Monthly Archives: September 2025
the sacred heart
This feels like a Typical Western Image™, with the white church, set on the top of a dry hill, squinting into the afternoon sun, with nothing else around. And rendered in black and white.
But I took the photo anyway.
Nara Visa, New Mexico
photographed 8.31.2025
13?
My internal conversation as I walked to the end of the motel to take this photo:
- Look! That one door is white!
- And looks older than the blue one.
- And the numbers skip one.
- Wait. Is this wing of the motel the even numbers?
- (Looks across the parking lot to see, spots the numbers 3, 4, and 5. Looks back at these doors.)
- Oh…they skipped 13. That’s really a thing, then, I guess
- (Spends a longer-than-necessary amount of time wondering if the motel would be described as a 14-room place – because that’s how high the numbers went – or a 13 room place – which was factually correct but also uses “that” number.)
Yes. I am sometime so quick to figure stuff out that I even surprise myself.
Nara Visa, New Mexico
photographed 8.31.2025
western stars: a reflection
The reflection in this window confuses me, even though I stood right there and made the photo. Trying to work out where I was standing and which direction I was facing gives me what I call “calculus head.” And of course that name comes from that one semester in college when I had to take calculus. In class it nearly made sense, but when I try to do homework or take a test, it was like I’d never seen any of it before and the middle of my brain felt mush.
However, unlike calculus, which never made sense, this scene eventually worked itself out and now I can clearly visualize what was going on.
Nara Visa, New Mexico
photographed 8.31.2025
PS: My granddaughter Hannah loves calculus. (I know that doesn’t make any sense.) And once we had a conversation:
Hannah, showing me a calculus problem: What do you think the answer is?
Me (starting to feel early symptoms of Calculus Head): Uh, is it Thursday?
Hannah, rolling her eyes: No. The answer will NEVER be Thursday.
So that narrows it down a little bit.
broken chain
He was 19. And an expectant father.
He rolled his truck trying to outrun the police.
His obituary says his nickname was “Big Daddy.”
The police say he was driving without headlights.
The truck on the mural doesn’t have its headlights on, either.
San Jon, Mexico
photographed 8.31.2025
keyhole angel
Oh, look! An angel lined herself* up right in the keyhole-shaped opening on that column.
Hollene Cemetery
Hollene, New Mexico
photographed 8.31.2025
*Or himself. Or themself. IDK the correct pronouns.
One Day | One Image 