Spanish Moss

Of course Spanish Moss isn't really a moss, it is really a flowering plant. But it is an epiphyte that absorbs its nutrients from the water and the air. This is another plant that we seldom see out here in the desert Southwest.

A Small Visitor

The line between cute and pest is very vague. I like grasshoppers in general although I know they can be destructive. I guess since I am not a farmer, I don't have to think about it. But there are pests I do have to think about. I guess everyone has their own brand of pests.

Early Spring Flowers

While most of the Northern Hemisphere is getting ready for Winter, we are just getting into the cooler season when the desert is more accessible. Despite the drought, we will likely have a few Spring flowers. Perhaps not the super abundant displays of some wetter years, but nice, none the less. But right now, we are enjoying the cooler weather.

A Desert Canyon

One of the most fantastic places on earth is the Superstition Wilderness Area and the surrounding mountains and canyons. This photo is typical of the landscape of this rugged and inaccessible area. I do not spend enough time hiking this area, but now that the temperatures have dropped, it is calling to me again.

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A Chance Encounter

I think I would have been happy to look for dinosaur bones all my life, but it just didn't work out that way. Nonetheless, I am always on the lookout for their remains. Sometimes I am surprised at what I find. I have decided, by the way, that I am not particularly interested in meeting them while they are still alive.

Summer Thunderstorm

When I was young, I used to race around the countryside on dirt roads trying to catch the rain from thunderstorms. If we finally were able to find one and get a little rain. We would jump out of the car and dance in the rain. I did catch this one, but I didn't jump out of the car and dance in the rain. I guess that part loses its appeal as you get older.

Flower Snowflakes

These flowers reminded me of snowflakes. I guess I haven't seen snow fall for a while, probably almost a year. When I have gone "up North," the weather has been cold but clear. I wouldn't mind a little snow now and again, but then I live in the desert and we don't have to contend with all the fuss and mess of snow. But I still enjoy the colors and forms of the snowflakes. Maybe I will get some snow pictures this year.

The Old Chimney

This is another of those contrasts between the desert and the rest of the country. This old chimney is all that is left standing from an previous house or building. If this were in my part of the country, most of the structure would still be there and there wouldn't be all those trees!

Leaves and Grass

Some people have an innate artistic ability. Whatever they do, looks beautiful. Well, guess what? Almost everything we see around us is beautiful in its own way, even a simple arrangement of fallen leaves and grass can be a stunning example of beauty. This photo has texture, form and color. What else is there?

Atlanta Georgia Temple

This beautiful and serene building is located on a small rise above a busy street just north of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. It is a Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Whenever I have the opportunity, I take time to go by and visit the Temples in all of the parts of the country where I travel. For an old Arizona desert dweller, it was a very cold and windy day when we were in Atlanta.

A Two-Harness Loom

In my last post, I talked about weaving. This is an old two-harness loom. The harnesses hang from the upright part called the castle. The levers at the bottom are used to alternately raise and lower the harnesses which pull different sets of warp threads allowing the weft to make a pattern in the cloth and to interlace the weft and the warp to make the cloth.

The Old Spinning Wheel

For quite a long time, I was very involved in weaving. Spinning and weaving are both very technical crafts. They both require a deep knowledge of the materials and an idea of what the final product will look like. I admire anyone who can learn to weave and even more, I admire those who can spin.

Growing

For some reason, this grass that has escaped the mowers caught my eye and reminded me of some Bermuda grass that grows on the 202 Freeway in downtown Phoenix. The Bermuda grass is remarkable, because it continues to grow in cracks in the cement on the upper level of a huge interchange, far from the ground and with no apparent water supply. It also reminded me of our neighbors who are in the process of removing two huge pine trees from there front yard. The trees have completely ruined a low patio wall. Life is persistent and will continue to grow despite adversity.

The End of the Millrace

The millrace is the canal or stream from a ditch that supplies water to the water wheel. The millrace was usually constructed by putting a wier or diversion dam on the stream and digging a canal alongside the stream or river until the drop was sufficient to build a mill. The mill wheel was constructed to have scoops or buckets that would fill with water and force the wheel to turn, thus supplying power to the wheel shaft that could be used to power a grinder with a millstone.

The Mill Wheel

The use of direct water power for milling operations has almost disappeared from the United States. There are very few mills still operating. The water-powered mill has now passed into folklore. In any farming community, the mill was one of the central places for gathering and communicating. Today, they are all but forgotten.

A Red Camillia

These types of photos can be taken with a macro-lens or, in this case, with a long telephoto lens. I choose the telephoto lens option because I have more flexibility in finding subjects. I can stand four feet away from the subject and get this kind of resolution. You need to click on the image to see the detail.

Out the Window

Sometimes our view of the world is confused and unremarkable. We seem to be standing in the dark looking out on a scene that makes no sense. It helps to get a sense of perspective and realize that our view is limited by the bounds we set on it. If we simply move on and take a new view, we will see more of what we are looking for and begin to understand our pervious limited view.

