Blog Archives
The Sacred
As I mentioned in an earlier post, this church holds Mass once a month, at 2:00 p.m. But I believe the church doors are always unlocked, just in case.
Shafter, Texas
photographed 11.4.2017
Melted Ice
The thing out here is that failures are apparent nearly forever. Just before this trip, I was in Louisiana, where think layers of vegetation will cover things up practically overnight, so that abandoned places just look like all the other green stuff.
The desert wants to always remind us who’s in charge. And it’s not us.
near Presidio, Texas
photographed 11.4.2017
An inhospitable landscape
Everything seems dangerous out here. And even someone’s final resting place doesn’t seem too tranquil.
Shafter, Texas
photographed 11.4.2017
Famous Artists
The cemetery? The Famous Artists are at the cemetery?
I’ve got to be honest here – that’s a little discouraging.
Shafter, Texas
photographed 11.4.2017
A crack in everything
After I was through inside the church – this was the last interior photo I made – it was time to walk around the building. As I made it around to the side that faces the highway, I saw him. The monk. He was on his way to the mailboxes.
In a minute, he came down the hill, and stopped for a chat. He talked about the town, the Mennonites who live just across the border in Mexico, the weather, Minnesota (where he’s from), a 1940 murder at the liquor store* and showed me the bullet holes, and gave me directions to the cemetery.
But you know what? I never told him about the icon, partly from residual shyness that still pops up from time to time, and partly because it seemed a little too fan-girl.
The whole encounter starts to seem like it was more of a dream than anything else, but I can see clearly his dusty brown robe, his desert boots, his long reddish beard…
Shafter, Texas
photographed 11.4.2017
* True.
