Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
In the damp of the Pacific Northwest it wasn’t hard to find moss, stand still long enough and the moss found you. I was surprised though to find it growing in the desert far from any water, covering a rock hidden in the shadow of a boulder. I was even more surprised when it matched my smile with its own, so joyful and exuberant, beautiful if unconventional, as I told it of the glory of the rising sun that it could never see.
With the sun getting low on the horizon I took a few pictures of my new car, the 2020 Lexus UX 250h. My wife and I fell in love with its predecessor the CT 200h when we first saw it at the Portland auto show years ago, but while it was high on my list when I was car shopping in 2012 the newly introduced Subaru Crosstrek was an almost perfect fit for my needs at the time. I have an irrational love for small hatchbacks, a love cemented in the 90’s with my first new car, the 1992 Honda Civic Si. So perhaps it’s not surprising that of the three excellent cars that topped my shopping list this go-around it was the UX that won my heart. I have high hopes for the little hybrid, I adored my Crosstrek but think the UX will be a better fit for my life here in Arizona.
To photograph this gorgeous male Gila woodpecker, clinging to an ocotillo in the fading light of a winter afternoon, I had to … get up off my chair on the back porch and take a few steps into the backyard.
Sometimes we have a lot of birds in our yard, sometimes we only have one. My wife and I were enjoying a sunny winter afternoon on the porch yesterday when I noticed how quiet it had gotten. I looked up to see no birds save this red-eyed beauty.
Shortly after the house finch left his perch a cactus wren flew in and posed in the same spot. Was it class picture day? Would a canyon towhee fly in, a little oatmeal spilled on its shirt? A black-throated sparrow with an unruly cowlick? A white-crowned sparrow with a bright smile and a mouthful of braces? Sadly no, the mixed flock of birds continued to move across the desert so I continued up the trail.
The sunrise Saturday morning was so glorious there was still a little red in the skies even an hour later.
Exhausted, I turned off my alarm before bed yet I woke early filled with existential dread for the state of the world. I got up and waited to see if I would get sleepy again, but since I didn’t I decided to surround myself with beauty and went out for a hike. Not up for a long drive I initially decided to hit a favorite trail at Brown’s Ranch but went to the Marcus Landslide instead when I saw clouds in the east. My reward as I started down the trail was this view of the Four Peaks before sunrise. Saw plenty of birds, got some good exercise, then came home where a freshly made breakfast sandwich was waiting courtesy of my wife. I shared the last bit of bacon with Boo before the two of us curled up for a long nap.
A week’s worth of weather in one picture. Rain turned the soft parts of the trail to mud that deformed under bike tires. More rain filled the depressions with water. Yesterday dawned cold and the water turned to ice, which either took on the color of the muddy water below or reflected the blue skies above.
It’s my goal to photograph every animal of the Sonoran Desert atop a saguaro but with mule deer I think this is as close as I’m going to get.
The fruit of the jojoba reminds me of an acorn, taken on a sunny spring morning up on the Marcus Landslide. Acorns remind me of the pup, always a good thing.
Boolie 