Saturday’s always seemed like a day apart for me, not in the same sense as Sunday, a day apart with God and church, but in a “day off from the routine” way. Since Saturday morning my husband actually had a day off, we decided to visit the Japanese Friendship Garden in Phoenix, which turned out to be a marvelous choice. It was an unusually cool morning and we arrived not long after they opened, in time to find a parking spot and before it began to get crowded. Perfect!
Since Egidio chose “Music to My Eyes” as this week’s challenge, one of my favorite songs from long ago came to mind: “Come Saturday Morning,“ by The Sandpipers. It still brings that same feeling to mind, even when a Saturday is nothing like this. Here’s the first verse:
Come Saturday morning I’m goin’ away with my friend We’ll Saturday-spend till the end of the day Just I and my friend We’ll travel for miles in our Saturday smiles And then we’ll move on But we will remember long after Saturday’s gone
We traveled for miles to get there and come back and we certainly remembered the tranquility and beauty of the garden long after we came home. We’ll be visiting again.
On a much lighter note (so to speak), the other song that popped into my head was Paul Simon’s “Love Me Like a Rock.” Besides the obvious (rocks) here on Mt. Lemmon, these formations are called hoodoos, so naturally my brain took the following lines from the song:
I’d say, now who do (Who) Who do you think you’re foolin’
and morphed them into a more place-appropriate:
I’d say, now hoodoo, (Who) Hoodoo you think you’re foolin’.
That’s it for me musically for this week. I defy you to see a hoodoo after this and not start at least thinking, if not singing, my altered lines. You’re welcome! Earworms rule.
Thanks, Egidio, for a challenge I almost passed up but then had lots of fun with. Mine is a much more plebeian response than yours, layered with so many elements, and many of the responses I’ve read so far. But there’s room for all of us in the music/photography world. 🙂
Since we walked around the garden, I’m also using this for Jo’s Monday Walk and by posting it today, I should make the deadline to get it included in tomorrow’s post, right, Jo?
“So now it’s space and time,” he said. “You ever watch Doctor Who on PBS?” “All the time,” she said dryly, “on the BBC. And don’t think I wouldn’t sell my soul for a TARDIS.” ― Diana Gabaldon, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood
Today is your lucky day! I have room in the Tardis for you to travel back in timewith me to about 1200 AD, with your soul intact. Climb in and hold on! Off we go.
After reading about Utah’s Bear Ears National Monument in one of Anne Hillerman’s books, I decided I could avoid the crowds at the more well-known, crowded national parks nearby , taking mytimeexploring something wonderful and crowd-free. After a futile attempt at finding the three-toed dinosaur tracks, I drove back to the paved road, continuing into the park, soon coming to a sign for Butler Wash Ruin. That sounded promising, so I stopped.
A large comment in the hikers’ register shouted “SNAKES!!” Hmmm. It’s one thing to find a small snake on the Wyoming road, another to find what likely could be a rattlesnake, but with the heat, I figured any snake worthy of the name would be hiding in the shade. However, I kept my eyes wide open up the rocky half-mile path with no idea what I would find. I’d neglected to bring my water along, so I was quite hot by the time I got to the top and the fence.
What I found gobsmacked me: a spectacular cliff dwelling taking me back in time to about 1200 AD, built by the Anasazi, AKA these days as Ancestral Puebloans. The three areas of the dwelling are mostly as found in the 1800s, with only some parts of the living, storage, and ceremonial places having been stabilized a/o reconstructed.
“Every great day has a story and a song!” ― Faith Reese Martin, White Doe in the Mist: The Mystery of the Lost Colony
Getting home wouldn’t have been easy for these people, but it would also be difficult to attack them. At the bottom of the wash, cottonwood trees abound, indicating water, a necessity for humans life, as well as providing a home for the cottonwood trees used for everything from digging sticks and weaving tools to roof beams. The fibrous inner bark was used as well. Just imagine how much time it took to make these things as well as to built the dwelling! You couldn’t just run to the store for your needs. Shopping at nature’s store requires a lot more time.
“Time is an illusion.” ― Albert Einstein
I realized I’d left my camera in the 4Runner but I had my phone, although the sun was so bright that I wasn’t even sure if I lining my shots up correctly. Even shading the phone didn’t help! I couldn’t see them at all until I got back inside. Thankfully, they turn out well. Evidently you can make your way to the ruins, although there’s no official trail and it’s not encouraged. I was just thrilled to observe from where I was.
I wasn’t the only one taking timeto view the ruins. Despite the snake warnings, this was the only living creature I saw.
