On the Way to Albuquerque

I was (reluctantly) working my way northward. I HAD to meet with a cardiologist about my Amylnitrate Cardial Infarcation (or some such), but wasn't in any big hurry.


This boulder looked pleased with itself.

You can see why; it had made it down the hill further than any others.

The Little Yellow Flowers (LYFs) were in profusion.

And the wind was between 30 - 40 knots.

Phoebe waiting patiently....

Spring on the Rio Grande

I surmise this road's only been here a couple of decades. There're dead trees on the sides of the hills that look as if they may have been drowned; and what's here looks less than twenty years old. 

The hill I took the picture from looks like a sand bar left over from before the day when El Paso won their water suit. It was then that Elephant Butte Lake went from delusions-of-grandeur to just another southwestern puddle. A BIG plus was most of the power-boaters went away.

The Shy Bees 

There's a whisper of green that disappears if you look straight at it, but it was the droning of the bees swarming o'er the tender buds proved it. And the coyotes were feelin' so fine they sang again at noon. It's Spring!!

Spring on The Quebradas Backcountry Byway

The Quebradas is 80 miles south of Albuquerque -- to the East of the town of Socorro. Spring is happening...the creosote are starting to leaf out and the cactus are blooming.

This is perhaps the farthest north I've seen ocotillo. You can find them in The City (Albert's Turkey), but they look out of place. I suspect they're immigrants. That's them in the middle-left of the photo below.

Here on the Quebradas they (ocotillo) seem a bit shy, as if they're pleased with having made it this far, but unsure of their welcome. I, for one, am delighted to see them, but hey, it's troo, I'm into diversity. Their spindly demeanor's give no hint of their (yet-to-come) splendid efflorescence.

Breakfast (kale & bell pepper)


                 &


                       Sunset -- colorfests.