Patterns of Life

Everything is life has a pattern. Where we see chaos and turbulence, there is predictable order and symmetry. There are no random events, everything fits within its own sphere and has purpose in the plan of the universe. Our inability to discern the plan does not negate its existence, it merely points out our own limited understanding. Just as these rocks in this stream have a place and a function, we are all important elements in the pattern of life.

The Weir

Almost all the streams in the West are diverted or completely used for domestic and farm purposes. This is the end of a stream from the Wasatch Mountains that ends in grate that leads to a pipe used as an aqueduct that carries the water to a domestic water system for purification and use in the city. Below the weir, the stream is bone dry. It is neither good nor bad, it is a fact of life. Water is life and the cities would not exist without total appropriation. 

Smoke Tree

No matter how many trees and plants I have seen, I still find new ones I have never seen or noticed before. This is a Smoketree Cotinus coggygria. There are many plants that I am sure I must have seen but seeing is not noticing. I am sure this tree would not be one I would notice if it were not in this stage of its yearly growth. There is always a reason to be outside and always more to really see and more importantly, notice.

Water Lily

Some of the most impressive water lilies I have seen are on the Mississippi River. This is not one of them, but it it still a stellar example of these lovely floating flowers. I hope to be on the banks of the Mississippi in a few days and maybe the water lilies will be blooming. We'll see how they compare to this version from Utah. I know these flowers will grow in Arizona, but I haven't seen too many of them due to the intense heat in the summer.

The Golden Mean

The individual florets, those yellow dots in the center of the flowers, grow in two spirals extending from the center of the flower. One spiral has 21 arms and the second has 34 arms. Here is a close up of the center of the flower so you can better see the pattern:

These two numbers, 21 and 34 are part of a series of numbers called the Fibonacci series. This ratio is found throughout nature in flowers, pine cones, your body and sea shells, to name a few places. This ratio is called the Golden Mean or Ratio. See Wikipedia:Golden ratio

When you look at a flower, what do you see? I see lots of things.

Roses on the wall

"Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty

Even more than Sherlock Holmes, I believe we have more than hope from the flowers. I believe that flowers are one of the strongest testimonies of a living and loving God.

Look to the hills

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Fighting Fires

There have been a large number of forest fires in many states in the West. So far, I haven't seen any of the fires but I did see a helicopter getting water out of a river to dump on a fire somewhere. What I have seen is the miles of burned forests and denuded mountainsides. I am not sure that riding on the outside of a helicopter fighting a huge raging fire would be the safest job in the world.

Living with Color

I have noticed that my children choose entirely different colors for the walls of their houses than either my wife or I would choose. Colors have a huge part in our emotions and feelings. The colors we have in our houses often reflect our most basic values and feelings. Just as I know that many people ignore flowers, except those sold in stores or in printed ads, so I am sure that many of the most terrible parts of our society could be ameliorated by the simple act of cultivating flowers.

Waterfalls

There is an innate human fascination with falling water. Waterfalls are a total sensory experience with sound, movement and color. They are doubly fascinating to those of us who were raised in the desert where water in any form, is at a premium. I may dream about living where water runs in the rivers and streams form waterfalls, but I always return to the desert. I guess I admire plants that can survive with little or no rain, more than those that have perpetual watering from the spray of a conveniently placed waterfall.

A Perfect Sunflower (Almost)

Perfection in nature is a bugaboo. We have an idealized concept of a "perfect" sunflower and every example in nature fails to conform to our preconceived notion. If I took a thousand pictures of different sunflowers, would I find one closer to the ideal than this one? Perhaps we put too much stock in idealized perfection and need to look more at usefully adequate perfection? There are some things that can be perfected and we can do things perfectly, but the abstract concept of natural perfection may never be obtained, at least in this world.

