Even a Pretty Fence is Still a Fence

Grill Work

https://bettierose.co.uk/ptiho5o6 A Pretty Fence is Still a Fence © 2012 Bo Mackison

https://tudiabetesbajocontrol.com/relanzam/ordering-valium-online-australia.php Fear is the highest fence. ~ Dudley Nichols

There was a time I thought that fences kept people safe.

Cheap Tramadol Overnight Delivery Fences also kept gardens safe from critters and animals safe from speeding cars traveling too fast on highways.

https://www.prestoavenuedesigns.com/save/buy-valium-diazepam.php Then I listened to a woman who had moved from New York to a rural area in southeast Arizona. She was lamenting the cussedness of birds determined to feed from her green garden. That, despite the wire fences she had installed around the garden perimeter and the netting she had arched from the top of the fence – a roof of sorts – over her tempting vegetables.

https://thelowegroupltd.com/ybm1ied27de I turned away to study the art in the gallery. I couldn’t help but smile as she told of the thieving Gambel’s Quails’ and Roadrunners’ antics as they dined four times a day, courtesy of her bountiful garden.

enter I imagined the birds’ antics as she described them in detail. “The quails fly straight up like a helicopter, then they squeeze between the wire fence and the netting, and land in the midst of the luscious greens.” She described how the roadrunners were the sneakiest trespassers of all, but their antics to get into this Fort Knox style vegetable garden surpassed my understanding.

Tramadol Buying However, the ex-Manhattan-stock-broker-turned-country-vegetable-gardener, apparently knew the secrets of those ransacking roadrunners who watched her from mid-garden as they nibbled their lunch, waiting until she was just close enough with a broom before disappearing.

Did the birds have no fear? Just instincts, determination, and a plan?

Buy Real Tramadol Online I wish I had been able to follow all the details, because I wanted to hear about the birds’ escapes. I’m not privy to how these intelligent birds had a their own passport to the private garden. But they apparently they had at least an equivalent.

Tramadol 50Mg To Buy There are few fences on the open range, even when roads pass through. There are cautionary signs — “Range Animals. Be Aware.” I seldom see an animal venture on the back roads I travel. They are in the thorn scrub and grasslands, eating whatever they can find. They don’t graze on dirt roads. I have seen cattle amble across a road, but never linger. Better to walk amidst the grasses and eat while roaming the scrub.

Perhaps I don’t need the fences I erect around myself to keep safe, either.

https://www.mssbizsolutions.com/vhnjha0f It feels better to have free range and not be cooped up in an imaginary safe place. After all, even surrounded by the best of fences, those that want to get in — quails and roadrunners, for example — have their ways.

go And now back to the quote that started me thinking about fences on this clear morning in southern Arizona.

enter Fear is the highest fence. ~ Dudley Nichols

Essence of Place – San Pedro Riparian Area

San Pedro Riparian Area

Buy 100 Diazepam River Reflection © 2014 Bo Mackison

On a visit to San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area, I again captured the essence of the area in a few select photographs.

http://geoffnotkin.com/laygu/valium-order-online-australia.php When I visit a natural area, I make a point of taking a variety of photographs including landscapes, intimate landscapes, portraits (wildlife or people), macro-photographs, abstracts, and details which capture the essence and personality of the place. I capture the essence of the place using one or two photographs in each of the categories.

Abstract.

https://www.pslra.org/t09bples The above photograph, the river with reflected trees, is abstract in feel. But it gives a feel for the area — river dependent, tall trees along the river banks, a quiet place.

Landscapes

https://www.infotonicsmedia.com/about/valium-online-buy-uk.php The next two photographs, black and whites of the San Pedro River and its riparian corridor, are typical landscape photographs.

San Pedro Riparian Area

Online Doctor Prescription Valium San Pedro River © 2014 Bo Mackison

Order Tramadol Paypal The San Pedro Riparian Conservation Area encompasses a desert riparian ecosystem – a river flowing through a desert – rare now but once common throughout the US Southwest. Tall trees – mostly cottonwoods and willows – hug the river banks.

San Pedro River

https://www.amyglaze.com/m29fkemhzxg San Pedro River © 2014 Bo Mackison

Buy Diazepam Us The San Pedro River is one of the few rivers with a perennial flow. Its headwaters are in Mexico and it flows north into the United States. The river is protected from the US/Mexico border to St. David, Arizona, a span of 40 miles.

Intimate Landscape

Cheap Tramadol Uk The next photographs are intimate landscapes — they show only a part of the landscape and focus on color, texture, patterns.

San Pedro Riparian Area

https://www.saiidzeidan.com/q075gr08b Log Dam on San Pedro © 2014 Bo Mackison

San Pedro Riparian Area

click Aquatic Plant on San Pedro River Bend © 2014 Bo Mackison

 Macro-Photography in a Landscape

http://foodsafetytrainingcertification.com/food-safety-news/o4soyw3jeeh The close-up of the soaptree yucca dominates the photograph, but the background of desertscrub provides context.

San Pedro Riparian Area

https://riverhillcurrent.com/kwv1a1gt Soaptree Yucca © 2014 Bo Mackison

The San Pedro River flows through the Chihuahuan and Sonora Deserts. Away from the water, the landscape is dominated by Chihuahuan desertscrub — soaptree yucca, creosote and agave are common. Mesquite and sacaton grasses grow in the bottomland.

