MY NEXT HOBBY

I'm pretty sure that my next hobby is on the near horizon. After all, much as I love to spend every waking hour outdoors, I can't go on for much longer tending this huge and ever expanding garden. Just yesterday, when we visited Zilker gardens, David was contemplating terracing our hillside. "And where are you going to get the rocks from? Down the hill?  !!!" He who said he was never moving another rock.

No! My new hobby will not be quilting. But it will be collecting the inspiration for this quilt, which was on the silent auction table yesterday. Cactus should go quite nicely on a small patio, balcony or even indoors in a bright window. That time will come.
Even though I didn't make any purchases at the Austin Cactus and Succulent Show, yesterday, I was still interested to see what exotics might be in my future.

Maybe I will have to invest in some nicer pots. And I shall definitely have to think more about display.

Not that I haven't already amassed quite a collection one way or another! For instance, this barrel cactus came from a concrete drainage ditch in Ahwatukee, Arizona. We were out walking our son's dogs in the neighborhood and I spotted this cactus right in the center of the drainage ditch. Until I went down to take a look I thought it was actually growing out of the crack but discovered it was loose and clearly had been washed down during a rain storm. The only thing I had to hold it was a clean doggy poop bag which I opened and made into a sling.

Then a broken pad on this unknown prickly pear. Beavertail?Opuntia basilaris, 

And then there is our very own cactus wren. Our Carolina wren has made a nest on the cactus theater.