Telling Time by the Wind

These patterns are the natural effect of the wind blowing lightly across and moving the grass or twigs in a regular pattern. If the wind blew any harder, the patterns would be instantly erased. It has to blow just exactly right for the exact time it takes to make the pattern and then you have to come along at that precise time to capture the pattern with your camera.

Cross-bedding

This is the classic example of cross-bedding, that is sandstone composed of seashore ripples and sand dunes. The direction of the beds dipping indicates paleocurrents. See Wikipedia:Cross-bedding. These formations are prevalent in the Zion Canyon area of Souther Utah, one of my favorite places in the world. I love the patterns and the colors. You can't miss this hill if you drive from Mt. Carmel Junction to Zion.

Run Down

Most of the ranchers and farmers in the West used local wood sources to build their gates and stock pens. As time passed, farming and ranching either became mechanized or slowly deteriorated. It is very unusual to see new fences and new gates. Most of the time the old ones are simply patched and made do. If maintenance lags, the fences begin their inevitable decline. Sort of like old age.

Evening Shadows in the Haze

The skys are not clear all day at the Grand Canyon. There is an ongoing controversy over the huge power plants in the vicinity that cause a marked decrease in the visibility at the Canyon. There is a conflict between power production and clean air. During most of the past few years, clean air has lost the battle.

Tumbleweed

Tumbleweed or Russian Thistle, is a foreign import. When you see pictures of the Old West, with tumbleweeds blowing, they are definitely fake. Although the date is uncertain, the plant was imported from Russia in about 1870 and spread across the country. One day we were stopped by a 10 foot wall of tumbleweeds that had blown across the road. I haven't seen anyplace where the weed doesn't grow here in the desert.

Running

I understand that you can lose weight by running. I'm afraid I am past that stage. I can still walk but running sort-of out of the question. That is probably the reason this blog is not called Running Arizona. Not that I would want to Run Arizona either, but walking gives me more time to write this blog.

Run while you still can...

I think of all the monster movies I have seen and I still think that the real dinosaurs were probably worse than any of them have depicted so far. This one almost caught up with me until I took its picture. It was camera shy and ran away.

Posing as a Mallard

Mallard ducks are common but uncommonly beautiful. This one decided to pose for me in the setting sun. Even though we see these ducks frequently, I never get tired of their bight iridescent green neck feathers. 

Eating Dinner

These ducks were eating something in the Bermuda grass that seemed mighty tasty. They were eating to fast and furious, you would think is was the best meal they had ever found. We watched them for about ten minutes and they didn't stop, even when we walked right up to them. Too bad we don't know what it was, we could franchise it.

American Coot

OK, it is one thing to take pictures of birds, it is entirely another thing to figure out what bird is in the picture. I can generally recognize the most common birds, but then everything goes into the category of ducks and geese after that. This is an American Coot.

Duck at Dusk

You would think that ducks would be the easiest of birds to photograph. But you would be wrong, that category is filled by pigeons and doves. Since I am not a pigeon fan, for a lot of reasons we won't go into here, and doves generally don't do a lot of interesting things other than make a mess in my backyard, I am sort-of stuck with ducks and geese. You have to spend some time however, to get ducks and their relatives the geese at the right time. This was one of those times.

Feather

When I was studying Art at the university, I did a drawing of a feather, one of the very few I ended up liking. I am fascinated with the detail of these marvelous structures. In this case, the structure adds beauty. This is definitely a photo you need to click on to see the detail.

Rush Hour Traffic

I don't think we would like this in our backyard but for some reason, it did kind-of remind me of the freeways. I am not sure if this is all one plant or a large number of plants, but like grass it probably doesn't matter, the effect is the same. Some desert plants, like creosote bushes for example, like their space and send out poison from their roots to kill other plants. Obviously, this plant doesn't bother with poison, it overwhelms with numbers.

Almost Full

I have a new lens and it was time to see what it could do. One surefire way of seeing whether or not the lens is up to snuff, is to take a picture of the moon. Usually, on a clear night, the moon is too bright to get a good picture without stopping down the lens and shooting at a higher speed. This shot came out just right. I guess the lens passes muster. This is one of those pictures you need to click on to see the detail.

Understated, Unnoticed

Understated and unnoticed but beautiful all the same. These small cactus have even smaller flowers and if you are stuck on large and showy, you might pass by without ever seeing the strange beauty of these tiny blossoms.

Cute Cactus

All I can say about his little cactus is that it is cute, not cuddly, but cute. Even though these are small flowers, they are intensely colored and show extraordinary detail. You might want to click on this photo to see the detail. Some of these smaller cactus are so small, they are easily overlooked growing under a bush or in the shade of a tree.

