The article was in the December/January 2004 issue of Birds & Blooms magazine, found in the cabin were we staying in over Christmas break. It was about a Christmas cactus that had been in a Delaware woman’s family since her great-aunt had purchased it in 1888. At the time it was some 115+ years old, and if it is still alive, it would be roughly 124 years old! But, more about that in a minute.

The spur-of-the-moment purchase was made last fall (2011). My son saw a bedraggled twig of a Christmas cactus in a grocery store, and immediately wanted to rescue it. I had my doubts, but said, “Fine.” We brought it home.

This is what waited us when we returned from our Christmas break trip:

The lackluster plant turned into a blooming beauty.

I immediately thought of my paternal grandmother. In her later years she took great enjoyment from an assortment of houseplants, and one of her pride and joys was a huge Christmas cactus that stood on a plant stand in her living room. Every Christmas it would transform into a a fountain of red-fushia flowers.

I so wish I had a photograph of the plant I remember. I also wonder what happened to it after she passed away. It turns out that Christmas cacti often live for a century of more, so it could potentially be still alive if someone adopted it. In fact, I found a photograph on Flickr of another Christmas cactus with a history from 1893. It is now at the Washington State Capitol Conservatory.

I’m telling this story to my son in the hopes that he continues to cherish this Christmas cactus. I’d like to think that some future great-grandson or great-granddaughter will remember us by gazing a plant gaily decorated with bright red blooms.

In lieu of a family newsletter/website/cards this year, we’re doing a single blog post to summarize our year in photographs. Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to leave comments

Winter 2011

Winter in Phoenix is very brief. Does this look like January to you?

In February, Steve’s 66 Mustang was photographed for an upcoming feature in Modified Mustangs and Fords.

Steve and his sister Michelle also visited their dad in El Dorado Hills, CA.

Spring 2011

In March, Steve went to Hawaii.

Nathan and Roberta had fun at home.

So did Jeff.

Nathan tried out bird photography.

The hummingbirds didn’t seem to mind.

Roberta’s cousin Karen, Nathan and Roberta visited the Tucson Botanical Garden, where there was a butterfly exhibit.

The butterflies liked Karen’s hat.

In April we went to the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York to visit Roberta’s parents and sister.

We stayed on Seneca Lake.

When we got back, Steve and Nathan built the cats a “condo.”

Fred the cat seems to enjoy it.

Summer 2011

In the summer we flew to Denver to visit Steve’s family.

We had fun feeding the lorikeets at the zoo.

Can you tell those are the Rocky Mountains behind Steve and Michelle?

We also visited Fort Collins. Here’s Steve with his niece, Quinn…

… and his sister, Nicole.

In the summer we had a wild dust storm that left everything coated with beige dust.

Here’s a squash blossom that opened the morning after the storm:

In August, Steve, Roberta and Nathan enjoyed a day at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden with Jessica, a student intern from France who was working with Steve.

Fall 2011

Nathan was quite proud of his garden this year, particularly the datura plant.

In October, we visited the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix again, this time to see the David Roger’s Big Bugs sculpture exhibit.

Talk about web sites…

Nathan went to the Wildlife World Zoo with his school in November.

For Thanksgiving, we went to Sierra Vista to be with my cousin Karen and her family, Bill and David, as well as some of David’s friends.

Check out this giant cottonwood tree we saw at the San Pedro park. That’s Nathan and Steve standing under it.

Steve had a big year. He received a national award in his field, plus he attended the graduation of his doctorate student.

Over the holidays, we visited Roberta’s sister and her family in Hershey, PA and then Roberta’s parents again. She says, “It was beyond fabulous to see them twice in one year!”

We had a white Christmas.

It was great to have opportunities to visit with everyone.

Hope you all have a healthy and happy 2012!

My son counted 17 blossoms. This is one plant!

It is hard to capture the visual impact of 17 large white flowers in one place.

Because the flowers open at night, I had to take these photographs in the early morning.  We had never noticed before, but the flowers give off a lovely perfume. It was strong with this many flowers at once.

You know me, I had to go macro.

The bees like them, too.

This post is dedicated to Deb S. who supplied the seed.

I was trying to take some pictures to create a new header for one of my blogs. This is an outtake.

Red roses…

(maybe a bit too red for my camera to capture…)

and

Peruvian lilies, also known as alstroemeria.

Seemed appropriate for my pink theme, don’t you think?

We started seeing a lot more curved-bill thrashers in our yard when we started a compost heap. They seem to like the insect larvae, although this one is going after some white millet.

Do any of you more experienced photographers know why I got wavy lines in the background? (Not too happy about the prominent irrigation hose either, but I’m not going to Photoshop it out).

The first things we spotted were huge bins filled with the “raw” gourds.

You would not believe all the sizes and shapes the gourds come in. One thing they did have in common was that they were plain, and looked dirty.

From those humble beginnings, artists created the most incredible artwork.

My photos don’t do these justice. It was dark in the building and we had to stay behind ropes.

I am happy to say our family artist was inspired and we brought back some “raw” gourds, books about gourds and gourd seeds. He’s already processing the gourds and decorating them.

Too fun!

I have no time to put photos in the Flickr group.

My hard drive is full of odd photos that need to be deleted.

Photography is less fun and more of a chore.

Sorry, it has been great fun meeting you all, but I have to stop with the project.

Too much else depends on a well-focused mom that uses those extra minutes in the day to straighten, write grocery lists, and keep the family running smoothly. I can’t be that mom and do this project.

Thanks,

Roberta