Luminous reflections
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Luminous reflections

Who says shadows need to be hum-drum. Or even dark, for that matter. I discovered these reflections in an old building, where glass tiles threw a shifting pattern of light reflections on a dark brick wall. Their shimmering pattern of light delighted me! When we get locked into looking at an object in one way,…

In the midst of winter
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In the midst of winter

One of the true joys of photography is that it refreshes the mind’s eye with things half-remembered, yet totally true. This picture of an aspen grove was taken one hot summer morning. The hiker and her dog ahead of me are enjoying the beautiful summer weather with me, a light breeze blowing, the heat on…

Halt, stop, cease and desist
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Halt, stop, cease and desist

I stopped to take a picture of this old fire hydrant because I was fascinated by the number of coats of paint covering it. I can see red, yellow, black and blue at least, maybe more. The hydrant’s been there a long time and I wonder if it’s ever been put to the test with…

When I sleeps, I sleeps
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When I sleeps, I sleeps

My cat Foxy can sleep anywhere. I, who must have darkness, a comfy bed, and absolute quiet, am very envious! I read the statistics about what sleep deprivation does to us as a nation. I’m convinced if we each got fifteen more minutes of sleep a day, the world would be a better place. I…

Squaring the circle
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Squaring the circle

Squaring the circle was an ancient Euclidean geometry problem that tried to construct a circle with the same area as a square. Mathematicians, being the type of people they are, thought this concept of perfection would be really cool to prove. Alas, it proved to be impossible. They spent countless hours over several centuries coming…

Useful trials and errors
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Useful trials and errors

I was walking one morning and discovered in an old sycamore snag, this entrance to a Gila woodpecker nest. The birds are opportunists and will dig out rotten bark to make a soft, protective nest for their young. What struck me about this opening, though, were the number of false starts that surround it. The…

A cat is a cat, and that is that
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A cat is a cat, and that is that

Leaf is a BIG cat, and barely fits into this bathroom sink. But Leaf is also an intelligent cat. He knows after a meal, I’ll come here to brush my teeth, so he dashes into the bathroom and curls up here. He understands he’ll get scritches and soft words to coax him to leave. His…

The delight of winter water
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The delight of winter water

Imagine standing by this water on a crisp winter day as the rush of cold breeze caresses your face. This is the Verde Valley’s Clear Creek at flood stage. In a normal flow, water is half this volume, but the creek bed anticipates change. Over the millennia the water has hollowed out a wide swath…

The texture of potential
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The texture of potential

This picture is on my computer screen saver right now. It’s not an extraordinary photograph but it contains everything I like: a coaster for my coffee, a cup with cats on it, light for reading, and an image-within-an-image of sunshine. When I view it, I enjoy its textures: the roughness of the sandstone block, the…

The reality of art
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The reality of art

The Phoenix Art Museum has a wonderful wing devoted to installation art, modern art, post-modern art. Imagine my surprise when I viewed this picture, looked for the artist’s name, and discovered it wasn’t “art” at all, but rather a shadowed window into the museum loggia. Great fun!  There’s a saying among prospectors. Go out looking…