faces, restaurants, landscapes

The first week of October was a vacation-week for me. (The school district I work for tried something new this year: after the first quarter, a week off--a welcome break for students AND teachers.) Good timing, as we had an out-of-town friend and family reunion at our home in Tucson...which led to walks in the desert and eating out...and some iphoneography...

So, a few local highlights for this posting.

First, some Mexican folk-art faces, on the walls and floating above the tables in Elvira's, down in Tubac, about an hour south of Tucson.

And, from what is truly one of the best restaurants in southern Arizona, 

downtown Tucson's Café Poca Cosa:

Close to home--a bloom on a cactus in the backyard:

...out of the backyard, into the open desert...

(fun with the 'grunge' filter  for the AutoStitch panorama above and the 

square shot below)

The other night, on the way to some friends' for dinner, I just had to pull over to get this phone-shot--check out the 'double-helix' cloud on the right:

...and then as the sunset continued to 'ripen,' the strands got taller and pinker:

(PicFrame used to create the 'mosaics'.)

--from down in Tumacácori, the Santa Cruz Chili Co., across from the old Spanish mission.

One of my new favorite apps on my iPhone is ColorSplash; I used it on the above cactus flower and chili sign photos...here are a couple more photos edited with it--these are 'transplants'--photos taken with a different camera that I e-mailed to my iPhone specifically to edit with snapseed and ColorSplash--fun with selective desaturation:

--seeing the landscape through my wife's eyes, 

Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River, just south of Page, AZ 

...and back in Tucson; reflection of autumn color (which peaks in December) 
along the creek in Sabino Canyon