View from the Top, Near Barnum Rock On Mt. Lemmon (10/05/12) — Image by kenne
Archive for the ‘Santa Catalina Mountains’ Category
View From The Top 1 comment
The landscape changes, so enjoy it: of course,
Saguaros In The Morning Haze 1 comment
Saguaros In the Morning Haze (02-04-13) — Image by kenne
The haze is lifting
Sun rising over the ridge
A new day has dawned.
— kenne
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Saguaros In Sabino Canyon 1 comment
Saguaros In Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
Sometimes happiness is a blessing,
but, generally, it is a conquest.
Each day’s magic moment
helps us to change and sends us off
in search of our dreams.
— Paulo Coelho
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Bear Canyon Leave a comment
Bear Canyon — Image by kenne
Bear Canyon trail
a scenic hike
to seven falls
a favorite spring
hiking destination.
— kenne
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Ocotillos Show Signs Of Spring Leave a comment
Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) Blossom in Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne
Very little rain in Sabino Canyon hasn’t stopped the cycles of life from taking place.
Most of the year, Ocotillos look like a bunch of gray sticks. But in the spring, are during the
summer monsoon season, the sticks leaf out. However, the red flame blossoms
only happen in the spring.
Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) Leaves — Image by kenne
Fouquieria splendens is a plant indigenous to the Sonoran Desert in the Southwestern United States
and northern Mexico. While semi-succulent and a desert plant, Ocotillo is more closely related to tea
and blueberries than cactuses. Source: Wikipedia
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Biosphere II 1 comment
Biosphere II — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Off a two-lane road to Oracle,
35 miles north of Tucson,
a sign points the way to Biosphere 2.
After a short drive across rangeland,
with cattle grazing at roadside,
one reaches the parking area to the project.
Framed by the Santa Catalina Mountains,
rests a stunning greenhouse itself,
full of Buckminster Fuller triangles and pyramids.
— kenne
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Keep Pushing Against All Odds Leave a comment
Image by kenne
Keep Pushing Against All Odds.
— kenne
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Fountain Grass Leave a comment
Fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum) In Sabino Canyon Recreation Area — Image by kenne
Fountain Grass is a perennial bunchgrass with attractive purple or green flowers. It is an ornamental plant that is still sold in nurseries. Although some nursery varieties are considered “sterile,” no varieties are recommended for planting and landscaping. Fountain grass is a close relative of buffelgrass, the most problematic invasive species in the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. Fountain grass is present in much of the western United States and is a big problem invasive species in Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, and California.
Fountain grass is a native of Africa. Fountain grass seed was first available in the US around 1880and has been cultivated as an ornamental plant in Tucson since 1940. Records document that fountain grass began establishing itself in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson as early as 1946.
Fountain grass can form dense stands with several undesirable effects. It provides a large amount of fuel for hot fires that can destroy native plants and animals. It displaces native grasses, blocks the natural flow of water in washes, and alters animals’ habitat, particularly frogs and toads that are sensitive to such changes. Source: National Park Service
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Acorn 2 comments
Acorn — Image by kenne
The creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
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The Trail Ahead 2 comments
The Trail Ahead — Photo-Artistry by kenne
What path will you take?
I wonder.
Was it over yonder?
Just maybe
It was over there.
Who knows?
You wonder —
Here, there,
Everywhere.
— kenne
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Catalina Front Ridge Leave a comment
Catalina Front Ridge In Tucson (January 27, 2021) — Image by kenne
Got a dusting of snow on the south ridge, with over 12 inches at the higher elevation.
Mt. Lemmon and other higher elevations are blocked in this view
from our patio in Tanuri Ridge.
— kenne
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The Sky Is Low 4 comments
‘The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean’ — Image by kenne
A few days ago, Frank Hudson posted an analysis of this little poem by Emily Dickinson. I continue to learn a lot from Frank’s posts, his summaries, and music.
His efforts remind me of my sophomore English teacher, who was dealt the hand of teaching an all jock class of young boys. During every class, she would read at least one poem. She was like the mother taking her children to the museum, hoping to instill some humanity. At the time, we thought she was wasting her’s and our time. Time has proven otherwise.
Although I don’t have anywhere near Frank’s analysis skills, I enjoy reading and learning from his posts.
— kenne
The Sky is low — the Clouds are mean.
A Travelling Flake of Snow
Across a Barn or through a Rut
Debates if it will go —
A Narrow Wind complains all Day
How some one treated him
Nature, like Us is sometimes caught
Without her Diadem.
— Emily Dickinson
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Clearing The Forest Floor 2 comments
Clearing The Forest Floor (Santa Catalina Mountains) — Images by kenne
The Forest Service tries to mitigate the risk of catastrophic wildfire by actively managing the landscape and its fuels. By increasing the spacing between trees and bushes and removing dead and fallen vegetation, we can create a better chance for healthy trees and plants to withstand a wildfire. The above photos show work done by stacking dead and small vegetation that become part of controlled burns in the Santa Catalina Mountains.
— kenne
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A Wintery Morning In Tucson 1 comment
Northwest View from the Patio (Catalina Foothills) — Image by kenne
The clouds opened up just log enough to get this photo this morning.
Patio Panorama Northwest View
The view now is solid gray.
Patio Panorama Southern View (Look carefully and you will see large Snowflakes)
So far we have receive about an inch of rain here in Tucson with Mt Lemmon getting 12 inches of snow.
We need the moisture after 2020 being the driest year on record.
— kenne
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Snow On The Mountain 1 comment
Snow On Mt. Lemmon, Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
First Snow
The snow
began here
this morning and all day
continued, its white
rhetoric everywhere
calling us back to why, how,
whence such beauty and what
the meaning; such
an oracular fever! flowing
past windows, an energy it seemed
would never ebb, never settle
less than lovely! and only now,
deep into night,
it has finally ended.
The silence
is immense,
and the heavens still hold
a million candles, nowhere
the familiar things:
stars, the moon,
the darkness we expect
and nightly turn from. Trees
glitter like castles
of ribbons, the broad fields
smolder with light, a passing
creekbed lies
heaped with shining hills;
and though the questions
that have assailed us all day
remain — not a single
answer has been found —
walking out now
into the silence and the light
under the trees,
and through the fields,
feels like one.
— Mary Oliver
