Spring Progress

Spring is progressing rapidly. Some of the trees are still waiting for their Summer cloak of leaves, but many are well along. There are two or three bare tree right out my window, but I see the first indications of buds and they too will soon be green and leafy. The flower trees are getting leaves and the flowers are disappearing into the green of the leaves. I understand there are more than a hundred varieties of narcissus flowers including daffodils. I might just take a few an put them on my blog.

A World of Flowers

When we began moving to Utah, it was the middle of the Summer and so we have now seen all four of the seasons. I can say that the Fall leaves are impressive but the Spring is spectacular. This is my first season change experience in many years. I do miss the cactus but the colors here are a lot of competition for the understated colors of the desert. You can hardly believe that only a few short weeks ago, these same trees were covered in snow.

The Flowers of Spring

With temperatures in the 70s, Spring has come to Utah Valley. I can look out my window at new green leaves and flowering trees. We had a gorgeous walk around the opening day of the Garden at Thanksgiving Point. I still miss the cactus, but the Narcissus and Tulips are a good substitute.

Echinus Geyser

Echinus Geyser is named for the hardly visible spiny formations that grow around the edge of this hot spring. In the image, they are not visible. This pool is highly acidic, almost as acidic as vinegar. It now erupts only rarely. Visiting Yellowstone National Park is extremely interesting, but unless you have the time and patience to sit for a long period of time, there are many of the geysers you will not see erupting. We happened to be there during a very active time and saw many more than I had ever seen before, but not Echinus.

Out my Window -- Deer on the Wall

I guess I would have to say that moving from the low desert of Arizona to Utah makes me take a few adjustments to my perspective. This is a common sight now out any one of the windows of our house. I had to take this photo through the glass because if I moved too much or opened the door, the deer would take off in a flash and run up the hill. It doesn't seem to matter as to the time of day or the weather, they come and go as they please and eat any of the bushes or flowers or whatever they find tasty. Right at the moment, they look sleek and fat and seem to have survived the winter in good health. The other day, we found a dead deer laying next to one of the houses in the neighborhood. My guess is that it was hit by a car on the street outside of our tiny subdivision. There is always something to keep us interested. By they way, the deer love to eat tulips but leave daffodils alone.

A Snake on the Trail

We spotted this snake crossing the Murdock Canal Trail on the east edge of Utah Valley. The trail is for bikes and walking so that is why it is paved. I was afraid the snake might get run over by the hoards of bicycles on the trail so I gently nudged it along its way into the brush.

BYU Bell Tower in a Storm

It was a cloudy day in the early Spring with intermittent rain, but I had to stop and take this photo of the Brigham Young University Bell Tower. This is a very familiar landmark on the campus and most students become used to the carillon concerts on the hour and during mid-day. I walk by this view many times a week on my trips back and forth to the BYU Family History Library in the center of the campus in the Harold B. Lee Library. I thought about taking this photo over when the skies were bright blue, but I really liked the idea of clouds and the rain.

Winter and Spring

The new leaves and flowers of Spring contrast with the snow covered slopes of Winter. Although the mountain snows are melting rapidly, it still looks cold and snowy on the mountain tops. The weather has been in the 70s down in the valley and the snow is long gone from the hillside out my window, but there is still a little bit of a chill in the air in the early morning and evening. Green leaves have almost covered the hill where there was snow just a few short weeks ago. I am ready for Summer and warm weather, but I will miss the beauty of the snow.

Today's Color is Yellow

This is the first year in many years, that I have been able to enjoy the bright yellow forsythia blossoms. When I was very young we had a forsythia bush next to our house in Phoenix. For some reason, people stopped planting forsythia bushes in the Salt River Valley. There are trends in landscape plants just as in everything else. Some of the other plants that have disappeared from new plantings include eucalyptus trees and banana trees.  

Another Study in Red

The large bromeliad is outside the common green or yellow of most of our common plant world.  Many flowers are red and some plants' leaves turn red in the Fall, but a plant that grows naturally with dark red leaves is not so common. This plant only flowers once but the blossoms may last for years.

A Study in Red

My earliest attempts at photography were all in black and white. As soon as I could afford color film, I started taking photos with color. Now, I really appreciate color. This is an excellent example of what can be done with today's technology.