The Old Anvil

Seemingly common objects hold a special place in my heart. Some of my ancestors were blacksmiths and seeing an old anvil evokes images of hard, sweaty, and dangerous work done by men who supported their families and passed on their legacy to me. Knowing about my family gives depth to what I see and do as a photographer.

The Old Door Latch

With all of the so-called reproductions today, it is pretty difficult to tell the difference between an old item and a reproduction. But this is the real thing (or a very good reproduction). Usually, you can tell by looking closely to see if everything is perfectly symmetrical. Look closely here, you will see that the two ends of the door handle are not quite the same. Likely indicating that the handle was hand made.

A White Camillia

I love the smell of camillias. They are very difficult to grow in Arizona due to the alkaline soils. They are definitely and acid loving plant. They will grow well in the shade here in Mesa if you acidify the soil enough. I like the form of this plant and the leave caught on the branch.

A Quiet View

I was watching a video of people fighting over products at Walmart and thinking about how pointless it was. There is nothing in a Walmart, that I am aware of, that is worth fighting over. I wonder if those people thought that the few dollars they saved were worth the fight and the police involvement? This view above is free. You don't have to fight over it to enjoy it. Think about it.

A two-colored flower

Apparently, this flower couldn't make up its mind to be either brilliantly yellow or red. Absolutely gorgeous. As you can tell, I will never run out of flowers to photograph while walking around Arizona and elsewhere. 

New York, New York

New York takes too much energy. You have to live a fast-paced sort-of frantic life just to get around and survive from day to day. I like mountains and deserts. New York is an interesting place to visit if you are young and resilient. Those who love it, really love it, but I can't imagine living there.

Mystery Bird

Usually, after searching for a while, I can identify almost any bird. This is an exception. It is apparently a non-native to the United States and doesn't come up on any of the common bird lists. One thing I do know, that you can always find someone who knows almost everything on the Internet. So how about some help? Please leave a comment if you know what this is.

Later: Commentators responded: it is a Black-necked Swan, Cygnus melanocoryphus from South America. Not a local bird.

Banana Leaves

When I was young, we had a clump of banana plants growing on the side of out house. In those days, we didn't have air conditioning, only evaporative coolers, we called swamp coolers. There was no way to recirculate the water in the cooler, so there would be a steady drip line with water running day and night. That drip line went into the clump of banana plants and they would grow spectacularly. I could lay on the grass and watch them grow. The plants would try to produce bananas, but Phoenix was hot enough in the summer but too cool in the winter. We never did get any bananas, just the flowers.

A Quiet Stream

There are times when I have to leave all the hustle and bustle and computers and Internet and just enjoy being outside with a camera. I don't really have to have a specific location in mind, but it helps to be near something as beautiful as this stream. You have to enjoy those minutes while they are happening because soon it is back to the computer and the Internet and the scene fades from view and goes into the memory of all such places.

Fall Reflections

If this looks like some of my other pictures, there is probably a reason. I love the patterns and colors of the leaves and the contrast with the almost black water. If you look at this picture (click on it first) you will see why I enjoy this type of composition.

The Old Bridge

One summer, while at Scout camp, we built a bridge over a very small creek. We thought it was quite an accomplishment and took pictures with all of us standing on the bridge. I think we lacked the concept of a bridge. This one has evidently been standing there for a very long time and it looks like it will be there long after I go to the care centers and subsequently to my ultimate reward.

Working

You need to click on this photo to see the detail. This is a working water driven mill, one of the few still in commercial operation. Although I love landscapes and wildlife photos, I am also fascinated with the interplay of light and shadow in this obviously industrial type of environment. You can see the movement of the machinery and the texture of the stone wall of the mill.

Black Hawk Corn Sheller

Black Hawk was the manufacturer of a number of models of grinding equipment. A corn sheller was used to mechanically remove the corn kernels from the corn cob. OK, I usually do this with my teeth when I eat corn-on-the-cob, but if I had to do this for a whole field of corn, I would probably try to find a mechanical way to do this.

Millstone

There are a lot of references to millstones, even in the Scriptures, but I would guess that not too many people these days have actually seen one. Here is a millstone. They are most of all made of stone, usually a hard variety and very heavy. This one is about four feet across and just over one foot thick. References to millstones are all very appropriate.

More Colors of Fall

This tree has all the colors, from green to red. I think that Fall exists to give Winter a rousing send off. We need time to get ready and the trees and bushes give us fair warning that cold days are ahead (unless, of course, you happen to live somewhere like Mesa, Arizona). One of the things I missed about living in the mountains was the Fall colors, but not enough to actually move somewhere else.

Fall Reflections

My feeling for Fall are contradictory because we don't really have a "Fall Season" as such in the desert. Our Fall consists of lower daytime temperatures. Some tree's leaves do change but not all at the same time. Most of the trees are green all year around and so they just drop leaves at random through out the year. It is almost Thanksgiving and as I look out the window, I don't see even a hint of color or any leaves falling.

