty Park. We took a quick stop in the park to check out the Utah Folk Art Museum. It is very small but had some nice items. I loved the wall colors--a slightly mustardy yellow, deep sagey green, turquoise blue and terracotta. The museum people assured us that those were all original colors for the house. Hmm. I have to wonder about that.

The museum is housed in the old Chase farm house, which is quite lovely. Check out covered balcony! It was bigger than the biggest room in the house. On each side of the balcony, there are two smaller balconies with doors into rooms on either side of the large overhang. 

These doorways are quite small. Amy is showing the very low overhead clearance.  I would have to duck to go out this door. You can see the deep terracotta color in this room. And check out the turquoise/teal on this wall.



 

The aviary had some interesting exhibits, including a special feature on Argentinian birds that included this pretty little saffron finch and this really cute cuckoo. He reminds me of Woodstock with his little pointy head feathers. 



I was quite taken with the Southern Ground Hornbill. These birds have the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on a bird. According to the sign, the eyelashes keep their eyes protected from blowing dust. 

We probably spent the most time with the flamingos and the pelicans. The flamingos were amusing us with their territory disputes. All would be quiet then three of four would start squawking. The feathers on their backs would stand up, necks would stretch out, then two or three would lock bills. It was quite the show. My theory is that while all their heads were under water scrabbling in the muck, someone nibbled someone else's toes, and then the fight started. 

I was absolutely charmed by the pelicans. Jack and Amy were ready to drag me out of there...but I didn't want to leave. The pelicans reminded me of a group of synchronized swimmers. 

They swam in formation, then circled around and all went tail up at the same moment. It was so much fun to watch. Here they are all lined up.

Then all at the same time they went head down. 

Back to swimming--then again all diving together. I could have watched this for a long time.

Jack and Amy found a bench in the shade and indulged me for a while. Not long enough, but enough to satisfy me for the time being. Besides, I can always go back. They have a program -- show up at the right time, pay a couple dollars and you can feed the pelicans. That is definitely on my want to do list.