If you’d like to read more about the ruins and see some photos taken from inside them, take the time to click on this link.
Thanks to Donna from Wind Kisses for a challenge with all sorts of possibilities! Click on the highlighted link to see her beautifully written and photographed post and, if interested, you may add your link to her comment stream. You won’t regret taking the timeto enjoy her post.
I’ll also sneak this in for Jo’s Monday Walk, although here it was more about the destination than the actual walk. Just imagine lots of rock, cacti and other desert plants, and hot sun and you’ll get the idea of the actual walk. 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to visit and, hopefully, letting me know if you liked the post.
Today we remember September 11, 2021, praying that nothing like that ever happens again, here in the U.S. or elsewhere in the world.
Wyoming is my happy place. Although I love riding, I’d love it here even without horses. This view, at over 7,000′, might show you why. I’m pretty sure I take this same shot every year, but every year it squeezes my heart with its beauty and it was still beautifully green due to weeks and weeks of rain.
I arrived on a Wednesday afternoon. The horses aren’t brought in from the corral on Thursdays, so I had time to settle in and take a number of walks. Walk with me a short distance.
This bee was having a sweet time too.
Looking back towards the area where most of the cabins are. Our cabin is farther up on the right. One advantage of all that rain was that even in August there were still lots of wildflowers.
Another view. That meadow appeals to moose, a veritable fast food feasting area.
Butterflies were everywhere, the air was cool, (which, after high temperatures between 100 and 118 degrees Fahrenheit, was a joy), I could see mountains everywhere.
For this walk, I’m going back to our May-June trip, having left Illinois and Ohio to arrive in Philadelphia where we stayed in an Airbnb just a few blocks from our daughter’s apartment. We walked everywhere and on this day, I’d walked with our daughter to her office at the far end of the University of Pennsylvania’s gorgeous campus. As I started back, the first building I saw was the gorgeous Fisher Fine Arts Library, which looked like a fortress castle I might expect to find in Europe, complete with gargoyles and other embellishment. I fell in love.
Construction began in 1888, the library eventually named for its creator, the well-known local architect, Frank Furness. Evidently the design fell out of favor, was even embarrassing (were they crazy?), but in 1957, Frank Lloyd Wright said, “It is the work of an artist.” At that point, public opinion probably flew in the other direction. And according to Wikipedia:
In a 2009 appreciation in The Wall Street Journal, architectural historian Michael J. Lewis called it “a cheeky act of architectural impertinence” and “the last of its kind“: “Today, the University of Pennsylvania building, now known as the Fisher Fine Arts Library, is widely acknowledged as one of the great creations of 19th-century American culture, and the principal work of its architect, Frank Furness (1839-1912).“
It’s now a National Historic Landmark. That’s more like it!
In a daze of architectural joy, I wandered around the front of the building to find this gate inviting me to open it and walk through. What’s a woman to do? I went through…
…to find a delightful (and cooler) small, beautiful garden, where I first spotted these lovely poppies.
These hellebores astounded me. I’d never seen them before and they’re definitely unusual.
Having walked quite a long way to leave our daughter at work, I was ready to rest and relax and this spot was calling my name.
Looking down, I discovered a number inscriptions on the stones below my feet. What fun!
The sun was shining through the dogwood tree leaves and I was at peace.
Let’s walk around Lakeview Cemetery a bit. It’s a lovely day, flowers are blooming, we have nowhere we have to be, and there are tombstones to explore. Let’s start with a Celtic cross. There are quite a few, but I liked the decorations around this one.
I love the details on this one.
This one was unique because it’s on the ground.
Then there are a few in the classical vein.
It’s nice to know that not everyone buried here had to have a lot of money. I wonder whether anyone visits the ones like this anymore.
I’d almost forgotten how big trees can get in the Midwest.
We have another jewel of a building coming up in a few days and lots of doors for Thursday Doors. See you soon and have a great week. Tomorrow I have a view of retirement through a child’s eyes.
Lakeview Cemetery on the east side of Cleveland is a beautiful, tranquil spot as well as home to some famous (dead) people. When we lived in Cleveland’s east side, we enjoyed visiting there, especially in spring when daffodils lined some of the slopes. As it’s right next to Little Italy, any visit could include some tasty treats as well.
Here are just a few of the tombstones of people buried there. Perhaps you know of some of them. Crime and cartoon aficionados will recognize this model for Dick Tracy.
I admit it I had no idea who was buried here but I made an abrupt turn when I saw a tombstone resembling a juke box! What amazing detail!
Thankfully I checked the other side and found out who was honored in such a rock-and-roll way.
