This week, Patti Moed asks us to start at the beginning of the alphabet and find subjects that begin with the letter A, or signs that contain the letter A, or objects that look like the letter A, or images that reflect non-visual cues like “alone”, or “afraid.” You can view her entire challenge post here.

I start with an image of two African Antelope. Well, this could be picked apart by saying those antelope are Oryx, but then I would counter with the fact that these are specimens in a section of a museum featuring African Animals. Ha!

My next image is a blossom out of my daughter’s front yard, an allium flower. While this plant is pretty much ornamental in the United States, there are many edible varieties found around the world. Though harmful to dogs and cats, allium is comparable to the onion, garlic, chive, and leek.

Over 1,000 miles (1600 km) south of the Hawaiian Islands is a remote atoll known as Tabuaeran. An atoll is an island created by a ring of coral with a lagoon in the center of the ring. In the image above, this view of the island is taken from a boat as it approached a dock on the lagoon. For a time, Fanning Island, the British name for Tabuaeran, was a regular stop on several cruise lines, but its distance from other popular cruise ports likely contributed to its removal from cruise itineraries.

From the Pacific Ocean, I move thousands of miles east to the Atlantic Ocean where surfers take advantage of the morning’s wave action on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

In Scottsdale, Arizona, horse aficionados show off their beautiful Arabian horses. The breed is easily identifiable by their unusual shaped head. They got their breed name from their heritage. Bedouin tribes have traced their common history with these horses back to 3000 B.C.

Of course, as an active pilot, I couldn’t leave out Aviation, Here’s an image of the Blue Angels at an airshow. They average about 60 shows per year with two shows per location around the United States and two shows at one location in Canada.

El Arco, the natural arch at the end of the Baja California Peninsula, where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California,) is showing cracks that foretell at some point that the arch will fall. It is a popular tourist attraction near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

For my final image, I feature the submarine Atlantis. This vessel holds about 40 tourists and a crew of three. The sub dives to a depth of around 100 feet (30 m) to give passengers a good long look at the Mesoamerican Reef, the second-largest coral reef system in the world.

Thanks to Patti for this week’s challenge. I am looking forward to seeing everyone else’s response to the letter ‘A’ challenge.

John Steiner