LETTERS AND E-MAIL

taking the off-ramp Arizona oddities, attractions and pleasures Downtown Desert Bounty

“Creating beauty in the heart of the city.” This is the mission of Tera Vessels, Arizona master gardener and creator of Tera's Garden, located in downtown Phoenix's Roosevelt Historic District. Designed in and around a yellow 1914 bungalow, the garden shop caters to desert dwellers wanting to add color to their lives. Tera's Garden boasts plants from the world's deserts as well as local species and a bounty of native wildflower seeds. “Plants that are in harmony with the surroundings” is how Vessels describes them. Information: (602) 253-4744; www.terasgarden.net.

Western Bookshop, a Thriving Tradition

Bookstore owner Aaron Cohen sells stories about Western America and the Civil War, but this word warrior also has a few of his own tales to tell. Cohen and his wife, Ruth, opened Guidon Books on Old Main Street in Scottsdale, against the advice of neighboring retailers. The retailers said a Western bookstore situated in the swanky business district would never survive a relic of the Old West set in the midst of posh art galleries and highbrow boutiques. Ludicrous. Outlandish. That was 39 years ago. Cohen, a collector in his own right, provides a definitive selection of new and out-of-print titles from which to choose. Bibliophiles will find tomes on the Mexican Revolution, Indian tribes and the Indian Wars, mining, cowboys, archaeology, anthropology, lawmen, desperados, women of the West and the Civil War. Information: (480) 945-8811; www.guidon.com.

Move Over, Elephants

The next time you call your neighbor a birdbrain he may thank you. Scientists are learning that the Clark's nutcracker may have one of the most amazing memories in the animal kingdom. The gray-and-black crow cousins labor from August to December collecting 30,000 pine seeds. That would be impressive enough. But then, outperforming their squirrel competitors, the individual members of the corvid family bury their booty in thousands of caches over hundreds of square miles. That would be even more impressive, but for a grand finale, the avian prodigies retrieve more than 90 percent of their subsurface sustenance during their springtime nesting season often from beneath many feet of snow before it thaws. Newt Grover continues to ignore good advice: “Don't play with fire.” Almost any day of the week, you can find him surrounded by flames and furnaces at Newt Glass, his Scottsdale “hot shop,” creating handblown glass products. His chandeliers, wall sconces and pendant lights decorate some of the state's top nightclubs and dining spots, and collectors nationwide own his works. “Throughout history, people have been fascinated with glass,” explains Grover. “It has a magical and mystical quality because it is transparent.” Watching glassblowing is like attending the theater, and Grover enjoys the role of performer. Just call ahead to reserve seats and see the artist create spheres of soft glass by blowing air through a tube into molten glass. Special tools and graceful movements sculpt forms into astonishing shapes. Information: (480) 948-3185; www.newtglass.com.

Playing With Fire THIS MONTH IN ARIZONA

1867 The U.S. Army delivers the first triweekly mail from the East to Tucson.

1870 A Territorial militia led by Gov. A.P.K. Safford returns from the mountains after a 26-day hunt for Apaches between the Santa Cruz and San Pedro rivers. The militia did not spot a single Apache.

1890 Police are called to restore order after a Democratic Territorial Convention meeting gets out of hand in Phoenix.

1894 Adobe buildings in Willcox crumble after a cloudburst on Mount Graham in the Pinaleno Mountains sweeps the area, leaving behind 2 feet of water.

1898 Extreme wind unroofs houses and kills one person in Casa Grande.

1905 Williamson and Skull Valley residents watch helplessly as cattle, chickens and sheep are washed away by a violent rainstorm on Granite Mountain.