CJ Woodard, Santa Catalina District Ranger
On Friday, September 18, 2020, District Ranger conducted a guided tour for Partner members ahead of the Scheduled Reopening of Sabino Canyon Recreational Area on September 21, 2020. Fifteen Partner members, five each from:
Friends of Sabino Canyon
Sabino Canyon Volunteer Nationalists
Santa Catalina Volunteer Patrol
In addition to the following video, images of the Drive-thru are in this Flickr Album.
In 2010 we experience our first Sonoran Desert monsoon season. There was lots of rain, wind and lightning.
This year’s monsoon season has been a nonsoon! So far we have had only 2 inches of rain.
This weekend’s forecast was for heavy rains and flash flooding — somebody stole our rain!
So, for this monsoon season the best I can do is revisit an August 31, 2010 posting. — kenne
Catalina Foothills, Tucson, Arizona — image by kenne
During this summer’s rainy season, many storms have provided much-needed rain to southern Arizona. However, when it comes to rainfall, not all areas are treated equally. We had received little rain till the other evening, so when the rain began, it was a time to rejoice. So much is special about the desert. I wrote a poem and produced a video. You can read the poem below and/or in the video.
Desert’s Rainy Season
Desert’s rainy season is
A product of summer highs
Mixed with atmosphere lows
Bringing a refreshing brief break
To her blue-skied summer heat
Desert’s wide-open spaces
Provide panoramic views
Showcasing threatening clouds
Only too often breakup
Before reaching your sky
Welcoming rains come
Only at Desert’s well
Playing havoc with forecasters
Never seeming to learn
She does not keep time
Wind shaking the trees,
Olive, palo verde and mesquite
Shadowed by rains wetness
Shining with each lightning flash
While drinking of life’s fountain
Olives falling from twisted branches
Rolled by wind over wet flagstones
Pounding rain leaving behind puddles
As rainwater exits through openings
In old pueblo walls
Wind chimes dance wildly
Ringing out in nervous joy
Desert’s unlocked sounds
Composing a melodic refrain
Proclaiming Desert’s delight
— kenne
One of the things I love about living in the Tucson area is its biodiversity. Being in a desert surrounded by mountains (Sky Islands) with different forest biomes.
In the summer we spend time hiking in nearby mountain forests. However, this summer has been a little different because of the pandemic and forest fires.
Sabbaths 1999, VII
Again I resume the long
lesson: how small a thing
can be pleasing, how little
in this hard world it takes
to satisfy the mind
and bring it to its rest.
With the ongoing havoc
the woods this morning is
almost unnaturally still.
Through stalled air, unshadowed
light, a few leaves fall
of their own weight.
The sky
is gray. It begins in mist
almost at the ground
and rises forever. The trees
rise in silence almost
natural, but not quite,
almost eternal, but
not quite.
What more did I
think I wanted? Here is
what has always been.
Here is what will always
be. Even in me,
the Maker of all this
returns in rest, even
to the slightest of His works,
a yellow leaf slowly
falling, and is pleased.
— Wendell Berry
Since I write and share poetry nature, I was not surprised to receive a Wendell Berry poem from one of my hiking buggies, Deborah. She wanted to know if I had posted it in the past, having not it gave me good reason to do so along with the video, “The Women Who Planted Trees,” by Emily Barker.
Cable Cars Connect El Alto Plateau With La Paz In The Valley — Images by kenne
A PAZ and EL ALTO, Bolivia — In these two cities, geography and rank stand in inverse relation. La Paz — the seat of government, old money, and a lighter-skinned elite — sits in a valley. Above it on a high plateau is the frenetic city of El Alto: poorer, younger, and generally darker-skinned. La Paz has always looked down on its upstart younger sibling above.
Now, that relationship is being challenged, and this urban Möbius strip, where down is up and up is down, is getting a new twist. A mass-transit aerial cable-car system, a cross between a ski gondola and an elevated train, is being installed to better connect them, chipping away at the physical barriers and possibly some of the psychological ones. Read more here.
Subway In The Sky
David Lindo (London, England), The Urban Birder at the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center — Image by kenne
— kenne
Golden Columbine — Image by kenne
Nothing Gold Can Stay
— Robert Frost
Sunset — Image by kenne
–John Lewis
John Lewis, Dead At Age 80 — Photo-Artistry by kenne
— kenne
Jonn Del Toro Richardson at the Corner Pub in Conroe Texas (11/03/07) — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Jonn played lead guitar for Diunna Greenleaf for several years before going out on his own. The following video combines two clips, one in a club setting, another in a festival setting in which Jonn and Bob Corritore jam with Diunna.
Ezra Charles and The Texas Blues Band Gruene Hall, Gruene, Texas (06/17/07) — Image by kenne
For some of us, this video is not easy to watch. Sad, very sad!
Joy with Grandchild Audry and James In San Antonio, April 2009 — Image by kenne
In the previous posting “Ready To Start Going Places” I used an image of the
San Antonio River Walk which brought to mind a video I produced of our spring vacation in April 2009.
— kenne
Lake Tahoe — Image by kenne
— kenne
Sabino Canyon Volunteer Naturalist (SCVN), Ed Rawl, died April 18, 2020. Ed loved everything about being out in nature and teaching his love of nature to children. He completed the SCVN training program in 2010, one year before I did. During my, training Ed was one of the naturalists I spent time observing. He was a factor in my choosing to teach on Thursdays in the elementary program.
Ed Rawl; Thursday Elementary School Program (3/3/16)
Ed taught on Thursdays from January 2010 to January 2019. He loved being with the kids and remained active in the program until a series of health issues began to take a toll on him.
Ed Rawl (January 10, 2019)
Ed was the Thursday Day Coordinator in December 2014 when Alexa Von Bieberstein, who had been an SCVN member since 2007, was returning to Germany.
When I was Vice President of Public Interpretation, I called on Ed several times to help guide groups of hikers.
Dan Granger and Ed Rawl with Members of the American Senior Housing Association (11/07/14)
Ed Rawl Guiding Some of the Appalachian Mountains Club Members to Hutch’s Pool (04/08/14)
SCVN Friday Hikes with Ann Nierenberg, Ed Rawl, Dan Granger and Tim Ralph (6/22/12)
Ed loved hiking in the Santa Catalina Mountains and was an active guide in the SCVN Friday Hikes.
Ed Rawl and Naturalist Jan Labiner Hiking to Seven Falls (10/17/2013)
When not doing the regular SCVN Friday hikes, he would hike with friends, or often alone.
Hiking to Thimble Peak — Naturalists Tim Ralph, Ed Rawl, Phil Bentley, and Alexa Von Bieberstein at the Gorden Hirabayashi Campground (11/07/13)
One of the most memorable experiences came in November of 2013 when Tim Ralph, Ed Rawl, Alexa Von Bieberstein, Phil Bentley, and myself hiked to Thimble Peak. On a windy and chilly morning, we began our hike out of the Gorden Hirabayashi Campground.
Tim Ralph, Ed Rawl, Alexa Von Bieberstein, and Phil Bentley (11/07/13)
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