Ice will suffice

Like Robert Frost, I am not so sure that fire is any more final than ice. But as a old desert dweller, I am really fascinated that water will run off the roof and form icicles. However, the warm weather in Provo, Utah since the first of the year has eliminated that aspect of my first complete Winter experience in many years. I am watching the last of the snow in our yard disappear, probably today. I suspect that any snow that falls from now on will only last a day or two before melting. I heard lately that Provo is considered the "sunbelt" of Utah for its lack of snow. Maybe, moving to the mountains will be a lot less trouble than all those from the Valley of Sun predicted.

Take A Seat Please

The weather in Provo, Utah this Winter has been very strange. We have really had only two snowstorms that left any amount of snow. The snow around our house as almost entirely melted and it looks like Spring has arrived, or will very shortly. I couldn't resist this photo of the two lawn chairs on our small patio. Today, all of that snow is long gone.

The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile

Imagine my surprise in walking into the parking lot at Brigham Young University after working in the Family History Library for a while, to see a blast from the past: the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. Years ago my brother and I created a website about hot dogs. I can't remember the last time I saw a Wienermobile. It must have been years ago in Phoenix. You can read all about them in Wikipedia: Wienermobile.

Turtle Climb

Welcome to the exciting sport of turtle climbing. This action packed event will keep you on the edge of your seat watching the contestants scramble for the prize money. Similar to Australian Rules Football, the contestants are encouraged to jump on each others' backs to gain a slight advantage in conquering the difficult slope. This year's slope was covered with the regulation National Turtle Climbing Association's green slimy algae just for this event. The early climbers, of course, had an advantage because the slime and the tree roots were still not too wet. It looks like the littlest competitor on the far left is no where near the top spot in the race. Tune in a week from now for an update on their furious progress.

Crochet Detail

I always associated crochet work with old people in old houses with doilies on the arms of their chairs and couches. Over the years as I have watched people crochet or knit or otherwise use their hands to be creative, I have wished that I had the manual dexterity to make such lovely designs. I have a very hard time understanding how the designs can turn out symmetrical and so finished looking. Maybe some children would be better off making beautiful things with their hands rather than playing video games.

Textures and Reflections

You can look at a city landscape and see people and buildings, or you can feel the landscape and see textures and reflections. Part of the interest of a photo taken with an inexpensive camera is the distortion that is so carefully removed from most commercial photography. The building is really not leaning at a steep angle but that is what the camera "sees."

Patterns of Construction

It is remarkable to walk down the street in a city with a vibrant and growing downtown area. Even after wading through all of the panhandlers, the city still has its charms. Salt Lake City has a definite downtown with higher buildings and a city center. This has always been a contrast to Phoenix with it 20 strip of Central Avenue. Over the years, the City of Phoenix has tried to allure people into the downtown area with a ballpark, a huge arena and other amenities, but on any given day and especially in the summer, it can look utterly deserted.

Cholla Vista

I don't know if you could ever consider a cholla cactus to be friendly. They are rather untidy as plants go and they form impenetrable walls of cactus plants. The Superstition Mountains are in the background and this is a typical view of the great Arizona/Sonora Desert. There are actually several other cactus species in this photo. They include prickly pear and the stately saguaro.

Superstition Vista

Once you get up and into the Superstition Mountains, you are confronted the vast distances and extremely rugged, rocky country. You can begin to understand how people can be lost in this seemingly small range of mountains on the edge of one the world's large cities. But you are truly in a wilderness that has resisted the changes of the world for the past hundreds of years of human settlement in the valley. There are only a few easily followed and marked trails, the rest are rugged and difficult to follow. The rocks are incredible and straying off a trail will soon lead you to sudden cliff or a blank rock wall.

Cityscape

Landscapes are particularly anonymous. You can see the sunset or the canyon or whatever, but there is no real connection with a particular event or time. Cities have some of the same elements but there is always a background of time. The people are really part of the city landscape. You can't really identify any of them and they blend into the surrounding buildings and become just another feature of the landscape.

