An exceptional month was August, hardly a memory, gone by so quickly. One of those times when I hope I took enough photographs, through the lens and through my eyes, to remember a thousand moments strung together like a necklace of stones, or a string of firecrackers.  A month that began in deep summer and ended precariously close to autumn. The slow beginning belying the quickness of the end. Events piled into themselves and then came a request for assistance: a task I couldn’t refuse. And so my summer vacation came to an abrupt and unexpected end and I went back to school.  

   

 

  The summer monsoon continued sporadically throughout August with fantastic displays in the sky, but dropping little rain. Nearly every day storm clouds would gather somewhere between horizons. Rain would fall somewhere in the distance, much of the time evaporating before hitting the ground.  Staying dry even with rain all around: ways of the high desert.

  

 

  

 

       I am away from my ranch-house home on a continuous and scheduled time frame. Most of the day’s quiet and entertainments are a little distant now. But it is all still there; just a little time is needed to find it. Find the time, save some time, bide your time: a cosmic river flowing on by.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Explorations of the landscape have continued on, weather and time permitting, generally in the company of the Rojos outfit. We have discovered that the really technologically advanced GPS unit will get you just as ‘lost’ on the landscape as the less expensive kind but will tell you why. Ancient sites have been revealed, but require much more consideration to be understood. Sometimes just the distance to the horizon becomes more than the brain wants to easily accept. The wild places between where you stand and where you can see want to overwhelm you. The rock under your boots gives stability and a beginning of comprehension to what you see. Enchantment.

    

 

 

 

 

 

       The area around the east door has truly become the dog-yard. Dog-spots dug into the dirt, burrows under the juniper tree and trails worn by paws share the space with a kitchen garden, sunflowers, and Louie’s grave.  We always find time for a dance, romp, and biscuits in the morning sun as my schedule closes in. The days always begin well, and peaceful, with a morning dance.

 

                                     Flowers for you, silent music from the enchanted land.