Finally a much more famous resident with a much less interesting monument…
The beach is part of life in much of southern California and as our daughter and her family live just a few blocks from it, every trip there includes a daily walk to the beach. On the way, my heart was gladdened by these golden poppies and the contrast with the bright blue fence behind them.
My plant ID says these are Delosperma bosseranum or, as we normal people call them, iceplants, a succulent. No ice in sight but if ice looked like this, what an interesting world it would be!
I haven’t seen dog droppings, so I’m assuming these bags get used. I love the “Business is picking up”, something I would have liked to have written.
Look this direction and you can see the Palos Verdes pennisula and the city of Palos Verdes, or PV as the locals call it, where the houses are large and expensive and the views are amazing. The flowering succulents on the hill above the beach are in full bloom.
Look the other direction and you can see flowers again as well as quite a distance along the coast. At the bottom of this hill is The Strand. The official name of The Strand bike path in Los Angeles is the Marvin Braude Bike Trail, a fully-paved, 22-mile (35-km) bike path that runs from Will Rogers State Beach in the north to Torrance County Beach in the south. It gets a lot of use. When both my husband and I visit, we stay in an Airbnb in Hermosa Beach and my husband bikes to where our daughter and family live and then back at night.
There’s so much to do at the beach but father-son time is one of the best things!!
It wouldn’t be a Monday walk with Jo or a trip to Redondo Beach without a stop at Sweet Wheat, my favorite French bakery. Today I’ve taken a break from panna cotta to enjoy Paris-Brest, so light and tasty and, important to me, just barely sweet…but SO very delicious. I’m sure I walked off any calories going to, along, and from the beach, right? 🙂
The Paris–Brest is a classic French pastry, featuring a crisp, almond-studded baked ring of pâte à choux that’s split in half horizontally, liberally filled with praline crème mousseline—a heady mixture of vanilla pastry cream, nutty praline paste, and whipped butter—and finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.
This bakery staple was created in 1910 by pastry chef Louis Durand, as an homage to the long-distance Paris-Brest-Paris bicycle race (the pastry’s circular shape is meant to evoke that of a bicycle wheel). Pâtisserie Durand, which is still owned and operated by the Durand family, claims to have the original recipe, but fortunately this hasn’t prevented pastry chefs around the world from putting forth their own spins on the dessert. ~ Serious Eats (You can find a recipe there as well.L
Happy May Day! Did any of you make May baskets when you were children? If you live outside the US, is May 1 a special day for you?
To be honest, I did more driving than walking here because I’d pull over to take pictures, then hop back in, drive to another spot, and repeat. In some areas there was fencing, so I couldn’t walk far. In others I found trail access with parking, but you have to have a pass to park and I don’t have one. I didn’t mind. The views could hardly have been bettered.
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine to the mind.” ― Luther Burbank
Spotting a cactus in full bloom I clambered up the steep slope in loose soil, hoping I wouldn’t slip and fall into anything spiny. If the following quote is true, the desert is full of both love and truth. 🙂
“Love speaks in flowers. Truth requires thorns.” ― Leigh Bardugo, The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic
Then came lupine, beautiful flowers we see in Wyoming if we arrive early enough in the summer or even later if there’s been enough rain and it hasn’t gotten too hot. No matter the color of the flowers, the views of the mountains and the endless sky kept me happy. You’d think a cloudless blue sky would be the best, but for photos you can’t beat some artistically arranged clouds!
In some places there were poppies as well. Jo, I didn’t have any cake or dessert after the three hours or more I spent here, but I was filled with so much joy and contentment that I didn’t need anything else. 🙂
“The earth laughs in flowers” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
On the way back from California, I decided to detour through Joshua Tree National Park in hopes of seeing spring scenes. Coming in from the north or northwest, I could immediately see the Joshua Trees that give the park its name. These trees that could have sprung from the mind and pen of Dr. Seuss are part of the agave family, a rather large family encompassing a wide variety of plant appearances. Despite its funky look, the tree parts are useful. Native tribes made the tough leaves into baskets and sandals and ate the flower buds and raw or roasted seeds.
“The desert is so huge, and the horizon so distant, that the make a person feel small, and as if he should remain silent.” ~Paulo Coelho
A wealthy California woman, Minerva Hamilton Hoyt’s vision and perseverance in conserving desert habitats lead to the setting aside of 795,156 acres or 3,218 square kilometers, first designated as a National Monument and then a National Park. I’d say it’s a national treasure.