Petroglyphs Revisited

From time to time, I find myself gazing at the evidence of history. This is not uncommon for someone who spends most of their life searching records in libraries, but it does impact me at odd times out in my wanderings in the deserts of the American Southwest. I was reminded of this fact when I took a train ride from Provo to Salt Lake and saw the graffiti painted on the sides of the railway cars on side rails along the way. People have a desire to be remembered and recognized. This desire is not new. It has existed since ancient times. I suggest that petroglyphs are only an historic manifestation of this same urge for immortality.

Make Your Choice

I recently had to have my bike fixed. It happens to be a Catrike 700. It turned out to be a series of repairs that took most of one day to finish. Because I like to find out how things work, I watched the very skilled and efficient repairman do his job. I was amazed at the number of specialized tools that the repairs required, including replacing the pedal shaft and the rear derailleur and the chain. You can probably tell why I have so many screwdrivers.

Polished Pebbles

Most of the rocks in this selection of tumbled or polished are either quartz or a quartz variation. The clear variety of quartz is often called rock crystal. But other varieties, depending on color and mineral inclusions, are amethyst, adventurine, Eisenkiesel, rose quartz, Tiger eye, Cat's eye, Jasper, Flint, Heliotrope, plasma, chalcedony, agate, carnelian and chrysoprase. See Types of Quartz.  Quartz is made up of fused sand or silicon dioxide, SiO_2. Quartz rates 7 on the Mohs Scale of hardness where diamond is rated as 10.

Leafy Spurge

This is Leafy Spurge or Euphorbia esula. We call this plant gopher weed, but apparently, gopher weed is another kind of plant. We have been noticing this plant growing around the neighborhood and then up into the nearby canyons. I assumed that it had been planted on purpose as an ornamental. But it turns out that it is an invasive species introduced in the 1800s from Eurasia. There are several closely related species of this particular plant. We had this growing in our backyard in Mesa, so we noticed it as a familiar plant.

An Impossible Photo

This is an impossible photo but the reason may not be obvious. The reason also has nothing to do with where I was standing when I took this photo. Also, the things that are impossible about this photo did not come from Photoshop. I did make some Photoshop-like edits, but the photo itself is what I actually saw through the eyepiece of the camera. Just think about it. The answer will come.

Fog Floating up the Canyon

When I thought about what life would be like when I moved to Utah recently. I imagined walks up the nearby canyons. Reality was that I did not take advantage of that opportunity as much as I thought I would for some time. But then things began to change. Now I am starting to get out and walk a lot more and as I walk, I think. Most of the time, I also have a camera handy and take advantage of what I see. Maybe you don't see the same things I do, but maybe you would if you looked around. When you look you need to really see what is around you.

A Rocky Cliff

Every time I look at a rocky cliff, I start to plan a climbing route up the cracks. I could see several routes on this rock face, but the rock looks really crumbly and it would likely be dangerous to climb. I think most of the climbers in this area stay to the smoother rock faces. Age and the many experiences I had falling off of cliffs, have probably seasoned both my judgment and my resolve. I now settle for looking at the cliffs and spend my time trying to walk without running into the same rocks I am look at.

A Window on the Sea

A window creates a view. In this case, the window is a natural arch, carved by wave action. The view is such a contrast to the dark rocks that it looks fake, but I can assure you I was standing there in the wind taking this photo. In fact this arch is somewhat famous, sitting as it does, right off the coast of Laie, Hawaii. This tranquil scene was a contrast to the bus loads of tourists who were being hustled about by overly aggressive tour directors who were less than polite. Fortunately, I have assiduously avoided that type of tour and we could walk around and look at the scenery without someone telling us to hurry or worse yet, explaining what we were seeing.

Standing Firm

Time and circumstances always prevail. But we must always stand firm in the face of adversity. As Harriet Beech Stowe said, "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

Beauty among the spines

March is the month to go to the desert and see the beginning of the cactus flower season. The flowers come on according to the altitude of the plants. Those in the low desert start to bloom and then the blooming progresses up into the higher country until mid-summer. There is also a season for each type of flower. Exotic cactus from different parts of the world bloom when their season comes and that may be almost anytime. But the Arizona-Sonora Desert has a predictable blooming pattern. This year, high in the mountains, I am looking forward to tulips, daffodils and crocuses. I feel very sad at missing the cactus flowers.

