Episode #925
October 24, 2026
On the way to my house
is Ricardo Breceda’s outdoor art gallery.
Ricardo is known for his original installations in Borrego Springs, California. There is a dragon whose body weaves in and out of the ground, diving under the road to show its head above the desert sands.
I started a tradition with Paula of buying a rock-and-wire ant sculpture for birthdays, anniversaries, and holidays. Ricardo makes the kind of ants that are golfing or gardening or playing tennis, but we like the plain, realistic ants. We have bought so many ants from Ricardo that when people come to our house, they say, “You guys really have an ant problem,” pointing at the string of ants exploring the perimeter of the house.
Ever since Paula and I walked in Saguaro National Park near Tucson, Arizona, we have wanted to plant a Saguara cactus at our house. An 8’ tall saguaro with two arms can be purchased for $3000. Shipping to Southern California will cost you another $700. That sounds like a lot of money, but consider that it is a 70-year-old plant. Between the acquisition of the plant, shipping stress, and the shock of planting at a different altitude and hardiness zone, the likelihood of survival is about 10%.
Paula decided that a saguaro sculpture would serve us better. Ricardo has several saguaros at his gallery.
They are beautiful, realistic metal sculptures. They are truly works of art, but they are outside our budget for landscape decorations.
We reasoned that an abstract impressionistic metal saguaro would give us value as a piece of art and might be more affordable than a realistic sculpture. It was a long and interesting search.
I was driving down the 15 freeway when I noticed three metal saguaro cacti alongside the road. From a distance and at that speed, the sculptures looked like the real thing. The next day, Paula and I visited the landscape decoration store.
In the sales yard were decorative pots, concrete tables with benches, and beautifully painted imported works of art. We also saw intricately welded animal sculptures made of nuts, bolts, saw blades, chains, and anything the artist might have found lying around the shop. From any small distance, the hardware dithered into the skin and fur of the animals.
Paula tapped me on the shoulder and pointed toward the freeway. There they were, the saguaros. They looked real.
As we approached the sculptures, we noticed light showing through the seams. The impressionistic style revealed bent sheet metal with holes where the needles should have been. The holes created sharp accents of light, which tricked our brains into thinking these were 100-year-old plants.
The price was a fraction of those at Breceda’s gallery, but the effect was just what we were looking for. The next day, one of the saguaro cactus sculptures was in our backyard.
I still do a double-take when I see the saguaro in my yard.
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“Skydivers Know Why Birds Sing” by Ricki T Thues is now available on Amazon.
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ALSO AVAILABLE:
“Technically Human” by Ricki T Thues, the iMentor, is available on Amazon.
It is a compilation of selected episodes from this bLog which tell the story of Humanity through the eyes of the iMentor.
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Ricki is also a contributor to the Writers Anonymous short stories anthology, “Matters of Life and Death, Stories on the Brink.” CLICK HERE.
The newest Writers Anonymous short stories anthology, “Stories Well-Traveled,” is now available on Amazon.
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