“Elections belong to the people.
It’s their decision
If they decide
To turn their back on the fire
And burn their behinds,
Then they will just have to sit
On their blisters.” ― Abraham Lincoln
“Birdwoman: Sacagawea & Pomp” by John M. Soderberg
“Birdwoman: Sacagawea & Pomp” by John M. Soderberg
“Birdwoman: Sacagawea & Pomp” by John M. Soderberg
“Birdwoman: Sacagawea & Pomp” by John M. Soderberg
Chose Uptown Sedona for a Summer Morning Walkabout.
Uptown Sedona Arizona
Uptown Sedona Arizona Summer Morning 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Uptown Sedona Arizona Summer Morning 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Uptown Sedona Arizona Summer Morning 2018- Photo: JoHanna Massey
It’s cool, quiet, and deserted except for an occasional person preparing to open the doors to display wares and services, or an early morning delivery truck.
These remind me of ” Tewa or Koyala ” a Rio Grande Clown that is often seen in Hopi Mesas. They are known for their boisterous conversations, immoderate actions, and gluttony. I’ve seen these tricksters around Sedona for many years. In fact I saw them in Phoenix on Saturday.
“Red Rocks and the Cowboy Artist” by Clyde Ross Morgan, Bronze
“Red Rocks and the Cowboy Artist” by Clyde Ross Morgan, Bronze
“Red Rocks and the Cowboy Artist” by Clyde Ross Morgan, Bronze
“Red Rocks and the Cowboy Artist” by Clyde Ross Morgan, Bronze
“Heart of the West” by James N. Muir
“Heart of the West” by James N. Muir
“Heart of the West” by James N. Muir
“Heart of the West” by James N. Muir
“The Dance” by James N. Muir, Bronze
“The Dance” by James N. Muir, Bronze
“The Dance” by James N. Muir, Bronze
Check in on my familiar cornerstones. These bronzes have graced Uptown for some years now bearing graceful witness of all who have passed by.
With Signage mostly ignored.
There’s the whimsical, the fanciful, and the ironic art.
Uptown Sedona Arizona Signage Summer 2018
And way too much signage.
From ‘view’ areas I pause to look at the red rock beauties , exposing some three hundred and thirty million years of a rip roaring geological story right in my face. They provide me a great deal of reassurance with their familiarity and resilience, yet they constantly remind with their time storied stratum, change is constant. I never tire of spending time climbing over them and along the trails.
But this morning I walk Uptown. Those Red Rock Spirals, and well funded marketing campaigns, bring millions of people globally to Sedona every year.
The morning moves forward, the temperatures begin to rise. a few stores are opening their doors. Time to go. A lovely quiet walk about, a loaf of bread from Wildflower, and some photos to share with you.
A safe and engaged month of July to each and everyone of you no matter from where on the globe you read this.
I hope you love birds too.
It is economical.
It saves going to heaven.
Emily Dickinson
Photo: JoHanna Massey -Verde Valley Arizona
Pigeons- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Photo: JoHanna Massey
Photo: JoHanna Massey
Bufflehead- JoHanna Massey
Baldpate or American Widgeon – Cornville Arizona Photo_ JoHanna Massey 2018
Sparrows- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Sparrow – Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Pigeons- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Yellow Finch- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Photo: JoHanna Massey
Finch- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Bufflehead Ducks-Photo: JoHanna Massey
Important March Events:
March 8th:International Women’s Day– ‘ Now, more than ever, there’s a strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity. There’s a strong call to #PressforProgress motivating and uniting friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.’
Spring Equinox – March 20- On the day of an equinox, daytime and nighttime are of approximately equal duration all over the planet. Not exactly equal, due to the angular size of the Sun and atmospheric refraction. The word is derived from the Latinaequinoctium, from aequus (equal) and nox (genitivenoctis) (night). For me it is another turn of the seasons, and already the sun is setting later behind the townhouse.
