Photos and comments from Arizona and around the world
On the Florida Barrier Islands, the inlets and bays are mostly all salt water. By definition they are estuaries where they originate in a river. This is a small inlet on the Barrier Island and it is debatable whether or not this a real estuary of merely...
Unfortunately, there are a significant number of genealogical researchers that become fixated on one overwhelming issue in their pedigree. They become so adsorbed in trying find the missing or end-of-line ancestor that nothing else matters. This missing...
Palm trees are extremely common in the desert Southwest, but they are limited to three or four varieties. There seem to be dozens of different varieties in Florida where this lovely tree is growing. This tree is similar to our desert Washington Palms...
The canyons within the Grand Canyon are at such a large scale, they can have their own weather systems. The canyon in the distance has a river of clouds when the rest of the canyon is clear. This gives the viewer some idea of the scale of the Canyon....
The entire Grand Canyon experience does not consist of standing on the Rim and looking down into the Canyon, but also includes being able to see the layers of sandstone and the visual layers of the cliffs in the distance. The view is very three dimensional....
heritagerecipes.blogspot.com
Notice the color change in the water as you look into the distance. The ocean is an interesting place for an old desert dweller. Contemplating all the water in one place gives rise to a lot of speculation about efficient distribution systems and how deserts...
From time to time I have made references to my daughter, Amy Thiriot's, blog, TheAncestorFile.blogspot.com. She is an extraordinary researcher and author and her blog is extremely valuable to our family. I like to use her blog as an example of exactly...
Resolution is a bugaboo. Camera manufacturers tout their megapixels as if the higher megapixel count really gave you automatically better image quality. It reminds me of the car manufacturers and horsepower. The newest Bentley Continental GT Speed is...
arizonageology.blogspot.com
In northern Arizona, the dirt roads can be nearly impassible. There used to be a saying about the roads that went something like this; choose your ruts because you are going to be in them for a long time. The same thing can be said about choosing a camera...
We aren't that far away from this look into the future. Some of the concepts are way beyond the present economic and data infrastructures. I's not sure which country, if any, will actually have this kind of technology. But if you think you are challenged...
This would seem to be the antithesis of an attractive beach; no waves or stretches of sand. But the mangrove roots that form huge clumps protect the barrier islands from erosion from the wave action. In some places these tangles of roots and shoots extend...
Vines and other climbing plants use any post or tree to climb into the sunlight. This unusual specimen had brilliant red leaves. The palm tree is a variety unknown in Arizona which is logical since it is growing in Florida.
I’m looking forward to RootsTech 2013, one of my favorite parts of any event is the exhibits. This year RootsTech has increased the size of their Exhibit Hall by 40%. You will find me spending a lot of time in the exhibits, his is where we learn about...
Peering down into the Grand Canyon, you can barely see the Colorado River cutting its way through the Inner Gorge made of what is called the Vishnu Basement Rocks or Granite Gorge, named by the explorer John Wesley Powell. These rocks date from the Precambrian...
Rock climbers are attracted by challenging cliffs. In the Grand Canyon, there are endless and totally inaccessible opportunities to climb. Usually however, those hiking in the Grand Canyon have a big enough challenge just following the trails and trying...
I frequently field requests from patrons at the Mesa FamilySearch Library looking for death certificates and obituaries. These documents are commonly sought for information on a death date of an ancestor. Most of these patrons requesting a death certificate...
This dead branch is dangling into the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean just in the tidal zone. It is entirely covered with living organisms. The algae and the barnacles are the most evident, but if you were to examine it closely, you would see a whole...
You can see from this photo why the mangrove swamps help to prevent erosion of the sea shore, especially during hurricanes and other lesser storms. Every one of those root tops can develop into a tree. If you look closely, you will see that some of them...
This is the first in a planned series of Quick Views of Genealogy on uploading photos to FamilySearch.org's Family Tree Photos program. I would appreciate some feedback and suggestions for future Quick Views. If you have any questions or things about...
This cactus sundial accurately tells time. It is located in the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona and has recently been replanted with a new selection of cactus. I like sundials because they remind me that time is a natural phenomena and has...
A recent blog post by The Ancestry Insider reported that "every month over a thousand living people are listed by Social Security as dead." He quoted a news article dated 8 February 2013 from "WFLA 8" in Tampa Florida and cited a YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl0xKyxooP4 The...
Is genealogy essentially a dogged pursuit of huge files and lists of people or is there a human side to genealogy that looks at the quality of the work? I talk to people all the time who have the attitude of "oh, I found that family in the Census, so...
Since I am usually walking around taking photographs, my images seem to follow a pattern if they are viewed sequentially. In my posts, I try to vary the themes by selecting photos from different trips, but sometimes I select similar photos to follow some...
