Chainfruit Cholla

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I have been fascinated by the Chainfruit Cholla since we arrived in Gold Canyon Arizona.  They are every where you look, small ones, and some magnificent specimens, well over 6 feet tall.  There is a very interesting article on this variation of the cholla here.

I have taken lots of photos of the chainfruit, LOTS!  With the bright sunshine, they almost seem to glow.  There always seems to be something in the background that detracts or confuses the photo, so that I have not been able to catch the essence of the chainfruit.  We speed by hundreds of these picky beauties on the highways, their fruit hanging like so many bobbles. They remind me of those beads that pop together our children played with as babies, Snap-Lock beads by Fisher-Price.  Photo courtesy of Fisher-Price.

They also remind me of huge earrings and jewelry, a cholla dressed to the nines, time to party down gals!

* By the way, for my readers who are interested in family history as well, I found the obituary for the developer of the snap lock beads during my search for a graphic of the beads, she died in 1998, I love this obituary!  Her name was Helen Malsed, and her obituary reads in part, "But her forte was developing products to teach and entertain children safely. She came up with the large Snap Lock beads after observing that the tiny, popular "pop beads" jewelry pieces were a choking hazard for infants and toddlers."

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