Making do on the last day of February 2011...

he said, smiling.

Relic of the Old Santa Fe Trail

Whoopee ti yi yo!

Art resting on its own merit

Coushatta pine cone turkey basket

Stand in the light

"Secrets are like vampires. A wise friend of mine once said this. They suck the life out of you, but they can only survive in the darkness. Once they're exposed to the light, there's a moment of horror, of recognition, but then poof —they lose their power over you." Jeannette Walls

Gates are meant for using

This angel has a hold on me

"I am not asking to be loved
I want to love."

St. Francis Basilica, Santa Fe NM

You talking to me?

I'm talking to you!

Perfect

Sit a spell

Behind these walls

Art Happens

Nob Hill Hideaway

So NOT Santa Fe

A Western Scrub-Jay

...lingering cautiously before flying to his friends across the street

G. californianus

The Roadrunner and I played hide 'n seek
Around the bush, as I crept left, he hopped right.
As I sneaked right, he dashed left.
Hidden from my camera, so he thought,
He took time out for a second too long.
And Click. Believe it or not, he's there.
Nature had her way.


"Cause I'm a road runner baby
I'm a road runner baby
Can't stay in one place too long
I'm a road runner baby
One look at me and I'll be gone."

from "I'm a Road Runner" by Dozier, Holland, and Holland

Sunset in the Rio Grande Valley

Waiting for the sunrise

"Dear one, the world is waiting for the sunrise.
Ev'ry rose is covered with dew
And while the world is waiting for the sunrise
And my heart is calling you."

(From "Waiting for the Sunrise," words by Eugene Lockhart & music by Ernest Seitz, 1919)

Come no closer

Same Difference

Do you hear what I hear?

Stay close...there is comfort here

"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,

And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down."

from "Mending Wall," Robert Frost (1874-1963), published 1914

Caught in the daylights

..and a fire burns brightly

Carson New Mexico

“Finally, we should remind ourselves daily who we are. We are already perfect in God’s eyes. We are already God’s beloved sons and daughters (Rom. 8:16). We are already sinless (1 John 3:9). We are already heirs with Jesus of the Kingdom (Rom. 8:17). Our essence is Love (1 John 4: 7-8). We are already saved (1 John 2:2). We are already immortal (1 Cor. 15:54). The spiritual path is not designed to “get” any of these things for us; in truth, we do not now lack any of them. It is merely to help us gradually become conscious of who we already are, and to make ourselves more perfect vehicles for the manifestation of the Love of God on Earth.” From Putting on the Mind of Christ, p. 301 (Jim Marion, Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 2000)

Frog Poem

The old pond,
A frog jumps in:
Plop!

The most famous haiku by Bashō, composed in 1686 (translated by Alan Watts, 1915-1973)

West of Texas Cowboy

It depends on how you look at it.

Alone with her thoughts...

Look into the distance.

Please, Explain It To Me

I guess I’m just getting old. At times that seem unpredictable, my mind latches onto something from my past, like a song lyric. For many years I’ve honestly claimed that the reason I didn’t ask my students to memorize lines of poetry is that I can’t memorize. The few exceptions are things I remember from childhood games, or religious creeds I learned 40 years ago, or parts of songs that get stuck in my head—and as we all know, sometimes ruin our day when they are tunes and lyrics that we recall not liking to begin with. Let me not dredge one of those up to be with me for the rest of this day. Last night, awake for a short time, a song that I remember from our backyard game of harmonizing, latched onto my brain. Groggy with sleep, I thought, I want to remember this in the morning. And so I have. You sing the melody to this song that sometimes entertained the innocents on the school bus. I’ll take the harmony.

Tell me why the stars do shine;
Tell me why the ivy twines.
Tell me why the ocean's blue;
And I will tell you just why I love you.
Because He made the stars to shine;
Because He made the ivy twine;
Because He made the ocean blue;
Because He made you,
That's why I love you!

And so it is.

"Hey. We're up here!"

Snow comes to the Rio Grande Valley (of New Mexico, that is).