May 2020

Bare Tree #39
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Not really a tree, rather a sagebrush plant. But I include such photos in this series as they are still about leafless plants.

Bare Tree #38
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Bare Tree #37
Bozeman, Montana
2020

I took this photo on the same walk as those from the last two days, and like those photos can be interpreted in regard to time.

First I took this photo only a half an hour after the one of the wheel in the snow. It shows what a short bit of time and some warm ground can do to a spring snowfall. (That this tree was on a south-facing slope while the wheel was on a north-facing slope had something to do with the speed of melting as well.)

Second, I took this photo while thinking of one I took of the same downed tree some years ago. Just to test my memory, I decided to try and shoot this shot from the same spot as the previous photo. I think my memory did a pretty good job. Below is the previous photo from 2006 which I also took on a snowy day. No warm ground for that shot  though as it was November, well into the early stages of winter so the snow likely stuck around. (Note I did no cropping of either image to try and make them match more closely.)

The Arrow of Time
Bozeman, Montana
2020

The title of yesterday’s post was a nod to Robert Jordan’s sci-fi/fantasy book series which supposed a cyclical nature to time. While the fence in today’s photo is not as suggestive of an arrow as yesterday’s was of a wheel, it does imply a direction of sorts so I titled it The Arrow of Time to give Arthur Stanley Eddington’s ideas on the one-way direction of time equal treatment. (I first read about the arrow of time in one of my more or less futile efforts to understand quantum physics.)

We put up this snow fence about the same time in the 80’s as yesterday’s wheel. The fence no longer does its job well, but I can at least look at it as an example of something I’ve aged better than.

The Wheel of Time
Bozeman, Montana
2020

We bought this old wagon wheel at a farm auction back in about 1983. It’s been leaning against this tree behind our house ever since. It was pretty old even then but it still looks pretty good in spite of being outside in the weather for the last 37 years. I’m not sure I’ve aged as gracefully as it has, and I’ve spent a lot of my life indoors. (A sure sign of my old age is my declining ability to find much humor in late season snowfalls such as this one which occurred on May 11.)

As if Covid-19 Wasn’t Enough to Worry About
Black’s Ford, Montana
2020

Knuckle Sandwich
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2020

Your Loving Arms
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2020

A mother and child saguaro cactus reach for each other. I went to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument to see the namesake cactus which grows in abundance there, but not around Tucson where I used to live among the saguaro. The organ pipe are impressive, but for my money, the saguaro still take the prize for ruler of all cacti in the Sonoran desert.

Teddy Bear Cholla
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2020

A.K.A. Cylindropuntia bigelovii, the teddy bear cholla, is arguably the Sonoran Desert’s most attractive nuisance. It’s also known as jumping cholla for good reason. It seems you just have to look crosswise at one and a section, known as a joint, will stick to your clothes or skin. When I lived in Tucson many years ago, I pulled many a cholla joint from my dogs and the occasional friend as well.

Sawtooth Agave #9
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2020