Camouflaged in rings,
Aged Sinaguan secrets live.
Dwellings abandoned.
~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-~~~-
Several weeks ago, we visited Montezuma Well. From the natural spring, to the vacant Sinagua cliff dwellings, to the Arizona sycamores, I found so much to take in. (My blog header this month depicts some of the cliff dwellings.) That visit inspired the haiku above.
We learned that Arizona sycamores grow where there are constant water sources. This is probably why I don’t recall seeing them desert climate of Phoenix during the twenty-five years I lived there. Several of these huge trees grew along a stream near the well. I believe I saw on a sign that the Arizona sycamores are also known as ‘Arizona giants.’ In the photo above, my eight-year-old posed near one of them. (Even though I call him my little monkey, he doesn’t really have a monkey’s face. It’s an edit prompted by my paranoia about my kids’ photos on the internet.)
I found the design of the tree bark fascinating as well. The photo below shows a close up of the bark. I’d love to know the stories of the past concealed behind the camouflage!
I may write more about Montezuma Well in a future post. Have a beautiful Wednesday!
Hi Janna
I’ve never heard of Montezuma’s Well before so I had to Google it to find out some information about the place.
In Arizona
Water from an unknown source
Brings forth unique life.
THANKS for the opportunity for me to write another HAIKU
I believe I’ve summarized the place with this one. 🙂 🙂 🙂
OOPS !!! Sorry Janna – I forgot to comment on your HAIKU. I like your HAIKU perhaps that’s why I also decided to summarize one aspect of the place within the limitation of 5-7-5.
Haha… no worries, Robin! I’m glad you were inspired to respond in haiku. (Tomorrow, I’ll stop by your site to see what you’ve got going on…)
Nice! I like that you respond in haiku, Robin! It was a cool place to visit and I think there are many ways to sum up that location.
Great header. We’ve visited a number of cave dwellings, including Tuzigoot. Your haiku speaks to the spirit dwelling in the ancient dwellings.
We didn’t make it to Tuzigoot yet, Nancy. So many dwellings, so little time 🙂 We did see the Eldon ruins right outside of Flagstaff. So strange to see an archeological site right across the street from a modern gas station.
I had to giggle at your little monkey, Janna — I, too, have a phobia about posting my son’s face on my blog (and he’s over 21, ha!). Great haiku, by the way, and I’d love hearing more about the well.
I’m glad I’m not the only paranoid one, Debbie. A part of me would love to show them off here, but it’s too scary 🙂 I think I’ll have to do another post or two on this one.
Great, exotic word choices.
Thanks for reading, Lance!
Awesome. Adorable monkey boy, too!
Thanks, Suzicate! He’s my sweet monkey 🙂
Lovely haiku and amazing pictures! I have never seen tree bark look quite like that. Cool! ♥
Those trees really were captivating, Kathy! I’m glad you liked the haiku… I read your recent haiku as well… love the ice one 🙂
Thanks for the Haiku and the photo of the bark. It reminds me of a tree I saw in Australia, but I cannot recall the name. Looking at things closely is often so very enriching!
Thanks for reading, Allen! I took a photo of another tree that had a fun bark texture to it. So much diversity.
Beautiful words, Janna. And such a cute little monkey! 😀
Thanks, Dianne! He’s a sweetie 🙂
I can’t say how tall or big your son is, but the tree trunk looks massive. And you’re right, Janna, about the camouflage – it can hide any number of animal and insect life.
Cheers,
Eric
He’s just over 4 feet tall (at last check 🙂 ) Didn’t think about the insects… good thing I kept my distance, Eric!
Hi, Janna! Very interesting tree bark–do tell about it if you find out! We were just seeing some similar “peeling” tree barks around our neighborhood and wondered why they were like that, though I don’t know what kind of tree they are. Thanks for the “social studies” mini-lesson; Google helped me. 🙂
They are some unique trees, Sandra. I don’t have another post about Montezuma yet (my mind is terrible about moving on to something else and not returning to things previously explored…) Glad you stopped by!