Author: JoHanna Massey

Do Not Tell Fish Stories

~ JoHanna Massey
Do not tell fish stories where the people know you;
But particularly,
Don’t tell them where they know the fish.
Mark Twain

A simply delightful pause with a walk about, and take away picnic lunch  at Page Spring  Fish Hatchery.

Page Springs Fish Hatchery, named for the Page family that first established the hatchery in the 1930’s, is now managed by the Hatchery Program of the Arizona Fish, Game, and Wildlife, an agency of the State of Arizona’s government. The Hatchery is approximately 190 Acres and includes two parcels of land:  Page Springs Hatchery and Bubbling Ponds Hatchery.  

In 1990-91 the Hatchery was renovated into  a showcase facility featuring raceways, canopies, a visitor center, and a self-guided tour path. The Audubon Society identified habitat at the hatcheries and riparian area along lower Oak Creek as an Important Bird Area (IBA), and it draws thousands of visitors to view the wildlife or like us, a quiet watery respite.

Page Springs Fish Hatchery May 2018

There is a Showpond where visitors are encouraged to feed the fish. Bring quarters, and don’t forget to sign the guestbook. The sound of the flowing water is big in this area and quite wonderful, the pond crystal clear and the fish healthy and enthusiastic. I enjoyed photographing the mural and could not find who had done the work, obviously enjoying themselves in the detail and variety of critters featured.

 

The Visitor Center has an engaging display of area wildlife, including some beauties of bird photography in an exhibit by Audubon, and of course a large volume of information on the Hatchery and fishing in Arizona displayed well and quite interesting.

A few Hatchery Facts:

The Hatchery raises rainbow and brown trout. They grow about an inch per month, take less than a year to reach catch-able size.

Fed high protein diet.

Hatchery does not keep brood fish. They get their fingerlings from Silver Springs Hatchery in Oak Creek Canyon.

The Hatchery stocks around 600 to 700 hundred thousand fish per year, in rivers, streams, and lakes year round throughout the entire state of Arizona. The Hatchery is the largest in the State of Arizona and supplies 60% of the rainbow trout that are raised by State Hatcheries.

There is a short hiking trail, and once you leave the Hatchery you may be interested in one of the many tasting rooms as the area boasts  excellent wineries, the vineyards quite beautiful to behold.

A safe and peaceful June to each and everyone.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

 

Would You.. Could You.. Hike A Thousand Miles?

~ JoHanna Massey
“The Mountains Are Calling
And I must Go.”

 

Curt Mekemson has just left on a thousand mile chunk of a hike that begins in Ashland Oregon, travels south to Mount Whitney, through Siskiyou, Marble, and Sierra Nevada Mountains.This is quite the hike, through some of the most beautiful places in America. Places most people, Americans too,  never will see. Curt Mekemson is  an excellent nature writer, with an eye for detail and a way with words that could convince anyone to go outside to play, to explore, to see the beauty of it all.

Author of  The Bush Devil Ate Sam,  I first came across a batch of stunning photos,  the Burning Man Collection, and have been enjoying Curt’s  writings, adventures,  and photography since. His insatiable curiosity for exploring the planet is matched by his wife Peggy, who sharing his wanderlust, high spirits and a fine camera eye of her own, …makes their website Wandering Through Time and Place  one of the best and most interesting websites to savor and enjoy.  A fellow WordPress Blogger, Curt has in turn been a real source of inspiration, support, and contributor of smart comments for my own, JoHannaMassey.com for several years now.

When it comes to backpacking, Curt Mekemson speaks with experience on provisioning, food considerations, resupply points,  and permits that all need to be planned out and reviewed when undertaking a big or small adventure.  Whether a novice backpacker, a seasoned explorer, or someone wanting to see/learn of the back country of America in almost real time, here’s your invitation:

I’m inviting everyone to join me, tell all your friends and family, co workers, neighbors, and acquaintances too. This is a real big deal hike and I am thrilled for my friend. Let’s tag along this next three months with  Curt Mekemson’s Hike of One Thousand miles. I just think it would be so cool, if a million people worldwide, but especially the WordPress bloggers followed along with Curt Mekemson’s One Thousand Mile Hike.

No matter how huge our numbers swell to, how gaily and  daily we tramp along with Curt, via WordPress, we will ‘leave no trace’ behind us, the lightness of Curt’s steps one for all and all for one!

All my best to each and everyone of you. See you along the trail!

 

With The Noise Of It

~ JoHanna Massey ~ 2 Comments
When the green woods laugh
With the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream
Runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh
With our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs
With the noise of it.
William Blake

Being near cold flowing water, with an overhang of trees  is where I feel most whole and in grace. These strips of riparian paradise exist Worldwide, each unique and mesmerizing. No matter where we wander, there is a familiarity, recognition, and welcome in the rivers, streams, and creeks.   Especially when shared, the truly best kind of days. Perhaps a past or future as fish. This stretch of Beaver Creek has been a favorite for twenty five and some years, and I am happy to provide you a look about with these photos as my submission for  WordPress Photo Challenge theme of Place In The World.

