My recent visit to the Phoenix area included a hike at White Tank Mountain Regional Park. My hiking host, Judy Vorfeld, selected the Waterfall Trail, a two-miler. Being an Arizonan who’s quite concerned about our state’s long-term drought, I was curious to see how the native desert plants have been holding up. Sorry to say,…
There’s something about visiting the zoo. You can’t help but wonder who’s being more closely scrutinized, the animals or the humans. Let’s begin our tour at the pelican beauty parlor. Nothing like preening with a whole crowd watching. Not that this pelican cares… If you’re a giant iguana, you can pretty well forget about having…
My two previous posts covered Vermont’s annual fall color extravaganza and the impact of a (we hope) once-in-a-lifetime disaster. Time to look at some other aspects of the Green Mountain State. My visit to Vermont coincided with the peak of the fall colors. It also rained just about every day that I was in the…
During the final weekend of August, Hurricane Irene was approaching the eastern United States. Since I have family back there, I called to make sure that everyone was all right. The phone conversation with my Aunt Jean in Vermont had a very worried tone. About Hurricane Irene, she said, “It’s as big as Europe!” After…
Just got back from visiting family in Waterbury, Vermont. October in the state of Vermont means one thing: Fall Foliage. The aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene was very much in evidence, but it didn’t stop the annual party thrown by the trees. Let’s start our fall foliage tour at the Waterbury Public Library… The library…
This past Tuesday, the 2011 monsoon season busted loose with its last hurrah. Which prompted a photographic frenzy around here. First stop on the frenetic home front picture tour: The garden. Is it raining out there? Yes!!! I’m looking forward to the day when the seedlings (which are still too small to see in the…
I’ll start this post with yet another lament about Tucson’s 2011 monsoon season. It’s been a real hit-and-miss sort of thing. Take, for example, this approaching storm. Looks like it’s going to dump buckets of rain at my place, right? It didn’t. But Tucson’s South Side got almost three inches of rain. So much for…
September 2015 update: This website is no longer online. The HBCU Mid-Atlantic Professional Science Master’s (PSM) Alliance is a group of predominantly Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. These universities are developing and offering new Professional Science Master’s (PSM) degree programs. PSM degrees offer science and/or mathematics…
For the past week, Tucson’s weather has done a pretty convincing imitation of the Pacific Northwest. We’ve had nearly 2.5″ of rain. As I write this, thunderstorms are moving into the area. Many of our recent storms have started slowly. Subtly. You don’t think that much will come from them. Take, for example, this dampening…
When I was in my early twenties, I set the goal of bicycling through all 50 of the United States. I accomplished this over a twelve-year period, traveling more than 15,000 miles in the United States, plus a bit of Mexico and Canada. Traveling without the protective bubble of a vehicle provides a wonderful opportunity…
On August 20, 1775, a bouncing baby city was born. Its name? Tucson. It’s been 236 years, and the Old Pueblo still has quite a bit of bounce. It was certainly in evidence at one of the biggest events in the month-long celebration of Tucson’s Birthday. The big event? 2nd Saturdays Downtown, which brings tens…
Well, the monsoons have been with us for more than a month, and count me as unimpressed. I was hoping for giant storms with lots of rain, loud thunder, and bright lightning. And I’m still hoping. So far, our rainfall has been scanty, and the sound and light shows have been lackluster. In the meantime,…
In my previous post, I offered a tour of Tucson’s new Fifth Avenue Greenway. This post is about a nearby neighborhood that’s suffering from a severe case of greenway envy. Let’s set the stage by talking about the weather – again. As noted in recent posts, Tucson is experiencing its summer monsoon season. Which means…
Looks like our monsoons have taken a vacation. Other than brief sprinkles, we haven’t had rain in almost a week. So, with thunderstorms not threatening Tucson’s Tuesday evening, I decided to ramble around the neighborhood. First point of interest was the new Fifth Avenue Greenway, which has transformed the look of this alley between Waverly…
As if a rollicking good Independence Day storm wasn’t enough. The weather provided additional fireworks on the 5th of July. Just like Independence Day, yesterday’s tempest was a late afternoon special. It started with a ferocious wind and clouds that turned everything dark and ominous… The rain came down, and yes, I’ve said this already,…
The summer monsoon storms have busted back into southern Arizona. The festivities started late last week with a couple of after-dark storms that were loud and rowdy enough to deprive anyone of a good night’s sleep. Not that our July 4th afternoon storm was quiet and understated. Far from it. When it came to noise…
In my previous post, I talked about the good, bad, and ugly aspects of Downtown Tucson revitalization. Time for an update. I noted a messy situation in the Aviation Underpass, which is on one of the main routes in and out of Downtown. In recent months, this area had turned into one of the littering…
Yesterday evening, I did my 100th Meet Me at Maynards walk around Downtown Tucson. While I padded along in the 100-degree heat, I shot the following photo essay. It’s intended to show the positive and negative sides of Downtown Tucson’s revitalization efforts. First, the positives: Let’s start with Meet Me at Maynards itself. It’s been…
Bike-tography is one of those words I made up to describe two of my favorite activities, bicycling and photography. Bike-tography is the act of combining the two. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a highly opinionated selection of my best bike-tography images.
Graffiti is one of those blights that never seems to go away. These days, it seems as if any object is a tempting target for taggers. Central Tucson certainly isn’t immune from the graffiti plague. Street signs are especially vulnerable… When they’re not being stolen, traffic safety devices are also quite the target… Locally, there…
2nd Saturdays Downtown celebrated its first anniversary this past weekend. This event has been drawing tens of thousands of people to Downtown Tucson for arts, entertainment, shopping, and good old fashioned people watching. The Ronstadt Transit Center isn’t known for its musical entertainment, but haven’t you always wanted to sing a song while waiting for…