What’s a Wupatki?

Box Canyon Pueblo

Box Canyon Dwellings © 2008 Bo Mackison

Wupatki isn’t a what, it’s a where. It is one of the five National Monuments we visited in Arizona when we were traveling the Southwest in October.

Wupatki National Monument is a high desert country that is 15 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona. The region is extremely dry and supports a few stunted juniper trees and desert creatures. It seems like a rather inhospitable place to settle and farm, but that is exactly what an early group of Native Americans did. As early as 500 AD, people we refer to as the Sinagua (“without water”) built homes and farmed small plots of land. They took advantage of water run-offs collected in a variety of pottery vessels to irrigate their corn, gathered edible plants, and hunted in the nearby mountains and desert grasslands where a larger variety of animals lived.

Doorway to the Bluest of Skies

Lomaki Pueblo – Doorway to the Bluest of Skies © 2008 Bo Mackison

The National Monument contains more than 2,700 ruins, the remains of structures that were inhabited until about 1400 AD. They constructed villages of multilevel, masonry pueblos. The Sinagua used red sandstone outcrops to act as a backbone for the bricks of fractured rock to make walls. To the north and west, the walls were built high to give protection against the winds; the walls to the south and east were terraced to take advantage of the winter’s sun. A water collection system was built into their flat roofs, and rain water was directed into storage pots.

These photographs are of Box Canyon dwellings, including Lomaki Pueblo, one of the smaller settlements in Wupatki. (Lomaki is the Hopi word for “beautiful house.”) Only a few of the pueblos are open for viewing. Most are protected against disturbance, but the buildings and area are not forgotten or abandoned. The Hopi and Zuni peoples believe their ancestors who lived and died here remain as their spiritual guides. They occasionally come to the grounds to enrich their personal histories and understanding of their clan.

Oran’ga Likin’ Orange Lichen

Orange Lichen © 2008 Bo Mackison

These splotches, formally known as lichens, grow on rocks. They can be any number of colors – yellow, orange, gray, green, blue, black. And they can grow in the most inhospitable places in the world. This colony of orange lichen is from Walnut Canyon National Park in northern Arizona.

Lichens are actually colonies of two different organisms co-existing and working together: algae which lives in filaments built by fungi. They use photosynthesis for nourishment.

Some lichen grow only a few millimeters in a century, so these lichens may be thousands and thousands of years old.

Yellow, Orange and Gray Lichen

Yellow, Orange and Gray Lichen © 2008 Bo Mackison

For me, lichens are the kind of thing that brings out experimentation when I’m photographing. Do I capture the texture, the design, the mix of colors?  Well, having fun is a big part of taking photos for me. And this stuff was amazingly fun to shoot. I like lichen.

Heading South for the Winter

Mallards Flyover

Mallards Flyover © 2008 Bo Mackison

Geese have been flying over the house every morning, and then again every evening, since September. The lake they use as their headquarters is maybe six blocks to the east of us. The cornfields where they feed are a mile to the west.  The birds often fly so close I can see them clearly from the second story window. Occasionally they appear to be nearly skimming the roof. They are truly magnificent birds when seen in flight at such close range.

But a few days ago, the early morning honking became less noticeable. Yesterday, when I went to take photos, there were only a dozen or so geese in the sky, instead of the typical hundreds. Today I only saw a pair.

I suspect most of them have packed up and headed south, like many intelligent creatures choose to do at this time of year. It’s early though. Last year, the geese were still in Wisconsin through the end of November.

Maybe they know something I don’t.

Cabbage Flowers

Decorative Cabbage

Decorative Cabbage © 2008 Bo Mackison

I don’t think a flower can be any prettier than this decorative cabbage. I love the contrast of the purples and greens. Yesterday was the last day of the Dane County Farmers’ Market on the Capitol Square. Happily, the market now moves inside so we can shop in comfort. I love my Saturday forays to the Square, but I’m not fond of getting my fingers frozen pinching the produce.

Spirit of the Tree

The Last Hurrah

Last Hurrah © 2008 Bo Mackison

When you can see each leaf as a separate thing, you can see the tree, you can feel the spirit of the tree, you can talk to it, and maybe you can begin to learn something.
~ William J Bausch

I guess if I’m going to learn anything, I’d better be quick about it. I think perhaps these are the only two leaves left in my neck of the woods. Wonder if I can study the snowflakes that are falling today instead. Not much accumulation though.

Does anyone remember catching snowflakes on black construction paper and looking at them with a magnifying glass. I think my Grandpa took me out snowflake spying when I was about six years old.

Do kids do still do that kind of thing?