The Beauty of Petrified Wood

Petrified wood has always been a fascination of mine. Most of the wood looks like ordinary rock when out in the wilds of the deserts or mountains, but when it is cut and polished it becomes extraordinary. I think there is an analogy here to life in general sometimes we have to take a few cuts and get some major polishing done to show our talents and abilities. From another standpoint, I find that most people have a story to tell and some of the most ordinary looking people have the most extraordinary lives.

See What Erosion Can Do!

These rocks have been there for quite a while. But it does seem highly unlikely that they were the results of erosional forces. You need to look at the right hand side of the big brown rock at the smaller balanced rocks in the background. All of these formations were caused by the almost imperceptible work of wind, water and ice. Even though I have seen hundreds of balanced rocks in walking and driving around the country, I am still amazed at the fact that they can even exist. This is the Toadstool formations of Southern Utah, almost on the border with Arizona.

The Last of the Snow

Intermittent snow storms have produced additional snow cover in the mountains, but down here in Utah Valley, the new snow has been melting as fast as it falls. The first evidence of flowers and new Summer growth is beginning to show in warmer spots on the mountainside and lower in the valley. This image shows the last few spots of snow in the shade of the plants and rocks. With temperatures expected to be in the 60s this next week, we suspect there will be no snow in the valleys at all. We took a walk up the hill and saw one or two daffodils blooming and a few crocuses. We had some of those flowers before in the Arizona-Sonora Desert, but they bloomed in January, not March.

Early Morning Mountain Glow

If I watch carefully, I can see this out my front window and run outside and take some photos in the freezing cold of a winter's morning. In Utah Valley, the mountains are all around but the high Wasatch Mountains are to the East. So when the sun comes up, we are in the "shadow of the everlasting hills" as they say here in Utah. It also helps that our house is built on one of the highest levels above the valley floor. We do have houses looking down on us, but they are less than 100 feet higher on the mountain. My working window looks out on the side of the hill, but the front window, just to my right, looks out over the valley and if I move a few feet I can see the mountains to the north. I guess I am satisfied to trade spectacular views for warmer temperatures.

Rock Canyon Clouds

Walking in Rock Canyon is an interesting experience. The wilderness is just a few steps away from my door, but it is worlds away from the busy streets of Provo, Utah. This was a day of blustery rain and some snow, but the warm winds had quickly melted all the snow and left the clouds down into the Canyon to keep me company. Someone suggested that I will have to change the name of my blog from WalkingArizona to WalkingUtah, but that will never happen. I am still WalkingArizona even though I might live in Utah. Where I walk isn't the issue, it is who I am that matters.

Good Evening from BYU

There are few universities in the United States with a more dramatic setting than Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. We live right at the mouth of Rock Canyon, in the middle of the above image. I can walk into the Canyon within five minutes of my home and we are only five minutes by car from this spot in front of the BYU Art Museum. It snowed the last two days, but a little bit of sun and some warm air quickly melted all the new snow except on the high mountain in the background. I am captivated by the scenery.

The Crashing Waves

 Waves crashing against the shore hold multiple levels of fascination for me. Having lived most of my life in the desert, water is a novelty. This is especially true of water that is in some sort of violent motion. I could probably sit for hours and simply stare at the waves on the seashore. But I am relegated to living in an area that is practically, for all intents and purposes, a desert. However, I could look out my window and see the effects of eons of wave action. Looking at the side of the hill that was formed by the action of the waves on ancient Lake Bonneville. This huge lake filled most of what is now northern Utah and extended into other states. The geological features called "benches" around the valleys are in fact the ancient shoreline of this lake.

Orchids

I don't think that orchids have the appeal they once had. Not that they are any less spectacular, but now you see them, both real and artificial, in so many locations. They are even sold at Costco and other large stores. When I was much younger, the must give gift on Mother's Day and for high school proms, was an orchid. I still see flowers, but now, not so many are orchids. I think part of what is going on is an awareness of beauty of many types. Roses are still very popular and so are tulips. But not so much orchids.

Hawaiian Hibiscus

As I sit looking out the window at snow flakes turning the scene all white, it is comforting to remember that there are places that never see snow. Too bad. They don't know what they are missing. I have always loved to watch the rain but I love snow even more. It is so amazing that tiny flakes of ice can so quickly cover the ground and make piles and drifts. But we also have the visual reality of the fact that there are places where snow never falls and flowers bloom at all times of the year. Which do I love best? Mountains? Desert or the Jungle? I like all three. Perhaps you can tell I love all kinds of places from my photos.