It's a gift and I treasure it.
Occasionally, over the years, I've bemoaned my inability to make money, but being able to discover magical places and, best of all, find my way home each evening, is priceless.
I'd done maybe 40 miles of freeway and had had enough. And, like a cat, I had to go see.
Photos merely serve as reminders; they can't capture the beauty or grandeur.
The saguaro points to an arch in the tippy-top of the dike.
Phoebe hasn't had her picture taken in a while. Her coloring blends nicely with this stark, gray-brown country, dontchewt'ink?
Note German flag above license plate.
I worked for a while in the University of New Mexico's College of Education's division of Language, Literacy & Sociocultural Studies (LLSS). Twenty-two faculty of various ethnicities, religions and political persuasions taught teachers how to teach cultural diversity. I designated myself the resident Teuton and taped a brown paper sack with the German two-headed eagle on it to my office door.
A visiting professor stopped by once. I nearly laughed aloud as he harumphed his prodigious bulk while asserting that he was Austrian. Still a skinny young lad, I couldn't match his "harumph" but was able to assert my origin in Nürnberg (2nd-largest city in the state of Bavaria after München and the historical capitol of Franconia.) and further attested that my lineage -- as my mother told it -- dated back to King Henry II (he of the large lower lip), a medieval monarch who led one of the many pagan tribes of Franks. (my middle name, Frank, is in honor of this heritage.)
Thus, in recognition of my ancestry and with ever a nod to the LLSS faculty: several Puebloans; descendants of Spanish Conquistadors; a Zen Buddhist; a Jew; three lesbians (sort of like The Three Graces) and many others, When occasion arises, such as when folks are "sharing" their nationalism, I fly the flags of Germany & Nürnberg.
