Patti Moed is this week’s host for the photo challenge, and she is asking us to focus on subjects beginning with the letter S. She writes, “You can also include signs and graffiti with the letter S. For an added challenge, capture an image that illustrates a concept with the letter S, such as serene, sharp, spooky, or silent.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

My opening image is a sculpture that stands high on a hill in North Dakota. She is known as Salem Sue and was placed in honor of the dairy industry in and around the small community of New Salem.

 Of the many beautiful buildings in Washington D.C., the home of the Supreme Court features columns symmetrically spaced inside the structure.

 In the center of the coral atoll known both as Fanning Island and its native name of Tabaeuran, there lies a shipwreck of a vessel that long ago sunk to the shoal at the base of the shallow lagoon.

Looking through my gallery for a sunset image, over 90 images matched the search. I had a difficult choice to pick a sensational sample. Here it is (at least in my opinion, your mileage may vary.) This image is aptly titled Sunset at Sea.

When people think of the term “steam engine,” I would suggest that they most likely think of the engine on a train. In the heyday of steam power, though, these engines were in factories, power plants, and many other fixed locations where the engines, like this example at the Rollag Steam Thresher Reunion, are firmly fastened to the structure.

In Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area, you can tour a naval “museum” that features a collection of seagoing vessels including this sailing ship, the U.S.S. Constellation.

Also, in Baltimore, you can tour the U.S.S. Torsk, a U.S. Navy submarine, but in Cozumel, you can board a real submarine and submerge up to a hundred feet (30 m) below the surface to view the Mesoamerican Reef, the world’s second-largest living reef structure.

Near the maximum depth of your tour, you can even view a sunken ship, scuttled by the Mexican Navy for use as a habitat for native sea life.

Having spent several winters in Arizona, it is required of me to include an image of the mighty saguaro cactus. This beautiful succulent is only found in the Sonoran Desert, southern Arizona, northern Mexico, and extreme southeastern California. The two giant saguaro cacti are guarding a trail in the Superstition Mountains.

I conclude this post with a stop at a rest area near Chamberlain South Dakota, where a stainless steel statue honors the Native American woman. Titled Dignity of Earth and Sky, the 50-foot (15 m) sculpture is a depiction of a woman from the Lakota and Dakota Nations and her face was modeled using the likeness of three Native American women. Dignity changes color throughout the day, during those golden hours, and even on cloudy days, she takes on a bronze hue, while on sunny days, she reflects a silver tone.

Thank you, Patti Moed for this week’s challenge topic. As always, I remind you, dear reader, that if your browser allows, you can click on an image to get a better view.

John Steiner