Photos and comments from Arizona and around the world
There are few things more ubiquitous in Arizona than barbed wire. It has even become a valuable collectors item, mounted on a board in a frame with various varieties. The idea for barbed wire dates back into the early 1800s. Sometimes it is referred to...
San Felipe de Neri, Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA in New Mexico' San Felipe de Neri built in 1793 is the oldest church in Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico and also the oldest in New Mexico. Many Americans forget that the whole Southwestern United...
Last year, the Wallow Fire became the largest in Arizona recorded history. The aftermath of the fire is visible throughout the White Mountains and highly visible from some of the mountain communities. You will need to click on this photo to see the detail,...
Some of my earliest memories are associated with rag rugs. In the 1800s and early 1900s (and before that of course) rag rugs were common as a floor covering. They are made on a two or four harness loom warped with strong cord. The weft is made from strips...
I find this picture symbolic of our mortal lives. We live here in the present, with dark shadows and a confusion of contrasting images. There above, on the hill, is the Temple, lifting above the tangled world below and giving us a clear message of light...
Despite the romanticizing of the American West and particularly the buffalo (really American Bison), they are really just like large cows. But unlike cows, they are not domesticated and a full-grown buffalo can weigh over 2000 pounds. One day, late in...
Go outside or look out a window. How far can you see? This is a scene that is very common from my early childhood and throughout my life. Why would you trade this for what you can see right now out your own window? Maybe you wouldn't. But I would. But...
There is no particular rhyme or reason to the location of petroglyphs, they mostly take advantage of the type of rock surface. In the desert, some rocks very slowly become coated with manganese oxide, the black coating you can see on the rocks. Small...
Early descriptions of Arizona comment on the abundance of grass. The natural state of the desert is still one of grass and forage that supported a huge variety of wildlife. All that changed when cattle were introduced to the state. Overgrazing replaced...
As I walk through life, I spend a lot of time thinking both about the past and the future. The past is behind us and we cannot see it clearly. We can only see the dim reflections of our memories colored by our emotions. The future is also dark, we can...
This is the description of the rivers in Northern Arizona, "Too thick to drink, too thin to plow." This shot of the Rio Puerco in the Petrified Forest National Park is a good example. When the pioneers, such as my Great-grandparents" arrived in this area,...
The sun symbol is an ancient motif that appears in petroglyphs throughout the Southwest. The example on the top is painting on a wall at the Painted Desert Inn and as a contrast, you can see the same design in this outbuilding constructed on the Petrified...
San Felipe de Neri built in 1793 is the oldest church in Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico and also the oldest in New Mexico. Many Americans forget that the whole Southwestern United States was once owned by Mexico. Most of the territory was obtained through...
This is my kind of country. Some of my earliest memories are of exploring the clay hills of the Colorado Plateau. I feel more at home in these hills than any other place on the planet. In this panorama, you will have to click on the photo to see the petrified...
The so-called Mayan Indians live primarily in Southern Mexico and Guatemala and other nations of Central America. The term "Maya" is a collective term that refers to a diverse group of people who are related linguistically and culturally but each have...
The patterns for traditional weaving are handed down from generation to generation. These textiles were almost always woven on backstrap looms, that is the tension on the warp was supplied by a harness that went around the waist of the weaver. The weaver...
Giant Sequoia trees finally succumb to age or storms and fall to the floor of the forest. Because the wood is so rot resistant, the fallen trees can lie mostly intact for centuries. Meanwhile, the trunks provide a whole environment for other plants...
I spent many years on a four harness loom weaving. My current interests and responsibilities have taken me away from the world of textiles, but I still love handmade woven cloth and especially textile patterns. I particularly love native American art...
We cannot really relate in any meaningful way to changes and time that has past on this earth. Like these fossilized bones, we can only see the shadows of what has past. We live so much in the present and so little understanding of the future. At one...
We often judge people by our first impression of them. We categorize them by their clothes, their face, their weight, their hair color or other superficial characteristics. We do the same with plants. Most plants are ordinary and inconspicuous. We hardly...
Rocks are the bones of the hills. It always amazes me how little most people know about the world around them. Rocks are a good example. Each rock in the world has its own particular story of how it came to be and what will happen to it in the future....
Almost all the streams in the West are diverted or completely used for domestic and farm purposes. This is the end of a stream from the Wasatch Mountains that ends in grate that leads to a pipe used as an aqueduct that carries the water to a domestic...
Everything is life has a pattern. Where we see chaos and turbulence, there is predictable order and symmetry. There are no random events, everything fits within its own sphere and has purpose in the plan of the universe. Our inability to discern the plan...
Mineral crystals grow in empty spaces in rocks called vugs if they are large and geodes if they are small. In the case of geodes, the crystal filled space is surrounded by a rock matrix and sometimes the rock matrix is in the form of a nodule. This collection...
No matter how many trees and plants I have seen, I still find new ones I have never seen or noticed before. This is a Smoketree Cotinus coggygria. There are many plants that I am sure I must have seen but seeing is not noticing. I am sure this tree would...
