Grenada, Spain

The first time I saw a view similar to this one was in Rosario, Argentina. I still remember the impact this view had on me now more than 50 years later. I was reminded of that impact when I saw this lovely view of Grenada, Spain from the Alhambra. There are few cities in the United States that have the complexity of form and texture illustrated by this view. Maybe if I had begun reproducing this scene in paint or pastel, I might have been a painter rather than a photographer. But just think, I wouldn't be posting all these photos.

The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Spain

The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Spain is one of the best known and most important such buildings in all the world and is a recognized World Heritage Site. I work at taking photos with few or no people. In this case, there were thousands of people visiting the building but I managed to find a relatively quiet part. Our visit to The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Spain was the highlight of our short time in Córdoba, and we keep traveling. I guess WalkingArizona is getting some wider area to walk.

Roman Amphitheater of Mérida

When I was living on the East Coast of the United States, we visited historic sites that went back 300 to 500 years or so and that was old. Now, I know what old really means. This is the Roman amphitheater of Mérida, Spain and it goes back about 2000 years. There are lots of things around these southern Spanish towns that old and older. In this case, it is sad to think of all the violence and killing that went on in this location. Not all of the so-called monuments represent positive human values.

Ávila, Spain: Churches and Walls

It seems incongruous to drive on a freeway and then through a modern looking city to arrive at a huge wall and find an ancient city in the middle of the modern one. Ávila, Spain has an impressive wall and quite a few churches. It does seem to be missing a castle, but you never know, there might be one or two. You can walk around the inner city on the ancient wall or you can walk around the wall outside of the city.

A Castle on a Hill

We have been climbing a lot of stairs and walking long distances lately to explore some of the castles and churches in Spain. Some of the castles have been largely deserted and remote, others have been in the middle of towns and full of hundreds of tourists. This is the Alcázar in Segovia and is definitely in the tourist category. Like most of the older buildings, this castle has been reconstructed and maintained. Here is a short explanation about the structure from Wikipedia: Alcázar of Segovia.

The Alcázar of Segovia (literally, "Segovia Fortress") is a medieval alcázar located in the city of Segovia (Castile and León, Spain), a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Rising out on a rocky crag above the confluence of two rivers near the Guadarrama mountains, it is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape – like the bow of a ship. The Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then. It is currently used as a museum and a military archives building.

 

The Walled City of Segovia, Spain

This is Segovia, Spain. The prominent building in the middle of the image is the Cathedral. The photo was taken from the Alcázar of Segovia (the Castle). The views of the city are endlessly fascinating. I will keep sharing them until we move on to a new place and a new topic.

Church from the time of the Crusades

Just outside of the walls of the city of Segovia this small church called the Church of Vera Cruz (The Church of the True Cross). It is a 13th Century building with a 12-sided exterior built by the Knights Templar.

Cathedral of Segovia, Spain

Segovia Cathedral is the Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral located in the main square (Plaza Mayor) of the city of Segovia, The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and was built in a late Gothic style in the mid-16th century. The original cathedral located next to the palace was destroyed and the newer cathedral was built at some distance from the palace. See Wikipedia: Segovia Cathedral. We spent a couple of hours walking around inside the Cathedral.

The Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain

This is the first and most imposing old structure that I have seen outside of North and South America. Here is a short explanation of the date and method of construction from Wikipedia: Aqueduct of Segovia.

As the aqueduct lacks a legible inscription (one was apparently located in the structure's attic, or top portion), the date of construction cannot be definitively determined. The general date of the Aqueduct's construction was long a mystery, although it was thought to have been during the 1st century AD, during the reigns of the Emperors Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan. At the end of the 20th century, Géza Alföldy deciphered the text on the dedication plaque by studying the anchors that held the now missing bronze letters in place. He determined that Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96) ordered its construction and the year 98 A.D. was proposed as the most likely date of completion. However, in 2016 evidence was published which points out to a slightly later date, by 112 AD. 

