I fly quite a bit and coming in and out of Denver--I am always struck at how incredibly monochromatic and (shall we say) minimalistic the bare acreage is coming home. It's such that I must intersperse my depression-era pictures with some more colorful images to cheer them up a tad...the bigger shots were all taken on a single drive--albeit in winter. Spring, summer and fall are about the same, alas.
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| That's the drive to the Airport through Asiatic Istanbul..roadside annual plantings... |
A slight contrast to the following...
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| There are a few clouds in the distance in this one at least...sort of. |
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| Here's what the Minoans were doing four thousand years ago in their homes..a thrill to find this from Santorini at the Athens Archeological museum last summer. |
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| It would be tricky to plant that slope... |
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| A thousand year old fresco at Hosios Loukas, near Delphi... |
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| The rental van enlivens this one a tad. |
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| Another palette cleanser... |
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| Good thing we have decorative lenticular clouds... |
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| Never realized subways could be so clean and decorative--Athens last summer... |
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| Aaah. More clouds. |
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| Graffiti can liven things up... |
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| The bus pane is a distraction.... |
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| Modern art can also be grey--albeit somewhat decorative. |
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| A car! |
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| There are prairies nearby this colorful (although this was taken last July near Troy) |
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| The grass cover above is pretty thick. |
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| A bit much to dream of Antelope Valley, California recreated. |
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| I don't think the gulleys are intended--but they do draw the eye. |
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| It would be nice to have some color: Antelope Valley again a decade ago |
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| A wedge of weeds mostly |
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| California poppies are facultative perennials in Colorado: but this California |
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| That same cloud again... |
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| Skipped to South Africa for this program break... |
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| More of less |
It is stark as the West and Midwest can often be. Unrelentingly so. It's a bit of an embarrassment that there was 6 billion dollars for engineering and a good deal less (if any?) for revegetation. Let's not even talk beautification. As a horticulturist, this is about as close to a slap in the face as one can get.
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