“March for Our Lives” will take place on March 24, 2018 in Washington DC, as well as with ‘sister marches’ in major cities across the United States. Organized by survivors of the school massacre in Parkland, Fla. to rally against the continuing mass shootings taking place in our country. The event will include “student speakers, musical performers, guest speakers and video tributes,” according to the National Park Service permit application, with 14 Jumbotrons and 2,000 chairs, and an expectation of 500,000 participants.
However, the Washington Post reported this morning that the ‘March for Our Lives’ application to the Park Service for use of the National Mall, was bounced by an application by a “a student group at a local educational institution. The film crew’s plans listed equipment such as two tables, two bikes and jump ropes.”
I suggest and believe that it will not be so easy for the current individuals who hold office in the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and Trump White House Administration to squelch an American populace of young people coming up (and the people who love them), that refuse to be at risk of slaughter by assault weapons, simply because they desire an education and attend schools in the United States.
A safe and peaceful month of March..to each and everyone.
Way before Watergate,
Senior Administration Officials
Hid behind anonymity. Bob Woodward
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
“Ravens ” Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raven Rules Photo: JoHanna Massey 2016
Raven- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Over the past few years I have taken many photos of Ravens and Crows. They are common in the Verde Valley, can easily become part of the background of a day. On high tension wires, dark sky appropriate street lighting, strutting the length of the petro station lot. The garden wall, the tile roof, or atop the cypress trees beside a remote trail miles away. Ubiquitous. Anonymous in their resemblance to one another. Oracles hiding in plain sight, bird–faces in the crowd. Recalling every word, action, and deed.
“Those who have never known the deep intimacy
And the intense companionship
Of happy mutual love
Have missed the best thing
That life has to give.”
― Bertrand Russell
‘With local knowledge‘ is no longer holding, as the usual weather for this time of the year stalls midst Indian Summer and Winter. Enough to notice, and choose hiking trails differently.
Doe Mountain #60 (which is actually a mesa), is a favorite Late Spring/Summer hike as the trail is shaded and cool for the better part of the day. Except here we are in February, getting to the trail-head by paved road, to a busy, heavily info/warning/and restriction signage, filling with vehicles parking area.
Doe Mountain from Mescal Trail
Reminiscing as life long companions do…..about back in the day when the pavement ended miles ago, the road maintenance was a grating once a year, and the dust, Greasy Spoon red mud, flash flooding, long horned steers, rattlesnakes, or sky big wildness of it all, kept just about everyone back on Dry Creek Road but the Tour Guides jeeping tourists out to the Honanki and Palatki Ruins; or the Bradshaws in the midst of their ranching day. Doe Mountain is a fee service area now, your credit cards welcomed on site for convenience…..
What does remain unchanged is the Red Rock formations and the great good time of hiking and climbing them. Today it is to the top of the Doe for a picnic lunch with a view.
The less than mile climb up Doe Mountain is not difficult, nor is it a long one. I did pack the camera away for most of the way… needing my hands, feet, and attention choosing wisely together for the series of quick switchbacks that rise four hundred feet to the top. It is good to pause periodically on firm footing and take a good look around.
Views Hiking Doe Mountain -5- Sedona Arizona – Photo_ JoHanna Massey 2018
Views Hiking Doe Mountain -5- Sedona Arizona – Photo_ JoHanna Massey 2018
Views Hiking Doe Mountain -5- Sedona Arizona – Photo_ JoHanna Massey 2018
Views Hiking Doe Mountain -5- Sedona Arizona – Photo_ JoHanna Massey 2018
Views Hiking Doe Mountain -5- Sedona Arizona – Photo_ JoHanna Massey 2018
Views Hiking Doe Mountain -5- Sedona Arizona – Photo_ JoHanna Massey 2018
Views Hiking Doe Mountain -5- Sedona Arizona – Photo_ JoHanna Massey 2018
From the top you can see a lot of why so many global citizens come to Sedona, or why we have returned this sunny, warm, stark blue sky day to one of our favorite places to just sit in gratitude, lunch, then sprawl out in lizard pose to embrace it all while the penetrating heat of the sun warm red rocks flows in through bare skin.
