Blog Archives

important notice(s)

I cannot speak to the information on the sign on the left.

But I did enjoy the way the Fire Victims sign seems to have elbowed its way into the discussion.

The fire the attorneys are talking about raged across northern New Mexico from April-August 2022, burning over 340,000 acres. The Hermits Peak fire began in early April, when the the US Forest Service lost control of a prescribed burn; three days later the Calf Canyon fire started when an improperly extinguished Forest Service pile burn (from three months earlier!) rekindled. On April 22, as a result of a “major wind event” the two fires burned together and eventually became the largest wildfire in the state. So anyway, those attorneys are probably still pretty busy.

And if you were wondering what that might have looked like from a distance, here’s a photo I made on May 15, 2022, near Chimayó. The fire was so intense that it developed its own weather system, called pyrocumulonimbus. It was awful. But also magnificent, in a way.

Mora, New Mexico
photographed 11.9.2025

sixty nine years in the grave

Isabelita was fifty when she died; her tiny three-crossed marker lives on surrounded by tall grasses, mountains, and New Mexico’s skies.

unnamed cemetery
near Mora, New Mexico
photographed 11.9.2025

peace (and hiking boots)

I was unprepared to take a soak in the hot springs (due in part to my lack of taking the time to research what sorts of things were available to do in the area), but I wandered down the path to the first set of springs. And that’s where I spotted this message carved into the concrete. It gave me a good feeling about the place.

Montezuma, New Mexico
photographed 11.10.2025

church, unused

My traveling partner and I had a discussion about the appropriateness of opening a closed (but not locked) gate to gain access to this abandoned church and similarly disregarded graveyard.

Argument One: It’s a gate. It’s shut. With a chain hooked on it keeping it shut. We should stay out.

Argument Two: The gate also has a sign that says “Please close gate” which implies that someone has granted us permission to, you know, open it.

Anyway, here’s an old church.

near Sapello, New Mexico
photographed 11.9.2025

$10.99

Yes, so I did in fact ignore all the interesting people and beautiful kilts and stuff at the Highland Games and take a photo of price tags. But I was only gone for 1/50th of a second and then came right back.

New Hampshire Highland Games and Festival
Lincoln, New Hampshire
photographed 9.19.2025