Enough Room For A Friend

I met a friend in the desert. We've been corresponding for quite some time but never meeting in person. A little matter of 2000 miles, give or take.

But I was finally in her neck of the woods, if I can use that term about a place with no trees. She said she'd be waiting at the crossroads. She was. We met in the geographical center of nowhere, and drove yet another 13 miles.

And it was absolutely fabulous. We didn't stop talking the whole time. The time was way too short, as the best meetings are. So short we didn't get around to sitting on this beautiful bench.

But this picture reminds me that friendships grow and flower with just a little encouragement, like mesquite after a spring shower. Next time we'll sit on the bench. Until then, email will carry nourishment for this budding friendship. Electronic sustenance as welcome as rain in the desert.

Daytime Doze

This barn owl was perched agreeably on the leather-clad arm of a staffer at the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson. He didn't mind the oohs and aahs of passers-by. It was daytime, the proper hour for sleep. If he was dreaming of cool wind, the scratch and scrabble of mouse feet, and the hot-blooded thrill of the hunt, he maintained his poker face.

Arms Wide In Welcome

Everywhere I looked was painters' and photographers' heaven. Spiky shapes and soft colors, aggressive defense tools, in-your-face plants and retiring wildlife. Definitely not a comfortable land for those who want to drift unengaged through life.

A Country of Light

I visited a foreign land this week. Technically Arizona is part of the U.S., but the desert colors, plants, and terrain were so different from the mono-green Midwest that it felt foreign to me. The boxy adobe architecture seemed fitting and right amid the similar-colored rocks. And when the sun came out - aah, the colors glowed like a photographer's dream.