Photos and comments from Arizona and around the world
Balanced Rock, Garden of the Gods, Colorado, USA in USA Garden of the Gods is a city park, just west of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Balanced rocks are relatively common geologic phenomena, but few of them are as accessible as this one on the main road...
Faces and rocks show the effects of age. Both become more attractive and appealing as they assume the creases and cracks that come with time and experience. I don't think I will every get as old looking as this rock in a stream bed, but who knows, I might...
Sometimes you cannot understand what is going on around you without seeing the "big picture." But other times life is in the details. It is the small things that make life worth living, not so much the big events. Every day there is something you can...
U.S. Lock and Dam #19, Mississippi River at Keokuk, Iowa USA in USA he U.S. Lock and Dam #19 was constructed between 1910 and 1919. When it was completed, it was the largest electrical generating plant in the world. Lock #19 is on the National Register...
Millions of miles of barbed wire fence exist throughout the United States. Eventually, without maintenance the fence lines fall and the wire becomes a trap for unwary hikers and even for animals. I see a relationship here between the fence lines and our...
I found this iconic statue in downtown Scottsdale, Arizona standing on a raised cement platform in the middle of a Bermuda grass lawn. No shade. No lovely flower border. It gave me pause to think about what our society considers to be love.
The destructive power of a forest fire can be one of the most terrifying of the natural phenomena. But equally as impressive is the ability of the forest to renew itself and regenerate from the ashes. This burnt log is now only a shadow of the destruction...
Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA in USA Pike’s Peak is a mountain in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains just west of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The mountain was named after Zebulon Pike, Jr., the explorer who led...
California State Capital, Sacramento, California USA in California The California State Capitol is located in Sacramento, California. The building houses both the California Senate and its House of Representatives. It also has the governor’s office....
We are rapidly coming up on the time when Prickly Pear fruit will be ripe and ready for picking. Labor Day is our traditional time to go out into the desert with buckets and pick the fruit. We then cook it down in a steam juicer to extract all the juice...
If the super thin model is the example of our society's highest physical aspiration, then here is the epitome. No bones about it, this is one of the thinnest models you will ever find. Looking through the subject however, you can see that there is little...
I couldn't resist these twin cactus flowers. Who would suspect that such a small cactus could have such large and beautiful blooms? Many things in life are a surprise and we often misjudge by appearances only. Cactus only bloom once or twice a year, so...
Sacramento LDS Temple, Rancho Cordova, California USA in California Completed and dedicated in 2006, the Sacramento Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints overlooks Lake Natoma on the eastern edge of the city of Rancho Cordova, California,...
Sand can be a solid, a liquid or even, when wind blown, like a gas. This sand is fairly unique in that it is not made up of quartz grains or other hard rocks, but are shells of concentric layers of calcium carbonate that has precipitated...
For many years I grew flowers and among my favorites were iris. I still think they are one of the most beautiful of all the flowers and I never tire of their colors and the variety of their forms. Of all the things I would like to have done in my life,...
Jasper Forest Overlook, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona USA in Arizona The Petrified Forest National Park is located in north, central Arizona high on the Colorado Plateau. This panorama shows the Jasper Forest overlook, an huge area with thousands...
The vast inland sea of the Great Salt Lake creates its own atmosphere and weather. Since many of its attractions are very local, the vast sweep of its vistas are often ignored by visitors. There is a surprising amount of wildlife for such a desolate looking...
www.bestedsites.com This infographic will take you on a journey to the past, where web pages had no pictures (slower internet speeds back then) and where everything looked like it was just copied and pasted onto the website.
The news is full of stories about huge wildfires across the Western United States. The stories highlight the terrible destruction of these events and the economic impact. After the fires are over, the news media moves on to other "newsworthy" events and...
House Rock, House Rock Valley, Arizona USA in Arizona House Rock Valley, named after this distinctive house built under a huge rock, is located at the eastern end of the Grand Canyon, above the famous Marble Canyon. Just a few miles from Lee’s Ferry,...
Driving across the United States through Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois, you get a graphic understanding of the term "drought." News accounts do not covey the full impact of the scale of the drought on corn farmers. These photos show a sample of thousands...
This is a fault in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. You can clearly see the bent and broken rocks where the fault runs through the mountains. If this fault were to slip any further, there would be an earthquake. There are not too many places where the fault...
I used to love to watch the water in the irrigation ditches as it moved the dirt and sediment down the streams. I am even more fascinated by real rivers. The variety of forms is amazing. It is too bad that I don't have hours to sit and watch how the forms...
I don't believe I had ever seen a white thistle flower before. Usually and very commonly, they are purple. The appear to be rare, especially in Arizona. It just goes to show that you may see something unusual if you know where to look and what you are...
I have always been fascinated by mushrooms. I can remember seeing them as a child and thinking there was something magical about the way they just appear out of the ground without any other visible plant structure. I always think that I could have been...