 Inspiration for this weeks Challenge – Erica V 

For this week’s photo challenge, explore what it means to find your place in the world. Where’s your safe space? Where do you go when you need to feel inspired or cheered up? Let loose and give us a glimpse of who you are in the grand scheme of things.

All my best to Each and Everyone.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Music: Pete Seegar Sail Up & Down The River

Who Chose Passion Over Security

~ JoHanna Massey ~ 1 Comment
Argentine Giant Cacti- Spring Blooms May 2017- Sedona Arizona- JoHanna Massey
Argentine Giant Cacti- Spring Blooms May 2017- Sedona Arizona- JoHanna Massey
Argentine Giant Cacti- Spring Blooms May 2017- Sedona Arizona- JoHanna Massey

Grandmothers

She had Grandmothers
Who tried to forget.
She had Grandmothers
Who longed to remember.
She had Grandmothers
Who shipped their infant in a shoebox
To a childless sister in Sanpete County
With a note:
“Sorry to trouble you, but he don’t want kids right now.”

She had Grandmothers
Who were desperate from betrayal and
Killed themselves by diving
Head-first into a rain barrel
After carefully placing their glasses
On a clean hankie.
She had Grandmothers
Who left the pots and pans
To ‘soak’ under the lilac bush.

She had Grandmothers
Who took early retirement,
Who chose passion over security,
To make time for an affair
With a childhood sweetheart.
She had Grandmothers
Who joyfully greeted the dawn.

She had Grandmothers
Who braced themselves for the day
With valium, coffee and TV news.
She had Grandmothers
Who were uprooted by their grown children
And moved to an old
Barrack on the edge
Of a windswept nowhere
Where she spent twenty years
Sipping Black Jack Daniels and
Reading condensed editions of books.

She had Grandmothers
Who loved other women openly
And with devotion and she had
Grandmothers who did not speak,
Even to their daughters,
Of their love of women.

She had Grandmothers
With ample pensions who moved
To a retirement village
Where a dark haired young woman reminded her
To take her pills
And where someone came twice a month
To clean the wall of mirrors
That made her room look bigger

She had Grandmothers
Who loved the smell of babies and bacon,
And of coffee, oranges at Christmas,
Wet horses in the rain, and men.
She had Grandmothers
Who trailed the scent
Of rosewater, whiskey, and coal oil.
She had Grandmothers
Who reeked of smoke and patchouli.

She had Grandmothers
Who were beaten, berated, and betrayed
By their daughters.
She had Grandmothers
Who were raped by their sons-in-law.
She had Grandmothers
Who seduced their sons and their nephews.

She had Grandmothers who read out loud
And who sat on the stoop and taught the children,
Even the boys,
How to thread strings of lilac.
She had Grandmothers
Whose grief and pain was bottomless.
She had Grandmothers
Whose laugh was contagious.

She had Grandmothers
Who left Sweden, who left Scotland, who left Wales.
She had Grandmothers who were born, lived
And died in one time zone.

She had Grandmothers
Whose brains and blood were splattered
In the snow and on car windshields
In the supermarket parking lot
On the day her husband
Was served the restraining order
And came and shot her in the head.

She had Grandmothers who packed imaginary bags
To take imaginary trips to visit people
Who had died 40 years ago.
She had Grandmothers who were vegetarian.
She had Grandmothers who were Unitarian.
She had Grandmothers
Who slowly drank warm water for their constitution
And she had Grandmothers
Who snorted cocaine.

She had Grandmothers who played cards
With the same group of women
Once a month for thirty years
Who called themselves the “humbugs”
Who didn’t know that they were a “moon lodge”
And never once called into the four directions.
She had Grandmothers
Who tried to forget.
She had Grandmothers
Who tried to remember.
She had Grandmothers who said
We would be better off not knowing.
She had Grandmothers
Who whispered lies.

Julien Puzey
Spring Eqinox 1998

On this day we honor our Mothers, I share this favorite poem by Julien Puzey.  I chose the Argentine Giant Cacti during flowering for the accompanying  photos as this delicate bloomed but tough, resilient, often prickly cacti reminds me of the Mothers , Daughters, Sisters, Grandmothers, Nieces, Cousins, and Aunts within my own family. For generations, a fair bunch of rascally women if ever there has been one. Proud of, Grateful to Each and Every One. Happy Mothers Day!

