Amaranthus palmeri – Carelessweed (Near the Tanque Verde Wash in Tucson) — Image by kenne
These plants are often found growing in fields, along roadsides, in drainage areas, and along desert washes.
The spine-tipped flower bracts are prickly (especially when dry) and can scratch bare skin.
Do not walk through a dense patch of dried Carelessweed while wearing shorts.
— kenne
Sunset Near Tanque Verde Wash (09/15/11) — Image by kenne
— kenne
Tree by the Tanque Verde Wash — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— Unknown
A Morning Walk Along The Tanque Verde Wash — Images by kenne
Our community of Tanuri Ridge backs up to the Tanque Verde Wash. The wash continues to eat away at our property line.
Soon, this part of the trail will be washed away, along with the “branch art” monuments along the Tanque Verde banks.
Recent mountain rains in the Catalinas are beginning to bring ash from the Big Horn Fire to the wash.
— kenne
Images by kenne
Two pre-schoolers live with their parents at the end of Tanuri Drive making it easy to put lessons on the street.
Everyone in Tanuri Ridge is now sheltered at home. There are only 72 homes in our community
where many of us are spending some of our days walking the streets of Tanuri Ridge.
Some of us wander off down by the Tanque Verde Wash.
Stay safe, everyone.
One Beautiful Bird (Turkey Vulture) — Image by kenne
— Robinson Jeffers
Turkey Vultures leaving their overnight stay along the Tanque Verde Wash as they continue their migration north.
Turkey Vultures Migrating North — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— kenne
Cactus Blossoms — Image by kenne
Turkey Vultures Migrating North — Image by kenne
The other morning we counted over 250 turkey vultures
leaving the Tanque Verde Wash just south of our community.
This time of year hundreds of turkey vultures spend the night in trees along the wash.
— kenne
Turkey Vultures Against A White Sky — Image by kenne
“Turkey Vultures are large birds, cloaked in loose-fitting brown/black feathers that make them look shaggy and unkempt when perched. The legs and feet are sturdy and unfeathered; the color, where not coated in excrement, is cherub pink.
The face is ruddy and wrinkled and topped with an embarrassingly sparse cap of feathers. Its expression is uncommonly serene and there is something about it that suggests infinite patience. Huddled on their perches, wrapped in shabby vestments, the birds look like a group of balding monks gathered in prayer.”
— Pete Dunne, The Wind Masters
Somewhere Along the Tanque Verde Wash — Image by kenne
Life,
Hiding in the shadows
Giving distinction to words
Passing with each moment
Death,
Longing to connect
Extending a hand
In its dark silhouette
Seeker,
Walking in the aura
Existing on the watch
Rotating with each reflection
— kenne
Bougainvillea — Image by kenne
We all love the beautiful Bougainvillea blossoms. They add a lot of color to the Tucson landscape. However, maintaining them can be very frustrating. For starters, they have very long thorns, so pruning must be done very carefully, and they will die at the first frost, which can happen easily since we live near a wash allowing the cold night air to drop lower than the surrounding areas.
He loves bougainvilleas
but hated the thorns.
He wanted to know
why all beauty came
with such pain and
was it as answer less as
where eggs came from
when life is all about the eggs,
“because we need the eggs.”
Turkey Vulture in Flight Over the Tanque Verde Wash — Image by kenne
Late afternoon
Brings the big birds
Circling in for a landing
In the dead trees
By the Tanque Verde Wash.
Their stay will be brief
Before warming up
In the morning sun
Before liftoff, circling
Gaging the currents.
Each day for most of March
The turkey vultures return
In their journey north
To their northern home
Only to return next fall.
— kenne
“Liftoff ” (Turkey Vulture in Dead Tree Along Tanque Verde Wash) — Image by kenne
Turkey Vultures In The Morning Sun — Images by kenne
The Morning Sun
Hope comes with the morning sun
Warming the body and the soul
Washing away yesterdays troubles
Providing a new beginning
To be lived as if it were your last —
Every minute being a gift.
kenne
We moved to Tanuri Ridge in June of 2010. In February Margarita Berg a resident of this neighborhood passed away. So we never met Margarita, but feel we got to know her through her husband, David.
David and Margarita would frequently walk their dogs on the trails down by the Tanque Verde Wash. Shortly after we moved here, I discovered the trails and the area designated initially by the Tanuri Ridge developer as a community park.
Anyone who has walked these trails is aware of Margarita’s memorial on a trail nearest the wash. Located at the base of a mesquite tree, approximately thirty feet from the washes edge.
During the winter of 2015, heavy rains in the mountains sent a current of water washing away some of the banks of the usually dry wash.
Then, last week heavy winter participation in the mountains overnight again sent a flash flood down the wash, rerouting the flow.
Noticing the flow of water from our patio that morning, I waited till the afternoon before going down to the wash.
As I walked the trail, I could see trail nearest the wash was gone, so too the mesquite tree with Margarita’s memorial.
The flow of the wash was now down about four feet from its early morning peak. The flooding had been so extensive, socking the land making it too dangerous to go looking for the tree.
I returned the next day to try walking west along the wash.
Looking across the wash, on the newly formed island a tree laid with large roots sticking up. Was this Margrete’s tree?
I wasn’t sure till I spotted a yellow plastic flower hanging in the debris.
Once I downloaded the images, I cropped the image of the downed tree. Over the years since 2011, the memorial has been maintained, adding plastic flowers and hanging trinkets from the tree.
In the early days of the memorial, David would visit the site, dropping rose petals on the memorial plaque.
— kenne
