Archive for the ‘Southern Arizona’ Tag

Lupine Painting   Leave a comment

Lupine (Lupinus) Painting — Photo-Artistry by kenne

 

Hummingbird On Nest   2 comments

Anna’s Hummingbird On Nest In Southern Arizona — Image by kenne

Nesting Facts

— Usually lays 2 eggs per nest

— Has 2 to 3 broods each year.

— Incubation is 16 days.

— Nesting period is 20 days.

— Eggs are white

(Source: hummingbird-guide.com)

 

Santa Cruz River Hut   Leave a comment

Santa Cruz River Hut In Southern Arizona — Image by kenne

A little hut, the stuff 
of leaves and twigs
provides shelter for 
an unknown person.

A stuffed monkey guards
the entrance where a bucket
sits for collecting water
from the nearby river.

Stop this day with me
we will talk of its beginning
talk of its end, never any more — 
for now, I witness and wait.

The minute-hand moves slowly
as the sun falls behind a nearby hill
still enough light to make it
back to the trailhead.

— kenne

Northern Mockingbird   1 comment

Northern Mockingbird in Sabino Canyon — Image by kenne

One of the most familiar birds in the Sonoran Desert is the Northern Mockingbird. They hunt insects and spiders eat a wide variety of fruits;
berries of lantana and pyracantha are mainstays. Males and females have similar plumage: nearly uniform gray except for long dark tail
and white patch in open wing. Males are the singers that often practice all night long on a concatenation of bird songs borrowed
from a variety of other bird species. Three plants in particular produce fruit attractive to mocking birds: Desert Mistletoe,
Fremont Thornbush, and Desert Hackberry.

Corral Fence Line Art   1 comment

Corral Fence Line — Photo-Artistry by kenne

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader,
a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight
for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here
.” 

— Edward Abbey

Anna’s Hummingbird   Leave a comment

Anna’s Hummingbird (Southern Arizona) — Image by kenne

The lack of bright color on the head indicates this is either a female or a young male. — kenne

Another Year of Few Wildflowers   Leave a comment

Another Year of Few Wildflowers In The Sonoran Desert — Image by kenne

Spring wildflowers in the Sonoran desert depend on fall and winter rains. When there are little to no rains, as
has been the last few years, then there are few wildflowers in the spring. The above image is in the Molino
Basin, where in non-drought years, there are plenty of wildflowers to photograph. This year there are only a
few patches to be found.

— kenne

Fencepost   1 comment

Fencepost — Image by kenne

Fencepost

I’ve been told
that I’m built like a fencepost
Kind of wiry
A few knobs here and there
A knot or two for character
I make a pretty good fence
Good at keeping things inside
Not letting things out
But now my shadow seems leaner
Not quite as tall in the morning sun
The soil around my feet eroding
Drying out isn’t all it’s cracked up to be
Staying straight ain’t easy
The herd is getting restless
And the barbed wire on my back
is tearing me up inside.

Where The Water Runs Dry — Revisited   Leave a comment

Santa Cruz River South of Tucson — Image by kenne

We live in a land

where the water

runs dry,

the supply 

no longer sustainable

from the sky.

There was a time

when nature

met the need

until it met

the adversary,

greed.

— kenne

Days Of Drought In April   Leave a comment

Coyote Fence — Photo-Artistry by kenne

  April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.
 
— from The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
 
 

Wildflowers on King Canyon Trail   1 comment

Wildflowers on King Canyon Trail — Images by kenne
(Click On Any Image For Larger View)

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure some of them are sandy.”

Lupine Wildflower   Leave a comment

Lupine Wildflower — Image by kenne

Lupine Wildflower
Claimed by Texas as its own,
“Texas bluebonnet.”

Can’t own wildflowers
Nature doesn’t have borders.

— kenne

 

Arizona State Route 83   Leave a comment

Arizona State Route 83 Vista in Southern Arizona — Image by kenne

Southern Arizona Fence Line   1 comment

Southern Arizona Fence Line — Photo-Artistic by kenne

I would like to write a poem about the world
that has in it, nothing fancy

Like our travels, our workdays
burned upon the world.

And forgetting everything I will leap to name it
as though for the first time

Turning always in my mind toward you,
your slopes, folds, gentle openings.

As a poem or a prayer, can also make
luminous any dark place on earth.

Maybe we’re necessary to each other,
and this vacant place has need of us both.

Calling us back to why, how and whence
such beauty and what the meaning.

To its joy we come together–the seer
and the seen, the eater and the eaten,
the lover and the loved.

— Mary Oliver & Wendell Berry – A Found Poem
   (Source: Simply Blessed)

Tumacácori National Historical Park   1 comment

Tumacácori National Historical Park — Images by kenne (Click On Any Image To See Slide Show.)

“Life exists only at this very moment, and in this moment it is infinite and eternal,
for the present moment is infinitely small; before we can measure it, it has gone,
and yet it exists forever….” 

– Alan Watts

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