Horses fed
Thunder
Lightning
Silence
Thunder
Downpour
Sunset
Beauty
Late summer
Evening
canyon country
Hazy, Lazy Days
The words and tune to this old song float through my brain. Summer. Early morning yoga, coffee, horses fed, flowers watered, a lazy lunch: salad with feta, black beans with caramelized onions. Slouched, reading a book (The Return, Hasham Matar) on the sofa, feet crossed on edge of coffee table, patio doors open, I hear birdsong, the whir of black fans in the ceiling sea of white. Summer. Nap time. Awaken slowly, eyes watching cotton candy clouds barely move across an azure sky. Summer.
Celebrating Earth Day–Photos
I decided the best way I should share my reverence and love for nature and this precious planet on which we live is to share photos from various countries, states, and my own little piece of wonder.
The three photos above were taken at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas about ten minutes from where I live.
Above and below the Rio Grande looking into Mexico.
Four photos above — Big Bend National Park.
Between Marfa and Alpine, Texas.
The Rio Grande north of Albuquerque on the Santa Ana Pueblo Nation.
The above four photos taken in Simien Mountain National Park, Ethiopia. The animals are gelada–the only surviving grass eating primates found solely in Ethiopia. They actually “talk” to each other.
Menelik’s Window, Ethiopia
Awash Falls, Ethiopia
Where the Blue Nile begins draining from Lake Tana, Ethiopia
The photos above were taken at various places in Costa Rica.
Northern New Mexico
Grand Canyon North Rim
The Missouri River running full.
California dropping down from Sequoia National Monument
Near Lake Marvin, Texas
The above photos were all taken within the last year on my little rim of wonder.
And finally below, my favorite animal.
A Week of Wonder and Flowers
This past week was my birthday. The wonder started a week ago when my friends came for dinner and my friend’s father, visiting from Mexico. brought me red roses. I had not seen my friends in a long time and it was fun. Then on Sunday, Roberto, the father, and I went hiking in Palo Duro Canyon on a new trail. I never saw a name for it.
We found this trail by starting at Chinaberry (for those who go to the Canyon), taking Comanche Trail up to this new trail. When they intersect, we went north rather than south on Comanche.
If you read the previous blog in December about hiking Comanche, you saw this peak but from the center and to the south. This is a view from the north looking south.
Eventually, after hiking up and down across an arroyo, you end up above the river which looks tiny here, but when a big rain comes, it can rise many feet in a few hours. It was very sunny, I had a hard time focusing so occasionally a finger got in the way.
Roberto has a funny sense of humor. He could not resist pretending to hold up one of the many giant boulders along the trail.
This is not a difficult walk and not too long if you only have a few hours. We came across a group of wild turkeys, but they moved so much, I was unable to get a good photo so gave up.
Wednesday was my birthday. It began with my first period class–I teach senior high school English. They showered the room with confetti, brought me a giant chocolate muffin with a candle in the middle, lit the candle and sang me Happy Birthday. Then during second period, two of my students arrived with two bouquets of flowers. The room smelled wonderful for three days. I brought the flowers home yesterday in a big box.
My grandson told the florist to make me a giant bouquet with exotic flowers. This is one side of it. Orchids, roses, hydrangeas, and some really unusual flowers which I cannot identify.
This is the other side of the same bouquet.
This bouquet is from my son. He knows my favorite color is orange and that I have a lot of that color in my house so….
I am seriously nerdy and asked for an atlas for my birthday. My daughter outdid herself and bought this one full of all sorts of information I never expected and maps. I love maps. When I read a book from Latin America, Africa, etc., I look up the places on maps.
Last night I sang songs, using the poems of Octavio Paz and Pablo Neruda among others, with the Amarillo Master Chorale in a church with perfect acoustics for choral music. Tonight I will see friends at an opera party. What a wonderful week!!
Spring Break Adventure–5
On the fourth day of the adventure we went to Marfa, Texas. My friends from college, David and Suzy, had booked a tour of the Chinati Foundation. No photos of that because none allowed. This foundation is the dream of its founder, Donald Judd. His art and almost all the rest of the art housed here is not for display in houses. All but a few consist of grand studies of space and light. An abandoned, refurbished military base, purchased by Judd, houses most of the exhibits. Judd’s main interest it seems relates to the relationship between light and space. First, the tour guide takes you to a couple of large buildings where the only changes made were to install new windows and a ceiling. These buildings house Judd’s large, polished, stainless steel rectangular boxes. While this may sound boring, I assure you it is not. Light reflects off these boxes, makes shadows, etc. in all sorts of ways and the entire effect changes with the angles of the sunlight.
Another quite astonishing display can be seen in a series of U-shaped buildings, painted and repaired, in which eight foot long fluorescent light tubes in four colors, pink, green, yellow, and blue, have been installed in the corners of the U. Depending on where a person stands, other colors appear, not just the four mentioned. It became apparent to me that the artist, Dan Flavin, knew every scientific detail of the color spectrum and its effects on the human eye and brain.
