Today was one of those that snapped everything in two. Forget the mud, forget the poverty, forget the cold… I’ve told the story a dozen times about how an old friend in Maryland once said, “You can’t live on scenery,” but that’s not quite right: I might not be able to live on it, but I sure as hell can’t live without it. I’ve probably said that a dozen times as well.
When the clouds started to lift from the mountains and revealed the snow from yesterday’s storm, I quit what I was doing and headed 200 yards up the road with my camera. You’ll see the results for days on FotoFeed, starting with the one on the right. I’ve seen this happen now for 10 years, and it always knocks me silly. The shot below is from a little later, just before the sun set. How can anybody stand this? It’s just too amazing. This one will eventually be on FotoFeed, too, at twice this size:
This is my spiritual landscape. Yours may be different, but the spirit is the same, however we get there.
I’m such a sucker for clouds dragging over mountains. Today I stood out on the mesa in the cactus and sagebrush waiting for a perceived hole in the clouds to pass over Taos Mountain and let the sun through. At that point I couldn’t see the summit at all because of clouds draped over the top. The patch of sunlight did come closer and lit up the mountain’s flanks, but the misty shroud stayed put. I couldn’t figure it out, because the sky overhead was filled with clouds moving rapidly southeast, and then it hit me: water vapor transpiring from the summit was creating a blanket of cloud, much in the same way that a power plant emitting steam on a cold day produces a plume of mist!
While I stood there marveling, a flock of bluebirds passed in front of me. Yes, bluebirds. Not like the ones back East that come in the spring, though. These are a more saturated blue color and live here year-round up in the hills. Bluebirds, swirling clouds, and snow on the mountain, what’s a man to do?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
There’s a difference, isn’t there, between ’scenery’ (as viewed from afar) and a landscape or environment that you’re an integral part of. Awareness comes into it too … some people look out a window and see the same scene every day. Others are exquisitely aware of the subtle differences.
I never tire of the intimate environment around and within my verandah and small garden. Every day brings a surprise.
Carmel (one of the 2 Aussies)
I know exactly what you mean about the “intimate environment.” I love that,too. But this is something else, you’re right.
To the extent that one becomes integral with the vista, though, everything expands. That’s the thing. I’m permanently busted, ruined for living in town, say. If I can’t see 90 miles away, it’s like choking.