First Visit to Phoenix - Downtown Chandler Art

 

The kids actually live in Chandler, a town to the southeast of the Phoenix metroplex.  One day we went downtown where I found this affixed to a wall.  Immediately I thought of this post captured in Taiwan some years ago...

First Visit to Phoenix - Gilbert Riparian Preserve, Bird with Blue Feet

There was lots of wildlife in this preserve, but it was all under cover or in the shade due to the tremendous heat.  What we did find was very interesting to us East Texans, including this guy with blue feet (closeup below):

First Visit to Phoenix - Gilbert Riparian Preserve, Hanging Cross

 

There is a cross hanging in this picture, a pendant that someone left who knows when.  It's hard to see, but as a hint, it's in the middle just below one of the sunrays on the green stem, in front of the biggest branch.  Closeup below:

First Visit to Phoenix - Gilbert Riparian Preserve, Signage Through Reeds

 

Heretofore all the pics posted from our first visit to Phoenix were captured with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which actually turned out pretty well.  I did bring the Bigger Cahoona, however, and brought it along on a few excursions.  The first of these was a trip to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.  It was hot, hot, hot that day but we managed to clock in a mile or so around its famous ponds and lakes.  Didn't get too many passable pics due to the full afternoon sun, but found a few that were interesting, including this sign captured through the reeds.

First Visit to Phoenix - Stained Glass

 

First Visit to Phoenix - Aqua Mural

A big mural...didn't know what to do with the busy background, so just blacked it over.

This area reminded me a little of Montrose in Houston, where there are pockets of art-inspired enclaves.  On our walk we went into a shop that sold old timey woodblock-printed posters.  The kind proprietors gave us a little tour and printed a custom poster to demonstrate the process.

First Visit to Phoenix - Dressed Up Tree #2

Another one...with grapes.

First Visit to Phoenix - Dressed Up Trees #1

 

First Visit to Phoenix - Sunset Shot #4

 

In spite of the unbearable heat (for us), we walked a ways into the desert, enabling a capture of these rock formations against a sunset sky.  This was a terrific way to become introduced to the region's beauty on our first visit to the "Valley", as they call the desert floor on which Phoenix and its suburban communities sit.  In subsequent days we explored parts of the city plus a remote fishing spot on the Salt River, which will be feature in future posts.

First Visit to Phoenix - Sunset Shot #3

 

Could not resist this silhouette of a tree that, though it was summer, looked as if winter had stripped it of its leaves...

First Visit to Phoenix - Sunset Shots #2

 ...and I stepped over a few more paces to create a loner silhouette shot of the same tree.

Below are a couple more sunset pics taken that evening:

First Visit to Phoenix - Sunset Shots #1

 

Our daughter, Allison, and her relatively new husband, DeQuan, carted off to Phoenix to begin the first phase of his chosen career.  The wife and I decided to pay them a visit to get the lay of the land.  We were excited at the opportunity, as they both love the area and were eager to share its wonders with us.

On the very evening of our arrival we drove to the western edge of the metroplex in time to catch their fabled sunsets, and as can be seen from this and the following few posts we were not disappointed.

By the way, did I mention that this was in July?  Yes, in the heat of the summer we flew right into the middle of the searing Sonoran desert where the temp rose to 110+ most days of our 5-day visit.  Folks typically say, "But it's a dry heat!".  Those temperatures, though, dry or no dry, are unmercifully hot and there's nothing you can do to escape them except to remain ensconced in a nice air conditioned space.

For this first foray into the outskirts we were in such a hurry to catch the sunset in time that I left the Bigger Cahoona at their house.  Thus, these sunset pics were all captured with the iPhone, which didn't do a bad job.

Stepping to the left a few paces yielded the composition below:

Taiwan 2025 - Daoist Temple, Blankets of Green (last post of series)

The temple was way up in one of the mountains surrounding Taipei, and afforded a good view of the valley below.  This is a subject that we've seen a million times riding the Metro, but I never really took the time to capture a forest of trees covered in vines so thick it looks as though someone gently laid a blanket of green over them all.  Life in the jungles of Formosa...

