Still summer

As usual, we've had a varied week. Varied and harried! With some relaxation mixed in. The garden seems to like the twice weekly feeding.

This is our corn after only one week. Twenty-four stalks in 4 buckets!

On Sunday, we made our usual church and shopping trip to Tucson. Multiple stops included a craft store for half-price paving stone kits (hopefully featured in next week's post after a group crafting day at the Careys!).

And we scored a cool(er) parking spot close to the building at Costco! Shade is such a coveted commodity in the summer in Tucson, especially since the monsoons are hit and miss so far.

Back at the ranch, our pleasures are simpler. This chubby six-inch Clark's Spiny lizard didn't want to give up his territory near the back steps off Mom's deck.

He eventually conceded that I was bigger.

One evening on a quiet walk, I noticed the beautiful sunlight grazing the grasses on the west side of the ranch.

And a sunset with a different variety of color.

Last night's activity is a bit harder to see. Sam read that Saturn, with its rings, would be in its opposition (closer to Earth), so he set up his 4 inch telescope.

He amazes me all the time. I don't know where he learns this stuff. It's an Orion reflecting telescope he found at a yard sale and it takes a lot of sighting on the North Star, then manually finding and tracking the planet you want to look at.

As I waited in my lawn chair in the balmy half moonlight, I tried a few photos with my phone. I use my phone for all my photos anymore, but this time I experimented more with the "pro" setting.

Can you see Sam lining up to find Saturn? We also saw Jupiter and its three moons. They were small, but awesome!

Then he focused on the moon. This is the lower magnification lens. Beautiful, eh?

With the higher magnification lens, you can see the mountain ranges and craters so clearly! Photos courtesy of my local astronomer, Sam himself. It was a fun, relaxing evening.

I hope you all have a few of those, too.