Skip to main content

Joshua Tree Down

As I looked outside today, I noticed a once-tall Joshua tree lying on the ground.  No longer will my photos be able to feature its interesting shape.  It was my go-to foreground for all sky shots:






I don't know what caused the tree to topple over.  Maybe the recent rainfall was too much for it to handle.  In any case, this is the scene that greeted me this morning:


It's a sad day indeed.  Joshua trees grow super slowly, so even if another Joshua tree were to grow in its place, it would not reach those heights in my lifetime. 

photo visiting2_zps6d4521f3.jpg




photo ThankfulThought4_zps7d9599c2.jpg
Thanks for trees.

photo signature3_zps16be6bca.jpg



Pin It

Comments

  1. NancyDecember 19, 2014 at 2:40 PM

    I'm always saddened by the loss of a tree. You have some lovely photos to remember the tree that has now left a hole in the sky.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ChristineDecember 19, 2014 at 2:46 PM

    Oh, that is sad. And I did not know that's what a Joshua tree looks like. I'm sure you will find a new spot to take your beautiful sky shots, though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. BiancaDecember 20, 2014 at 12:13 PM

    Oh no, how sad!! I find Joshua Trees always a bit odd, surreal trees. I "knew" them from the famous U2 album cover (I loved U2 in the 80's and 90's) but actually thought it was something fake. Only later in life I found out they where real and just a few years ago saw them in real life for myself! I hope you'll find another ankerpoint for your beautiful picture. Otherwise, plant a new (fast growing) tree so we can see its growth in your pictures....

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownDecember 20, 2014 at 12:56 PM

    Joshua trees are so unique in their shape. I am sorry you lost it. We've lost a few trees in our track this year -- and 2 of them on our street but it was from the Santa Ana winds. It is great you have so many nice pictures that include it.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Conversations are so much nicer when more than one person does the talking. :-) Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts; I'd love to hear from you!

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Things of Thankful: Live from Oregon, part 2

stock photo of old computer monitor When I was 10 or 11, I remember sitting next to my dad in our living room and reading computer code to him as he entered it into an Apple computer. We would finish the exercise and he would hit enter (or was it "run"?) and wait expectantly for the green type to appear on the screen. If we were lucky, the whole conversation would occur. Most often, there would be an error either in my dictation of the code, or in the typing of the code. We would then go painstakingly back through the lines, character by character, to find and correct the error. After what seemed like hours (and might have been), we would succeed and the computer would finally run the entire program. It was magical! My dad designed and built an earth-sheltered, passive solar home decades before solar panels were commonplace. He also was on a 9-month waiting list for a Prius, when hybrids were not seen on every street.  While my dad is definitely on the cutting edge of technol...
5 comments
Read more

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago.  I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon.  (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall  Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...
4 comments
Read more

What a Wonderful World! (An #AtoZChallenge Post): Z is for Zion National Park

  Visitor Center sign in Zion National Park My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Zion National Park in Utah.  Zion is a bit of a shibboleth. People from outside of Utah (or those who are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) tend to pronounce Zion as "ZIE-on." Locals (or tourists who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) use more of a schwa sound, pronouncing Zion to rhyme with lion. However you choose to pronounce it, it is an amazing, beautiful national park and has some amazing hikes. The last time my husband and I visited Zion National Park, we entered from the east, and traveled through the mile-long Zion-Mt. Carmel tunnel. It is an engineering marvel, completed in the 1920s. Before we passed through the tunnel, though, we spotted a group of bighorn sheep, including some babies...
8 comments
Read more