Week 2.22: Bosque Beauty

A few weeks ago I took a bunch of photos at the Bosque del Apache in Socorro County, New Mexico. I love this place. As you can see in Week 2.22: Bosque Beauty there is some gorgeous stuff that happens to our winter light.

A lot of people say disparaging things about New Mexico and its apparent lack of beauty. I beg to differ.

Even though January (and most other months) give New Mexico muted colors, the earth and sky still radiate a warmth contradicting the thin, cold air. Water and ice combine efforts to reflect the lacy arching of barren, seemingly lifeless trees. Sandhill Cranes, Great Blue Herons, Red Tailed Hawks, Bald Eagles, deer, coyotes and myriad flora and fauna traverse frozen landscapes, pausing just long enough to create fleeting sculptural masterpieces.

Sometimes the dramatic beauty is seemingly simplistic. It's when you see the expanse of sky meeting land in sweeping arcs that your small place in the world is magnified and shrunk all at the same time. It's a beautiful thing to have your fingers numbed by the cold, stinging color into your cheeks while you crane your neck toward a dusky sky looking for masses of geese flocking in v-formations.

It's a beautiful thing to have the people you love most standing next to you as you frame images in your mind. The dad who first introduced you to such a glorious place and who happily stops the car as often as you request. The sister who gave up an afternoon of studying to sit in the car and quietly cheer for increasing displays of insanity with the camera. The nephew whose exuberance chases after the next thrill without missing a thing...including a deer bone and a Great Blue Heron.

So, this week is for Dad and Butterfly and Dr. Joe who were beside me for all of the following shots in the slideshow.

I chose George Winston's Where Are You Now from his Remembrance album as accompaniment. George has been (and will probably always be) one of my favorite artists. I love his decades of solo piano work and his more recent exploration of the guitar. I saw him live, in his sockfeet, at the Kauai Community College auditorium several years ago. Amazing man. I love how dedicated he is to increasing his knowledge of music and instruments. I love how he loves Hawaii. I love that a pianist chose to write such a lovely guitar piece. And I chose this guitar piece over all of his piano pieces because the guitar always reminds me of my dad.

I hope you enjoy this, Dad.