Eclipse photos/ red hot pokers

I just love these flowers. They are so other-worldly. The colors don't look like something to be found in nature. Well, maybe in a tropical rain forest, but not in the desert southwest. They came out a bit early this year; they usually bloom for my birthday, but there are so many of them this year, there might still be some blooming come June. I tried to count the blossoms, and lost track somewhere around 42.

During the recent eclipse, we noticed this strange light phenomena. First we saw it on the house behind (east of) ours.

There were all these crescent shaped spots of light on the west-facing wall of the house, like little images of the sun with the moon in front of it. The sunlight is filtered through the leaves of the willow tree in the front yard, and through the leaves of a cottonwood in the back, so I'm not sure this is an actual eclipse-related thing or not, but it sure looked interesting.

It's often a great thing to be married to a mechanic/ handyman. He had a welding hood in the garage through which we could safely see the actual eclipse. But the eerie light and the dip in temperature was equally interesting.