-
Desert View Watchtower, Grand Canyon National Park
If you’ve hung around on this blog for very long, you’ve probably figured out that I love photo challenges (see just about any of my photo posts for evidence). Well, I just found a new one, the Amazing Stonework challenge over on the For the Love of blog. Anita’s goal is, “to highlight the artwork created by builders of long ago.” I’m fascinated by old stone buildings, from millennium-old pueblos and cliff dwellings to the midcentury brick homes in my Tucson neighborhood, so I’m excited to participate in this challenge. I’m also excited to use this challenge as an opportunity to share photos from places that relate in some way…
-
#SoCS: In which your intrepid blogger whines about the Arizona heat
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday blog hop. Linda Hill posts a prompt every Friday; this week’s prompt is, “hat/het/hit/hot/hut.” Me, about an hour ago: I haven’t participated in SoCS for awhile. I’m tired and sleep-deprived, and I really don’t feel like revising my novel, so I’ll hop over to Linda Hill’s blog and see what today’s prompt is. Maybe it’ll be something I can relate to. It includes the word, “hot.” There’s a massive heat wave in the Western U.S. And I live in Arizona. Yeah, I can relate. We’re on about day 6 of temperatures over 110. It was 113 yesterday here in Tucson,…
-
#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.
-
#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…
-
#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…
-
#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…
-
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.
-
#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…
-
#CWBC: Road through Monument Valley
This week’s theme for Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge (CBWC) is Vanishing Point.
-
#FOTD: Coke can flower
For Cee’s Flower of the Day photo challenge. We live only a mile or so from the Tucson Botanical Garden, and we decided to check it out during Winter Break. We had to cancel our Winter Break travel plans due to the Microbe that Must not be Named, so we are exploring our new city instead (outside only, masked and socially distanced). According to the audio tour: This shady barrio (neighborhood) garden came to life with the help of local Mexican-American gardeners and honors the distinctive gardens and yards found in Tucson’s Mexican-American neighborhoods… the distinctive decorative style featur[es] ‘found objects,’ family mementos and whimsical use of recycled materials. https://tucsonbotanical.org/tours/nuestro-jardin-audio-tour/…
Janet Alcorn
Suspense | Horror | Romance
