21 Dec

Posted at 05:35h in Uncategorized by
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Last week here in Las Cruces we had two horrible weather days.  The local media dubbed the blotting out of the Organ Mountains a "sand blizzard."  Other parts of the country were experiencing or readying for a polar blast; a friend of mine in upper New York state rhapsodized about their first real snow.  We had a "sand blizzard." Walker that I am, I bundled up, including sunglasses to deflect sand particles, and leaned my way into probably forty mile an hour wind gusts.  Later someone told me that...

13 Dec

Posted at 02:48h in Uncategorized by
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Early morning walks near my New Mexico home--especially Sunday mornings-- feel like prayer. There's the slight lift of the faint path as I swing onto the main sandy artery that connects to the pecan tree-lined fields below. Farmer's daughter that I am, I like checking the crops: there's the seasonal rotation of alfalfa, lettuce, onions, even watermelon. I stand in the stillness of the moment. And the crows know it. This particular morning, the sky is full of American Crows. At least one hundred of them, a moving cacophony and...

05 Dec

Posted at 01:42h in Uncategorized by
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It was what we consider a cold morning here in the desert.  Maybe 41 degrees, a stout wind out of the north.  My partner and I are dressed like snowmen: I at least have two layers on, gloves, two caps.  We often take early Sunday morning bird walks, but this morning the birds were smartly hunkered down in the scrub mesquite or elsewhere. Lately, well since last spring, but particularly now it's winter, we walk wondering: what's it like at Standing Rock where thousands of people are protesting--protesting the...

29 Nov

Posted at 05:16h in Uncategorized by
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It was a busy week, with a lead-up to that day we are all assumed to overeat.  There were the plans to go to David and Zita's--friends who invite folks away from family to share with their table (and what a beautiful one it always is); the trip to Tempe to see my 86 year old cousin would follow.  We planned to overnight in Tucson, squeezing in a little vacation time too. But before that, the Tuesday evening before to be exact, I'd been invited to speak about my...

21 Nov

Posted at 01:11h in Uncategorized by
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  It was not exactly a wild goose chase, but close.  I drove up to Albuquerque to the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards but visited a dear friend first thinking I had timed it out to arrive at the book awards just in time for a glass of wine before dinner.  Silly goose! It was the Albuquerque of old, shining in the late afternoon light, stillness of autumn buried in the roar of 5:00 traffic.  When I attended grad school here in the late 1970s, a visitor from New York said,...

10 Nov

Posted at 21:06h in nature by
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Most days here in Las Cruces, I take walks out along the farm road that circles behind the small cul-de-sac where I live. For about two months now a Prairie Falcon has eyed my walk from his perch on the traversing telephone pole. I've come to watch for him.  A camouflaging speckled breast, brown back, and eye streaks--like those intimidating black swipes football players wear under their eyes, only vertical--make it hard to see him.  And he's smart, hiding in the shadow of the telephone pole crossbar--still, waiting. Am I...