Cactuses (Cacti?), desert and the Grand Canyon

It was my pleasure to make a trip to Phoenix AZ this past week; an opportunity to reconnect with family, meet new friends and discover some of the Arizonian desert.

Open and visible.
The clear colours and drastically changing landscapes lend themselves to the feeling of openness and visibility. With nothing to hide and much to teach, the Grand Canyon was a gentle reminder as to what does and does not matter in life. We calculated that our short and precious time on Earth (in this life, in any case) amounts to about 1 more milimeter of depth into the canyon’s basin. A whole 1mm…

Cactuses are nature’s way of greening the desert, one prickle and point at a time. Below you can see an unidentified branch that inevitably reminds me of Christ’s thorn crown, cactuses covered in snow and frost (called “jumping cholla”) the dried up and porous inside of a dead cactus…and other photos from hikes in and around Phoenix.