AMARILLO, TX

SUMMER 1997

In June, 1997, I had the opportunity to visit my friends Joseph and Tom in Amarillo, Texas, USA. While there I tried to capture what impressed me most:

		Unless you have actually experienced it, no words can express how BIG the sky is. Here in Louisiana where I live we are limited by the vast number of trees, so one sees only a small portion of the sky at any one time; a small tunnel straight up! (Remember the movie Giant with James Dean? Have you gotten your James Dean comemorative stamps yet at the US postoffice?)
Maybe the ninth (or what ever number is next) wonder of the world is Palo Duro Canyon (means hard or durable wood), named for the vast amount of petrified wood found there. It has a very special place in the hearts and minds of the Native American people (Joseph is part Cherokee). He and his friend Jen spend as much time as possible there, carrying on the traditions of their ancestors, and glorifying nature.
		Yucca, seen here in bloom and the resulting seedpod, is everywhere, even in the yards of homes in town. It served the early inhabitants as food (its root), fiber for tying, and its sharp leaf-points as needles and fishing hooks
Not everything in Texas is big. This is the tiny bloom of Snakeroot, so named for its supposed properties of relieving the pain and poisoning of snakebites, and with the vast number of rattles snakes in the area, in the mornings and late afternoons of hot days (110° F plus), a snakebite is a REAL possibility; however, if snake bitten, I recommend more traditional treatment, like getting the Hell of of there and heading post haste to the hospital!

PS: Thanks Jojo and Tom for being my hosts! Photographs shown here are taken by and © copyrighted by Tom Stewart, 1997. None may be used for commercial purposes without written permission of the photographer.