Vista of Weaver's Needle

Weaver's Needle, located in the Superstition Mountains, is one of the most prominent and well-known landmarks in the entire State of Arizona. This is the classic view of the eroded volcanic core. It appears as one big rock, but in fact, it is actually three different needles separated by huge cracks. Weaver's Needle is mostly famous because of its association with the fabled Lost Dutchman Goldmine. When I was still in high school, along with two friends, I climbed the Needle and walked around on top for a while. Getting down was another matter, but I did manage to live through the experience to talk about it. Hiking from where I am standing, over to the base of the Needle is actually more difficult than climbing the Needle itself. You might notice the lone pine tree on the ridge. This view looks towards the Salt River Valley and the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area. But you cannot see any development in this photo. The day was cool and the sun was brilliant.

Mesa Arizona LDS Temple at Night

The Mesa, Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was announced in October of 1919 and construction was finished and the Temple dedicated from the 23rd to the 26th of October 1927 by President Heber J. Grant. The Temple was rededicated in April of 1975 after extensive renovation. I was present for the rededication of the Temple in 1975. I will miss the Temple now that I live in Provo, but we have another beautiful Temple, The Provo, Utah Temple, right down the street where I travel almost every day.

Mesa Arizona LDS Temple Lights

The annual Christmas lights at the Mesa, Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints draws huge crowds every year. 2014 was no different. The lights are spectacular. The air is just cool enough for a jacket. This year we also got to see the lights at the Salt Lake City, Utah Temple also. It was freezing cold and the wind was blowing but the lights were worth the effort.

Not Accustomed to Snow

As we traveled from our warm Arizona desert, walking around in shirt sleeves, we quickly went up into the mountains and hit the snow level. When the weather forecasts here in the West speak of the snow level, you really have to see it to understand. There really is a level or altitude where there is a division between the rain the snow. Usually, we see this dry desert outside our car window. On this trip, we saw desert shrubs and grasses covered with snow.

A Gathering of Saguaros

The Arizona/Sonora Desert's most famous denizen is the stately saguaro cactus. This hillside in the Superstition Mountains, east of the Salt River Valley, is an excellent example of the versatility of this huge cactus. A rocky hillside is the a perfect environment for a number of saguaro plants. The intense sunlight and heat of the summer are also conducive to their development.

Mountain Majesty

Priorities are an interesting thing in life. Most of my life, I have been involved with mountains. Mostly the dry or nearly dry, desert variety. In my moments of dreaming, I would think about climbing a mountain that looked like this. But it never happened. My priorities became family, work and church. Mountaineering and the freedom of the hills was always something I would do another time given different circumstances. Mountains still have their allure, but now I see them in perspective. I would be much sadder for neglecting my family than I ever would be for neglecting my mountain climbing.

Into the Forest

This would seem to be a typical view of a typical forest. But it isn't. This is the rain forest on Vancouver Island, Canada. The difference between this forest and those in Arizona and Utah is dramatic, but a photo such as this does not give you an idea of those differences.

Superstition Mountain Vista

The Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix, Arizona are unbelievably rugged and difficult to hike in. Each year people get lost and die out here in this maze of canyons and cliffs. While hiking the very heavily traveled Fremont Saddle Trail recently, even though I am an experienced Superstition Mountain hiker, I lost the trail three times. This is not serious on the Fremont Saddle Hike but elsewhere in the wilderness area, it could be fatal.

Stone People

Just a few days before the photos I took of snow on Lake Powell, I was basking in the warm, brilliant sunlight of the desert on a hike into the Superstition Mountains. Many of the most striking rock formations of the Superstitions are the "Stone People" or columns, sometimes called hoodoos, that line the ridges. This name supposedly comes from Native American legends concerning the origin of these formations. However, this legend is recorded in the book, Farish, Thomas Edwin. History of Arizona. Phoenix, Ariz: [publisher not identified], 1915, page 256.

Lake Powell in the Snow

New Year 2014 brought a huge snowstorm to the Southwest. We drove from Arizona to Utah and while crossing the border stopped briefly at the Dam to look at the scene over Lake Powell. It was well below freezing and we did not spend much time outside of our vehicle.

Out My Window New Years 2015

This is the view out my window where I work every day. This happens to be the view on New Years 2015. Actually the photo was taken on the second since I was traveling from Mesa, Arizona to Provo, Utah on the 1st. But since the temperature is in the single digits, I don't think it changed much since yesterday.

A Very Sad Pear

We are not quite sure why this pear was so sad. Perhaps it is because it was mostly eaten. I guess I would be sad too if I were in this shape. I guess there is not much we can do to cheer it up.