The Colors of Fall

Theoretically, you could enjoy the colors of Fall all year. You would just have to keep traveling from the North Pole to the South Pole all the time, spending time in each place where the Fall leaves were turning. But maybe that wouldn't work. In the tropics there is really no Fall, there is only a wet season and a dry season. Hmm. Too bad. It sounded like a good idea at first.

Face in the Tree

I see faces as I walk about. You can too. 

Antique Hand Truck

Old tools hold a fascination with their utility and age. This is a tool I could have used many times and have used its lineal descendants on many occasions. You never know how long something like this might continue to be used.

A Western Icon

As long as we are talking about Western Icons, here is one that is slowly disappearing and fading from our memories. Us old folks grew up with these. But I venture to say that most of the younger generation has never seen a real one, outside of pictures and oblique references.

The Old Skull

There is a tradition I have never understood of mounting the skulls of dead cows and other animals. I realize that this practice is almost universally observed and there are few icons of the Old West more pervasive than the cow or buffalo (bison) skull. But I must admit, that this one had character.

A Touch of Fall

Not all of life is grand vistas and views from the mountain tops, sometimes we have to be content with what we can see that is right in front of us. I hope I always have a window on the world so that I can see the beauty that is all around me.

Champion Hay Loader

When I was young, there was a lot of this old type of farm equipment abandoned in yards around my home. I was always fascinated with the machinery. Now that I am old, I am more interested than ever, but I am determined to identify what it is and how it was used. This is a mechanical hay loader. There are rakes on the front to pick up the mown hay and then there was a conveyor mechanism that moved the hay up and over onto the hay wagon.

Sunset on the Fall Leaves

In the evening the light has a special color and it is a race to see if I can capture the moment before the light fades to the point where the color disappears. The light is almost magical but the camera is cold and unforgiving. It never seems to quite capture the feeling of the moment and the memory of the color is always more impressive than the resultant photograph.

Bennett Place

This is Bennett Place, the location of the largest surrender of Confederate Troops at the close of the U.S. Civil War. Here, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston met with Union General William T. Sherman to draft and sign the surrender papers for Southern armies in the Carolinas. I have always been fascinated by the Civil War and have read dozens of books on the War. During my undergraduate years at the University of Utah, I had more hours in military history than any other subject. The house is a re-creation but the chimney is original and the location is undisputed. 

The Old Barn

I can't imagine taking a picture of the "old shopping center" or the old cement block building. I think there is a basic relationship to wood and wooden structures. Even though I live in a house covered with stucco, that doesn't mean I have to like stucco.

Downstream

You might think that you could point your camera in almost any direction at the Grand Canyon and get a beautiful picture. Well, you would be wrong. Composition is important. Something in the picture has to give a sense of size and depth, otherwise the picture looks "fake." You can take a hundred pictures and only a small handful will really tell the story about the Canyon. Is this one of them?

Into the Depths

It is no wonder that there is a constant background of news stories in Arizona and Utah about lost or stranded hikers. Some of the places in both states are so rugged and inaccesible that they can overcome even the most seasoned hiker or outdoor person. This is one of those places. Not only is it steep and narrow, but its muddy and covered with icy snow. Some places are better experienced from a distance.

The Mighty Colorado River

This is a photo you need to click on to see the river clearly. This is one of the few spots from the Rim looking into the Grand Canyon that you can easily reach where the River is visible for a considerable number of miles. It is just about a mile straight down from the Rim to the River and many more miles by trail. Because of the contrast between the River and the cliffs, when you are standing on the river bank at the bottom of the Canyon, you get this feeling of the immensity of the power of the moving water. It can be awe inspiring.

Coated in Ice

I have had my share of ice and snow and cold. We have camped for days in sub-zero weather, buried in ten feet or more of snow. You might suggest that, like many snow birds, that is why I live in the dessert. You would be wrong. I like snow, ice and cold. But there are always trade offs. All in all I enjoyed sitting outside in the warm November sun yesterday and feeling the sunshine on my now balding head.

Sentinels of the Desert

Now I am back where I belong, in the desert Southwest and specifically in the Arizona-Sonora Desert surrounding my home. I love beautiful fall leaves and I love the green grass and the forests of the East, but I am always glad to come home. Thomas Wolfe said you can't go home again, but I prove him wrong, I come home again and again and again. I still have some beautiful pictures of Fall leaves to share, but I needed to get back home first.

The Old Disk Harrow

This old disk harrow is something you might see parked out in front of an old farm, rusting away to oblivion. The disk harrow was used to break up the clods of dirt created when the field was plowed. This one is designed to be pulled either by a team of horses or oxen or by a mechanical tractor. 

Huge Lily Pads

These three photos are not great photos as such. They are intended to show huge lily pads and give an idea of the structure of these huge pads. Sometimes my photos are mainly to record something that I have learned while walking.