February 2022

Snow Moon
Tubac, Arizona
2022

The full moon last night was the secoand and last full moon of our stay here in Tubac. The weather this time around was very much like that for last month’s full moon–cloudy but with enough open sky just above the horizon to see the moon come up. February’s full moon is called the snow moon, which was quite apt on the local scene here as just the day before a cold snap created rain down in the valley and snow up in the Santa Rita mountains from behind which the snow moon made it’s appearance.

Cristate
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2022

Cristate or crown shaped growths on cacti are uncommon but not rare. I’ve seen them on saguaro cacti before where they always seem to grow at the top of a cactus (making crown shaped a very apt description). On organ pipe cacti though, cristate growth appears at the bottom rather than the top of the plant, at least in the 2-3 cacti I saw with it.

The Ripple Effect
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2022

This organ pipe cactus had more going on than just droopy socks.

Droopy Socks
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2022

Did you ever have a pair of socks that just wouldn’t stay up and kept sagging down around your ankles? Organ pipe cacti generally have gently curving arms. But some, like this one, just can’t see to keep from sagging down towards their base.

Be Mine
Organ Pipe National Monument, Arizona
2022

Theirs was a prickly kind of relationship, but a heartfelt and lasting one nonetheless. Happy Valentines Day.

Bare Cholla
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona
2022

I was tempted to include this image in my Bare Tree series but a cholla is not a tree, however much it might resemble one in a way, so I chose to remain botanically correct.

Bare Tree #85
Organ Pipe National Monument, Arizona
2022

This old chuck of a desert ironwood tree looks much like a bit of lava flow like that you might see in Craters of the Moon National Monument or many other locations.

My Truck Runneth Over
Why, Arizona
2022

Another Desert Dropout
Tucson Mountain Park, Arizona
2021

Not “pretty” by any stretch of the imagination, this bit of decaying prickly pair really caught my attention. Think of it as an abstract image of textures, shapes and shadows and maybe you’ll see what I was drawn to.

Bare Tree #84
Tucson Mountain Park, Arizona
2022

This image puts off a bit of a vibe from Muench’s “The Scream.”

The Scream (lithograph detail)
Edvard Munch
1895
The Munch Museum