Every year I visit my parents and family in Arizona. I love the desert landscapes and their spare beauty. These shots are from the Mesa and Sedona areas, perfect for the “Landscapes and Seascapes” challenge.
If you don’t die of thirst, there are blessings in the desert. You can be pulled into limitlessness, which we all yearn for, or you can do the beauty of minutiae, the scrimshaw of tiny and precise. The sky is your ocean, and the crystal silence will uplift you like great gospel music, or Neil Young.
~Anne Lamott
What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
This is the sense of the desert hills, that there is room enough and time enough.
~Mary Austin
~Mary Austin
This, that and the other thing 
Lovely!
Thank you, Sandra. I really want to do a bit more writing on the blog, but with our younger daughter already home for the Christmas holiday, presents to wrap, etc., time is taken up with so many things. It’s easy to fall back on photos (which I do love), but they take up a lot more space in my blog. I’m starting to get close to 10% left, which means decisions have to be made. 🙂
janet
I lived 8 months in Arizona in 1992.. and the desert landscape still lives in my heart.
They truly are beautiful, Björn.
janet
I love the desert, the same way i love winter or new York City. Short visit, but i wouldn’t want to live there.
i spent a little time in the Negev. Solitary and awesome during the day. thriving and alive, even chilling, at night. It was inspiring. Randy
I know precisely what you mean, Randy, and that’s fine. There are already so many people living in the metropolitan Phoenix area that I always wonder how the desert will be able to sustain them and the continued growth, particularly in providing enough water (already being stolen from the Colorado River.)
janet
I know. Sad.
You sense a real romance with the desert in your photos.
The desert can certainly be harsh, Charlie, but it’s quite beautiful as well, don’t you think? Very different from Seattle, though. 🙂
janet
Gorgeous hues and great compositions 🙂
Beautiful landscapes for this week Janet. Thanks ever so much.
Glad you enjoyed them, Cee. The desert is so beautiful.
janet
Something about that final cactus photo is positively enchanting. The strong contrasts and dark shadows are eye-catching, especially since it looks like a day scene, but it’s so dark overall. Lovely work, as always!
Many thanks, Hannah. There’s a long section along the highway from Phoenix to Flagstaff that is full of the saguaro cacti and it’s so cool. The shadow of the hill threw in the dark part of the photo and I enhanced it just slightly.
Stay warm!
janet
Beautiful pics and love the Anne Lamott quote.
Thanks, Sue. It’s fun looking for quotes to go with photos and the internet makes it so easy.
janet
Great photos. 😀
Thanks, Raewyn.
janet
Beautiful images, Janet. Is that Monument Valley in the second one?
The red rocks of Sedona. Monument Valley has similar formations but not nearly as much around them!
janet
These are very lovely shots Janet.
Thanks, Indira.
janet
Fabulous juxtaposition of images and language. Aka great post. 😉
Haha, Jeanette. Glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for the “great” comment.
janet
I love how you used quotes to accompany your beauteous photos! I especially like the third photo – something quiet and sad, but also peaceful about it.
One of the things the internet has made easy (other than using a thesaurus, of course) is finding quotes. But of course, I’m happy you like the photos. My blog started out with all writing and now is a combination of writing and photography.
janet
Ha! Mine too! With all these photo challenges, it’s nice to have something to do with all the photos I constantly take…with my phone. 🙂