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PROGRAMMING NOTE from the Author and Archivist


So obviously I just stopped blogging on this platform. I'll get back to it eventually. Or not. I'm taking a break from all social media. It seemed necessary for my mental health.

The last few years have been busy and … challenging:

- 2015 Happened.
- 2016 Let's call it The Lost Year. (Obviously words failed me.)
- 2017 about broke me. Literally. Mentally.
- 2018 was ridiculous, proving 2017 was just a warm up. (Good thing I was already broken so it couldn't hurt as much.#2018TrashCanFire I thought things were going okay, but maybe not?)

- 2019 was such a blur. I know there were highlights, but then stuff happened and carried into the next year...

- And then in March#2020 really took a turn. Who can even categorize 2020? Do we dare?


I kinda want a do-over of some of the last few years. But life doesn’t work that way.


So for now, I'm hunkering down. Regrouping. Trying to stay safe and sort some stuff out.


Stay safe everyone. Stay well.

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Vacation Views -- Flora, but no Fauna

I took so many photos on vacation, I'm going to have to divide them up by subjects. (There will be prose entries too ... eventually. I just have to organize my notes and my time to do so.)

Desert Flora
Cacti



Doesn't this look like a menorah?



Joshua trees only grow in a few places in the world.
In the southwest, there are acres and acres of them.

Pretty Plants and Fleurs




I liked this view for the contrasts. You can't tell, but the tree is scarred from a major fire that swept across this valley about three years ago. The underbrush is coming back, which just highlights how resilient nature is.


Major flooding on the Virgin River a few years back wiped out a lot of the area where I was staying. Some of the trees didn't make it, but others did. If you also look closely at the foreground, you can see tumbleweeds, as well as some in the making.


It's really bright in the West. My eyes are VERY light sensitive. Considering I had to peel off the dark shades, squint, and try and focus a mini-esque digital camera to shoot a lot of these, I don't think they came out all that badly.


Also, NO photographers were harmed by the cacti in the shooting of these photos ... unlike some of stories my siblings could tell of their photographic adventures!