The first section of the aqueduct contains 36 semi-circular arches, rebuilt in the 15th century to restore a portion destroyed by the Moors in 1072. The line of arches is organized in two levels, decorated simply, in which simple moulds hold the frame and provide support to the structure. On the upper level, the arches are 5.1 meters (16.1 ft) wide. Built in two levels, the top pillars are both shorter and narrower than those on the lower level. The top of the structure contains the channel through which water travels, through a U-shaped hollow measuring 0.55 tall by 0.46 meter diameter. The top of each pillar has a cross-section measuring 1.8 by 2.5 meters (5.9 by 8.2 feet), while the base cross-section measures 2.4 by 3 meters (7.9 by 9.8 feet). 

The aqueduct is built of unmortared, brick-like granite blocks. During the Roman era, each of the three tallest arches displayed a sign in bronze letters, indicating the name of its builder along with the date of construction. Today, two niches are still visible, one on each side of the aqueduct. One of them is known to have held the image of Hercules, who, according to legend, was founder of the city. The other niche now contains the images of the Virgen de la Fuencisla (the patroness of Segovia) and Saint Stephen.

We visited the Aqueduct on the day of the Feast of St. John the Baptist, a national holiday. 

How do you know you are in Spain?

The answer to the question in the title is when you are standing on a 14th Century castle taking a photo of a church in a town with a wall built about the same time. Starting our trips to Europe in Spain helps us get acclimatized since almost everything we see is relatively familiar after living in Panama and Argentina except the castle. But come to think about it, there were a couple of old castles in Panama.

Flounder 10.95 Euros a Kilo

We recently spent some time in Spain and I found this flounder for 10.95 Euros a kilo. This is not a common fish to see for sale in the western part of the United States away from the West Coast. I will have quite a few more photos from our trip to Spain in the near future.

Contemporary Industrial Design

The spaces created by contemporary industrial design are strongly linear and rectangular. Quoting from a blog post entitled, "Key Traits of Industrial Interior Design:"

Industrial design showcases neutral tones, utilitarian objects, and wood and metal surfaces. The result: a “warehouse look” that combines a true industrial feel with a range of other styles, from the earthy to the polished.

This image is from the front of a Skylink tram circling the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. 

Brandt Automatic Cashier

The latest thing in retail point-of-sale is the ability to tap your credit card to make a purchase. This Brandt Automatic Cashier. The idea is that you enter the amount of sale and it dispenses the change. Here is a short explanation of the machine from a blog post entitled, "Antiques and appraisals: The Brandt Automatic Cashier."

Brandt Manufacturing was founded by Edward J. Brandt of Watertown, Wisconsin. In the early 1920s he was employed at a small bank, and was in charge of making a lot of coin transactions as well as payroll disbursement for local companies. Because working with change was so time-consuming, he wanted to find an easier and error-free way to handle coins. After banking hours Brandt developed this automatic cashier to help. By the late 1950s he had expanded his business into Chicago (where he had built a large factory), Washington, DC, and Canada. At the 1964 World’s Fair, all coin receipts were handled using these machines. Brandt Manufacturing went through several changes and buyouts over the years. The Glory Group of Japan purchased the company in 2012.

Most of the same machines I saw online dated from the 1920s. Here is another link for even more information about the company.

http://www.watertownhistory.org/articles/BrandtManufacturing.htm

Detail from the Laie, Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Life is all in the details. I have been noticing all of the details surrounding me lately and discovering a whole new world of places right around me. Panoramas are nice, but when you focus on specific details, you get an entirely different perspective. Here is a detail from the Laie, Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Almost all the views of this lovely temple show so much of the surroundings, this lovely frieze at the top of the temple is lost. If you go back through all my thousands of photos, you will see some details of the world that you probably have never noticed before.

Beach View, Costa Rica

Summer is rapidly approaching and my photos will change from snow and the spring flowers to summer scenes as I travel around the world. I would like to revisit Costa Rica but there are still other places I would like to go on a list about a mile long. I am hoping to get to some of them this summer, so you might not see me posting so regularly.