“Water, water, water… There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount…unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.” ~Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
There are an unfathomable number of trees in the northern part of the park, reminding me of photos of the African savannas, albeit with Joshua “trees” instead of the trees found in Africa. Standing each in solitary splendor rather than close together as do the trees in a forest, they stretch as far as the eye can see.
“Noontime here is like a drug. The light is psychedelic, the dry electric air narcotic. To me the desert is stimulating, exciting, exacting” ~Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
Reproduction of Joshua trees is anything but simple.
Spring rains may bring clusters of white-green flowers on long stalks at branch tips. Like all desert blooms, Joshua trees depend on just the perfect conditions: well-timed rains, and for the Joshua tree, a crisp winter freeze. Researchers believe that freezing temperatures may damage the growing end of a branch and stimulate flowering, followed by branching. You may notice some Joshua trees grow like straight stalks; these trees have never bloomed—which is why they are branchless! In addition to ideal weather, the pollination of flowers requires a visit from the yucca moth. The moth collects pollen while laying her eggs inside the flower ovary. As seeds develop and mature, the eggs hatch into larvae, which feed on the seeds. The tree relies on the moth for pollination and the moth relies on the tree for a few seeds for her young—a happy symbiosis. The Joshua tree is also capable of sprouting from roots and branches. Being able to reproduce vegetatively allows a much quicker recovery after damaging floods or fires, which may kill the main tree.
Many birds, mammals, reptiles, and insects depend on the Joshua tree for food and shelter. Keep your eyes open for the yellow and black flash of a Scott’s oriole busy making a nest in a yucca’s branches. At the base of rocks you may find a wood rat nest built with spiny yucca leaves for protection. As evening falls, the desert night lizard begins poking around under the log of a fallen Joshua tree in search of tasty insects. ~from the park website
Tell me this doesn’t look like a giant artichoke!
However as the bloom progresses, it looks for all the world like some sort of alien creature best left well alone.
“If you spend enough time in the desert, you will hear it speak.” ~Nnedi Okorafor, Who Fears Death
Eventually though, it looks much more attractive. Not all the trees were in bloom but there were enough to look good. My goal was to find one that was small enough that I could a) get a good photo of the bloom at its artichoke beginning and b) get a decent photo of the mature bloom. The problem for the former was not only finding a tree that was small enough but that was in a location where I could pull over enough to be off the road.
“But in the desert, in the pure clean atmosphere, in the silence – there you can find yourself. And unless you begin to know yourself, how can you even begin to search for God?” ~Father Dioscuros
I admit I did much more driving than walking because I wanted to get home that evening. I made stop after stop for photos (oh, did I wish I’d taken my Nikon for that short California weekend) and just to enjoy the amazing scenery. We’ll have to plan a trip where we stay near the park for a few days, taking time to hike and explore. But as you’ll see over the next days, the three hours were hours well spent in soul-refreshing beauty.
The photographic road we tend to travel most often is what John is asking us to share with you this week for the Lens-Artists Challenge. It’s a challenge that require some introspection on my part but I do know that my overall road runs mostly through nature, although within that milieu I consider myself to be eclectic. My motto? Perhaps this…
“Nature, especially wilderness, has a calming effect on the mind” – Percy Fernandez
or maybe this…
“Nature never goes out of style”– Unknown
My road is slow and quiet…with time to stop and look. There’s a reason people in a group or on wheels rarely see wildlife.
I love to take inroads to see the little things that perhaps might be missed and share them through a photo.
“Sometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject “– Eliot Porter
My road can be literal and I’ve been down this one many times for most of my life. I plan travel it as long as I’m able.
“The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
My road means wanting to see things no one else has seen or, if seen, have not really noticed as special. I want them to say, “Why didn’t I ever think to make a picture of that?”
“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.”― Marc Riboud
Sometimes my road even includes the city with all its distortions of nature and sees them as beautiful, yet I always yearn for the road back to and into nature to center me and bring me peace.
“Always seeing something, never seeing nothing, being photographer” ― Walter De Mulder
Wherever your road is and whatever it looks like, be prepared to taste the sweetness of life when the opportunity arises.
My overarching motto as a photographer is expressed perfectly in this quote I discovered while creating this post. It instantly smote my heart:
“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.”― Robert Frank
Thanks to all of you who take time to view my photos, to “like” my posts, and most of all, to take the time to tell me what you like about them, how they touch you . That is soul food in the finest sense. ❤
Perhaps Jo will forgive me for also linking this to her Monday Walk challenge as it is indeed a walk, albeit a virtual one, through the philosophy of my photography and blogging.
This, that and the other thing 