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her family’s story
If I am being honest, I must admit that when another vehicle pulled off the road right after we’d stopped at this remote cemetery, it felt frustrating: I wanted the place to myself. And if I am still be honest, once I met Delfie and her husband Robert, I was ashamed for my frustration. They’d driven over from Albuquerque – 260 miles away – to put new flowers on their family’s gravesites. They were gracious, telling us stories about their ancestors and about the cemetery. Here’s Delfie gesturing toward her great-grandmother’s grave; that sort of family history-keeping is not anything my family does and our dead relatives are scattered all over the place. The idea that so many generations of her family are right there gave me a perspective that I don’t generally have.
And so, once again, the Photography Gods knew what was best for me, even if I didn’t figure it out right away.
Montoya, New Mexico
photographed 5.29.2022
three miles
I’m not a marketing person, so maybe I’m missing something here. But this billboard doesn’t seem like it is the best way to entice weary travelers to leave the interstate and check in to the Holiday Inn Express. Even if the exit *is* only three miles away.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.28.2022
visitor parking
When I was a kid, we’d almost always vacation in Colorado – camping trips, generally planned to coincide with a full moon. One of the regular stops we’d made were fish hatcheries and I have a very specific memory of going to one that had huge cottonwood trees around the parking lot. (Maybe that’s when my love of cottonwoods got started?) I can also remember a particular smell inside the hatchery’s sheds; the way thousands of fishes swam toward our shadows, hoping for food; and how even on the hottest days it was cool and pleasant around the fish.
Going to the fish hatchery last month in Santa Rosa reminded me of those vacations.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 5.27.2022