Clifford Beshers

  • “I know that locally-sourced hay is all the rage, but I was really craving some Scottish oats.”

    Two horses stand just beyond a pasture fence, eating from the ground. One has its head slightly raised, as if speaking between mouthfuls.

  • I left my dSLR at home when I traveled at Christmas, relying only on my Google Pixel Pro 9. I was happy with the image quality and the capabilities, but operating the phone as a camera was not great, especially outdoors. I think I need a grip. I’d love to hear any recommendations.

  • Aspiration. Two cottonwoods, naked of leaves in winter, lean into the angle of the mountain.

    Two trees in a pasture lean to the left below a triangle of granite on a mountain face, seemingly taking the same angle as the triangle.

  • I love a parade…of clouds, past Mt. Tom.

    A craggy triangular mountain has a motley group of clouds floating past it.

  • My apologies for the recent lack of daily photos, there were some technical difficulties.

    I’m home again and there is a Coopers Hawk policing the neighborhood. #birds

    A small hawk sits in a dead tree, surveying the desert landscape.

  • Elephant hide.

  • Change of direction.

  • Twenty-mule Team Canyon, Death Valley National Park.

  • Time for a visual puzzle, I think. #VisualPuzzle

  • An opera house near Death Valley. I wonder what the acoustics of adobe are like?

  • Tree silhouettes like this immediately remind me of the imagery in Samurai Jack. There are so many trees with strong outlines in that animation.

  • Moose and squirrel. Without the moose.

  • Children’s park in winter.

  • Spooky tree. I’m playing with the night mode on my new camera phone.

  • Here’s one of the great things about where I live. Excerpted from a weather emergency alert:

    • WHAT…South to southwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. Gusts of 60 to 65 mph for wind prone areas. Ridges gusting over 100 mph.

    • Severity: Moderate

  • Winter trees are some of my favorite subjects.

  • Spreading Ashes

    What to make of the process of spreading ashes? We chose a few spots meaningful to our parents, but they were public and we didn’t want to spread large quantities. So my brother decanted their ashes from urns to Mason jars. When we met at his car, Mom was resting on the windshield and he’d forgotten Papa in the kitchen.

    Two mason jars with metal lids labelled Mom and Papa rest in a stainless steel bowl.

    After the fact, it occurred to me this could have been depressing, but the reality is, we were chuckling. We’d already honored them both properly with memorial services attended by friends and family. Honestly, I think Mom would have been amused to be measured into a Mason jar.

    We spoke some more words, sang a hymn, and mused on the nature of life. Then my brother threw away the jars. “Single use,” he said.

  • Big cat, little cat. Fluff ball, sleek fur. Heat producer, heat consumer. Finnegan, Mortimer, ringing in the New Year.

  • It rained all night and much of the day, which is a luxury for a desert dweller. I watched the leaves and the raindrops on the glass of the Florida room for hours.

  • Prairie winter.

  • I think it’s a good day for a visual puzzle. #VisualPuzzle

  • Thou shall not pass!

    A crude wooden bridge with one narrow plank between two handrails is marked with a bright yellow sign that says, Bridge Closed.

  • The gift of a new plushie to shred.

  • Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park.

    Merry Christmas.

    a complicated point of geology.

  • Folds in the earth, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park.

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