My Kind of Arizona Art

Sometimes my mind wanders as I knit, and that is how I decided to gather together these photographs to share with you. 

Although it came about completely unintentionally, Denis and I seem to have seen a few petroglyphs and pictographs during our travels around the state of Arizona. Some of them are easy to get to, like the ones at the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve here in Phoenix. Others took a bit of observation and agility, like the ones up around Black Canyon Lake high in the White Mountains. Another discovery was pure serendipity when I was desperate for a pit stop out in the middle of nowhere. The only petroglyphs that can outshine those serendipitous ones were the ones Denis and I saw in Canyon de Chelly during an all-day tour of wonders led by a Navajo guide in Korean War-era transport. 

The best thing about seeing all this art is that we were able to see some beautiful country and wildlife, too. Arizona is a state that keeps on giving-- especially if you're willing to get off the beaten path a bit. Slather on some sunscreen, put on some comfortable hiking shoes, and bring your camera. We're going to look for my kind of Arizona art!

This is the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve here in Phoenix. There is a museum and a quarter-mile-long self-guided tour. At first glance, the landscape is rather unprepossessing.

Just tumbles of basalt rock mixed with palo verde, mesquite, and creosote.

There are lots of critters to be seen, like this ground squirrel, or hummingbirds, lizards, and the like.

But when you look closer, you see all sorts of drawings carved in the rock. The intense desert sun can make photographing them difficult.

Natives found the rocks here valuable for grinding tools and other implements while those who had to wait while the others went "shopping" got bored and decided to leave a little graffiti behind.

They'd be stunned if they knew that their peckings on the rocks were protected by a university now and that archaeologists are at work to learn more about them.

In June and July of 2002, the Rodeo-Chesdiski Fire consumed 500,000 acres of the largest Ponderosa pine forest in the world. Over 30,000 people had to be evacuated from this area in the White Mountains of Arizona. Well over one hundred miles away, Denis and I saw the towering masses of smoke as the forests burned. The next summer we decided to head up there to see what had happened to some of our favorite places. It broke our hearts. 

The paths the fire took were sometimes puzzling. Why was that patch of trees spared while the ones right next to it burned? This is what we saw as we headed north from Black Canyon Lake.

Our spirits lifted when we began to see large patches of wildflowers like this Rocky Mountain Bee Plant.

And then there were the three mule deer, only one of which was brave enough to stay to have his photo taken.

We'd noticed small little signs by the sides of this dirt trail on previous visits, and this time we decided to see what this was all about. Pamphlets in a wooden box led us up into the mountains on a path a mountain goat would approve of to see some amazing pictographs in a shelter of rocks.

I could easily imagine people sheltering here during a rainy or snowy day and deciding to pass the time with a little artwork.

This area is still rich in the game that the natives needed to hunt.

This is the "Middle of Nowhere", close to the Arizona-New Mexico border. At one spot where we stopped, we were over one hundred miles from the nearest town in ANY direction. Have you ever been that far from civilization? It was sobering, but I loved it.

This is the Blue River, thought to be the river least tampered with by humans in the entire country. By the time we forded this river (by Jeep and by foot), I was desperate for a pit stop.

This Abert's squirrel thought I was too fastidious, but I'm not the type of person who just goes behind a tree or cactus to "do my business" unless there's absolutely no other alternative.

But right after fording the river, I looked down into the trees and spied a familiar sight: restroom facilities well-known to anyone who's been in a lot of national and state parks. Relief! But then fences, paths, and those rocks led us to explore.

During the Depression, a crew of CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) workers came through this remote spot. They were using the stone to build a campground among other things, but when they came across all these pictographs, they left them alone for others to appreciate. In later decades, the campground was destroyed when the river flooded. Yes, that puny little excuse for a river!

It was a fascinating spot, and we never would have known it was there if I hadn't needed that pit stop!

The day we toured Canyon de Chelly was so very special. People have lived and farmed there for over 5,000 years.

There are so many cliff dwellings, and the Navajo tapestry walls are colored by all the different metals and minerals in the rock. Breathtaking!

The morning sun was slanting through the three canyons that make up Canyon de Chelly as our tour began.

We saw toeholds carved in the rock by untold numbers of people climbing up the steep walls. And of course, there were petroglyphs.

