Chihuly at the Desert Botanical Garden

Debbie arranged a visit to the Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden for Lorene, myself, Giles and Debbie, and Yvonne and Diane (Aunt from Wyoming and Cousin from California). When Debbie mentioned the special exhibit I had no idea who Chihuly was but had never visited the Garden so I was up for anything.

Well, Chihuly is a glass artist from the Seattle area who is known for his use of vibrant color in his glass work and this exhibit was to combine that with an influence from nature.
Throughout the entire Botanical Garden there were glass sculptures depicting everything from Saffron Towers, Wildflowers and even the Moon! Some of my favorites were ones that paired vibrant purple spires with the dusty sage green background of some of the desert's natural plants. In addition to learning about Chihuly, I came home with a list of new plants that I want to add to the yard and garden....we're supposed to be going "Green" after all right!? One plant at the top of my list was the Texas Mountain Lauren. It's a small tree (maybe a large shrub) that has the soft sage green that I love and it's flowers are a beautiful blue/purple not too different from Wisteria but what took it over the top was the smell of the flowers...grape bubble gum, delicious!
So after our long day in the Arizona sunshine we headed back toward home to meet Ryan and the kids at one of our favorite resturants; Lis Doon Varna. It's authentic Irish food in a building designed to incorporate all the parts of a real Irish village from the farmhouses, to the churches, and of course the pubs! It's one of my absolute favorite places and there aren't many things that beat a day in the Arizona sunshine followed by an ice cold pint of Guiness and a plate full of Bangers and Mash. After dinner we came back to our house where Bailey had a chance to get to know Dianne and Yvonne better, discovering that she and Dianne had quite a bit in common. It was a truly wonderful day of new experiences and old friends.