An easy hike about the top mesa shows views of Bear, Maroon, and Wilson mountains, Loy, Boynton, and Secret Canyons, Chimney Rock, and the Cockscomb. Sedona is visible to the east and off to the south, Munds Mountain and Sycamore Pass, with heart teasing views of the Valley floor below.
An excellent choice for locals and visitors alike, for it’s easy access paved from town clear to the trail-head , excellent views and photo opportunities, a just high enough change in altitude to get an expanded look and new perspective of where you are, and with deep tissue warming rocks included at no additional fee.
Length: 0.7 miles to the top of the mesa, 1.3 miles around the edge.
If your go:
Let someone who is not hiking with you know where you are going.
Choose sturdy already broken in foot-gear, avoid girly sandals or bare-feet, and remember a low center of gravity is your friend. Black clothing absorbs the sun-rays, you can overheat over a poor wardrobe choice.
A couple bottles of water per person.
A dandy take away from one of the many local eateries.
Turn your cell phone off.
And you are looking at the opportunity to enjoy a the Perfect Sedona Day.
“Curiouser and Curiouser.”
― Lewis Carroll,
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
& Through the Looking-Glass
Gray Fox- JoHanna Massey November 2017 Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus: Urocyon
Clark Telescope Dome Lowell Observatory Flagstaff Arizona -JoHanna Massey
Your Enlightenment Video Taped!- Only In Sedona! Photo: JoHanna Massey
Road Runner- Photo: JoHanna Massey 2017
Pamlico River Tree- Pamlico River North Carolina Photo: JoHanna Massey
Farewell to 2017- JoHanna Massey
Full Moon- 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Raptor – Used the editing tools with this photograph. Chose ‘Paint’- JoHanna Massey 2017
Raptor- JoHanna Massey 2017
Sedona Arizona October 26, 2017
Chasing Birds- November 2017
New Day- Arizona -2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Cairn Oak Creek Sedona AZ – Photo: JoHanna Massey
Scarab Beetle Summer 2017- Sonoran Desert
Raven Summer 2017-Photo: JOHanna Massey
Raven . Summers Out Of Reach- 2017
Raven Summer 2017- Photo: JoHanna Massey
Mural – Flagstaff-
Cathedral Rock Reflective Space- JoHanna Massey 2017
Argentine Giant Cacti- Spring Blooms May 2017- Sedona Arizona- JoHanna Massey
Argentine Giant Cacti- Spring Blooms May 2017- Sedona Arizona- JoHanna Massey
V Bar V Pectroglyphs- Beaver Creek Arizona – Photo: JoHanna Massey 2017
Gray Fox- JoHanna Massey November 2017 Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus: Urocyon
Sweet Terry enjoys the beautiful ancient trees. V Bar V -JoHanna Massey 2017
What fun to look back through the year’s photographs. So many ‘favorites’ and the opportunity to pause and recall many an excellent moment from this almost gone year. Have enjoyed sharing so many of those moments through photographs with you.
Ascend: verb ascending the stairs | we watched the missiles ascend: climb, go up/upward, move up/upward, rise (up), clamber (up); mount, scale, conquer; take to the air, take off; rocket. ANTONYMS descend.
Music/News: David Bowie- Rocketman- New York Times- Harry Reid Wants To Believe
“We return to you, O earth,
The things which you have given us
Willingly and most graciously;
With our hearts,
Hands and minds,
In the best way we know how.” ― Taj Mahal
Arizona Rock Squirrel-Photo: JoHanna Massey November 2017
Arizona Rock Squirrel-Photo: JoHanna Massey November 2017
Arizona Rock Squirrel-Photo: JoHanna Massey November 2017