Humans have felt the need to tell stories for thousands upon thousands of years.

Aren't these pictographs gorgeous?

Don't you love that huge cow on the canyon wall behind the hogan? Denis and I have been inside a hogan (when we toured Monument Valley), and they are so snug and warm!

I hope you enjoyed my tour of a few of the petroglyphs and pictographs that can be found here in Arizona. I love this state, and I love sharing it with all of you.

A Hooray for Progress Weekly Link Round-Up

Alas, last Friday's appointment at the Wound Care Clinic of John C. Lincoln Hospital was not my last, due to a tiny area on my right leg that was still draining an infinitesimal amount. I'm due back there next Friday, and I'm hoping for the all-clear then. 

I do want to give a shout-out to all those who strive hard each and every day to improve healing techniques for wound care. When this first happened to me a little over a year ago, the healing was very slow and, ultimately, unsatisfying. For this flare-up, there was both a new topical cream and a new type of bandaging that has made all the difference in the world. My leg has healed much faster without the daily sloughing-off of huge amounts of dead skin. The deep maroon color of my leg has cleared up much quicker. You wouldn't think something as simple as a cream and a stretchy fabric tube that slips on your leg could make such a profound difference, but it has. This new bandage (called Edema Wear) is also something I can wear in place of those monstrous felt-and-Velcro compression garments that I wore for a year. They're much cheaper, too, and can last up to six months.

Yes, indeed. Thanks to all those who constantly strive to improve health and healing!

You're probably wondering what this sign hanging on a small business in Jerome, Arizona has to do with this link round-up or what I had to say about bandages and healing. Well, Jennie doesn't have much to do with that, but I did find a link to an article about her which I included in the Fascinating Folk section down below.

Jerome is such a fun place to visit that I hope anyone of you who comes to Arizona takes the time to go there. It sits so high up on a mountain that (if you know where to look) it can be seen seventy miles away on the interstate. A billion-dollar copper mining town in its heyday and home to 15,000 people, it was fast becoming a ghost town until it was rescued by artists who came in and revived it beginning in the 1950s. Ever heard of Jenny Jerome, mother of Winston Churchill? Same family that founded this wonderful old mining town.

Enjoy the links!

 ►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• For those of us who enjoy the television adaptations of Ann Cleeves' books, the cast for the newest series, The Long Call, has been announced. 
• Erik Hoel on the joy and privilege of growing up in an indie bookstore.
• Booksellers talk about the art of the hand sell.
• America's love of male trees could be why you're sneezing right now.
• How the #MeToo movement upended Australian poetry.
• What's the difference between copyright, trademark, and patents?
• A brief history of Old Hollywood's organized criminals.
• Anti-racism titles are all over the list of the ten most challenged books of 2020. (Come on, people! Stop being so scared of everything.)

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A forgotten stone slab may be the oldest known map in Europe. More about it from Smithsonian magazine.
• Why Egypt paraded twenty-two ancient pharaohs through the streets of Cairo.
• Crystals found in the Kalahari Desert challenge assumptions about where in Africa human culture arose.
• Ancient coins may solve the mystery of a murderous pirate in the 1600s.
• This untouched Mayan Jaguar God ritual cave was found full of precious relics.
• A tomb containing three generations of warrior women has been unearthed in Russia.
• An ancient Maya palace was discovered in Yucatán state.
• Archaeologists are uncovering the stories of the past faster than ever before.
• A sixteenth-century shipwreck was discovered beneath Stockholm city center.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• How a vet hospital on wheels rescued wildlife during floods in Australia.
• How studying lemur hibernation could make long-distance space travel easier one day.
• A photographer flying a drone discovers a once in a lifetime shot: three bobcats sitting on a log.
• Watch two determined dachshunds dig out the giant container ship that was blocking the Suez Canal.
• Watch a herd of reindeer create a defensive cyclone with their bodies when an arrow flies overhead.
• Whales are the biggest animals ever to exist. Why aren't they bigger?
• A tiger cub rejected by its mother finds a best friend in a puppy.
• What elephants teach us about consumption and extinction.

