Farm Field Petroglyphs

These geometric petroglyphs depict farm fields/vegetable gardens of The Mogollon (900-1400 AD), an early Native American hunter gatherer people who migrated through mid-Southern New Mexico and mid-Eastern Arizona, following the infrequent rains, the migration of Elk, Deer, Big Horn Sheep, and turkey. They supplemented their food source by planting corn, beans, and squash, and became good at it. Farming allowed groups to stay longer in one area, instead of constantly chasing dwindling populations of wild game. Farming would in time lead to the construction of more permanent housing for groups knowledgeable of growing vegetables.

The zig-zag lines depict the diversion of water from the gravel washes and creek bottoms that flow through this dry country. The squares and rectangles around them suggest the size and shape of the fields. By constantly changing the direction of flow, water velocity can be slowed allowing it to be kept in the garden longer, and soaked up by the dry sandy ground, which releases the minerals and nutrients locked up in partially decayed organic matter in the soil.

The lack of frequent rains, in desert regions allows the soil to retain / compound nutrients for many years, making the soil very fertile and productive with the addition of only water.

These people were serious about farming practice, as their lives depended on it. It is evident today, that they had a far greater knowledge and respect for the Earth than we do, as their race has long since moved on, and the desert here where hundreds of thousands of people lived is free of polution and junk. It has returned to the wild, and looks as if no one ever lived here. Only the foundations of a few small pit houses remain. High up on a rocky outcropping, 20,000 messages like these overlook a vast desert where all that is visible is a single modern day ranch house.

Art, gardening, and irrigation practice was a joy and celebration for these people. It inspired them to leave these timeless messages.

Images of Mogollon Petroglyphs 
Three Rivers Petroglyph site New Mexico

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Rivers_Petroglyph_Site 

Napali

Tropical weather systems brewing over the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean, gather against the towering cliffs of Napali producing almost constant rains high upon the cliff tops, eroding the unstable volcanic soils and rock, providing its weathered appearance. The most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen are in these cliffs, some thousands of feet high. Napali can only properly be seen by helicopter. The lush green color was refereed to as broccoli tree forests by the helicopter pilot, and they do look just like broccoli. Napali is unlike almost every other place I've been, in that it has qualities of what I imagine Heaven to be like closest to God. He must have created it late, very late on the 6th day when He was at His best.  

There are helicopter tours from the east side of the island near the airport

Image of Napali Coast (offshore from catamaran and air), 
rain forested 5000' volcanic cliffs 
Western Coast of Kauai, HI, U.S.
(The Garden Isle)
.

Big Horn Canyon, WY

Entering the Big Horn Mountains from the west is one of the steepest climbs I have encountered in North America. I remember 2nd gear low in my small motor home and wondering if it would make it. Everything smelled cooked upon reaching the top. The west part of the drive was desert, but upon the high plateau, the drive quickly became forested with mountain meadows and herds of elk for some 30 to 50 miles. The descent into Sheridan is dramatic.

Image Of Big Horn Canyon and Reservoir Wyoming

Harbor at Venice, IT

Man's duty is to educate himself to be creative, his human physical and spiritual value to become a positive number, and his works and voice be of interest.

Image of Harbor at Venice, Italy from ship.

Musa Coccinea/Scarlet Banana

I recently divided and moved this plant..

North side of my house in shade zone 8b Louisiana, Southern U.S.

Musa Coccinea is possibly my most favorite ornamental banana. It grows to 7 feet for me here in zone 8b. A slender, sparse, thin, tender, plant with light green leaves and true red blooms with yellow tips.

It can take very little or almost no wind without getting broken up. It's blooming now in late October, looks best in shade, and blooms just fine with little sun.

I grew it next to a window inside my house the first winter after I bought it as a small 10'' tall division and the foliage was flawless, although it grew a little slow, it was steady. In the spring I planted it in my yard in 3 locations.

It has frozen to the ground all but last winter, which was far warmer than usual and all my bananas grew to absolute maturity. I have never seen this happen before and my place looked like a rain forest. I am wondering if I will ever see it again so lush.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_coccinea 

Musa Ornata Milky Way Banana Flower

Milky Way is a recent introduction to the ornamental banana collectors trade I've had for 4 years maybe. It grows to 7.5' in height and 6' wide in 2 or 3 years for me here. It makes a thick grove as trees grow close together. Leaves have a dark grey purple tinge and blooms are gorgeous but, hard to photograph as automatic focus doesn't like white and tends to focus on something darker like the closest leaf or stem. I've grown it in several different environments here in zone 8b and have been over all very pleased with its performance. However it will not bloom well if it is grown in less than ideal conditions. The plant is a  little hard to find but worth the while. I believe I bought this plant from Martha's Secrets on line store. She 's a very nice lady and good at her business.

