Going home

Maybe...


as it looks now, probably not...

for Auld Lang Syne

Let's take a cup of kindness.

A New Year coming

another chance

for happiness

for all of us still here

willing to take that chance

Fullest moon of the year

my first attempt with the little tripod

It would have been a lot more fun if it hadn't been so windy out.
Warmer, too.

Catfish, please

return the frog to me.

looking up

it just gets better

Sitting in a tree...

at sunrise this morning, a nest...

and these two in the dying cottonwood

inland seahorses

Trip to Bosque del Apache

My sister and I went to see the cranes.
First we had to get our ducks in a row.

She thought there wouldn't be any cranes around.
Then we spotted these, and I said "See?"
She replied "Three?"with the utmost disdain.

We saw thousands of snow geese.

Just three? No, there were plenty more.

The cranes, Boss, the cranes!

We were lucky to spot a field with geese.
As we walked farther south, we saw the cranes flying in.

My sister was greatly impressed.
"I didn't realize they were so big."

Many, many more cranes...we saw enough to satisfy the most demanding crane aficionado.

They just kept coming.

Other birds

You can tell I was much better focused on the cranes.
Here are some Canada geese --

some poule d'eau, or coots as I've heard them called here,

...an unidentified bird in the bush...

and a roadrunner that gave us a great show for the grand finale.

Sunflowers

at the end of their season, taken fairly early Sunday morning
at the Blackstone in Truth or Consequences

Evening sky

the finale of a beautiful day -- this must be what the Navajo mean by walking in beauty

cranes heading south to the Bosque

en fin, very fine

crossing UNM

Walking across campus this afternoon, I came across these sights.



What kind of lily? Saffron?

This wonderful room in the Potter Building

one very fine cat, friendly but thin...I hope she'll be okay.
I was prepared to take her home with me, but she twisted out of my arms when I picked her up, and trotted off, very self-assured.

Visiting in Magdalena

Yesterday

Little Winged Fury

Retrieved and released this morning.

Not all that

It seems to me that I'm just dropping words into the void, call without response.

No picture for this one

I worked for Habitat for Humanity in South Carolina for nearly four years before being canned because the Executive Director wanted an Executive Secretary (who promptly learned to forge his signature and absconded with over $10,000 before she was caught -- but that's another story). This man was a Republican who thought Reagan was a genius and that Nixon was persecuted. He did rather well by doing good: got the Board to double his salary by handpicking the members, had all vehicle expenses paid and pressured me and the homeowners to buy into his wife's Excel phone plan. He felt that he earned his due and more by getting white people into Habitat houses, and spoke of the black homeowners as "those people".

Arriving at the Alvarado Station in Albuquerque

Beautiful day, wonderful sky -- good way to start the day

morning glory

happy birthday to Timothy

An Explanation of the Grasshopper

by Vachal Lindsay

The Grasshopper, the Grasshopper,
I will explain to you: -
He is the Brownies' racehorse,
The Fairies' Kangaroo.

This one was found on a rock in a barren flat that was once a copper mine.

at the State Fair

Horses whicker "good morning".

Taking it easy before entering the show ring

Sheep in blankets!

Here's looking at you, kids!

Tuesday on the way

on the way to get my car out of Anna's driveway, I saw this wonderful desert willow.



That's a lot of tree in a small space, but it fills it so elegantly.

Semi-secret Garden

This is the scene looking up. It's an oasis of verdancy, and it smells like the woods in North Carolina, where we used to hike out to see waterfalls in Brevard County, Pisgah National Forest.

Sigh.