 

Argentine Giant Cacti- Spring Blooms May 2017- Sedona Arizona- JoHanna Massey
Argentine Giant Cacti- Spring Blooms May 2017- Sedona Arizona- JoHanna Massey
Argentine Giant Cacti- Spring Blooms May 2017- Sedona Arizona- JoHanna Massey

 News/Music: Lady Madonna- Beatles

One Against Another

~ JoHanna Massey ~ 1 Comment
There are no lines in nature,
Only areas of color,
One against another.
Oriole- Spring 2018- JoHanna Massey
Oriole- Spring 2018- JoHanna Massey
Oriole JoHanna Massey Spring 2018
Oriole- Spring 2018- JoHanna Massey

Definitely an Oriole, perhaps a Scott’s or a Bullock’s, or the elusive Sweet Toothed Blonde Big Mouth.  A loud brash vocal arrival and flash of brilliant yellow.  A hint of gold. Scolding me from his perch in the trees, to the roof, then the hedge, wanting both the hummingbirds and me to go. He wants the garden and the sugared water to himself. Behavior of a youthful starling, all brass and daring. I admire his energy, determination, and persistence. At stalemate, he decides to scatter the hummingbirds and ignore me.  Very soon Peregrine will arrive to hunt the afternoon shadows in the garden. Oriole does not know that, and once establishing himself at the bar, his sugar high binge drinking begins in earnest.

In response to the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge: Lines-  In the Oriole’s coming for your face photo above, the camera caught the flared movement of the wings blurring the detail of the feather’s colors, creating accentuating lines along the wings. In the slideshow below I included the same photo with a black and white filter which made the lines of flight even more dominate. This was a Happy Dance capture with the camera moment for me. The second time the Nikon Coolpix L830 pushed beyond  her limits and caught bird flight succinctly.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Wishing Each and Every One of You a safe, joyful, prosperous, and peace filled Month of May.

Music/News:  Mason Williams – Classical Gas w/ Deborah Henson-Conant This is a lovely piece of music. Ms Henson-Conant’s harp is seductive and vibrant, and Mason Williams always a favorite.

I Would Venture To Guess

~ JoHanna Massey ~ 15 Comments

“I would venture to guess
That Anon,
Who wrote so many poems
Without signing them,
Was often a woman.”
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Wood Duck  may well be the most beautiful bird whose acquaintance I’ve made. Close to the edge of magic. From the riverbank I witnessed the rising sun engage each feather of Wood Duck individually, collectively, colors high and vibrant. Wondering if that rustle in the still brittle reeds is a mate nesting.

Equally amazing and always surprised is that every once in awhile photograph, that pleases me immensely…..this captured Wood Duck’s image is just such a photo. I am pleased to share all of my photos today, but especially Wood Duck with you.

Enjoying the Jail Trail located in Old Town Cottonwood Arizona. Visiting frequently to observe and photograph the unfolding of Spring and ending the morning back at the Trail head where the sidewalk leads quickly  to latte and pastery, or lunch if we have lingered.  Sidewalk cafes and restaurants abound , where locals and visitors mingle over second and third cups of coffee.

Thai Palace- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona -Photo: JoHanna Massey Spring 2018
Thai Palace- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona -Photo: JoHanna Massey Spring 2018
Thai Palace- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona -Photo: JoHanna Massey Spring 2018
Thai Palace- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona -Photo: JoHanna Massey Spring 2018

 

The Jail Trail: A riparian oasis of sorts, running with the Verde River, Dog walkers, birders, families, lovers, photographers, joggers, fisherman, a science class, an artists doing watercolors, or those pausing while just passing through. It’s a well loved and used area , and yes,  worn in places. Welcoming to the eye and spirit is this greening up towards lush ribbon of riparian respite.  Going green anyway,  in this Spring of dry weather, no rain, no wildflowers, High Sonoran desert. A morning haven with birdsong, river music, and the sound of a million bees enjoying the flowering of the ancient cottonwoods.  The old trees give  the sense of permanence and peace to this very special place.

Verde River Jail Trail- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona JoHanna Massey
MistleToe-Verde River Jail Trail- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona JoHanna Massey
Black Hawk Verde River Jail Trail- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona JoHanna Massey
Black Hawk Verde River Jail Trail- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona JoHanna Massey
A Pair of Black Hawks teased all the morning long. – Black Hawk Verde River AZ March 2018 JoHanna Massey
Lizard Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Verde River-Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Wren-Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Ants- Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Jail Trail Verde River Spring 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey

Earth Day- April 22- The global theme is to reduce plastic pollution.

The Verde Valley Birding and Nature Festival is April 26-29 2018.

Heron- Verde River Jail Trail- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona JoHanna Massey
Heron- Verde River Jail Trail- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona JoHanna Massey
Heron- Verde River Jail Trail- Old Town Cottonwood Arizona JoHanna Massey

Peace and Blessings to Each and Everyone of You.

In Response to this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge – Awakening 

Music/News: Chicago- Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?

A One Time Event

~ JoHanna Massey ~ 8 Comments

“Revolution is not a one time event.”
― Audre Lorde, 

 

Audre Lorde, deep to the bone voice poet and feminist who championed the rights of the marginalized, comes to mind as I listen to the young people  speaking out and making their voices heard their visions and goals clear, and their commitment an honest one.  I am just thrilled at the groundswell of positive activism taking place globally. And the diversity of the voices is reassuring.

Peace and Blessings to Each and Everyone.

Music/News:  Tracy Chapman- Revolution