I also enjoyed a smaller display by artist and poet, Carl Andre. Even though his fame rests in sculpture, it is mainly his poetry displayed here. I wanted to read all of it but everyone else went on so I quit.
There are other exhibits, including a lot of smashed and welded vehicles which I liked the least. The final exhibit displays giant fabric sheets in black and white in a building specially designed by the artist, Robert Irwin. If you think this sounds boring, take a trip there and look for yourself. I assure you it is not. Irwin actually worked on the exhibit himself at the age of 88. He lives on now at 89.
The only photos I managed in the area show the Marfa Courthouse which is, believe it or not, even a brighter pink than this photo and a photo from the vehicle window on the highway to Alpine. The second photo shows a mesa we managed to view on one day or another from nearly all sides. It looms large in the middle of flat land. Here one of the endless trains slides by.
On our last day we decided to drive to Presidio and take the river road which goes through Rio Grande Ranch State Park. While the road goes either along or down to the river in a few places (for people to put some sort of water craft into the river or to camp), most of it is way above the river on cliffs. This landscape is not for the faint of heart.
US on the right and Mexico on the left. The fields and pasture in the distance are in Mexico.
Looking into Mexico.
Unusual rock formations near one of the small drives down to a campground by the river.
Cliffs in Mexico.
Apparently, in my efforts not to fall in the river while taking this, my finger got in the way.
Yes, the river is down there between those cliffs.
In case you wonder why the Rio Grande seems so small here, consider that by the time it gets here, 95% of the water has been removed for irrigation and other purposes.
We drove back through Terlingua to Alpine. Not much exists in Terlingua except a rather pathetic supposed ghost town area. The river road is not conducive to speed; we were hungry and stopped for a very late lunch. It was St. Patrick’s Day and many of the clientele had a good start on the festivities. On Saturday I learned that Terlingua is a famous biker town. However, apparently not that day.
Hiking Palo Duro Canyon State Park–Day Two, New Year’s Day
In spite of having to run/rush, I enjoyed the first hike so much, I decided to go back down with my son on New Year’s Day, another weather perfect hiking and biking day. I hiked the same trail but had time to enjoy it, take more photos.
I headed up Comanche Trail from Chinaberry area toward the same peak in the distance. Although this trail is not difficult, it is not flat until you get to the bottom of the cliffs in the distance.
At this point I have reached the same area where I took most of the rock photos on the first Palo Duro post. Once again, I took off onto the “new” trail to the north.
To get to this point one has to climb down a rather steep trail and cross a dry arroyo and start up the other side. This is across from where I had previously seen the shovels, etc. They were still there, but the other equipment had been moved to just below where I took this photo.
This trail contains a lot of loose debris and dirt with large boulders laying every which way.
Once I reached the flat top area, I saw those orange/red flags here and there and now wonder where the trail will eventually go. I headed back toward Comanche.
Back near Comanche Trail.
At this point I had walked far enough down Comanche to be slightly past the cliff toward which I was originally headed.
If you look in the middle distance, you can see the road in and out of the park. Here I have walked considerably past the peak seen in the first photo.
All kinds of rocks of all sizes appear everywhere–layers and layers of time.
The trail follows the base of miles of cliffs.
Fallen rocks and “caves” everywhere.
Looking back from where I had climbed up higher and higher toward the flatter area.
Another smaller “cave”. I seriously considered hiking to it, figuring there might be some rattlesnakes sunning. They do not react a lot unless startled or out hunting.
Along the cliff base where the trail is easy.
In this area, huge, white boulders appear to have fallen from the whiter area in the cliffs above.
Farther down these boulders appear, more porous, darker.
A closeup of this boulder shows baby prickly pear and grass growing from its surface.
Farther south along the trail looking north.
There are many species of prickly pear, including this one with its bright color.
I looked up and saw three aoudad sheep. See if you can find any of them in the middle of the photo. They really blend in with these rocks.
I did walk a bit off the trail to take this photo of “coffin” rock.
Past the flat area canyon colors show up really brightly here–layers of color and time everywhere.
Farther along the trail, looking toward the south.
At this point on the trail past the long cliff wall, the trail becomes steeper and up and down again.
Farther and farther past the cliff wall.
Then one comes down farther where a small, spring fed stream runs.
Here with year round water and shade the trees grow much bigger. Farther down the trail more water seeps and the trail above contains steeper switch backs.
Far past the cliff base, Comanche intersects Rock Garden Trail. Once again, but not running/rushing this time, I start down Rock Garden.
Looking south, I headed down. Rock Garden gets its name from an ancient rock slide.
Giant boulders everywhere.
Some even have grass growing from them.
I wanted to take a photo of this boulder because it looks like a giant face with ears. However, it was so late that I could not take it without my shadow so being silly…
Almost down, I took one final photo. Comanche is the longest trail in the park. It keeps going past the Rock Garden intersection. My son, who was mountain biking there a couple of days later, rode almost its entire length. Some day I want to start at Chinaberry and walk to the end. However, if you plan to do this, find someone to meet you at the south (far) end because otherwise you will have miles to hike back.