A Field of Flowers

Some cactus are very sociable. The grow in clumps and all flower at the same time. Granted, this is not quite a field, but this about all you get with cactus. Where cactus are blooming you don't need to post signs that say, "Please do not pick the flowers."

Which way is up?

Sometimes we are fooled by what we see. We base our perceptions on our limited experience and what we see we interpret incorrectly. Photos add another dimension of misperception through the process of representing only a small portion of the overall scene and the selection of the view by the photographer. Photos have always been incorrectly considered accurate representations of reality, when in fact, they have always been manipulated. But that does not mean we cannot enjoy the beauty of a lake at sunset.

Upon Reflection

Just as the sun was going down, we spotted this small flock of geese sitting quietly on the lake. They were absolutely still, just as if they had been frozen in time. I think they were just enjoying the peacefulness of the sunset.

Ocotillo Blooms

Ocotillo is not a cactus. It is in its own plant family. Most of the year it looks like a bundle of dried sticks, but whenever it gets enough water, it will be covered with small green leaves. The leaves fall off as the ground dries and then the plant flowers. In some places ocotillo grows all over the hillsides like huge clumps of grass. If you cut off one of the branches and stick in the ground and water it, it will start growing. 

A Morning Sip

The contrast between the beauty of the small details of our desert and the overall impression, reminds me a trip I took when I was very young from Salt Lake City to Phoenix on a bus. I sat next to a lady who spent a lot of time complaining about the barren desert. I remember trying to tell her how beautiful it was in its own way. I don't think I succeeded. Maybe I am still trying.

Hunting for Food

Herons are some of the largest birds we see in the desert Southwest. I occasionally see them flying over our neighborhood, but usually they are associated with water. Phoenix has a large, mostly dry, river running through it, but in spots there are ponds and lakes. Because of the urban development, there are also many smaller lakes and water features that have contributed to the spread of these wonderful birds. This one was standing still for many minutes waiting for a meal to swim into view.

Dried Mesquite Beans

I spent five years doing Christmas lights on a huge scale at the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple. We put up thousands of lights every year. As a result, I came to appreciate simple instead of complex. Don't get me wrong, I love the lights, but now I appreciate simple things a lot more. This time of year, the mesquite trees provide their own version of decorations. Many times the beans fall off the tree, but in this case they dried in place providing a beautiful display.

Wetlands

Arizona is not usually associated with wetlands in the popular press, but this beautiful scene is only minutes from my home. We have started taking walks here regularly. Its not that we don't like our neighborhood, but this is much prettier.

All in a row

In a recent picture, I showed some geese swimming in a line. I didn't want to leave out the ducks also. They swim in a line for the same reason they fly in formation; it is more efficient. You might have to click on this photo to see the detail.

Contemplation

This goose sat there in the water for a long time without moving. It wasn't hunting food or doing anything else in particular, but it appeared frozen in thought. Sometimes when I work for a long time, I get to this state.

A Late Afternoon Commute

With an empty lake to navigate, these geese are acting like they are in rush hour traffic. But the explanation is simple, they are just lazy. The first goose in the row breaks the surface of the water and the following geese then have to use less effort to swim. This doesn't work on a freeway.

At the edge

Sometimes the edge of things is the best place to see the transitions. This photo is a study in the transition between the dry land of the shore and the water of the pond. Sometimes I try to live on the edge and it isn't very comfortable.You will have to click on this photo to see it.

Close to Retirement

If you look closely at this dragonfly, you can see how his wings are tattered and torn. He is just like me, very close, perhaps passed over into retirement. I could really identify with this poor insect. On the other hand, he doesn't have to put up with Medicare, doctors, insurance forms and retirement accounts. If his days are over, they are simply over. Mine are far less simple.

Lovely Climbing Vine

This lovely vine reminds me of some people I know. They are lovely, wonderful people but they go virtually unnoticed because they are neither flamboyant nor are the intrusive. This small vine does not have any showy flowers and it is not trying to take over the world, but it worth the time to stop and admire. Think what you are missing if you fail to recognize beauty in both plants and people.

Aloes

We first got interested in the aloes because of the medicinal qualities of the juice from the thick leaves of the plant. It is good for burns and especially sunburns. But it smells awful. For a while, adding aloe juice to things, including food, was all the rage. I haven't noticed that so much lately. The plants are relatively frost tolerant but burn out in direct sun in Mesa. They also grow like weeds and one plant can take over an entire flower bed if left to grow. These particular flowers are quite unusual.

Euphorbia Revisited

OK, so these are really weird euphorbia. The first photo is the open pod. The second photo is what they look like before they open. I am not sure if this can be characterized as a flower or not. By the way, these are not native to Arizona. They come from Africa.

