It can’t be her, obviously. She is my sunshine. Every day I plunge my miserable soul into the neon plasma and begin again. Sometimes it doesn’t take, and I scuttle around the floor of my invisible cage like Kafka’s cockroach. Like when I consider that she could have had anything, and she chose me. Mostly, though, I’m stunned and beaten up with all this light.
“Stop and let me take your picture,” I called out.
“Okay, here I am with my rifle,” she said.
She has a rifle, actually. A beautiful Iver Johnson single-shot .410 shotgun that belonged to her mother. One day early on her father took her mother out hunting with the then-new gun. Pulling the trigger for the first time, she shot a squirrel right out of the tree. “Okay, that’s it,” she said, and put the weapon down.
Only reason I’m alive, boys, only reason I’m alive.
John Hamilton Farr lives at 7,000 feet in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. As New York Times best-selling author James C. Moore tells it, John is “a man attuned to the world who sees it differently than you and I and writes about it with a language and a vision of life that is impossible to ignore.” This JHFARR.COM site is the master writing archive. To email John, please see CONTACT INFO on .png)
Wonderful picture John..!! If we were all so lucky..!!
Cheers…
I take it you’re referring to the scenery, or are most men’s wives more homicidal? But thank you. Rule of thirds, a little HDR in Photoshop, and danged New Mexico. All I have to do is pull the lens cap off and shoot.
She’s a cutie in that very stylish leopard vest sweeping the snow! I imagine she keeps you in check!
I could read posts about her loveliness all day long. Very styling in the snow. Now I can see why you’ve been able to bear those cold, drafty, dark adobes up in Taos!
Actually, it’s not drafty, except around the door frames. Somewhat dark, although this one does have bigger windows than most. Cold? Wellll… depends on how I run the wood stove and which part of the place one hangs out in. Basically, we’re quite toasty, much warmer than in our old wooden farmhouse back in MD.
The bearing is more psychological, but you’re right. 🙂
ah, good corrections, all, I’m thinking of Santa Fe adobes! I hope the shopping trip means we’ll see more of Ms. JHF 🙂
You’re always touchingly consistent on this point. Bravo! Choosing the right mate is about 90 percent of the deal in any life.
Wow! What a bright and lively photo! Such a fresh feeling. Your wife is a blessing to you and it is heartening for me to read how much you appreciate her….a big plus in anyone’s relationship…lucky lady…..
Thank you, John. Just coming back from a St.Paddy’s day show with two of my favorite musicians – Steve Pineo and Tim Williams. Well liquored and feeling a little melancholy. Is that an Irish thing? 🙂 Great photo.
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