On the first of the year we traveled from Winter in New England (the day before everyone got snowed in) to Sunny Phoenix Arizona to visit family
To come to a place where the average rainfall is 7 to 8″ a year, yet while in the urban areas it was hard to know we were in a desert, it in some ways it could have been home in NH in early summer just replace the maples and oaks with palm trees (which are not native to there)
Knowing that water is issue in the southwest as in other parts of this country, it was hard to understand seeing green golf courses, green lawns that gave it all that theme park feel to it.
Don’t get me wrong, we had a wonderful time, certainly enjoyed being with family and the weather wasn’t to hard to take.
And now being home with freezing temps, part of me misses it or at least being with family. Yet I do have all those pictures I took to maybe help think being warm and remember seeing the native landscape of a desert just outside of town
antilandscaper 
I love the desert. It’s so clean. That last shot is beautiful.
We have family and friends in Phoenix and have visited a couple of times. Love the warmth this time of year but am not in love with that type of landscaping. Glad you had a good trip.
Hi Judy, Yes it was fun and given the last few days here in NH, it’s hard not to think of heading back, but I’m going to NC next month to see my kids. I’ll have to do like you and count down the days until spring
Water is an issue in the West, increasingly so. There are many, like myself, who consider it unwise in the extreme to use such a precious resource for golf courses, fountains, lawns and swimming pools. But it is, as we say, a free country, and I imagine we’ll learn the hard way.
I agree, and even here in the northeast water is a precious resource thou it is a hard sell among my fellow landscapers and many gardeners. It be sad to if we all realize that after the crisis. Thanks
Coming from Ireland, 8″ of rainfall sounds good to me!!!
Thanks for the comments, but can you imagine Ireland sunny every day longing for a cloudy, rainy day. Ireland wouldn’t be Ireland, it be just a northern tropic island.
I noted you had read my blog and wanted to stop in and say hello. I believe water will be our most precious resource within the next 20 years. Clean drinking water is already priced out of reach for many.
For those of us who love to garden and grow flowers, it’s hard to do with no water! I love an English cottage garden, just can’t seem to make it lush. Love the pics!
Thank you for the comments, I can understand the pleasure of gardening even out west, and I certainly don’t fault you for it, but huge fountains in the desert is hard to understand.
Really cool– the geometry of landscapes from aerial views.