Fairy Dusters

These are very unusual flowers. They are called fairy dusters. Usually, they are a bright red, but they can also be almost entirely white. Most of the unusual things are really small and unnoticeable in the desert. That is why walking in important. 

Purple Owl's Clover

Most wildflowers have unusual names. I haven't figured out what the relationship is between this beautiful purple flower and owls, but there is the name, none the less. You will have to walk around for quite a while to see this kind of wildflower display in the desert and you will have to be lucky enough to find a field of owl's clover. But it is worth the effort.

Spring in the Desert?

How do you tell if it is Spring in the desert? Because if it were summer, I wouldn't be out there walking around taking pictures. Well, granted, it could be Fall or Winter, but in this picture there are some lovely annual flowers and we know that they only bloom in the Spring. So, it must be Spring in the Desert.

A Touch of Spring

I am always impressed with pictures of fields of flowers, usually from places like the Netherlands or France. This abundance of color is dramatic but the desert is different. If there are flowers, they are usually small and hard to see. The individual flowers can be extraordinary, but together they only give a hint of color to the landscape. If you click on this picture, you can see they flowers on the side of the hill, just below the prominent rock outcropping.

Thorns among the flowers

I think this contrast is a metaphor for life itself. It illustrates the two extremes of our existence: joy and sorrow. Not that the cactus isn't beautiful in its own way, but the contrast here is more than apparent. Perhaps we wouldn't be so wrapped up in ourselves if we realized how disparate our nature can be.

Desert Moss

You don't usually associate moss and cool water with the desert, but in real life, the desert is full of surprises. We found this little tiny spring with just enough water to keep this spot of moss growing and green. There isn't enough water to wade in. Obviously. But it nice none the less.

More like Arizona

These are what Fall leaves look like most of the time around here. They still have a remarkable texture, but we don't get much color. Most of the traditional activities and images associated with the seasons in North America are simply totally missing in the desert. We have our own set of images involving cactus and warm, dry winters with brilliant sunshine.

Fall Leaves

Fall leaves are sometimes more about texture than they are about color. Especially when they are already off of the tree and into wind-made piles on the ground. This is what you might find a little further north than our desert since, as I look out the window, all of the trees are still green and have their leaves.

Spring Poppies

Recent rains in October sometimes portend a bounteous crop of wildflowers in the Spring. If it rains enough in October, there will be flowers, if not, no flowers (or very few). The flowers only appear in great numbers every few years and their appearance is entirely unpredictable. I fear that the amount of rain we have gotten this year is not going to turn into flowers in the Spring.

Old North Church

The steeple of the Old North Church was made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride" about the signals to be put in the steeple that ended up with the first major battle of the Revolutionary War. The Church was built in 1723 and is the oldest active church building in Boston and a National Historic Landmark. My memory of visiting the Church in my youth was entirely different than my more recent visit.

Boston

I lived in Boston when I was very young. I still remember some of the things, like boats on the Charles River, Harvard University and where we lived. I also remember it raining with the sun shining and a hurdy gurdy man. I can't remember if he had a monkey. We actually lived in Cambridge and Summerville. In some ways Boston is like I remember it.

Below Deck

This is a shot of the interior of the gun deck on the U.S.S. Constitution. I was trained as a tank commander and I could not even imagine what it would be like to have these guns firing while you tried to maneuver in this small space. 

Old Ironsides

I decided to include a photo of the whole ship. This is Old Ironsides or the U.S.S. Constitution. It is the oldest commissioned warship in the United States. Usually, it sits in Boston Harbor and acts like a floating museum, but once a year the ship is taken for a cruise around the harbor. Too bad they can't put up some sails.

Sailing in the Clouds

Every year on the 4th of July, the Old Ironsides warship is taken for a symbolic cruse around the Boston Harbor. I chose to show this event with a picture of the rigging against the sky. There are few places in the U.S. that preserve the traditions and spirit of the United States of America more than the City of Boston.

A Long Hall

 I don't take may interior shots. Mostly because I don't usually carry a camera around inside of a building. But this was an exception. This was taken in Boston, Massachusetts. You could probably guess that is would unlikely that such a place as this would be found in Arizona.

Mayflower Society

You might have guessed or already know that I am a genealogist. A lot of my wandering around is directly related to genealogy. This is the Mayflower Society House in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They have a beautiful garden and a very nice library. I wouldn't mind spending a lot more time at some of the places I visit.

The Mayflower

In 1957 a replica of the original Mayflower sailing ship was built in Devon, England and sailed across the Atlantic. The ship, now a museum, is located at the Plymouth Plantation, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. There are daily tours of the ship. I always thought it would be interesting to sail on the ocean and even sail with small boats, but I found out the reality is not as romantic as it might seem.