Sidetracked Charley

Me and the Land that I love  The selfie craze has been at times annoying. And maybe that is because it is really hard to do unless you own a smart phone. I have tried a few with my tablet but I am a DSLR owner and with the long lens on do not have long enough arms to photograph myself. Besides I am not that great of a subject. Why do you think I own the camera? If I am taking the pictures I am not in them. There is something lacking about the basic smart phone selfie like context or content or just why. Here I am at the Arc de Triumph and none of it shows. So I set about to improve selfies and challenge the DSLR limitations. I wanted my selfies to say something about me and my life. Ergo the one of my shadow in a map of Colfax and Mora counties with mountains outside the windows also reflected really says it. Me and my "Shadow" I love playing with reflections so the obvious solution to the SLR issue was a good reflective surface. But I also wanted a surround or ...

Rio Grande at Embudo It is January. We are in the midst of January Thaw officially. But even before NOAA recognized it we where have gorgeous weather. Perfect to get out with the camera and search for pictures of ice. Of course. You do not want too much ice. You do not want it so cold it is frozen over and white. That is unattractive ice. The prettiest ice is like the photograph below. It is clear and transparent. This particular piece of ice, however, was only 4" across. Melting Ice sheet? Mind you the opening photo has some snow in it. Snow in the shady spots at least.  The the mid stream boulder in the picture below should be coated with ice and have an ice flow above it. But it was a high 40's kind of day without a cloud in the sky. I was clearly asking for too much. I wanted ice and what I got was beautiful, clear, cold water. I frankly could not believe the colors. The Rio Grande can be rather muddy from time to time. The colors are a reflection of th...

Never have been overly fond of the end of the year. Or for that matter the beginning of the new one. There seem to be so many unmet expectations from the "Joy of the Season" to all those new resolutions to be a better self. To which is added looming taxes, the flu season, awful weather, and removal of all coping mechanisms like our favorite shows so they can rerun Charlie Brown's Christmas, schedule all the bowl games, and make space for poorly scripted award shows. Feeling weepy yesterday I threw the camera in the truck and went in search of ice to photograph. There was none. I had unconsciously noticed it just did not seem to be as cold this December to January, but that was a judgement made on what winter coats are hanging on the entry hooks. The Coretex coat for the Arctic which I wore constantly last winter is still in the upstairs closet. And any hopes, that while my yard was not covered with snow, certainly the mountains were getting it was dashed by this pho...

Epiphany is the end of the twelve days of Christmas. The Mayans had a 10 to 12 day period at the end of their year. Days which did not fit into another division of the year. Other cultures in prehistory have had this pause, as it were, in the regular course of the year. A vacation from time? A period of meditation and reflection? Epiphany on the Christian Calendar is when the wise men finally met the baby Jesus. It is also when God appears to someone as in Allah appeared to Mohammad. Or it is the profound and sudden understanding of something. The example used in one dictionary was when you suddenly know where your missing car keys are. Really? I always see epiphany more like satori - sudden enlightenment and a state of consciousness attained by intuitive illumination representing the spiritual goal of Zen Buddhism. I took just enough catechism to be entranced with the minor days of the Catholic Calendar. I loved Epiphany from day one. It was such a non-holiday. I also about th...