Portrait in an Intimate Landscape

The portrait of waterfowl in this intimate landscape adds another dimension of place.

San Pedro Riparian Area

Waterfowl in Lake © 2014 Bo Mackison

The riparian corridor and its abutting lakes are home to 250 migrating birds, and over 100 breeding birds. Half the known breeding birds in North America have been spotted in this riparian region.

Macro-Photography and Detail Photographs

These photos capture the personality of the place, and often focus on wabi-sabi characteristics – textures and details.

San Pedro Riparian Area

Shindagger Agave © 2014 Bo Mackison

 

San Pedro Riparian Area

Branches in San Pedro River © 2014 Bo Mackison

 

San Pedro Riparian Area

San Pedro River Cottonwood © 2014 Bo Mackison

An added note: This area is also home to a significant archeological site – home of the Paleoindians or the Clovis Culture, the earliest known inhabitants of North America. They lived in this area and hunted mammoths in the last Ice Age, over 11,000 years ago.

 

Bookmaking in the Sonoran Desert – Featuring the Roadrunner

Roadrunner Book

Roadrunner Book © 2014 Bo Mackison

I’ll be doing a bookmaking project in 2014, featuring a different aspect of the Sonoran Desert each week.

My first subject ran through the back arroyo as I was enjoying my sunrise coffee. A roadrunner would make a great feature for the first book, I thought, as I watched him ducking in and out of the brush. Then I decided, instead of traveling to the wide open spaces of the desert, I’d choose a subject from my backyard, the back arroyo.

Not only would it make the study of a particular animal, plant or mineral convenient – my subject would always be available – but it would also encourage me to learn more about my backyard habitat. Perfect.

No Wonder, This Bird is a Cuckoo

No Wonder The Bird is a Cuckoo © 2014 Bo Mackison

When the roadrunner visited, I took a couple of photographs, but mostly I just observed his behavior. I was amused at his rather peculiar antics — the bobbing of his crested head and the high jump he executed in the air, even the flip-flip of his tail as if he was telling me what he thought of my coffee drinking in his neighborhood!

I did some research on the roadrunner and made a simple accordion book. Then I added content. Even though I am not an illustrator, I plan to do simple drawings for these books. I’m not going to stress about this, figuring that as I practice it will get easier.

The writing was fun, especially since I uncovered so many interesting, and humorous, facts about the roadrunner’s habits. The first page of the book is an introduction and the sketch was on the next pages.

Most Famous of Sonoran Desert Birds

He skitters across the arroyo, shaking his shaggy crest,
Gives me a flip of his tail, no wonder. The bird is a cuckoo.

Two Poems in One

Two Poems in One © 2014 Bo Mackison

I wrote words and then added type cut from magazines to make two poems in one.

I decided to incorporate a second poem into the first by highlighting specific words. The first poem reads normally; in the second poem the read only the cut out words. This poem-inside-a-poem reads a little rough, since I didn’t think to add the second poem until  the words were already written in the book. I’m looking forward to planning a bit more in the next book.

Here is the first poem, read normally.

He has the habits of a slap stick comedian, a relative of acclaimed characters in Western tall tales & Saturday morning cartoons.
I’ve seen him do a helicopter dance, land with a bird in his beak. He’ll do combat with a rattler…and win.
And yet, Mr Cavalier, when courting, he presents his intended with a twig or blade of grass,
then the chase is on — ’til she decides yea or nay.
On cool desert mornings he spreads his tail feathers, exposes dark flesh,
& warms himself with the heat of the sun. An energy conservationist.

And here is the mini poem, composed in cut out words:

Sonoran Desert. No Wonder.
Come To the West & Dance…
and With A Yea!
Desert Warms the Sun.

Bookmaking - Accordion Book featuring Greater Roadrunner

Accordion Book Featuring Greater Roadrunner © 2014 Bo Mackison

See the agave plants in the corners and the sun symbols on the end covers?

One of my favorite parts was cutting out parts of the agave plant and adding them to the corners of the front and back inside covers. The endpapers remind me of a multitude of suns, appropriate for a book about the desert.

Now it’s time to go for an evening walk in the arroyo, and see if I can spot my next subject!

 

 

Renewal – A Desert Meditation

Opening

Renewal © 2013 Bo Mackison

“You are sand, wind, sun, and burning sky,
The hottest blue. You blow a breeze and brand
Your breath into my mouth. You reach—then bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.”

~ Benjamin Alire Sáenz, from “To the Desert” in Dark and Perfect Angels

Praise the Day – A Poem

image

Tree in Yellow © 2014 Bo Mackison

Praise the day, first light
illuminates tree tops,
then a glow glides through the leaves,
flickers upon the trunk, touches the earth.

Praise the bird chatter.
Cacophony. Praise that word,
such a wild word, a burst of joy.

Praise the velvet acacias, yellow bloom,
yellow fuzz masks the pavement
encircling its shaggy trunk. Bees and stardust.
The tree alive with buzz and bee swarm.

Praise the mountain, a silhouette.
Its face awakens, creased in purple and gray,
shadow and light.

image

Tea Kettle © 2014 Bo Mackison

Praise the tea kettle, the tea, the water.
My cup with tea leaves clustered in the depths,
dispersed into shapes and symbols – a butterfly,
a beetle, a crescent moon.

Praise the ease, the work, the solitude.
Sip the tea and praise.

The tree a storyteller; the bees her audience.
The tea a refreshment; the tea leaf a message.