Today’s blog for June 6, 2015 was taken from the center at http://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2015/6/on-the-edge-from-the-center. June 6, 2011 fell on the Sunday of the Corrales Garden Tour. This year’s garden tour is tomorrow, June 7, 2015, so photos of the 2015 Corrales Garden Tour should coincide with Part 2 from 2011 when I repost it on June 8, 2015. Confused?

June 6, 2011: We did the Corrales Garden Tour today. Six gardens were on the tour: three residential/commercial, three solely residential. What was most interesting for me is that all six had some type of water feature, from water gurgling over stones to large ponds with water lilies, gold fish, bull frogs, turtles and koi. So tonight’s theme is life in the ponds in part 1 of the Corrales Garden Tour.

The large ponds with critters were most interesting. The first garden we visited had two large green houses and a large pond as part of their garden. The owners were wholesalers of a variety of plants. Their pond had gold fish, turtles and bull frogs along with various aquatic plants. I discovered they had the bull frogs after a butterfly landed on a plant and a large critter jumped out of the foliage to get it. That critter was a large bull frog, who proudly floated for awhile after having his butterfly breakfast, which allowed me to photograph him. One of the turtles floated along the surface for a few minutes, then it would dive to the bottom of the pond.

The last garden on the tour also had a large pond which had koi and a lot of blooming water lilies. Koi are much more interesting than gold fish and, in turn, produced much more interesting photographs.

We’re sitting out on the deck listening to Luis Miguel in concert at the Sandia Casino Amphitheater. Dolly Parton will be there on July 20th. She’s sold out, but we will no doubt be able to hear her loud and clear. Santana is scheduled in September. He’s sold out, as well.