Sagebrush: Species of the Week
One of the things I like about writing regular posts on various species is that it challenges my own tendency to overlook or take for granted species that are common, mundane, or unpopular. Last week, I had the good fortune to take a brief vacation in the high desert country of Central Oregon. I decided it was time to learn more about a plant I see everywhere throughout the Great Basin but know little about: Artemesia tridentata, or sagebrush.
Ocotillo: Species of the Week
I suppose it’s inevitable that a temperate forest-dweller like me would be amazed by the oddities that grow in the desert. It’s been two weeks since I returned home to Portland, Oregon from a brief trip to Arizona, and I’m still sighing over the blooms I saw in the desert…
hummingbird haiku
I wasn’t fast enough to catch them but they were everywhere. Really. (Superstition Mountains, Arizona, February 2009) ______________________________________ hummingbird haiku gutsy grape gorget tiny feathers like chain mail – nectar defender ___________________________ Day 4: NaPoWriMo (choose the name of a paint color and free write) and Poetic Asides (animals). __________________________________________________________________________
Desert Tarantula: Species of the Week
Out of some 850 species of tarantulas worldwide, the genus Aphonopelma includes the four dozen or so species native to the United States. Aphonopelma chalcodes – the Desert Tarantula – is the one I’ll be most likely to meet in Arizona…
Superstitions, Saguaro, and Bajadas
A trip to Prescott College for a colloquium (and to visit my son) breaks my writing routine and has brought me into a drier, sunnier winter. A 24 hour detour to the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix gave me a a taste of a desert spring. It also fulfilled a long-held fantasy of walking among the [...]