And my gosh, have we finally come to the end of this series on our latest journey to Taiwan?  273 photos in 188 posts...might be a record.  It's currently June 30, 2025, so I'm more than six months ahead.  Now it's time to do more writing, cleaning up paperwork at the house, and visiting with grandkids! 

Taiwan 2025 - Daoist Temple, Flower Shots #4

These guys were in a nice pond, but looked better isolated against a black background...
 

Taiwan 2025 - Daoist Temple, Flower Shots #3

 These brightly-colored flowers must be viewed against a black background...

Taiwan 2025 - Daoist Temple, Flower Shot #2

Naturally with all the tender loving care provided by the volunteers, the walkways and gardens are always in immaculate shape.

Really liked these flowers; desaturated the yellows a bit above to make them stand out a little more.

Taiwan 2025 - Daoist Temple, Flower Shots #1

This and the following several posts will be of flowers on the property as we walked around.  An army of volunteers works a schedule to do the gardening, sweeping, cleaning, and generally taking care of the facility both inside and out.  One of Chenjean's brothers takes a few weeks every year to do this.

Taiwan 2025 - Closer View of Golden Characters in Daoist Temple

As I like taking pictures of things through things, felt this was a fine opportunity.  Could have used a little more bokeh on the pic below, but still looks OK:

Taiwan 2025 - Golden Characters in Daoist Temple

As stated many times before in this blog, I've always very much enjoyed simply looking at Chinese writing.  The characters here represent the "wise sayings" of somebody in the Daoist faith and embossed into granite panels, filled in with real gold leaf.  So beautiful!  Though I do know a few Chinese characters, it is my lasting regret that I never really applied myself in learning Mandarin during the early years of our marriage.

Tomorrow we'll take a closer look...

Taiwan 2025 - Daoist Temple, Main Worship Area

As the last chapter in this overall series on our Taiwan trip of 2025, we'll visit the temple complex where Chenjean's mom's ashes reside.  It has become a custom every year for us to pay her a visit, and once there we duly made our way to where her urn was located in a vast mausoleum, accompanied by a minder from the facility of course.  She denied permission to take a picture when asked, so I kept the phone pocketed (usually on excursions of this nature I keep the Bigger Cahoona at the apartment).

But later on, while visiting the temple itself, the manager stuck with us and said pictures were no problem, so I snapped a few in this room.  It is here that we learned that the large figure in the center - typical of what is seen in Buddhists temples everywhere - is not actually that of Buddha himself, but rather a disciple of his.  Interesting...

Actually "Buddhist" is a misnomer here, because the religion to which Amá belonged was Daoism; she was technically a Daoist, not a Buddhist per se.  Analogous to denominationalism in the Christian world, this is an offshoot from the original group.

There was absolutely no one in this entire complex except us, so we got quite the tour, stopping for tea at one point in their kitchen area.  This is when we were given a book as an introduction to what Daoism is all about.  While drinking our tea I perused through its pages, reading the first chapter fairly closely, and discovered that the concepts regarding "The Way" (what Dao means in Mandarin) to heaven are identical to what is described in the Bible concerning spiritual bodies, souls, and angels among other things.  After describing my own experiences and studies in such matters, the manager and the custodian (who joined us for tea) became quite excited at hearing about the commonalities between Daoism and Christianity.  They encouraged me to keep the book, which I did, and to join them for a study one day with an eye to becoming a Daoist myself.  I said No thank you, that the Bible is all we need and I'll stick with that.  Still, we all enjoyed the mutual respect earned as a result of this interaction.

Taiwan 2025 - Decorative Fixture in a Metro Subway Stop

A decoration adorning fixtures at a Metro Station in either Taipei or Chiayi, I forget which.  One thing I wish the D850 had onboard is a GPS chip, which would solve for good any question on where exactly a picture was taken.  There is an accessory that plugs into the top where the flash unit normally goes, but don't have the inclination to spend the $300+ to get it.  Occasionally I remember to also take a reference pic with the iPhone, but not every time...

Next, a few pics will be posted in a very special place to finish out this long series on our most recent visit to Taiwan.