Painted Desert Inn

Painted Desert Inn and Autumn Blossoms

https://drbatayneh.com/glaucoma/ Autumn Blossoms, Painted Desert Inn © 2010 Bo Mackison

On our swing through some of the Southwestern National Parks in October, we stopped at the Petrified Forest National Park in the east central region of Arizona. This park also includes the Painted Desert and this building, the Painted Desert Inn Museum. The architectural style of the inn was influenced by Pueblo Indian dwellings and Early Spanish architecture. It was built to harmonize with its surroundings and blends well with the surrounding Painted Desert.

Garden at the Painted Desert Inn II

Desert Garden and Painted Desert Inn © 2010 Bo Mackison

The original inn was built in the 1920s, mostly of available stone and petrified rocks and the builders used a mud mortar to hold the structure together. It was a trading post and had a lunch counter, but it had no water or electricity. The Park Service purchased the building in 1936 and used WPA funds and Civilian Conservation Corps labor to essentially rebuild the entire structure.

In the late 1930s, National Park Service architect Lyle Bennett redesigned the building, utilizing the Pueblo Revival Style. The Painted Desert Inn re-opened for business on July 4, 1940 and was a stop on the Historic Route 66. (Petrified Forest National Park is the only national park that has a portion of the Historic Route 66 within its boundaries.) The inn’s life as an oasis in the middle of the desert lasted only a couple of years, and ended with the beginning of World War II. Traveling was greatly curtailed and the inn closed in 1942.

Not to be ignored for long, the Inn again opened and was operated from 1947 through 1963 by the Fred Harvey Company, a company who was a concessionaire in many of the Western National Parks. Then, after sitting unused for a dozen years, the building was scheduled for demolition in 1975. However a public outpouring of concern for the historic building convinced the Park Service to save the Painted Desert Inn. It opened in 1976 as a museum and bookstore on a limited basis.

Painted Desert Inn, National Historic Landmark

Painted Desert Inn, National Historic Landmark © 2010 Bo Mackison

It again underwent extensive repair in 2004-06 and then reopened as the museum and bookstore now pictured. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is also a National Historic Landmark.

The building is a stunning example of architecture, and has a history well worth exploring. There are exhibits inside the Inn which shed light on its fascinating history. A walk around the entire structure and through its many rooms reveals small architectural gems such as arched doorways and windows, hand crafted metal lamps, and an intriguing wooden beam support system in the ceilings.

In the next posts, I’ll feature the interior of the Painted Desert Inn, so lovingly and meticulously restored, and filled with art and intricate design features, and also photographs of the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest landscapes.

An Alphabet in Four Parts – Finale

In a Blue Fog

In a Blue Fog © 2010 Bo Mackison

Concluding with the last installment of my alphabetical musings for the changing of the year:

Tramadol 50 Mg Price U is for UNDERWEAR.

UNDERWEAR. As in SEMPER UBI SUB UBI as in SENSE OF HUMOR. Keeping a sense of humor in my back pocket is a talent well worth cultivating. Though crying can make me feel better, laughing is much more fun. And I am learning that emotions create your reality. Smiling eventually makes you feel better. Crying? Not so much. (If you are unfamiliar with Latin, the above phrase can be [questionably] translated “always where under where.” Many generations of high school freshman Latin student have found that wildly amusing.)

go V is for VIEW FINDER.

VIEW FINDER. I spend a couple of hours most days looking at life through my camera’s view finder. It makes me focus on that which isn’t always too obvious. It allows me to look at the world from a different vantage point. I find that when I look at a small slice of the world through my camera lens, I end up seeing just the opposite–how huge and magnificent my world really is.

click W is for the WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT.

WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT.  No longer am I going to spend the last half of winter in Wisconsin wishing it would go away. (Oooh – lots of alliteration in that sentence!) I would hate to count how many days I barely noticed, because I was in such a funk about the twenty inch snow pack, or the gray clouds, or the windchill, or the [fill in the blank with a nasty weather term]. This year I am avoiding the last two months of winter in Wisconsin, and going to Tucson, an area of the country I love. A promise of sunshine and warmer temps. And I can photograph outdoors without wearing multiple layers of wool. (If Wisconsin has great weather all of February and March, you can all thank me!)

https://drbatayneh.com/ophthalmic-plastic/ X is for x, the unknown.