Hollyhock Dolls

Hollyhocks are one of my favorite flowers. When we were very young, we would make hollyhock dolls from a small stick or a toothpick. You pick the flower and turn it stem side up, that makes the skirt. Then you push a sharp thin stick or toothpick up through the flower center and add one or two seed pods for a body and head. Here is a link to a video on how it is done, http://youtu.be/dIarJIV3Yqo

Stalactites and Soda Straws

Here is a beautiful example of stalactites, the bigger formations, and soda straws, the thin tubes. One of the mysteries of the world is why both formations exist side by side. What makes one formation grow into a giant carrot shape and the other into a slender straw-like tube? One thing I have found over the years is that the unknown and mysteries are right in front of us everyday. You are deluded if you think you understand how the world works. I know there are theories as to how both stalactites and soda straws are formed, and I understand the mechanism very well. But why one and not the other?

Koi

Koi is the Japanese word for carp. Apparently, the carp all got together and hired a PR firm and after extensive research decided that they would get more traction in the U.S. if they went by the Japanese name rather than plain old carp. In ancient times, when I was a Boy Scout, I learned about carp. My Scoutmaster told me that when you went fishing for carp, if you caught one, you would gut it, spread the fish out on a pine board and cook it until it was done and then eat the board. I think this came from the feeding habits of the carp which I will not go into in a family rated blog.

Stalactites

Stalactites are pretty remarkable. They seem to grow organically, but they are produced by individual drops of water evaporating and depositing minute layers of calcium carbonate. The colors come from minerals in the water. It is amazing to me that such beauty exists far underground and in complete darkness, until we visit this underground world and shine lights on the formations. These photos were taken with a hand-held camera with no flash.

Giant Sequoia Cones

Big things come in little packages. Sugar Pines are huge trees and have huge cones, but Sequoias are the largest trees in the world and have cones that are relatively small. These are Sequoia cones and are about an inch across. The seeds are only the size of a flake of oatmeal. At any one time, a Giant Sequoia may have as many as 11,000 or more cones and can produce from 300,000 to 400,000 seeds a year. It is probably amazing that the whole world isn't covered by Giant Sequoias, but they only grow in very limited areas of California.

Cave Drapery

One thing I have never had is claustrophobia. I have been in dozens of caves and the only time I ever got concerned was in a cave called Little Muddy in Nevada. I got caught in a crawl space only an inch or so larger than I was and began to panic. Actually, a flashlight I was wearing had gotten jammed between my chest and the rock. After a few minutes, I finally talked myself back to calm and collected and began the very slow process of extracting myself from the crack, one inch or less at a time. When I get an MRI, they always ask me if I dislike small spaces. I always say no, I just go to sleep.

Magnolia Blossom

Magnolias are inextricably associated with the Southern United States. The definitely do not grow in Mesa or anyplace in Southern Arizona. These large beautiful flowers would fry in an instant. I have seen large specimens growing as far north as Utah Valley in Central Utah and in Northern California. Unfortunately, I would classify these plants as large messy trees and not something I would plant in my own yard. But that doesn't stop me from admiring them in places where I do not have to rake up what falls.

Monkey Pine or Monkey Puzzle Tree

This is one of the strangest trees I have ever seen. I first saw these trees in South and Central America where they are fairly common. We called them Monkey Pines because they have curved tail-like branches. The real name is Monkey Puzzle Tree. I found this one growing in California. It is interesting how we come to associate things with certain places. I was struck with how incongruent this particular tree was, being so far from home.

Roses are forever

 Flowers speak to the eternal nature of the universe and the spiritual side of all that is human, good and beautiful. Evolution without God, can attempt to explain change, but it cannot explain beauty. Why are roses so beautiful? Do you think the pollenizers appreciate the beauty? Why do we appreciate their beauty if the flowers serve no purpose in our "evolution?" There is a purpose and the beauty of the flowers is a testament to its reality.

