A “mixed” 3.5 level pickleball round robin was scheduled for Tuesday morning, but rain all last night resulted in the matches being canceled. However, a number of us joined higher level pickleballers and formed a substitute round robin. The group was made up of lower level 3.5s (called the 3.5 Creek level here at Palm Creek), the higher 3.5s (called the 3.5 Palm level), and a number of level 4.0s. The action was fast and furious, and perhaps the most fun I’ve had playing pickleball.

For the life of me, I can’t remember what happened on Wednesday (this is being written almost a week later). There were no pickleball games, no photography, no big chores, etc. Maybe Wednesday didn’t happen!

On Thursday, Dan and I traveled to Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, Arizona. With the addition of the Wallace Desert Garden, Boyce Thompson Arboretum now holds collections of desert plants from the United States, Mexico, Australia, Madagascar, India, China, Japan, Israel, South America, the Middle East, Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Arabian Peninsula—all told 3,900 taxa and 19,000 plants within 135 acres of gardens. (Note: Deserts make up about 25 percent of the earth’s surface.) Situated on 343 acres of scenic upland Sonoran Desert with nearly five miles of trails, The arboretum is Arizona’s oldest and largest botanical garden and one of Arizona’s top tourism sites.

“Armed” with camera gear, we began hunting birds and butterflies in earnest. No new birds were “captured”, but several birds presented themselves for photographs.

A number of other interesting subjects were photographed.

As the day’s temperature warmed, the butterfly action improved.

Three “LIFERS” were photographed: Gray Buckeye, Mexican Yellow, and Realkirt’s Blue.