X. In the study of mathematics, X is an unknown within a set. So let’s consider math. [Most briefly.] In math equations, one is frequently asked to solve for x, the unknown quotient. Life is rather like math in that we also spend our lifetimes solving for x, for that huge unknown that lies ahead of us. But no matter how carefully we plan, we do not know how the future will unfold, and the cleverest of plans can be undone in seconds. Best to live today as fully as possible. Not wait until tomorrow.

see url Y is for YODEL.

YODEL. I wish that I knew how to yodel. Because some days, when the sun is brightly shining, and when I hear the wind whistling through the leaves, and the coyotes are howling in the back woods, I would like to add my voice to the song of the Universe. And yodeling seems like a fine way to join in the merriment. Listen to this yodeling. And I dare you not to smile! 🙂

enter site Z is for ZEST.

ZEST. And finally, a simple poem to complete this year’s alphabet and begin the New Year:

“Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with Zolpidem 5Mg Order Online zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!”

William Arthur Ward

Peace to all, Bo

An Alphabet in Four Parts – III

Cosmos at Sho-Low

Cosmos and Bokeh © 2010 Bo Mackison

Continuing with the third installment of my alphabet, my year-end/beginning musings:

Order Tramadol Overnight N is for NEST.

NEST. Nest is simple and symbolic. It’s a comfort word for me. I hold it as a quiet space, away from distractions and other people. Sometimes I curl up in my nest, real or imaginary, to recharge my batteries. Doesn’t take long, and then I’m ready to go on and meet the world again.

Diazepam Online Purchase O is for ORDINARY.

ORDINARY. When you get right down to it, there isn’t much that is ordinary. If you look closely and examine ordinariness, you often find that the ordinary is truly extra-ordinary. For example, drinking a steaming cup of tea, a simple experience, can be made extra-ordinary with intention, mindfulness, and appreciation for the good things in life.

Ambien Buy Online P is for POTATO.

POTATO. The potato provided me with a powerful lesson. Yes, the potato. A basic food, everyone loves potatoes – mashed, smashed, french fried, baked, even raw and crunchy. Everyone I know eats potatoes – except for my older daughter who has taken only one bite of potato in her life. She decided that she despised the texture and taste and she swore off potatoes as a two year old. Twenty-eight years later, she continues to stand by her choice.

Here is the interesting part. Whenever a new person enters her life, and they discover that Jeanne does not eat potatoes because she  chooses not to eat them, they almost always go out of their way to trick her — to get her to unknowingly take a bite of a potato. It becomes a challenge for them.

Interesting, hmm? She tells people she doesn’t like potatoes, that she doesn’t eat them, and because that doesn’t fit squarely with other people’sapproach to food, they want to convince her to join their side. Now, we are talking about potatoes here. I’m always amazed that this happens repeatedly.  It makes me wonder.  If people react so strongly to a different eating style, just how far will they go to make people conform to their way of thinking about the important topics in life. Now there’s a potato for thought.

Buy Ambien Online Overnight Q is for QUESTIONS.

QUESTIONS. I love asking questions. I love searching for answers to questions, too. And researching for answers to questions, too. To me, searching and researching are two different methods of knowledge seeking. In searching, I look for answers in my head and in past learning experiences. In researching, I look up what other people have discovered about the subject. Search and research–I think the two methods balances the quest for knowledge quite nicely.

https://thelonelycreative.com/novels/ R is for RELINQUISH.

RELINQUISH. I relinquish the story I hold dear. The story of why I am like I am, of how I can’t change because this experience or that exchange marked me for life. Bull hockey. Change isn’t easy. It’s damn hard work. But change is possible. And I am dealing in possibilities from this day forward. Tabula rasa. A clean slate. I can deal with some leftover chalk dust or a few wayward chalk smears, but I am erasing that complicated story. No more worn out explanations that stand in my way of new explorations.

go to site S is for SURVIVOR.

SURVIVOR. I am a survivor. Survivors develop a deep strength within themselves. Sometimes I forget I have this strength. It takes a big challenge to remind me that I can draw strength from my past experiences without dredging up those experiences. A valuable lesson.

Buy Lyrica Without Prescription T is for TREASURE MAP.