Beehive Detail from Provo City Center Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

This old form of a beehive is a common symbol in Utah. It has been incorporated in both the state flag and the state seal. The stylized form seen here is on the entrance staircases to the Provo City Center Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The origin of the beehive as a symbol of the pioneers who arrived following the first group in 1847 come from a scripture in the Book of Mormon: Ether 2:3 "And they did also carry with them deseret, which, by interpretation, is a honey bee"

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts are one of those watershed foods that you either like or avoid at any cost. They fall in the category of those foods that you refused to eat when a child and have never really tasted. My wife cuts them up into very small pieces and then sautees them with a lightly spiced sauce and they are wonderful. I have found that most food aversions either arise from childhood or develop because you have never really had the food prepared well. Look for a recipe online for sauteed or roasted Brussels sprouts.

Mushrooms

Have you ever wondered why they are called "mushrooms?" Apparently, the word originated from the Old French word meisseron. Here is a speculative etymology from Wikipedia: Mushroom.

The terms "mushroom" and "toadstool" go back centuries and were never precisely defined, nor was there consensus on application. Between 1400 and 1600 AD, the terms mushrom, mushrum, muscheron, mousheroms, mussheron, or musserouns were used. 

The term "mushroom" and its variations may have been derived from the French word mousseron in reference to moss (mousse). Delineation between edible and poisonous fungi is not clear-cut, so a "mushroom" may be edible, poisonous, or unpalatable. 

Cultural or social phobias of mushrooms and fungi may be related. The term "fungophobia" was coined by William Delisle Hay of England, who noted a national superstition or fear of "toadstools". 

The word "toadstool" has apparent analogies in Dutch padde(n)stoel (toad-stool/chair, mushroom) and German Krötenschwamm (toad-fungus, alt. word for panther cap). In German folklore and old fairy tales, toads are often depicted sitting on toadstool mushrooms and catching, with their tongues, the flies that are said to be drawn to the Fliegenpilz, a German name for the toadstool, meaning "flies' mushroom". This is how the mushroom got another of its names, Krötenstuhl (a less-used German name for the mushroom), literally translating to "toad-stool".

Avocados

There are few foods that are more polarizing than avocados (Persea americana). The avocado is really a large berry with a single seed. I find that my family members either love them or will not eat them at all. Since I could eat guacamole for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, I am obviously an aficionado of this green berry. Our consumption of avocados depends on the current price. When they go on sale, we may have them every day until the price goes up and our consumption goes down. I have noticed at family gatherings that the guacamole always seems to disappear early on in the progress of the dinner.

Heritage Peony

We have these amazing heritage peonies. They were first grown by my wife's mother and have been transplanted and shared from family to family. When we moved to Provo, Utah, we could finally grow these wonderful flowers. I like to share them with the world.

The Rock in the Stream

This image summarizes the difference between still photography and videos. Imagine standing on the bridge over this stream and looking down into the water swirling around the rock. The experience would include the roar of the stream, the wind, the temperature, in short, all of the sensations of a walk in by a canyon stream. When I take a digital image of the stream, all of the concurrent sensations disappear. What is left is an abstract image of the instant when the shutter of the camera and sensor captured the image. But by viewing the image, you can begin to sense what might have been going on when the image was created. You can also view the image as a completely abstract production. 

Double Ruffles

After living most of my life in the low desert, we are just beginning to enjoy growing flowers here in Provo, Utah that would not have survived a day in the heat of Mesa. We love our double ruffled peonies. They are exquisite. Growing flowers is one thing you can continue to do until you are bedridden.

Spring Runoff in Rock Canyon, Wasatch Front, Provo, Utah

There are 25 photos in this post. The mountains of Northern Utah have received double the amount of snow and rainfall during the early part of 2019. The normally dry lower part of Rock Canyon, near Provo, Utah, is flooding the normally dry roadways and creating spectacular rapids and small waterfalls.

This photo is near the mouth of the Canyon.

The trail up the Canyon is usually quite busy. You can easily see why it is called Rock Canyon.

This is a device to measure the water flow. Usually, at this point, if there is any water, it is just a trickle.

While you are walking up the trail, you can hear the rocks in the creek rolling and crashing. It sounds like distant thunder.

People hiking up the Canyon have certain distance markers. This is known as the big rock.

We have lived in Provo for five years (with one year spent in Annapolis, Maryland) and this is only the second time we have seen the Creek running and never this high.

The sides of the canyon are very steep and there are many places that are frequented by rock climbers. This is a talus slope. It makes for very difficult climbing.

