Abiquiu Vista, near Christ in the Desert Monastery
Photo by Doug Wesley

New Mexico is a land where rivers are wide flat dry areas easily mistaken for roads. Where soil is composed of dust and gravel in equal parts. Where trees look more like bushes, and mountains are mysteriously chopped off to become mesas. Where the dull reds and browns go on so long that the tiniest bit of color is cherished. Where the only thing hotter than the noon sun is the chiles in the food. Where the smoke from a piñon fire smells better than most anything else on earth. Where the sky is bluer and the stars are brighter and you can see so far your eyes hurt. It's a mystical place to dream about.

Linda Wesley