Mesquite Blossoms

In the Spring, mesquite trees become clouds of yellow puff balls. When they fall, they turn the ground yellow underneath the trees. Mesquite seems best known as a source of charcoal for Barbecue fires. But the wood is hard and beautiful for woodworking also. Unfortunately, because there is so much of a demand for charcoal, the huge Mesquite Bosques (forests) have been decimated and most of the old trees cut down. If they were Redwoods, they might get a National Park, but because they are just old scruffy mesquite trees, no one cares.

Yucca in Full Bloom

There are a huge variety of desert adapted plants and not all of them are cactus. Yucca and Agave have similar long pointed leaves with spines on the end, but they are not cactus. We have grown varieties of these plants since some of my earliest memories and the sight of a blooming yucca is inexorably entwined with my memories of the desert.

Sandstone Sunset

Usually, the colors of a sunset are in the clouds, but here, the color of the sunset is in the sandstone rocks. As the year draws to a close, we need to look forward, not backward, to a brighter and more promising sunrise tomorrow in the new year.

Red and White Salute

For years and years I grew roses. Now, except for one rose bush, I enjoy looking at the work of others. The low desert is a particularly difficult place to have lovely roses, if the weather is too hot, the flowers burn up a very short time after blooming. But I do love the variety of colors and shapes of roses.

A Winter Rose

We are well into Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, but in the low desert that means we get all the flowers that burn out from the heat of summer. We especially get beautiful roses. Now, in the interests of full disclosure, I have to admit that this flower was photographed in the Summer, but it is indicative what I am seeing around the neighborhood recently.

An Abundance of Hollyhocks

High on my list of favorite flowers are the hollyhocks. I love the pastel colors and the high stalks that bloom over and over again. I am sure my affinity for these flowers comes from seeing them as flowers when I was very young. But they are still my favorites regardless of the

Mesa's Own Cow

I must be out of the loop for this cultural icon. I see cow statues around the country and haven't a clue as to why they are there. Now, horse statutes I understand. We had a horse statue just down the street from where we lived for years.

Bamboo

I love bamboo. I think it is one of most beautiful and graceful of plants. I realize that it grows like a weed, but some weeds are my favorite plants also. I haven't ever lived anywhere with room enough to grow bamboo, but maybe it will happen some day.

Sunset on the Farm

One of the mysteries that I often ponder is why the farmers in the Eastern United States would leave places like this and move into the desert? The motivations must have been compelling because many of them left their farms and moved west to find new farms. You might be able to find something similar to this in Arizona, but I doubt it.

Waiting for the Family

I don't recall ever locking a door to the house until I was quite old. In fact, I don't remember locking my car until long after I was married. Some of the cars I drove had no way to lock the car because windows did not work or were missing. I certainly do not live in that type of world today. We cannot leave anything unlocked or unguarded for even a minute.

The Old Hearth

When I was very young, we lived in a house with no central heating. All of the heat came from a wood stove and a fireplace. In the Winter, we spend a great deal of time trying to keep warm around the fireplace. If we went outside to play in the snow, we had to come back in when our feet were frozen and our clothes wet and frozen, to dry out in front of the fire. The world moved at a much slower pace when you had to depend on the heat from an open fire to keep warm.

What passes as lawn

OK, I realize that this isn't the most dramatic or beautiful photo in my collection. But this is Walking Arizona and part of what we have in Arizona is weird lawns. Some people grow what most people around the country have for lawns in the winter, but during most of the year we rely on Bermuda Grass or some of the alternatives. The so-called Winter lawns die off in the early spring from the heat.

This is dichondra. A smallish plant with round leaves that grows like a weed in our lawns. If there is enough water and shade, the dichondra will take over the entire lawn. It is nice and green, but has a tendency to die almost instantly if it runs out of a constant water supply in the summer. Bermuda grass is an invasive weed but will grow almost anywhere, under almost any conditions. But it will die out if it is shaded. Dichondra, with its tiny little round leaves, provides just enough shade to kill out the Bermuda grass once the dichondra is established. Hmm. There is probably a lesson there somewhere.

Golden Barrel

I speculate with some types of cactus, if they ever really stop growing? Golden Barrel cactus seem to get larger the older they get. Is there any upper limit to how large they can grow? Also, if you are in to such things as the Golden Mean, you should recognize the classic pattern of the top of this cactus as a perfect representation.

Grapefruit

Another bonus of our hot desert Christmas season is the ripening of all our citrus fruit. We have Grapefruit, Arizona Sweet Oranges, Navel Oranges, Tangelos, and Tangerines. It is time to start picking our lovely crop for another year. We usually eat or juice all of our oranges and tangerines, but end up giving away almost all of our grapefruit. There are groups of people who volunteer every year to go around for the Food Banks and gather in the citrus crop.

