I grew up in the Southwest and have many photos to choose from. I narrowed it down to four. The first one shows me on my 7th birthday. It is taken in the front yard of our neighbor, Mr Murray. In his yard was a pottery statue of a man in a sombrero taking a siesta after a long day of working. It was there for as long as I can remember and Mr Murray died after I moved away. Incidentally, Mr Murray painted scenes of the southwest and after he died, his family sold some of his paintings and my mom bought a few and sent one to me. I have it hanging on my wall in a room that has a definite southwest theme.
The second photo was inspired by the word in the Sepia picture La Proveedora. I looked the word up and it is a place where there is an archaeologic site that has petroglyphs in Sonora, Mexico. One area I visited in the Dragoon mountains in the southeastern part of Arizona has pictographs. It is thought that the Mogollon Indians that lived there 1000 years ago created these pictures.
Finally, I can’t leave the southwest without sharing photos of the iconic Saguaro cactus. The first one is the typical single cactus photo that is usually depicted. These are slow growing and it can take up to 75 years for the first arm to appear. It is the state flower of Arizona and the fruit is harvested by using a pole. Several species of birds nest in it. As you can see, there is a bird in this photo. I think it is a Gila Woodpecker. Click on the image if you would like to see it close up.
The final photo is a landscape of Saguaro National Monument East. I rarely see landscape photos showing multiple Saguaros. Just looking at this photo triggers my senses. I can feel the warmth of the sun, hear the various bird and insects, and smell the aromatic creosote bush. It really is a breathtaking place to visit.
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We saw the giant saguaros in the desert outside Phoenix AZ 20 years ago, at the same time as we visited Tijuana. They are an amazing sight!
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Mr. Murray’s pottery Mexican is perfect for the prompt. The saguaro forest is amazing.
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I remember our trip to Arizona and seeing saguaros for the first time. The southwest is so different from Virginia where I live that at times it felt like we were driving through a movie set. Surely cowboys would come riding out!
I think it’s wonderful that you have a painting from your former neighbor.
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It looks like a fantastic place to grow up. The memories of a special place like this one must stay for ever. I agree nostalgia takes over when revisiting or seeing pictures of it.
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I’ve only driven through a small bit of the desert. It must be amazing.
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A nice take on the prompt & nicely done as well. A good cross-piece selection of photos including the cute one of you by the fellow taking a siesta. đŸ™‚
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I like the front yard statue. It must have been fun for a child to see it every day.
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I have never been to a desert and never really had any interesting in going, but when you wrote how the photograph triggered your senses I think it would be really interesting to visit. I like your 7th birthday photo.
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Aren’t you lucky to have so many photos to fit the theme? The first one is charming and more my style than the prickly subjects in the last two – though we have quite a few of those here too!
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Wonderful! I didn’t know that the cactus were so slow growing. Great photos of cactus. Thank you.
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