The wildflowers are in full bloom in Death Valley National Park.  We will be there this weekend for the Death Valley Chamber of Commerce Spring Art Show, Saturday and Sunday, March 12 & 13 at Furnace Creek Ranch.  We captured this flower pic last year.  If you have never visited Death Valley or have not seen the flowers in their rare bloom  now is a good time.   Hope to see you there.

Today starts the gem and mineral show, here at the Los Angeles Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, through  Sunday. Sherry and I took a break from setting up yesterday and walked part of the grounds.  Mixing two of our favorite things, Ricks and plants. Hope your day is blessed.

Hunted to near extinction, the American Bison, also called the American Buffalo, roamed the grasslands by the millions.  An adult weighs about 1,400  pounds.  Their numbers are so great that the federal government is killing 600 to 900 this winter in Yellowstone national Park to thin their numbers this winter.  Our family encountered this American icon crossing the  road recently in South Dakota, reminding us of the picture we captured, above, on a trip in 2013.  Below is an example of an Evershine pewter bison in our wildlife collection.

This coming weekend we will be showing at the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia, as part of the Monrovia Gem & Mineral Society’s annual show.  If you have never toured the beautiful grounds of the arboretum, this coming weekend anticipates great weather.  Stop by and say hello.