My last post about a repaired computer was premature. Now with a brand new hard drive I think the problems are resolved.

Let me pick up the narrative of our desert trip with a few pics of the flowers around our condo. We had many evening walks here and with the rain the flowers increased daily.

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I also took time to do some watercolor impressions of the area. This below sea level valley is surrounded by arid mountains. The brown sandy soil was beginning to be dotted with clumps of yellow flowers and purple lupine.

One of the most interesting aspects of this visit were the oases. Previously we spent most of our time in Joshua Tree National Park‘s high desert country. However, one day we stopped at an Cottonwood Spring, an oasis near Cottonwood Visitor Center. That opened our eyes to this very different side of the desert. Subsequently we visited other similar oases. They are populated by the California fan palm, the only native palm in the southwest. I made this quick sketch of them.

Left untrimmed, the leaves fold down as they age and die, creating a shaggy thick covering over the trunk. In town the leaves are trimmed as they die, leaving a skinny smooth trunk. We prefer our palms au naturel.

Paul