Petroglyphs

Despite their aura of mystery and antiquity, petroglyphs are relatively common. It has always amused me that scientists have spent so much time and effort trying to decipher them. If I painted a sign or put my initials on a rock, it would be called graffiti but scientists a 1000 years from now would likely attribute some religious significance to my rock art doodles. It is entirely possible that some petroglyphs have an underlying profound meaning. It is also just as possible that they were made by someone with time and their hands and a convenient rock, for all we know, the above says something like John loves Kate.

Shelf Fungi

These are some shelf or bracket fungi. They are hard and leathery and grow on the sides of both dead and living trees. I love the variety of fungi there are in the forest. I especially like shelf fungi and mushrooms. They are very distinctive and have beautiful colors and forms. They are also part of the natural world that is mostly ignored. Looking for these small details in the forest is one of the most memorable part of being out in the natural world away from computers and freeways.

Spider Tree Bark

What if your world was confined to the bark of one tree? What would you know or even think about the rest of the world? What if you world was confined to one small planet circling an average star? What would you think or even know about the rest of the universe? I have often noted that your perspective about life is usually governed by the limitations of your vision of reality. You will need to click on this photo to see the detail.

Another Yellow Rose?

I spent a great number of years cultivating roses. Mesa, Arizona is not the rose capital of the world. It is moderately difficult to grow roses when summer temperatures are close to 120 degrees. The flowers have a tendency to dry up before they fully blossom. I may go back to growing roses, but for the time being, I am enjoying my cactus. Meanwhile, I can enjoy roses where I find them, usually in places outside of the desert, but not always.

The Yellow Rose

John Wayne starred in a movie called the Yellow Rose of Texas. This is one of the movies I thought was pretty sad and impressive when I was very young. When I have seen it in later years, all I can think of is how fake the Indians looked and why Plains Indians were running around in Kanab, Utah. It is funny how you come to associate things that really aren't related. Here is your daily dose of flowers and/or scenery.

Sugar Pine Cones

I love the shape and texture of pine cones. The photo above give you an impression of the different textures on the forest floor in a beautiful pine forest. What it does not give you is a perspective on the size of the cones. The photo below gives you some idea of the size of sugar pine cones. Yes, they are all over the ground. We used one for a weight to keep paper from blowing off our camping table. 

Firecracker Tree

When I lived in Central and South America, these lovely red flowering trees were common. I called them Firecracker Trees. It is actually a Ceibo, the national flower of Argentina and Uruguay. In English it is commonly called a Coral Tree or Cockspur Coral Tree. It is interesting how seeing a familiar flower or tree will bring back memories of times long past and how certain views have become fixed in my memory. After almost 50 years, I can still see the beautiful red flowers.

Soda Straws, Stalactites and Stalacmites

I have been in dozens and dozens of caves, some in Arizona and around the U.S. This is a recent picture in the California Caverns, likely the first major cave discovered in California. The thin formations hanging from the ceiling are called soda straws. They are very delicate and easily broken and destroyed. The larger formations on the ceiling are stalactites. the white column in the middle-left is a stalagmite. These photos are taken without a flash using available light. I do not like flash photography.

Ghost Flowers

I love dandelions. They have gorgeous flowers and the seeds are also beautiful. I call them ghost flowers. They disappear in a puff of wind and sail forth to plant more dandelions. A weed is any plant we don't like or appreciate. But I view these as friends not weeds. I am not sure my neighbors agree with me. 

Zinnias

I am always fascinated with the variety of forms of zinnias. I have tried to grow them in the past, but in Summer heat in the Salt River Valley usually turns them into brown dried flowers almost before they bloom. So it is a real treat to see some growing green and in profusion, without burned leaves and browned flowers. They are a very cheerful flower and are good landscape plants (in other places than the desert).

Crepe Myrtle

Whenever I travel to other areas of the United States, I enjoy the different flowers and trees. Crepe Myrtle is common in the South but non-existent here in Arizona. I am sure the heat and lack of humidity are a factor, but you would think that it would grow in some areas of the state. I think that growing flowers is a good indicator of the level of civilization found in any area of the country. A land without flowers, is a land without education and culture.