Hiking Palo Duro Canyon State Park
Even though I live ten minutes from the park entrance and occasionally work at the gift shop there, hiking is rare perhaps because I have more than twenty acres of my own for hiking. My son came to visit for ten days during this holiday vacation. He brought his mountain bike and spent every day the past week mountain biking the park’s numerous trails. Last week and yesterday, New Year’s Day, I went along and hiked. The following photos and comments are day one’s experience.
For those familiar with the park or who may want to go there, we parked at Chinaberry. I decided to cut across to the east and found a trail. It was not until several days later that we figured out the trail’s name mostly because this trail in not on any map provided by the park or on the official park website. The trail is Comanche. It is the longest trail in the park. If you go to your browser and type in Comanche Trail in Palo Duro Canyon State Park, you will come to a mountain biking website that shows the trail in some detail even with a virtual tour. The trail is occasionally marked with signs that say Comanche Trail but since it does not appear on the official map, I found it somewhat confusing until I found the above mentioned website.
I took this photo at Chinaberry, a parking and picnic area from which several trails start.
Day one I had not seen the marker for Comanche partly because it is across from Chinaberry at the very north end. I planned to head for the peak in the background, thinking I would hit a certain trail–it was not the one I found because Comanche is not on the map.
The grassy area before I found the trail.
You can see the trail by the grass on the right.
This is prickly pear country. There are numerous species. This is important for mountain bikers more than hikers. Tipping over into a prickly pear patch would not be a pleasant experience.
Here the trail is easy.
I started my hike around 3:30, a big mistake, but I did not know this yet. Numerous stream beds occur along the trail.
At this point another trail diverges to the left. Here giant grey boulders appear everywhere.
I decided to take the trail to the left to see where it went, all the while thinking I was on one trail when I was on another.
When I looked toward the opposite direction, I could see this small cave.
A view from the trail to the left.
The same giant rocks looking back from the “new” trail.
After hiking down a rather steep incline with tiny orange flags along it, I came across this. It appears this is a new trail in the making. Yet, given the rust on the shovel, I thought perhaps the trail blazers had just carelessly left their “equipment”.
At the bottom of a little draw ready to climb back up the other side. You can see one of the little flags in the middle of the photo.
Palo Duro Canyon is a geologist’s dream. Layers of time lay visible everywhere.
On my way up the other side of the draw lay more equipment. When I went back New Year’s Day, this had all been moved to another spot.
Different rocks looking in another direction.
Back on Comanche Trail (even though I had yet to know its correct name and thought I was somewhere else) headed south. This was just before I realized just how far I had to go and how little time to get there.
Little areas like this are everywhere along the trail.
It was shortly after this point that I saw two women–this trail has few hikers or mountain bikers on it. They were the only people I saw for miles. When I asked them how far to the other end, I realized I was in “trouble”, not real trouble like lost, but rather trouble like I was supposed to meet my son at Chinaberry at 5:30, and I was not even half way on this trail and I still had to get to the bottom. I realized where I would come out; I would intersect another trail called Rock Garden and would have to go one mile steep downhill. Unfortunately, I had not taken my phone because I did not think it would work there and had no way to inform him. I also realized it would be nearly dark when I got to the bottom. 5:30 came and went and I still had quite a way to go. I quit taking photos and ran when the trail permitted and walked as fast as possible when it was too rocky or steep to run safely.
I took this photo on my way, hiking the several miles toward Chinaberry. Luckily, I met a nice couple who offered to stop by Chinaberry and tell my son where I was. Unfortunately, I had the vehicle keys and he could not even get in his own vehicle. The light to his bicycle was in the vehicle so he had to ride down the road in the twilight to get the vehicle keys. I kept walking. I was just glad he had waited and I met the couple because an unneeded rescue would have been terribly humiliating. We made it home safely.
My Fitbit told me I had walked more than 11 miles that day.
Note: Day Two, New Year’s Day, will follow with photos along the entire trail.
Winter Sunset
wind stills, an unusual calm settles
geese fly so low, the whir of wings floats earthward
two hoot owls call, haunting echoes in the canyon
cerise, vermillion, amber encompass the land
a chill creeps slowly through ancient junipers
Gratitude
Thanksgiving brings so many thoughts, including thoughts about the divisive political discourse in the country now. However, it seems more productive and in keeping with the day to focus on gratitude. As I write this I think of both personal and broader things for which I am grateful, one of which is that I live in a country where divisive political discourse can actually and legally occur. Now to the more personal (even though I think the personal is political, I will not focus on that)–here is my starter list:
-my family–daugher, son, and grandson; daughter and grandson will join me shortly to prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
-my mother’s pumpkin pie recipe which my grandson will help me prepare when he arrives; he says it is the only pumpkin pie he really likes.
-my job which I truly love–teaching public high school; my students frequently make my day.
-where I live in beauty truly on the Rim of Wonder.
-my health
-my friends
-my ability to travel to all sorts of fascinating places
-a life I love
Autumn Evening
owl hoots, perches atop a dead juniper
fire and cerise sunsets
autumn chill floats through the air
writingontherim 