Filed under: Arizona, The Route to Work | Tags: Arizona, Flora, Holidays, Paradise Valley, Religion
I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams… ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Hi! I’m a desert-dwelling ground squirrel.
Happy Easter!
Filed under: Home | Tags: Holidays, Home, Hummingbirds, Mockingbirds, Religion
I spent half an hour in my yard with camera in hand; these are 2 mockingbirds and 2 hummingbirds that were entertaining me. Both types of birds are very talkative and perform many antics.
I’ve loved this poem since I first read it decades ago in high school:
The Windhover
To Christ Our Lord
I caught this morning morning’s minion, king-
dom of daylight’s dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate’s heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing.
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.
~Gerard Manley Hopkins, written in 1877
It’s about a kestrel, which is a symbol for Christ, but it applies to many birds…”My heart…stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing.”
Abandoned Nest
Almost seems like an appropriate Easter week post.
Filed under: Art, Home, Phoenix | Tags: Art, Downtown Phoenix, Holidays, Home, Lalo Cota, Murals, Phoenix, Religion
Yup, you’re in the right place. It’s Día de Los Muertos and we’re going to celebrate!
In most regions of Mexico, November 1 honors children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2. This is indicated by generally referring to November 1 as Día de los Inocentes (“Day of the Innocents”) and November 2 as Día de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”).
Let’s party!
These photos were taken at the Arizona Latino Arts and Cultural Center, where they are having a Día de Los Muertos festival on Friday in downtown Phoenix that I hope to attend…so I may have an additional Day of the Dead post in the near future.
Many catrinas and calaveras to dance with…
This is a bottle of Kah Tequila that Tony gave me for my birthday last summer. They make 3 different calaveras for 3 different tequilas, the black one, a white one, and a yellow one…I’ll be getting the other 2 at some point.
If you’ve read my blog for long, you know I usually post Day of the Dead murals for November 1. Here is a link to last year’s post, 2010′s post, and 2009′s post. We have a lot of those types of murals in Phoenix, done by Lalo Cota, Angel Diaz, Pablo Luna, and others, but I could not find any that I haven’t already posted here for today’s post. So, above, is a mural I’ve never shown nor seen, I don’t know if it is still around, but it was done by Lalo Cota and it’s on his business card, so I scanned it, just so I wouldn’t be breaking my own tradition. I wanted to post a photo of this mural, also by Lalo, but by the time I went to shoot it, it had been overpainted.
My cousin, who also loves Day of the Dead, sent me this as well as the metal skeleton (and some other goodies) in the next photo. Love them!
And I added this Day of the Dead cross to my large cross collection.
¡Viva La Vida!
Filed under: Art, Phoenix | Tags: Art, Holidays, Phoenix, Religion, Travels
Time to start getting ready for one of my favorite holidays…
Less than a month away so it’s officially the season…
Día de los Muertos…November 1 and 2…Day(s) of the Dead…
I just thought I would start to set the mood…
And, hopefully, I’ll have some fun photos to commemorate the occasion…
To toast Los Muertos in style…
Stay tuned…
I love certain freaky-looking skulls, as you might know. This is at the Shrine of St. Joseph of the Mountains in Yarnell, Arizona, the one tourist attraction there. The larger than life-sized sculptures are reinforced concrete, built in 1939 by Felix Lucero, portraying the life of Christ. Apparently the group that commissioned it was called the Catholic Action League of Arizona but it is now a non-denominational Christian retreat center supported by donations. There is no admission cost. Read more here.
Steps lead you to the Stations of the Cross through a lovely setting of oak trees and granite boulders.