 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Ian Pearce, the location manager for Lewis, talks about filming in Oxford.
• Brisbane: crime, mystery, and literature in Australia's golden city.
• "I'm your huckleberry" has a double meaning in Old Tucson.
• Take a look at one of the first lending libraries, Palace Green Library in County Durham, England.
• The city and the writer: in Bucharest with Ioana Morpurgo.
• The hottest literary travel destinations to visit when lockdown ends.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The memory of Belgian Jennie lives on in Jerome, Arizona.
• Five women changemakers in American art.
• Why Martha Washington's life is so elusive to historians.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The 100 best, worst, and strangest Sherlock Holmes portrayals of all-time.
• On the rise and fall of fictional rock stars.
• The top ten books about New York.
• The top ten novels set in villages.
• Twenty reading chairs you'll never want to leave.
• The top ten books about children fending for themselves.

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. And don't forget to curl up with a good book!

Dance With Death by Will Thomas

First Line: I heard him before I saw him: a thick, rich, two-toned baritone voice.

 

It's June of 1893, and the future Nicholas II of Russia is in London for the wedding of his cousin, Prince George. One of Nicholas's bodyguards is convinced that his employer is in danger, so he asks around to learn the name of the best private detective in the city. In no time at all, he's in the office of Clive Barker and his partner, Thomas Llewelyn, private enquiry agents.

 

Barker and Llewelyn aren't particularly anxious to accept the job because they know that it's going to drag them into a bureaucratic nightmare of red tape and fragile egos. However, when they are unwittingly involved in an assassination attempt, they change their minds and find themselves tracking a shadowy figure known as La Sylphide-- a master assassin no one has ever seen.

 

But to get to La Sylphide, Barker and Llewelyn still have to wade through motives that run the gamut from personal to political in order to stop an event that could throw the world into chaos.

 

~

 

I am a longtime fan of Will Thomas's Barker & Llewelyn historical mystery series set in Victorian London. These books are a marvelous blend of history, characterization, action, and humor. Thomas always does his homework when dealing with historical figures, and Dance With Death has a few. For those readers who don't like real people in their fiction, I'd just like to say that the author uses these historical figures as a framework for his story. They are not main characters, and that's a good thing because he already has a marvelous cast of fictional ones. 

As always, the story is told by twenty-eight-year-old Thomas Llewelyn, and I love his narration. Through the course of the series, readers have seen this young man grow and learn, and thankfully the years have honed his fine sense of humor and quick tongue. Barker is the strong, silent type, more like a Victorian James Bond than anything else, although he does play a good straight man to Thomas. As the two investigate further, two secondary characters are brought in: female detective (and typist) Sarah Fletcher, and habitue of the British Museum's reading room, Liam Grant. They have appeared in previous books, and I was glad to see them in Dance With Death. I hope Will Thomas continues to bring them both into future books because I love watching their stories unfold.

The mystery is a good one, and Thomas's setting of Victorian London is hard to beat. I always learn something about that city when I read one of these books. If you like historical mysteries set in London, you really can't go wrong with a Barker & Llewelyn novel. You can read Dance With Death as a standalone, but I've enjoyed the unfolding of Thomas's story so much that I hope you'll think about starting at the beginning with Some Danger Involved. This is a consistently high-quality series that shouldn't be missed.

Dance With Death by Will Thomas

eISBN: 9781250624789

Minotaur Books © 2021

eBook, 320 pages

 

Historical Mystery, #12 Barker & Llewelyn mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

Out & About at the Wildlife World Zoo

Denis and I had another wonderful outing at the Wildlife World Zoo last week. Thankfully, the zoo is huge because it was much busier than it has been the past few times we were there, and most people were celebrating our governor's misguided lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions by not wearing a mask. The only place where social distancing was impossible was in the baby animal nursery because of the children's excitement, so Denis and I didn't stay in there long. Besides, we wanted to see the baby jackals, and they weren't in their room.

I was debating with myself on whether I should show you all the photos in one post, or to split them into two separate ones because I didn't want to try anyone's patience. Then I decided to go whole hog, show 'em all, and treat you like the responsible adults you are. You know how to budget your own time, after all! Besides, it looks as though Denis and I have outings to the Desert Botanical Garden and Butterfly Wonderland lined up in the near future, so there should be a wealth of upcoming photos to share.

