Archive for the ‘Cactus’ Category
MacDougal Nipple Cactus — Image by kenne
MacDougal Nipple Cactus (Mammillaria heyderi var. macdougalii) is a large, flattened
cactus that grows on hillsides in the desert grassland above 4000 ft elevation.
The large yellow flowers usually open in a full ring.
— kenne
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Cholla Cactus Spines — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The spines of a cholla are actually modified leaves that help protect the surface of
the cactus from preditors. A surprising function of cacti spines is to provide shade
for the cactus itself, yes, shade. Each spine casts a shadow on the cactus as the sun
moves across the desert sky.
— kenne
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Pincushion (mammillaria) Cactus Fruit — Image by kenne
This small cactus is ubiquitous in Sabino Canyon and can be more easily spotted
this time of year because most ground cover around it has dried up.
Pincushion cactus
Beautiful blossoms and fruit
To often overlooked.
— kenne
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The Big Squeeze — Image by kenne
Boulders on each side
Can not be all bad for sure
Living in a crack.
The Big Squeeze — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Change colors and shape
A different perspective,
Different beauty.
— kenne
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Cactus Digital Art — by kenne
Life, art, and logic are full of absurdities of various kinds.
We conceptualize absurdities when we
discuss square circles and circular squares.
It is art that is able to provide a mediator
between the strange and the real.
*****
“The creative act is only an incomplete and abstract moment in the production of a work.”
— Jean-Paul Sartre
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Saguaro Love — Image by kenne
Cactus love
Stay here in my arms
Forever.
— kenne
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Each spring the white-winged doves return from wintering in Mexico and the air is filled with their mating calls. The hoots and coos are so common they sometimes drown out the sounds of other birds.

The return of the white-winged doves plays a very important role in the life cycle of the saguaro cactus. When saguaros flower, white-winged doves move from flower to flower, sipping nectar and pollinating the plant.
Once the flowers become fruit, the doves have a new food source. The sweet fruit is filled with thousands of tiny seeds, which pass unharmed through the digestive system of the dove. If seeds are passed while the dove is perched on a tree or bush, that tree or bush might become a nurse plant to the growing saguaro. Such a plant protects the young saguaro from extreme weather and animals and greatly increases its chances of survival.
For the Tohono O’odham, the saguaro cactus and its fruit (bahidaj) is a very important part of their heritage. The towering saguaro cactus provides both physical and spiritual sustenance for the people. With temperatures now over 100 degrees, the bahidaj is now ripening and being harvested by the Tohono O’odham. (Images by kenne)
— kenne
White-winged Dove Abstract Art by kenne
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Late Spring Flowers in the Desert — Images by kenne
(Click on any of the tiled images for a larger view in a slideshow format.)
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“Sonoran Heat” — Computer Painting by kenne
The Path of Dreams
There were no trails where I walk.
I walk the desert, poor and broke
thinking of family in Mexico.
Continuing north, I make a path
around the cactus and desert brush.
The sun, still low in the east,
temperature now rising faster
than the morning sun.
Low in water, I find an
old mesquite tree to rest
in its shade until late afternoon.
Then, I will continue following
the path of my dreams —
carefully watching for
green and white trucks.
— kenne
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“Desert Silhouette” — Image by kenne
“Oh that the desert were my dwelling place,
With only one fair spirit for my minster.
That I might forget the human race,
And hating no one, love her only.”
— Lord Byron
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How Do You Define, “Survivor?” Saguaro High On A Cliff — Image by kenne
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Cactus Wren Nest in a Cholla (Sabino Canyon) — Image by kenne
The whole theory of the universe
is directed unerringly to one individual
– namely You.
— Walt Whitman
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Christmas Cholla (Sabino Canyon, December 26, 2016) — Images by kenne
The Christmas cactus common to the Sonoran Desert is the Cylindropuntia leptocaulis. It’s a Christmas cholla. It got its name because the red fruit on the pencil-thin joints appears from November into March.
— kenne
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Saguaro Cactus in the Tucson Mountains — Image by kenne
“Ouch, not too close, I don’t want to get a whisker burn!”
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Blackett’s Ridge Trail Sunset Over Tucson — Image by kenne
Each sunset
provides a sense of romance
just beyond reach,
telling a wordless story
that is timeless,
not requiring a response.
— kenne
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