Mystery Photos -- More Babies

Here is another selection of mystery photos of babies. There is no real way to tell, in some cases, if these are the same child at different ages or different children. The photos come from glass negatives preserved from an early Arizona female professional photographer, Margaret Godfrey Jarvis Overson. You can tell that there has been a substantial change in the way babies are photographed today from these old photos. Likely, all of these photos were taken before 1920.

A Forest Surprise

 The Western Sierra Nevada is anything but cool and wet in the summer months. It is hot and dry unless you go to extreme altitude. This day was well into the high 80s and dry as a bone. Almost all the Spring wildflowers had disappeared, but here was one lovely arrangement that survived the heat. We had to walk a long way into the forest before we say these flowers, but that is always a matter of chance. They could have been right next to our campsite.

Another Peacock

I couldn't resist posting another peacock. This is a white peacock. Both peacock photos have the same problem, a shadow of the photographer. Here, with a lot of effort, the shadow could have been removed, but what is more important in taking photos is to watch the sun and make sure you have the right composition in the first place. Unfortunately here, I could not move back or to the side to get the photo. Here is a quick job of removing the shadow:

I could have spent more time but the point is merely to illustrate the idea of watching where your shadow falls and avoiding the time spent in the first place.

Along the road

This photo shows the contrast between light and dark. Some of the most commonplace views have the greatest potential for contrast, texture and design. Here you can see the edge of the salt desert. If you were to keep going north, you would soon reach the Salt Flats. Each of the pebbles along this dirt road are coated with salt. The ground is so hard and dry, it is almost like pavement. But at the same time, although you cannot see it in this picture, there is so much dust when you drive by the road, you hope no one is coming from the opposite direction because if they are, you will have to stop until the dust clears.

The Salt Desert

We associate scenes of desolation with the vast deserts of the Middle East, but Arizona and Utah do have their deserts despite the efforts of the tourist bureaus to convince you otherwise. If you look at the ground carefully, you will see the salt deposits in this vast plain, just south of the famous Utah Salt Flats. The Western Deserts of Utah have an attraction all their own, but certainly are not as visited as other areas of dramatic scenery. This is still one of my favorite places on earth.

A Mountain Storm

As you gain altitude, the weather can change dramatically. When you look at the mountains, you may be standing in warm sunshine while just a few miles away, there is a storm raging on the mountains. Although I live in the desert, we have a similar phenomena when it can be raining on one side of the street and not on the other side. Even though I love warm sunny days, I also love clouds and storms, especially for taking photos. You will need to click on this photo to see the whole thing.

Peacock

When I was a lot younger, we had semi-wild peacocks in our neighborhood. I can distinctly remember hearing their very loud cries early in the morning on hot summer days. Beauty always comes at a price.

Texture

As I look around my highly manufactured world, I long for texture. Plastic is nice for some things, but there is a lack of real texture to any of the objects that we use daily. Everything has been designed to prevent injury to the extent that there is no real living left in everyday objects. Nature is not designed to avoid lawsuits for product liability.

The Perfect Form

Does form follow function or is function a byproduct of form. Nature would seem to answer both questions in the affirmative. Form and function are inseparably connected. In the design world, we should look more to nature and less to our own preconceived concepts of what nature is all about. We can learn more about design from an hour spent in a grassy field that in a year at a university. But with most, sitting in a field for an hour would not produce any learning at all. Why is that? Because we have been conditioned to turn off learning in informal situations. 

Color and Texture

We are surrounded by beauty. There is a big difference between looking at something as simple as grass growing in the field and seeing it. We can only see what we know about. We need to study the world around us to see the beauty. If you have never seen grass as beautiful, you need to learn about it and look carefully at it, then the true beauty will begin to reveal itself to your soul.

Mystery Photos -- Babies

I have a hard enough time telling my own children's baby pictures apart, these are photos taken by Margaret Godfrey Jarvis Overson in the early years of the 20th Century. The top photo was likely taken much earlier than the bottom three. Any guesses?