Hang on to your hats, and come along with us on our visit to the zoo!

This peacock was the first critter in the zoo to keep an eye on me.

Perched atop a roof, he was so pleased at scaring the pudding out of me that he watched and timed his scream to startle more unsuspecting souls passing by.

I've always loved the colors and patterns of peacock feathers.

Then it was the cassowary's turn to watch me with his beady eye. Rather prehistoric-looking, isn't he?

Well... same to ya, buddy! (Red Lechwe)

On previous visits, I could not get a decent photo of this crested screamer. This time, it was as if the bird was standing under a spotlight.

A sable antelope. It's not easy to see, but this critter has enviable eyelashes.

The it was the emu's turn. What's up with all these critters keeping an eye on me?!?

Gotta love an emu do.

I love the horns on this Addax antelope.

This plains zebra thought it was time for her closeup.

But there's always a clown in every group, eh?

Denis and I walked up on a gate that was standing wide open. As Denis walked on, I stayed put to watch these three amigos-- grey crowned cranes-- slowly walk up to investigate.

See? I told you that gate was open!

What should we do? Should we have an adventure? (They decided to stay in the enclosure although I gave them plenty of space to come on through.)

All the ostriches at the zoo are female. Since there are no males to fertilize the eggs, the girls tend to lay 'em anywhere which is rather disconcerting.

I love prairie dogs. Denis and I discovered a prairie dog town in an open field next to McDonald's in Springerville, Arizona. We went back more than once to sit in the parking lot and watch them. This female had a baby she was keeping an eye on.

This baby was still wobbly on its legs. I was a bit surprised at its mottled fur.

During our last visit, I'd spied goslings. This time it was a large brood of ducklings.

They all stayed close to Mom.

And then it was time to get out of the water for nap time.

 

That's it! I hope you enjoyed your visit; I know we certainly did!

The Unkindness of Ravens by M.E. Hilliard

 

First Line: Growing up, I remember liking Trixie Belden better than Nancy Drew because she got into more trouble.

 

After coming home to discover her husband's body, businesswoman Greer Hogan turned her back on her life in New York City. Becoming a librarian, she found a job she loved in the small town of Raven Hill and worked hard to put her painful past behind her. But when she stumbles upon the dead body of her best friend at the bottom of a staircase in the Raven Hill Public Library, Greer finds herself in all-too-familiar territory.

 

Having found the body of her friend, Greer naturally is at the top of the police's suspect list, but she hasn't read all those mysteries for nothing. Greer is determined to find the killer. What she doesn't realize is how many secrets she'll uncover in her quest for justice.

 

~

 

I came close to not finishing M.E. Hilliard's The Unkindness of Ravens or at least deciding to skim through sections, but I'm glad I didn't. Why did I come so close to giving up? Because it took three-quarters of the book before everything began to click. Why did I persevere? Because there would be an occasional quip or literary allusion from the main character, Greer Hogan, that convinced me she was one character worth getting to know.

Greer's husband was murdered, and the entire experience-- from finding his body all the way through the court trial-- was so painful that she had the strength and will to put it all behind her and start a whole new life. Her experience as a businesswoman and as a librarian makes her especially adept at organizing her days so she has time to be an amateur sleuth. She's also level-headed and has a strong sense of self-preservation. Intentionally putting herself in danger is not her style, and she shares her discoveries with the police. Toward the end of The Unkindness of Ravens, I found myself cheering Greer on to victory, which is always a good sign. 

Hilliard created a good, solid mystery, a fantastic setting, and an interesting, likable main character. The action in the book leads inevitably to the next book in the series. What I'm hoping for in that second book is much-improved pacing and more highly developed characters-- especially Officer Jennie Webber, whom I found very intriguing.

Once everything began to click, this book became an enjoyable read, and what's not to like about a public library housed in an old mansion that's so Gothic and Jane Eyre-like that one expects to see the first Mrs. Rochester glaring out from an upstairs window? When all is said and done, I find myself looking forward to meeting Greer Hogan and Officer Webber again soon.

The Unkindness of Ravens by M.E. Hilliard

eISBN: 9781643856957

Crooked Lane Books © 2021

eBook, 336 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #1 Greer Hogan mystery

Rating: B-

Source: Net Galley