Alan Olee Book Report

Yes your kind host lives in the beautiful desert southwest in a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, part of the Sonoran Desert that extends south into the Mexican state of, wait for it, Sonora.  This particular geography is home to the majestic Saguaro cactus, in fact, it is the only place on Earth this particular cactus, Carnegiea gigantea, exists regardless of various marketing uses of the saguaro cactus silhouette used by brands like “El Paso”, which is a city in Texas 150 miles from the nearest Saguaro cactus. Incidentally, El Paso rocks, but there are no Saguaros there. The Saguaro cactus only lives in the Sonoran Desert.

There are all kinds of cactus besides Saguaro too, and I have some in my yard.  These cacti bloom for a short while and the flowers are quite nice.

Blooming Cactus

After the blossoms, they make fruit:

Blossoms to fruit

I took a bunch of macro shots of this cactus fruit:

A Couple of Ripe Ones

And a real close-up:

Up Close

Here’s a pretty shot with the sky as a backdrop:

I picked some:

We cut one up and ate it – it tastes sort of like mild kiwi fruit if you’ve ever had that; but also has a kind of okra effect when you start chewing it up.  I like them, they’re tasty; but I like kiwi fruit and I like okra so I suppose that explains it.

Have a great weekend and enjoy the Superbowl!