TREASURE MAP. I made a treasure map a few days ago while thinking about leaving 2010 behind and entering 2011. I didn’t write resolutions, but I did choose a single word as my focus for the year – POSSIBILITIES. Then I drew islands on my treasure map. I filled in one island with my dreams. I filled in another island with my desires. I filled in a third with my goals for the next three months, six months, and year. I added a few favorite quotations for inspiration and motivation and a few words clipped from newspaper headlines for guidelines. Then I hung the map in my studio where I can see it everyday as I work. I love treasure maps!

The Finale — Underwear through Zest.

Happy New Year 2011!

Cosmos at Sho-Low

Dancing Pink Cosmos © 2010 Bo Mackison

Here’s to endings and new beginnings.

Cosmos ( the flower’s name) is the opposite of chaos. Wishes to all for less chaos and more harmony in the coming year. So many possibilities, all waiting to unfold…

Happy New Year!

(The last two parts of my New Year alphabet will be in the next two posts…)

An Alphabet in Four Parts – II

Red Yucca Flower

Red Yucca Flower

Continuing the second annual edition of my year-end musings:

go here G is for GARDENS.

GARDENS. I seem to be naturally attracted to gardens of all kinds. Greenhouse gardens. Perennial gardens. Tropical gardens. Rain gardens. Wild gardens. And desert gardens, too. The photograph of the red yucca in bloom was taken at Tohona Chul Park in Tucson, Arizona, an amazing desert urban garden. I’ve spent many, many hours wandering in gardens, sitting in gardens, working in gardens, and now taking photographs in gardens. I’ve taken so many photographs in all these gardens, when I take Seeded Earth Photography on the road, my art show booth almost looks like a garden.

https://www.beyondagencyprofits.com/terms-conditions/ H is for HOURGLASS.

HOURGLASS. Time passes, second by second, just like the sand passes in an hourglass. How many of those seconds, minutes, hours, have I missed by not being mindful, by not paying attention to the present? Not saying that there isn’t time to goof off, to day dream about the future, to watch the wind blowing in tall grasses or a single leaf flutter to the ground. But I want to keep reminding myself that it does no good to live in the past, to question what might have been, to second guess decisions already made. So – living in the present, noticing the details? Good. Dreaming and planning about the future? Good, too. But…I want to keep the past in the past. Learn from the mistakes I’ve made, but not live in the past with regret.

Purchase Tramadol Without Prescription I is for INKLING.

INKLING. I love inklings, just the briefest grasp of an idea. I love taking that bit and turning it over and over in my mind, letting it gather more and more bits until it’s a full fledged idea. I love ideas. I love mulling over ideas. Sometimes I love the idea more than the implementation of the idea. Sometimes that’s OK. Sometimes I need a push to take my ideas to fruition, to make them real. Seeded Earth was an inkling of an idea for a long time. It came to life as a blog, a place to store a photograph a day for a year. And after that year, I wanted to do more than post photographs on my beloved blog. I wanted to make them real (in print) and I wanted to share them with others. Sometimes those inklings really do turn into reality!

click J is for JUICY.

JUICY. I like juicy living. Full of flavors and textures and bright colors, and a certain amount of messiness, but with such glorious rewards.

https://thesentinelgroup.com/talcum-ovarian-cancer/ K is for KINDNESS.

KINDNESS. Being kind to others, yes, but more than that. Also practicing the art of kindness towards myself.

https://www.appliquecafeblog.com/mighty-hoop/ L is for LONG SHOT.

LONG SHOT. Sometimes it’s wise to go for the sure thing. Dribble the ball across mid-court, closer and closer to the hoop. Get your defensive lines all in place. Move in close, focus on the goal, and then make the shot. That’s usually a good plan. But sometimes, you have to go for the long shot, the Hail Mary shot at the end of the buzzer. Once in awhile, it just feels right to take a long shot. Might not make it. But then again, you just might.

Ambien No Prescription M is for MINUTE RICE.

MINUTE RICE. Actually, I don’t eat the stuff–prefer brown rice or long grain white rice or wild rice. But I do have a sock filled with it. I use it for a makeshift tripod when my regular tripod is too heavy to carry while hiking for miles, or too clunky to get past museum guards. These are the kinds of projects I love – the whole DIY craze where you can give one object a completely new use. I use a string and a metal washer for a tripod when desperate. Wax paper or copy paper or aluminum foil achieves different lighting properties. I’ve been accused of using my camera bag as a lunch bag on more than one occasion. Not true. I never put my sandwich in my camera bag!

Next post – Nest through Treasure Map