Musa Siamensis Banana Flower

Musa Siamensis is a recent introduction into the collectors trade of ornamenatal bananas from Asia that grows to 9'. I hear it can be a little invasive but I've had no problems so far in the 3 or 4 years it's been here in my yard. It seems to like more water than the average ornamental banana, and will not grow taller than 2' nor bloom  in shade. However in full sun and with ample moisture, it's foilage is a beautiful deep rich green I haven't seen before in any banana tree. I have it growing in three environments and next spring I think know what to do with it. 

Garden in the Sky / La Granja Colca Canyon, Peru

 
Images of  La Granja                   
Colca Canyon, Peru ( on a part of the canyon called "The Crack ")

La Granja Spanish Definition - La =  "the'' feminine, Granja = A garden / farm worked for one man for his family / a school / place of learning for children / steep and narrow lesson to those who have forgotten from where all things come.

Dolomite Mountain Range, Northern Italy

Scratched Film Image of entering Dolomite Mountain Range in Northern Italy, driving from Southern Austria

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomites 

Santa Catalina Convent / Cusco, Peru

You were not supposed to see this and other forthcoming images, as an overly protective spirit guard would not allow the taking of photographs here.

I told the guard It should not keep such a collection of generous thought locked up in a darkened cave, that little kids should see it in far away lands...

At that instant, every trace of the spirit disappeared, and the room was filled with a golden light.


Image of side Chapel at Santa Catalina Convent and Museum / Cusco, Peru

Farm Fields in the Desert at Arequipa, Peru

The thin and raveling thread of life, 

a frailty where everything is gained and nothing is lost, 

I heard a wise man say, 

"you must leave the smallness of your self 

to find every beauty, 

 the greatest of which requires you never return. 

Image of irrigated farm fields in barren Peruvian desert, Rio Chili river, AQP runway.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu (pronounced Machu Picktchu) means old mountain. The ruins here are for the most part as they were when Hirum Bingham cleared them of rain forest in the early 1900's. Many ancient ruins were reconstructed to some extent, but these were not. Except for long decayed roof poles and thatched rooves, the high quality stonework is in excellent condition, as it was when abandoned and overgrown by rainforest.

Extremely remote and invisible from the narrow valley floor 3000' below, it is believed to have been a hiding place for the Inca elite during times of war. Fertile topsoil from the Sacred Valley was carried up the mountain to fill the garden terraces. Many of the crops grown in Peru today were grown here in these terraces long ago, to make life in Machu Picchu sustainable during periods when crops were raided down below.

The earliest stone work was built in the megalithic period, many thousands of years before the arrival of the Inca, who expanded the site to what it is now. The megalithic construction is believed to be more of a spiritual nature, when population was sparse, and war wasn't as likely. However in the days of the Inca people, the Sacred Valley and surrounding mountains were well populated.

The peoples who constructed the Megalithic stone masonry here and all around the world are an even bigger mystery than the Inca. Almost nothing is known about them, except the fact that they lived many thousands of years before the Inca, and their knowledge of stone cutting and placement is unsurpassed even to this day. We can not duplicate it.

This leads one to suspect a more advanced civilization may have lived thousands of years before us, that man's understanding of his small window in time, his cultural methods and philosophy of priorities are in need of study, in light of the fact that these peoples have all vanished.

This will be the 1st of many images of Machu Picchu and Aguas Calientes I hope to publish here. If you are thinking of visiting Machu Picchu, spend the night in Aguas Calientes, and take the early shuttle bus up the mountain to beat the crowd. Be sure to book train tickets from Ollantaytambo (the end of the road) to Machu Picchu (Aguas Calientes) well in advance , as they at times are sold out. Shuttle bus tickets may be purchased the evening before in Aguas Calientes.

Images of Machu Picchu (Huayna Picchu Mountain) in the early morning . West / Left facade, then East / right facade from entrance gate of sanctuary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu

Alaska Cotten

Image of Eriophorum, (Alaska Cotton) near Haines Junction, Yukon. Looking towards the St. Elias Mountains of Kluane National Park and Reserve, home of Mount Logan (5959 meters), the highest mountain in Canada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eriophorum

Bryce Canyon National Park

https://en.

A terrible place to loose a cow.

                                                                                    wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_Canyon_National_Park