Albion Basin

High in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah is a former glacier cirque or a bowl-shaped depression on the side of a mountain. From Wikipedia, "A cirque (French for "circus") or corrie (from Scottish Gaelic coire meaning a "kettle") is an amphitheatre-like valley head, formed at the head of a valley glacier by erosion. The concave amphitheatre shape is open on the downhill side corresponding to the flatter area of the stage, while the cupped seating section is generally steep cliff-like slopes down which ice and glaciated debris combine and converge from the three or more higher sides. The floor of the cirque ends up bowl shaped as it is the complex convergence zone of combining ice flows from multiple directions and their accompanying rock burdens, hence experiences somewhat greater erosion forces, and is most often scooped out somewhat below the level of cirque's low-side outlet (stage) and its down slope (backstage) valley. If the cirque is subject to seasonal melting, the floor of the cirque most often forms a tarn (small lake) behind the Moraine and glacial till damming the outlet.

This particular area is really a series of cirques called Albion Basin. Interestingly, the word "albion" is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain.

Evidence of the last ice age

This is a huge chunk of floating ice. If it had come from a glacier, it could be called an ice berg. But it came from a snow field and is not really blue glacier ice but is firn snow. Although if you look closely at the bottom of the floating snow, you will see blue ice. Here is the Wikipedia definition of firn snow,"Firn (from German Firn with the same meaning, cognate with for) is partially-compacted névé, a type of snow that has been left over from past seasons and has been recrystallized into a substance denser than névé. It is ice that is at an intermediate stage between snow and glacial ice. Firn has the appearance of wet sugar, but has a hardness that makes it extremely resistant to shovelling. Its density generally ranges from 550 kg/m³-830 kg/m³ and can be often found underneath the snow that accumulates at the head of a glacier. This firn snow pack is floating in Cecret Lake in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.

The edge of the firn has pink snow. Yes, it is pink and is caused by algae growing in the snow.

Golden Iris

It is hard to imagine that this gorgeous flower grows in Phoenix, Arizona. Unfortunately, the location of this iris garden has passed to other owners and no longer has flowers.

Iris in a country garden,
Politely said, "I beg your pardon,
But I'm from sunny France you see,
And my real name is Fleur-de-Lis."

 

Elizabeth Gordon

Blush Unseen

Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear,
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

From Thomas Gray
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Times Square

If there is one place in the U.S. that contrasts so completely with my Arizona experience, it is Times Square in New York. How do you express the difference between standing in House Rock Valley in the early morning and watching the sun rise on the Vermilion Cliffs and the noise and confusion of Times Square? How do you get your mind to reconcile between the two experiences? Where would I rather be? There is no question, House Rock Valley.

Liberty

The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" 

 

Emma Lazarus

Counterpoint

You may have noticed that almost all of my photos are of natural landscapes. Being from the West (with a capital W) I don't get to big cities very often. Now don't get me wrong, Phoenix is a big city in some very important ways. It is geographically very large and has a large population. But its downtown section is relatively small and has almost no large buildings. The Phoenix skyline is far from notable. This view of New York is almost an abstract.

A Modern Puzzle

 

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.  
Walden
Thoreau