Lower Ventana Canyon (02/20/15) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
The Bighorn Fire has been burning for days in Ventana Canyon.
I love hiking in this beautiful narrow canyon. The lower part of
this canyon contains a lot of desert plants, such as the saguaro cactus.
This Sonoran Desert signature cactus is not adaptive to fire.
Thousands have already been destroyed by the Bighorn Fire.
It may take hundreds of years to return, if at all. Sad, very sad.
— kenne
Ventana Canyon (Note Invasive Grass in the Foreground) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Ocollio Blossom (Spanish for Little Torch) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) is one of the easiest plants to identify in the desert. They are a large shrub with long cane-like unbranched spiny stems that
grow from a short trunk. Small 2 inch leaves will grow from the stems
when there is enough moisture. Dense clusters of red tubular flowers
grow from the end of the stems from March through June.
— Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
On this Easter Sunday in the age of HOVID-19,
we need to hold the torch high as
we look for hope in a hopeless world.
*****
Hope In A Hopeless World — Pop Stables
Baby born in New York City
Wrapped in a blanket all tattered and worn
Mama’s doin’ the best she can
It takes hope in a hopeless world
Her eldest son, he stayed in school
Listened to his mother, he never drank or used
But every job he wants he gets refused
It takes hope in a hopeless world
Looking for hope in a hopeless world
Trying to find love in these hateful times
Try to stay strong but my mind is weak
Looking for hope in a hopeless world
Churches are full, but the prayers are not heard
Saturday’s child don’t wanna to go to Sunday school
Whatever happened to the golden rule
It takes hope in a hopeless world
D’you got a quarter for the homeless man
Spare some change for the soldiers who fought the war
Put a little money in those hats and those tins
Give them hope in a hopeless world
Looking for hope in a hopeless world
Searchin’ for love in these hateful times
Try to stay strong but my mind is weak
Ease my mind, ease my mind
And on the corner there stands a young girl
The home she left was in the better part of town
Daddy did things she never talked about
It takes hope in a hopeless world
Somebody out there gotta listen
Somebody out there got to know what Pops been talkin’ about
Raise your hand, raise your hands if you’re with me
Give us hope in a hopeless world
You’ve got to listen to the voice inside
Peace and love don’t compromise – realize
Time is passing by
Can’t be standing still!
I went to the [desert] because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae.
It’s 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves
and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry (arid)
parts of the Americas and the Caribbean. –Wikipedia
Desert Mushroom (Podaxis pistillaris) — Image by kenne
This is probably the most common mushroom in the Sonoran Desert. It is found in desert environments worldwide. The fruiting body appears above the ground upon a woody stem within a few days after a soaking rain usually during the cooler seasons. It is fibrous and woody and the cap remains closed down around the gills and spores, presumably to protect them from extreme dry periods. (arizonensis.org)
A Desert Morning In The Age Of Novel Coronavirus — Image by kenne
Midnight poems are bicycles
Taking us on safer journeys
Than jets
Quicker journeys
Than walking
But never as beautiful
A journey
As my back
Touching you under the quilt
Midnight poems
Sing a sweet song
Saying everything
Is all right
Everything
Is
Here for us
I reach out
To catch the laughter
The dog thinks
I need a kiss
Bicycles move
With the flow
Of the earth
Like a cloud
So quiet
In the October sky
Like licking ice cream
From a cone
Like knowing you
Will always
Be there
All day long I wait
For the sunset
The first star
The moon rise
I move
To a midnight
Poem
Called
You
Propping
Against
The dangers
Star Ferns and Ressurection Plants On the Bluff Trail Above Sabino Creek — Image by kenne
Most people think of the desert as being a hot, dry and barren place which is totally inhospitable to the likes of ferns, mosses, and leafy plants. Nonetheless, all the above-mentioned species thrive here in the Sonoran Desert. There are many varieties of ferns growing in the desert climate. The desert ferns are true xerophytes (a plant that has adaptations to survive in an environment with little liquid water, dry loving). These ferns have evolved several strategies to thrive in our warm, dry climate here in the southwest. They can shrivel and go dormant for many months, they begin life in rock fractures and other moist sheltered areas that provide a microclimate for early growth. Other characteristics of desert ferns are reduced surface area (small leaflets), leathery leaflets, thickened leaf margins, waxy, hairy or fuzzy coatings, and scales on stems. Does this sound like some of the water-saving adaptations of other desert plants? You bet! We’ve heard about these adaptations for many other desert plants such as creosote, mesquite, ocotillo, Brittle Bush, so why not the ferns too? (Debbie Bird, Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist)
The plants at the top of the above image are Selaginella lepidophylla is a species of desert plant in the spikemoss family. Known as a “resurrection plant”, it is renowned for its ability to survive almost complete desiccation. During dry weather in its native habitat, its stems curl into a tight ball, uncurling only when exposed to moisture.
Lower Ventana Canyon (02/20/15) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Ventana Canyon (Note Invasive Grass in the Foreground) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Arizona Morning Cactus Wren On A Saguaro Cactus — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Ocollio Blossom (Spanish for Little Torch) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Sonoran Desert Fades (Easter Sunday) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Catalina Foothills Sunset — Image by kenne
Yucca Blossoms — Image by kenne
Desert Mushroom (Podaxis pistillaris) — Image by kenne
A Desert Morning In The Age Of Novel Coronavirus — Image by kenne
March Sonoran Sunset — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Saguaro Cactus Forest — Image by kenne
Desert Chicory Wildflowers and Bee — Image by kenne
Star Ferns and Ressurection Plants On the Bluff Trail Above Sabino Creek — Image by kenne