Bougainvillea

This is another of our Christmas flowers. Bougainvillea is a sub-tropical to tropical plant with which I have long had a love/hate relationship. The flowers are the little yellow-white spots and the red or magenta are actually leaves and not part of the flowers. It is a beautiful landscape plant but has huge and very sharp spines that will go through the sole of a shoe if you step on them the wrong way. Keeping these plants trimmed is not fun. There are dozens of varieties in Central America, but in the arid Southwest, we get about two or three. This variety is called Barbara Karst.

Palm Heart

This is a plant that is called a Sago Palm. It is not really a palm tree, it is a Cycad. This is the cone which is stiff like a pine cone. These plants are originally from Japan but they grow very well here in Mesa, if they have enough shade. We have a huge one in our front yard.

This too is a cactus

This is an Old Man cactus originally from the Andes region of South America. The spines are not sharp and prickly, but soft and silky. This one is about three and half feet tall and grows a couple of inches a year. They can get twenty to thirty feet tall. We have had this cactus for many years and dug it up and replanted it when we moved. Fortunately, it seems to like the place it is now planted and is doing quite well.

Old Age

Things seemed a lot simpler when I was young. I was not encumbered by all the experience and baggage of old age. This lovely tree trunk reminds me of me. I am sure that the furrows on my brain match the creases in the bark of this tree. Old age may not be all that it is promoted as being, but it beats the alternative.

A Christmas Gift

Merry Christmas. I can't send a real one of these to each of you, but I can do the next best thing and send you a beautiful photo. May this bring you some Christmas cheer and hope for the future.

Growing Tip

This is where all the activity takes place on a growing saguaro cactus. The cactus grows upwards from this tip. While growing, it sorts out all the spines and extends the ribs. This is a very slow, but impressive, process. We have grown this particular saguaro since it was about 8 inches tall. It is now, about thirty years later, almost 5 feet tall. It doesn't appear that we will live long enough to see this one get arms or branches.

Merry Christmas -- From Our House to Yours

We wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. 

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:

May you see your children's children.

May you be poor in misfortune,

Rich in blessings.

May you know nothing but happiness

From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home

And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,

May blue be the skies above you,

May pure be the joys that surround you,

May true be the hearts that love you.

Up Against the Wall

The narrow canyons of the Colorado Plateau provide a counterpoint to the flat, wide-open vistas. Down in the canyons, it is similar to being in a cave without a roof. Everywhere you look you see rock walls, except almost straight up. The colors are gorgeous, but sometimes it is nice to get up to the top of the walls and see the open country again.

Canyon Walls

I may have mentioned that the dead of Winter is my favorite time to visit National Parks and Monuments. The key here is color, the possibility of snow, and the absence of people in general. Its not that I don't like people, it just makes for a more contemplative time. You can focus on the canyons and the mountains and not have to wait until the tour group leaves the area.

Variations on theme of sand

In thinking about this picture, I realized that the contrast between the light and dark and the form of the sand and clouds was what this picture was all about. I decided to see what happened when I took out the color and focused more on the substance of the image. You may need to click on the image, but I think you will see what I was seeking in taking out the color.

Hills of Sand

This is the real desert. The one those who think of the Western United States think of when they think at all about the desert. But this is very rare and you would have to know exactly where you were going to find places like this and compared to the rest of the desert, these are amazingly small areas. There is a lot of sand in the desert, most of it just doesn't happen to pile up like this.

Open Spaces

I really do enjoy the grand view. I like to be able to see where I am going and where I have been. Sometimes, we are so wrapped up in the moment, we lose the grand view of our lives and our journey here on earth. For me, looking out over the desert, no matter where, restores the grand view.

Metate and Mano

This is a classic design of a metate and mano for grinding grain and corn. As you can imagine, it took a long time to get enough ground to feed a family. In addition, the grit from the basalt stones would get in the food and wear away the teeth of those who ate the meal. I am glad we have an electric wheat mill that will make wonderful flour in just a few seconds of grinding. I also like the idea of buying bread already made from a store.

Yellow Like the Sun

Rich, intense color is something that automatically catches everyone's attention. There is something about light that drives out darkness. Darkness cannot drive out light. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ornamental Cabbage

Most food plants are beautiful in their own way. Our perception of something as food or a pretty flower can change by simply naming the plant. Most people would not recognize the common food plants growing in a garden. There is too much of a disassociation between the plants sold in the store and what grows in a dirt garden. This is especially true when a vegetable, such as cabbage, is used as an ornamental plant.

Rivaling the Sun

Cultivated flowers always seem so spectacular, until you see the originals in the wild. But by any standard, this flower is amazing. It must be a hybrid because it is so much larger and the color is so much more intense than anything you would see in the wild.

Mystery Location

I like this view of the hill top with the columns. No, I didn't travel anywhere exotic to take this picture. I am sure there are a lot of you out there that recognize this location. Good luck guessing. 

Can't Guess?

I know someone out there probably has this growing in their front yard. But, it is completely strange to us here in Arizona. There are a lot of flowers out there in the world and I love them all, even if I cannot figure out what they are called.