Where the streambed is narrow, there is an almost constant low rumble from the rocks being moved down the Creek.

The Creek is narrow in places, but quite deep and the sound of the water is a low roar.

As you walk up the Canyon, the vegetation changes from scrub oak to aspens and pines.

This is the first bridge.

The water here is normally clear, but the runoff is so large that it is eroding the banks of the usually small stream at this point.

This is the second bridge.

Compared with the flow of rivers across the United States, this is not too impressive. But when you are used to a trickle of water, it sounds and looks impressive.

This is an old cement covered water ditch that used to carry water for homes and irrigation down the Canyon. The Canyon supplies about 15% of the water used by Provo but almost all of it is piped from springs up near the head of the Canyon.

The rock formations are impressive.

It is hard to imagine the forces in the earth could bend rocks like you can see in the above image.

I took this photo from the third bridge but didn't get a photo of the bridge.

Here is the fourth bridge. Time to turn around and go back down the Canyon.

View from the fourth bridge.

A welcome drinking fountain on the way up or down. Vandals had broken the fountain earlier in the year but the Provo Department of Water Resources fixed it in time for summer.

Parts of the trail used to be paved and at the bottom of the Canyon, some of the trails are still paved. The trail is clean and there are some picnic and restroom facilities at the trailhead. Part of the Canyon is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and part is owned by the Provo City. The Rock Canyon Preservation Alliance has a Conservation Easement on some of the land at the mouth of the Canyon. Although Provo City claims the entire Canyon, it is jointly claimed by the National Forest Service. The lower part of the Canyon is heavily used by hikers, mountain bikers, rock climbers and picnicers.

Because of the Canyon's proximity to Provo City and the usually dry vegetation, open fires are prohibited. One challenge of the Canyon is the number of dogs. During this walk up the Canyon, I counted 17 dogs and 7 of them were not on leashes.

This is the first gate area next to a small parking area. The current parking is inadequate and spills over into the adjoining neighborhoods. We live approximately 300 yards from the mouth of the Canyon.

Foucault Pendulum

One fairly common sight in university science buildings is a Foucault Pendulum. Here is a short explanation of what this is and does.

The Foucault pendulum (English: /fuːˈkoʊ/ foo-KOH; French pronunciation: ​[fuˈko]) or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault and conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. The pendulum was introduced in 1851 and was the first experiment to give simple, direct evidence of the earth's rotation. Today, Foucault pendulums are popular displays in science museums and universities.

At either the North Pole or South Pole, the plane of oscillation of a pendulum remains fixed relative to the distant masses of the universe while Earth rotates underneath it, taking one sidereal day to complete a rotation. So, relative to Earth, the plane of oscillation of a pendulum at the North Pole – viewed from above – undergoes a full clockwise rotation during one day; a pendulum at the South Pole rotates counterclockwise. 

When a Foucault pendulum is suspended at the equator, the plane of oscillation remains fixed relative to Earth. At other latitudes, the plane of oscillation precesses relative to Earth, but more slowly than at the pole.

See Wikipedia: Foucault pendulum. 

You can see the white pieces that are knocked over as the earth turns.

The Impact of Space

Where you live, work, play, learn, and worship influences the way you see the world. As a photographer, I am aware of color, light, shade, texture, and space. All of these form an image. Powerful images sometimes move beyond these elements and combine them with people. I have chosen to focus on landscapes without people. In this image, the landscape obviously exists for people to use. But I see the shapes and colors as an abstract. The tree in the background acts as a point of focus, contrasting the angular lines of the building with the soft rounded lines of a tree. I could have removed the tree by turning slightly to the right, but I liked the composition and the counterpoint the tree gives to the building.

Gathering Flowers

We continue to have gorgeous Spring flowers. Here is a poem called "Flower-gathering" from Robert Frost:

I LEFT you in the morning, And in the morning glow, You walked a way beside me To make me sad to go. Do you know me in the gloaming,
Gaunt and dusty grey with roaming? Are you dumb because you know me not, Or dumb because you know?
All for me? And not a question For the faded flowers gay
That could take me from beside you For the ages of a day? They are yours, and be the measure Of their worth for you to treasure, The measure of the little while
That I’ve been long away.