I don’t remember exactly when my mother announced she wasn’t “doing” Christmas or Thanksgiving any more. Probably around the time I went off to my first year of college up in Dallas after we’d all moved to Houston. I do recall her saying that nobody cared. That wasn’t true, because we loved to eat, and [...]
winter
Looking down at the Rio Grande
Here you go. Out into the cold, clean air for a thirty-seventh anniversary hike. The trail was rough, up and down with large rocks to step around and plenty of holes to break your leg. “I’m not going up there,” she said, at an uphill section that resembled a barely-groomed rock slide, but she did. [...]
About 45 miles from Taos, looking west near the Colorado line
I pulled off the highway at a certain spot near the foot of the mountain so we could pee. It’s maybe a hundred yards down this little dirt road to a big sign with all the regulations. Beyond that, the road continues into a wide, shallow valley and then disappears over the edge of the [...]
The blue sky reflected in the puddles! Win!
There was silence when I walked up to the car this morning. Nothing. No barks, no jangling chain, no pity crying in my heart. Maybe the neighbor’s dog died, I said to myself. I sort of wished he had. He was chained outside a few steps from the gate. A Doberman, black and very skinny. [...]
Picture taken about a week ago
As I type this, it’s fifty-two degrees (11°C) and the backyard Lift-o-Matic is full of drying laundry. That means nothing on racks by the wood stove. Good. When it’s truly cold, nothing on God’s earth beats great blistering waves of actual heat from a real fire, but if it’s only middling cool like today, I’d [...]
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