Tuesday, September 4, 2018

OH The Things You Find In The Desert!!

Having lived in the Central Valley of California for many moons, there's not much I haven't seen.  It used to be much more user friendly, but nowadays you are better off just staying in your house.  There's so much murder and mayhem about that it's just not safe any more.

Out here in the desert, it's another story.  You can wander about the back roads and see things you've never seen before ... as long as you stay off private property, or so I was warned in a nice kind of way.

When off to Patagonia with the Chance family, we spotted these amazing berry vines.  With flowers like this?  Yup ... I'm not sure if they were edible, but there were huge blackberry-like fruit hanging off the vines.  I've never seen anything like it.
Then there was this beauty with light pink flowers.  It looked so fake, we had to dig down to the soil to find it was a real live plant.  How cool is this?  The leaves look like butterflies.
Unfortunately, something you CAN'T find any more are old signs to hang in the kitchen.  I'm probably a little weird when it comes to this stuff, but it's old west and right up my alley.  With no old signs hanging around, I decided to make my own when I spotted this barn board in the antique store.  

Can you believe it?  They sell old pieces of wood in the antique store.  I can't tell you how many pieces of this stuff we burned on the ranch!!  At any rate, a little paint and I was in business.  Now all I have to do is decide whether to hang it on this pantry door or on the wall.
Since we never had time to stop in Sonoita for a reconnoiter, I went back the next day.  I made a wrong turn, ran across a ditch and ended up in an antique store parking lot.  How I did that, I'll never know.  Next door was a furniture/chatchkey/framing business.  It was fate!!

That's where I found this bench.  I couldn't walk out the door without it.  Oh the things you find when least expected.
It gets even better!!  Two days later, I returned with Miss Patty, who has the same love of antiques that I do, but she has much better self control.  Not one minute into the antique store, she picked up this picture that I did not see previously.  LOVE it!!  

She is in declutter mode, so I snatched it up in a flash.  When here previously, I spoke to the hired help, who just happens to own one of the local vineyards with her husband.  She gave me lots of tips on where to drive for photography.
When she saw the above picture, she said WAIT!!  She had two more in her truck.  Oh the things you find in the desert!!  She brought out these two fabulous images.  Made by Lucid Lines in the early 1970's in Culver City, they are a dye transfer process where original etchings are printed on glass.  
This is a Frederic Remington called Burning Ranch.  Rather hard to see since everything reflects in the glass, but up close they are amazing.  I tried not to jump and scream at the top of my lungs when she said $15 for both!!  I just paid the lady and walked out with all three images.  One like this sold not long ago for $700 originally costing around $150.  Not that I care really ... I just like them gracing the walls of my little house.  
Another huge storm came through which I hope is the end of the heat season.  It's been an amazing 65 degrees in the mornings as I dance around the back yard.  It's so COOL!!!!  I think fall is almost here!!






12 comments:

  1. There is so many wonderful things to find in the desert and out of the way places. Love your pictures and the bench.
    We used to search for and find treasures like that when we had our house, but now no more room we had to purge it all to begin this amazing lifestyle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whoever inherits my house is going to have a treasure trove ... which they will probably give to Goodwill! LOL

      Delete
  2. Boy that was a good score
    I sure hope you did a search of Frederic Remington
    I know you won't sell them but if you have the originals
    he's also in the national Museum of art and sculpture
    Now you need to be on the lookout for one of his sculptures
    At least I would go back there and take a tour of her winery and with generosity of your heart buy a bottle of 🍷 Wine

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love Remington sculptures. Had a shot at one once in a junk store in California once. I passed. After that I found out how much they were worth. Been kicking myself ever since!!

      Delete
  3. I hope it cools down. We're ready to be back in the south west. I think I've seen enough of the GPNW. Last year it stayed really hot through the first week of November. You've found some really cool sources of good stuff! I still have several empty walls.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It has cooled down considerably Allison. Mornings have all been in the 60's!!

      Delete
  4. Have you been to Tubac? If you do, make sure to go in the Graham Bell Gallery and look for work by Louise Serpa. She was an outstanding cowboy photographer. She was allowed in the ring to work at rodeos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I HAVE been to Tubac!! Next time I'll check out the gallery. Since they are at such a lower altitude and MUCH hotter, they are mostly closed down in the summer. I'll hit them again in January.

      Delete
  5. The gorgeous purple butterfly thing is purple Oxalis.(O.Triangularis I think?). Originally from Brazil, they grow from corms & go dormant when they're unhappy & spring out when conditions are right. And the lantana-like flowers with berries are...lantanas! Most garden hybrids are sterile so we don't usually see them put out fruit. The berries are supposed to be poisonous, so if you get hungry, head over to the ice cream truck instead. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really!! I love it when people know what the heck these growy things are. Thank you so much! I probably would have eaten the berries ... they were huge!! The Oxalis was certainly a happy camper on that day!!

      Delete
  6. The Arizona "Ranch House" is certainly coming together...good job and good finds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Little by little ..... I'm trying not to overdo it like I usually do!!

      Delete