Monthly Archives: September 2024

jewel drop

For the record, the Santa Fe Botanical Garden is a delightful place to visit on an early-fall day. There are a lot of benches, so you’ll be sure to find one in the shade so you can look at plants or people or maybe close your eyes for a bit of a nap.

And also, check out the drippy sap on the piñon tree!

Santa Fe Botanical Garden
Santa Fe, New Mexico
photographed 9.2.24

the cloth on the cross

I don’t know if this rope was placed deliberately to echo the purple cloths that are placed on crosses during Lent, but my mind made the connection.

For whatever that is worth.

Ribero, New Mexico
photographed 8.31.24

empty pews

As it turns out, I have spent a lot of time this summer on the road, wandering around and taking photos.

This is not a complaint, because wandering around and taking photos is just about the most enjoyable thing I can imagine doing. And I know I am fortunate that it works out for me.

We found an interesting back road the other day that turned out to be an excellent option: I found this place.

Ima, New Mexico
photographed 8.30.24

all attempts at reconciliation failed

 

To be clear: these flowers were fresh and fragrant when I received them. Ten days later, though, they were neither of those things.

You know my mind rarely follows a straight line, so maybe you’ll see that this made sense to me: I thought it would be entertaining to turn the “dew on flowers” trope around and make dewy drops all over dead flowers. I know: it sounds dumb now that I see it written down. And maybe I ought to have written it down BEFORE I took a pile of photos.

I don’t know how much trope-turning I did, but I did find out that wet, dead roses are really stinky.

Lubbock, Texas
photographed 8.18.2024

waylon’s town

 

Oh, Littlefield. Poor Littlefield. The town just can’t seem to catch a break.

This is last image (for now) from the incredible trip that Don Toothaker, Chuck Doughty, and I made across a little part of Texas. It is hard to describe how much joy the three of us got from just wandering around. Sure, it was like a million degrees outside. Sure, there were some long-ass days. Sure, we probably missed as many shots as we took. But still: so many good things happened; most of them aren’t quantifiable by any traditional metric. But if you’ve ever been on a trip that was totally new adventure every hour, a trip that you were sad to see end, a trip where your group was stronger friends at the end of it all, a trip where visions of the Next Place To Go was a constant visitor, then you’ll know what I mean.

My greatest thanks to Don and to Chuck, who were great traveling companions and who were willing to make as many u-turns as we needed.

in-camera double exposure
Littlefield, Texas
photographed 8.3.2024