De Grazia Gallery in the Sun; Saguaro National Park

There was thunder and lightning all night and some rain but no real downpour. We woke to the sound of the coyotes howling and, a bit later, even more exciting, we saw them making their way through the rough ground just outside our back boundary. They moved too fast for Jim to catch them on camera. This is a wonderful place for wildlife! In the mornings and evenings the birdsong is tremendous. And the crickets are like a night-long orchestra with a conductor who has only 2 baton instructions - all together sing and stop!

Despite the weather forecast of more storms we were not going to waste the day. Nadia, in the Visitor Centre, had mentioned De Grazia's Gallery in the Sun so it sounded interesting.

Ettore "Ted" DeGrazia was born in 1909, the son of Italian immigrants, in the Morenci mining camp in Arizona. His childhood experiences gave him a lifelong appreciation of native cultures in the Sonoran desert. In the 1950s he and his wife bought 10 acres in the foothills near Tucson and developed it into this gallery. "The gallery was designed by me. I wanted to have the feeling of the Southwest. I wanted to build it so that my paintings would feel good inside." Ted DeGrazia. And it has the feeling of the southwest even before you go inside. Jim and I both loved it.

This floor is made from some kind of cactus but it was one that was dying out so he only used it for this small area. On the wall one of his murals done with plaster and paint.

This is the same Padre Kino who came to the village where he built Mission San Xavier del Bac. There is a complete series of paintings on the subject of Father Kino which shows the respect in which he was held.

                                                    This one is called My First Horse.

I think this is called Boy on a Hobby Horse.

 This wall hanging was bassed on DeGrazia's paintings and donated by the woman who stitched it. It is beautiful!

Native people from the Southwest have a great devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

DeGrazia also made pieces of art from clay and beeswax.

This is the curtain on the way into the auditorium where we saw a video of DeGrazia and his life's work.

 This is the adobe mission that DeGrazia built with the help of locals. It has an open roof because DeGrazia didn't believe that religion should be confined into a stuffy room. It is a really lovely spiritual place.

This is referring to the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico.

The open roof with a cross extended high into the sky.

I love the way his paintings combine religious images with ordinary images of children and fun.

An outdoor panel.

And this is the wonderful setting in which DeGrazia's Gallery in the Sun is set.

We still had all afternoon so we decided to go to the Saguaro National Park and have a look at the cacti.

At the Visitor Centre we saw a video presentation of the culture surrounding the giant cacti (saguaro - the g is silent) of the Sonoran desert. When it was over the screen was raised and the glass wall revealed the beauty of the saguaro landscape - beautiful!

When a cactus dies the green outside rots and you are left with upright clusters of branches or twigs.

 They almost resemble people and (like people!) come in all shapes and sizes. They could be 70 years old before they develop any branches and live about 200 years. So in the Park there are saguaro in all stages of development.

And then we went to do some stocking up in a supermarket we hadn't tried before. Who needs food when you have a setting like that!

We had our evening meal out on the verandah - pitch black by 6.30 pm. And then the thunder and lightning began! We were treated to a wonderful display of natural fireworks and only retreated indoors when the wind threatened to blow us away. Then we continued to watch from indoors in the dark. Wonderful!