Photos and comments from Arizona and around the world
Walking Arizona I was walking around the Boyce Thompson Arboretum outside of Superior, Arizona, when I spotted this coolibah tree. I am sure it is the first time I have seen one that I knew about and identified. I have heard about coolibah trees from...
Walking Arizona I guess I can't resist the unusual. We often think of butterflies as brightly colored. But in the desert, they can blend right into their surroundings just like many other animals and some plants. This little butterfly was sitting in...
Family History Expos Question: Will the Expos help me to trace mine and my husband Native American and slave roots. If not, where can I go to get help? Answer: The answer to the first part of this question about whether or not attending a Family History...
Walking Arizona I could see this red poppy in among the weeds of this field and couldn't get much closer. I thought the color was such a contrast to the green background, I realized why we have red stop lights in most places around the world.
Walking Arizona It is evident that I am fascinated with arches and balanced rocks. They both seem to appear in the most unlikely places. This pair of rocks is only visible from a very small area because they both blend into the background rocks. Someday...
Genealogy's Star It is interesting that so many people in the United States trace their ancestry back to the 102 passengers on the Mayflower when so few of the Mayflower passengers have any proven ancestry at all. In addition, the statement has been...
Walking Arizona These beautiful red flowers develop into an edible pod called the Karoo Boer-Bean. They are native to Africa and were eaten by the early Boer settlers, hence the name.
Walking Arizona This window in a garden wall reminded me immediately of the logo of a certain large university in Provo, Utah. Although I have only attended that school as a distance learning student, my children all went there and most graduated from...
Genealogy's Star There is an explosion of online digitized records going online almost daily. Most of this news has passed into the background of the genealogy world because adding new records has become so common. The basic question raised by adding...
Walking Arizona Usually, I see these mallard ducks swimming around in the water. It is a little unusual to see one sitting on dry land, but I thought it a good opportunity to get close and take a picture. There is nothing common about the color of their...
Genealogy's Star When I finished my years at the University of Utah for both of my degrees, it turned out that I had more hours of classes on military history than any other subject. I spent the next couple of years on active duty in the Army during the...
Genealogy's Star Imagine my surprise, as I was scanning photographs from the Overson Photographic collection, to find this photo of General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing. I recognized him immediately and began researching the incident that led to the...
Walking Arizona This little dove is sitting pretty in her secure home in the saguaro. She owes her contentment to her unsurpassed home security system. Life is sweet in the arms of a very large cactus plant.
Walking Arizona Being able to see is a blessing. Sometimes not being able to see is a blessing. In this case, I could see this cliff and the rocks with faces and trees growing in the crack in the rock. With a total view of the Canyon, these things would...
Genealogy's Star I received an email today from my friend, Janell Vasquez, about her new news aggregator program targeted at the Online Record Collection News called GenVines.com. More about the program a little later in this post, but first I need to...
Genealogy's Star I got asked the question in the title to this blog yesterday. The person asking the question was sincere. She was wondering if she should start a blog. Her intent was to try and identify some mystery photos. I spent some time and helped...
Walking Arizona There are several examples of these simple looking stick figures. These artifacts are considered some of the oldest to be found in the desert Southwest. They date back thousands of years. Sometimes simple things are really the most...
Walking Arizona Commonly called arrowheads, this type of point could have been used on a variety of projectiles. When I was young, I was always looking to find an arrowhead. But today, it is against the law to even think about finding one.
Walking Arizona When the temperature drops in the desert, it is likely that some of the plants in our neighborhood will suffer frost damage. Sometimes this damage is extensive. It is always reassuring to know that some plants and animals adapt to their...
Walking Arizona Most of the photos you see of the Grand Canyon are predictable. I can't predict what will appear to me to be a photograph, but when I see it, I immediately know if there is a photo or not. This is hard to see in the small thumbnail,...
Family History Expos Question: I am at the proverbial brick wall with my ancestor Saunders Haines. Saunders could be short for Alexander and Haines was later spelled Haynes.The earliest I can find him is in 1775 in Catskill, Ulster County, NY, where he...
Walking Arizona The image on the right, with the big feet, is playing a flute. The center is a spiral either a symbol of the sun or of man's journey through life. The bird and the centipede or lizard tracks are common symbols. The man in the left corner...
Walking Arizona Some of the iconography of the ancestors of the modern-day Hopi Indians is fairly transparent. In some cases, such as the one above, the paintings are pretty realistic, but the symbolism is really obscure. This is a painting from the...
Walking Arizona This Hopi pottery is exquisite. It is like a gem stone, beyond price and unique. I am happy to be able just to know that someone could make something so perfect.
Genealogy's Star In honor of Memorial Day next week, MyHeritage is granting free access to millions of military records from our most popular collections. The records can be accessed from here. The free offer ends on May 28. The collections...
