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#FOTD: Trillium from my Portland garden
For Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge, another throwback to my Portland gardening days. Taken April 7, 2007. I posted another trillium picture back in January, when I was looking over memories of times and gardens past. We don’t have trilliums here in Tucson–trilliums don’t have spines or thorns, and I believe it’s a local ordinance that anything grown here must be able to stab you. I don’t miss the rainy Portland winters, but I do–occasionally–miss slogging through my garden between showers to see if the trilliums were blooming yet. After months of grey and rain, I’d cling to any sign of spring the way an aphid clings to…
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#FOTD: African daisies
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#CWBC: Pair of barrel cacti
This week’s theme for Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge (CWBC) is Pairs. We found this pair of barrel cacti in the East unit of Saguaro National Park, about a half hour from where I live. Since moving to Tucson last October, I’ve found myself falling in love with cacti. They are fascinating, and I’m in awe of their ability to survive in such unforgiving conditions.
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#FOTD: Budding cactus
Today’s entry for Cee’s flower of the day photo challenge is a simple snapshot, taken while I was on a lunchtime walk at work. It’ll win no prizes, but I couldn’t walk past this adorable blooming cactus without capturing it. Since moving to Tucson, I’ve become completely charmed by cacti. I’ve always been a lush cottage garden sort of person, but now that I’m surrounded by desert flora, I’m learning to appreciate the shapes and textures of these amazing plants. See the hint of rust and red in the spines? And the cheerful, whimsical shape of the plant and its pointy buds? I plead guilty to personifying plants, but this…
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#CWBC: Arlington National Cemetery
This week’s theme for Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge (CWBC) is Numbers. That theme plays out two ways in this photo: literal numbers on the headstones, the years of birth and death, but more powerfully in the numbers *of* headstones. A visit to Arlington National Cemetery makes tangible the number of people who have died in service to the United States, and of course there are many more who are buried elsewhere. It’s one of the few truly solemn places I’ve ever visited. One of our Tourmobile guides through Arlington was a former military man. As he drove us around the cemetery, he spoke of the shared sacrifice of…
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#CMMC: Up close and personal with a saguaro
The theme for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge (CMMC) this week is Closeup or Macro. I fell in love with macro photography years ago, when I first bought a decent point and shoot with a macro setting and started taking closeups of flowers. I still take closeups of flowers, but it’s fun to get in close with other subjects too. I’ve written on here before about noticing the details of life and of seeing life through a macro lens, and the older I get, the more value I see in those practices. I live in the Sonoran Desert, home of the saguaro cactus. They are everywhere down here–along the freeway, on…
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A beautiful day in the neighborhood #5: Mexican yucca at the Tucson Botanical Garden
OK, so I’m cheating just a little bit. These cool plants aren’t, strictly speaking, in my neighborhood–but they almost are. The Tucson Botanical Garden is here in midtown, only about a mile from my house. If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit.
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#CMMC: New Year’s Eve at the Grand Canyon
Cee has created a new photo challenge! Can you tell I love photo challenges? This one is Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge (CMMC), and this week’s theme is, words ending in W. I went for the obvious winter choice, SNOW. I’ve told the story of my first trip to the Grand Canyon on this blog before–recently, in fact, in my New Years Time Travel post late last month, so I won’t repeat it so soon. I will say that winter is a wonderful time to visit the Canyon. The North Rim is closed in the winter, but the more popular South Rim is open year-round (assuming the roads are passable, and…
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#CWBC: Road through Monument Valley
This week’s theme for Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge (CBWC) is Vanishing Point.
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#FOTD: Trillium
For Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge. When I lived in Portland, I loved anything that bloomed in winter or early spring, anything that added a little color to those dark, rainy days. In the late 90s, we salvaged a bunch of native trilliums from a construction site (with permission), and they bloomed faithfully every year.
Janet Alcorn
Suspense | Horror | Romance
