There's no place like a Southwestern home

Travel is a good thing.  It broadens the mind (and sometimes the hips, depending on the food delicacies that you find).  Travel also provides novel images and thoughts you can use to make a comparison between life style at home and other life styles.

I recently spent a good bit of time in Los Angeles, California in a beautiful area near the historic Farmers Market and the upscale Grove Shopping Center.

Early morning in Los Angeles

My husband Wayne snapped this shot while sipping Cuban coffee in a Los Angeles cafe.  Very exotic to our Texan eyes!

Coffee customer with friend

Los Angeles can boast of palm trees, avocado trees, luxuriant bougainvillea vines, and gigantic, larger than life succulents.  What a feast for the eyes of a gardener!

But when I returned home to El Paso, Texas (located in the high desert), I also found treats for the senses in my own back yard.

View of  grapevines in late afternoon

The extra room we have dubbed "The Bunkhouse" is waiting for visitors to play dominoes, listen to music, or write a novel.

The Bunkhouse

The horno (oven) stands ready to bake a pizza or a recipe of camp bread.

The Horno

And when I arrived home on Good Friday, the plants told me it was springtime.  A large butterfly had found the claret cup cactus in the front yard.

Butterfly atop claret cup cactus

The honey mesquite trees had put on their bright green feathery finery.

Mesquite tree

 It was good to be home.