Archive for the ‘Arizona’ Tag
Computer Painting by kenne
Yes, the sun
has risen again.
I can hear my heart
regular and strong.
I will live to see
the day end as
I lived to see earth
turn molten and white,
then to metal,
then to whatever shape
we stamped into it
as we laughed the
long night hours away
or sang how the eagle
flies on Friday.
When Friday came,
the early hours perfect
and cold, we cursed
our only lives and passed
the bottle back and forth.
— from One Day by Philip Levine
Petrified Forest National Park — Images by kenne
Here, one sees the Painted Desert with its fantastic coloring, the petrified forests, deep lateral cañons, the great Cohonino Forest, through which one may ride for five days without finding a drop of water except during the rainy season. Truly, it is a wonderland, and in the Grand Cañon one can think of nothing but the Abomination of Desolation. There is no place in the world at present so accessible, and at the same time so full of the most romantic interest, as are the territories of Arizona and New Mexico.
— from On the Border with Crook, by John G. Bourke (1891)
Desert Southwest (Painted Desert) — Computer Painting by kenne
The water that came last winter is long gone.
“Female rain,” it’s called in Navajo:
the gentle, furtive rains that fall from
overcast skies between November and March….
What we’re waiting for now is male rain.
Big, booming, wait-till-your-father-gets-home cloudbursts
that bully up from Mexico and threaten to rip the sky.
— from Making Peace by Barbara Kingsolver
Lake Havasu London Bridge Photo Essay — Images by kenne
(Click on any of the tiled images for larger view in a slideshow format.)
Joy recalls the first time she saw the London Bridge at Lake Havasu City; it was on dry land. This famous bridge, built in the 1830’s, had been carefully dismantled from its original place across the River Thames in 1967 and purchased by Robert P. McCulloch, who began development of Lake Havasu City in 1964. The planned community was not getting much attention, so a business partner suggested buying the London Bridge and shipping it to Arizona.
Construction of the bridge began in 1968 on land between Lake Havasu City and Pittsburgh Point, at that time a peninsula jutting into Lake Havasu. Once bridge project was completed, the Bridgewater Channel was dredged under the bridge and flooded, creating an island separate from the city.
Last week we decided to get away from Tucson’s heat by going to an even hotter location, Lake Havasu City located on the Colorado River about two hours south of Las Vegas. As luck would have it a cool front moved in making for a very pleasant short vacation (Vegas, Zion, and Bryce National Parks. We stayed in the London Bridge Resort while in Lake Havasu City, located next to the bridge along the Bridgewater Channel — a pleasant stay.
— kenne
Making the Most — Image by kenne
Every day I say;
Make the most of your time here —
Your life is worth it.
— kenne
Vermilion Cliffs National Monument In Northern Arizona — Image by kenne
Take a leaf off a tree. Is it still a tree?
Take a single twig off a tree. Is it still a tree?
Remove an entire branch from a tree. Is it still a tree?
Take off half of the branches. Is it still a tree?
Cut down the whole tree, leaving only the stump. Is it still a tree?
Many people would say no, it is no longer a tree,
though the roots may still be in the ground.
Well, where did the tree go?
Removing a leaf, it remains a tree,
but not by removing all of the branches and the trunk?
In the real world, there aren’t any things as we commonly think of them.
A ‘thing’ as we refer to it is only a noun. A noun is merely an idea, a mental construct.
These ‘things’ exist only in our minds. There is no tree, there is only the idea of a tree.
—Anonymous
Clouds Hugging the Santa Catalina Mountains — Image by kenne
Welcome your friends with a smile and a hug!
— Robert Fulghum
Years After The Fire Gallery (Santa Catalina Mountains) — Images by kenne
“If the world was perfect,
it wouldn’t be.”
— Yogi Berra
Hooker’s Evening Primrose — Computer Art by kenne
MOUNTAIN HIKE
Yellow flowers
lining the
mountain road
cabins perched
beneath the pines
gray squirrels
raiding bird feeders
morning sunlight
intensifying
the deep blue sky
trekking poles
balancing
propelling
reducing stress
providing
additional contact
as breathing
rate increases
— kenne
Snake Flower– Computer Art by kenne
Deep in the forest
A snake moves around unseen
Barring a flower.
— kenne
Hiker — Computer Painting by kenne
Boots stir the trail dust
the morning you know,
shadows fashion the ground
soon to be abandoned.
She leads us into the,
a hiking we will go.
Others follow her shadows
bright sunlight in their eyes,
the trail edges glow
a sun lit boardwalk.
In this land of the past
Spanish wagons kept coming
building a place of worship
near the Santa Cruz,
Tumacácori up river
from Nogales — I believe.
This is my new land
in the land of old
where hiking
is my past time.
Is this world real,
or a reflection of dreams
on the shadow side
of nature’s spirit
not blind to the worth
of this wonderful gift.
— kenne
Sedona Moonscape — Grunge Art by kenne
Sedona moonscape
three hot air balloons drifting
up, up and away!
— kenne
Grand Canyon Blue Bird (June 14, 2016) — Image by kenne
Oh, blue bird, blue bird
High above the canyon floor
Looking gray and blue
Perching on a limb
Less blue against the blue sky
Doubtless a female.
— kenne
One of the Tlaquepaque Count Yards In The Late Afternoon, Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts in Sedona (June 14, 2016) — Image by kenne
So hear the tones of cedar flow,
Reminding us from place afar,
A gift of art from Navaho,
a sea of sound — a reservoir.
The breathy notes pushed from the wood
with airy tones in triple trill,
is calling us to brotherhood
that bathes the heart when all is still.
Listen as it calls the eagle,
the bear, the deer and buffalo,
brothers of the kingdoms regal,
sister spirits of long ago.
These ancient sounds from wooden voice,
in sentient wait below the bark,
now sing in beauty to rejoice —
returning song to Meadowlark.
— from The Diné by Rolland G. Smith
Chapel at Tlaquepaque in Sedona, Arizona (June 14, 2016) — Image by kenne
The Chapel at Tlaquepaque is located in the Tlaquepaque Arts and Crafts Village along the tree-lined Oak Creek. The chapel is designed after some Mexican haciendas that provided a private chapel for a visiting priests could offer mass and other services.
Five in the Afternoon
“A boy brought the white sheet
at five in the afternoon.
A frail of lime already prepared
at five in the afternoon.
The rest was death and death alone
at five in the afternoon.”
— Federico Garcia Lorca