Chrysanthemums

Sometimes we are looking for the rare and amazing when what we need is right there in front of us all the time. Chrysanthemums are relatively common, but at the same time, very uncommon. They grow quite well in Arizona but unfortunately, a lot of them are given as gifts and they are never planted in the ground so they can grow from year to year. I love the colors.

Foucault's Pendulum

The Foucault's Pendulum demonstrates the rotation of the earth. As the earth turns, the pendulum appears to move around in a circle at 11 degrees an hour, making a full circle in 32.7 hours. Usually, these installations are in museums or the science building of a major university. I haven't ever sat and watched one for 32.7 hours to verify the rotation. I guess I take the rotation of the earth on faith.

In Progress

I spent a number of years weaving on a four harness loom. Enough time to appreciate the work that goes into making a work of art on a vertical rug loom, such as this one. If I were going to try to weave a rug, I would first position the loom so I did not have to sit on the floor to weave. But that is probably why I am not a famous weaver.

An Early Mission Church

San Felipe de Neri is one of the earliest of the SouthWestern Mission Churches in what is now the State of New Mexico. I always take the opportunity to stop and think about the earliest European settlers of the desert and how difficult their lives must have been. Despite that difficulty, they were still devoted enough to surround their worship with beautiful edifices.

As Time Goes By

Time goes, you say? Ah no!

Alas, Time stays, we go.

~Henry Austin Dobson

No, I am not having morbid reflections on death or whatever, I am actually a genealogist and one of my frequent activities is visiting graveyards around the country. Yes, I will drive all the way across the United States and visit graveyards. If you want to know more about the genealogical side of my life, read Genealogy's Star. 

All Fall Down

After my recent major surgery, this photo pretty well describes the way I feel. Although I hope my prospects for repair are better than this barn. Once you live long enough, you begin to realize how much time and energy just living can take and small collapses here and there can mount up into a major disaster.

Bulls Eye

Some flowers have taken a direct marketing approach to their insect pollinators. They mark the spot dramatically, hoping they don't get overlooked.

Patterns Upon Patterns

Everything in nature exhibits a pattern. There are patterns upon patterns, layers upon layers of interacting systems that we can sometimes only glimpse. This photo shows two overlapping patterns; the irregularity of the stone pavement and the shadow from the overhead tree branches. How many more patterns do you think this shows? How about a pattern of sunshine and darkness, wet and dry, and many others?

A Busy Spider

You can often tell anachronisms in movies by the type of glass in the windows of the houses. This type of glass is typical of the mid-1800s. The bonus in this photo is the spider busily providing itself with a meal. You may have to click on the image to see the detail.

Coal Oil Lamp and Dinner Set

It is not that I am so old as to remember using all of these items, I just grew up in one of the last areas to become industrialized in the United States. We often used hurricane or coal oil lamps for light in the summer when the electricity would go off. Rather than being front page news, a loss of power was a regular occurrence and we simply switched over to kerosene and brought out the candles. We still have a few of the lamps in our cupboards, just in case...

Cast Iron Cooking Stove

When I was very young, our family was still using a cast iron cooking stove that burned wood. Our home, high on the Colorado Plateau, had no central heating and all of the heat came from a large, centrally located fireplace. The photo also shows an iron, the pointed object in the pan in the upper left. The irons were heated on the stove and then used to iron clothes. I was familiar with the use of all of these objects.

Temple of the Community of Christ

This is building for church meetings and also contains a museum and a bookstore. It is located in Independence, Missouri.

The hope of Spring in Winter

Even in the Winter of our dispair, we always have the hope of Spring.

For the loss of a shoe...

Well, the shoe in the poem is a horseshoe, but this reminded me of the poem. Arizona is usually so dry that many items that would have long disintegrated anywhere else are preserved for dozens if not a hundred years.

Navajo Mountain

Far away on the horizon, just to the left of the Canyon Rim in the mid-range, you can barely see Navajo Mountain. You may need to click on the image and zoom in a little to actually see it. Navajo Mountain is situated in Utah and is over 10,000 feet high. Looking down into the Grand Canyon, you can see almost 10,000 feet of vertical altitude change.

Profusion

Sometimes what we get is a profusion of experiences, some good and some bad. It is up to each of us to sort out the profusions in our lives and glean the good and reject the bad. Profusion can be a blessing or a curse to the extent we are successful in making the right choices.

Cozy

Everyone has their own idea of prickly. If you were a cactus, you would probably like to be around other cactus, but that doesn't make the relationships any less difficult. Some people we would keep at arm's length, would be fully embraced by others. Coziness comes in relative degrees.

A Butterfly Garden

This is one of those photos that need to be viewed at magnification. Click on the photo to see it full size. Everyone has his or her own concept of the desert. Mine is pretty complicated due to the fact that it includes flowers such as these. I think some believe the desert to be like the Arabian Desert shown in Lawrence of Arabia, but that type of desert doesn't really exist in Arizona. Low rainfall does not mean no rainfall and there are places where flowers grow albeit they are uncommon.