Mother's day - retrospective post

 On mother's day, birdwatching took me into end of the lake shallows fragrant with something pink and already buzzing with insects in spite of the early hour.

Elephant Butte Lake is an irrigation reservoir for much of New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico Antigua, and is thus full to capacity right now. No water being drawn off for irrigation yet - hence the flooded landscapes

A perfect dawn for dipping a paddle in the lake

Watcher on the rocks: mother is always with me.

Getting the feeling there's someone watching

Another perfectly camouflaged watcher spotted from the water

 

Desert dreaming

Front door greeting from a budding Redflowering yucca, aka Hummingbird yucca which, it turns out, is actually not a yucca at all but Hesperaloe parviflora. A Chihauhauan desert native.

Opuntia mother love

Bouquet from the desert for Mother's Day

The buzz about chilopsos linearis

I discover that desert willow (chilopsis linearis) is coming into fragrant bloom, brilliant pink against the wrap around enamel blue tin drum desert sky.

Bees and other buzzy insect are very happy.

Home

Sun setting behind the mountain with flowering cactus, feels like home

Duck delirium

An intense rain and hail storm converts the neighbor's courtyard into a brief, duck-delirium-inducing puddle. 

Bigger question is: what constitutes appropriate pets for an apartment? 

Most days these happy quackers don't get much water play

Treasure huntin'

Scored at a Durango yard sale: heavy wood with beaten tin overlay design. 

Rajasthan? There's a definite Rajasthani feel in the shaping of the armrest detail. Reminds me of the wooden "horses" over entrances in the desert citadel houses, which pull the carriage of the home forward into auspiciousness.

Seller had no idea of origins. Fits perfectly in Red Pony.

Darwin award: the price of sauerkraut

Some people should not be given access to the opposable thumbs enhancement combined with sharp knife privileges. 

Fortunately no stitches necessary, but lots of blood. Not what a vegan wants to see on her food chopping board

Mayday

Celebrated May Day by labouring to create a new jar of sauerkraut fermenting.

April 30 - Back Forty begins all over again

On the last day of the month, I tilled about one third of the Back Forty. 

It was hard work because the rototiller kept clogging but the soil, though still clammy sticky , is looking better than last year already. 

I am thinking there are still around 4 weeks before planting on the next waxing moon. 

What is already showing is plenty of self sown arugula, cilantro and calendula. Hoping for basil, corn, zinnias and marigolds in this space, this season.

Mellow drama

Yes there are rainbows in the desert.

A squally storm at sunset makes for lovely drama. 

The new apartment, with upstairs rooms, means ringside seat on the sky show.

Buddha Purnima

Vesakha (Buddha Purnima) greetings! 

Rely on the teachings, not on the person
Rely on the meaning, not on the words
Rely on the real life, not on the dreams
Rely on the wisdom, not on the mind inside

Horned moon

Waning moon stealing in as day dawns (no filter). 

The crescent horned gift that comes to the early riser

While others marched for science

Spotted on the side of the road in south western Colorado.

The housemate

I thought the creaks and rustles were just the spirits of the old apartment talking. I thought the noises were just building materials shifting with the arc of daily temperatures that comes with desert living.

Turns out I have been sharing living quarters with diminutive housemate. 

The could explain why neighborhood cats have been so attentive.

A garden path to lead me up

Another bit of the path laid down first weekend in April. Looking a bit like a giant worm from a certain angle.

Perfect shade of pink

Two and a half months after I should have made it, I finally got this project done on a quick little two day retreat at the desert casita, early April.

My brown wool Pendleton stetson served me well in the snow on January 21, (see here ) but I felt I had to make myself a pussy hat. Especially after I found a skein of the perfect shade of pussy (hat) pink, in what looks like organic dyed,  hand spun wool,  in a thrift store in Durango, CO. 

How many seas must a white dove sail

Looked up and there was a vision of a 1969 El Camino just sitting there on the side of the road begging me to come closer. 

Dream rides in the desert don't come classier. 

How many roads: Las Vegas, New Mexico

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman)

Respecting guests since 1882

Don't look now but there's a mountain goat behind you. What's not to love about this beastie who hangs out at the reception desk, Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas, New Mexico?

Angles and stairwells