We fired up the old bus, Miss Shelley, for a springtime tour of the land. Up and down mesas, along dirt roads and highways and foot-trails we went, getting a little lost, but even more found.
A night on the banks of the mighty Pecos river, doves singing in the willows, children playing in the dirt, light falling in unexpected ways, a burst of rain, an old lowrider cruising slowly past the cows.
Back in time to the old red rock villages hiding like forgotten gems in the piñon juniper scrub. Past acequias flowing full, and freshly tilled fields flooded with that snowmelt bounty.
We’ve traveled this stretch of land many times, but each time we crest the horizon it is to find the mountains and mesas opening anew, bigger than before. There are layers upon layers of history to peel back, roots to sink deeper, stories to discover and tell.
When we pause to listen and look, or at least travel very slowly (as Miss Shelley loves to do), it all comes pouring forth.
We’re Universe in a Grain of Sand people, my husband likes to say. Oh, New Mexico, you might be sandy, but you are home.
Kyce Bello 
so, so lovely. i’ve never been to the desert, but i want so badly to visit! i’ve written about my dream of new mexico. http://liverhythm.blogspot.com/2012/01/dreaming-of-desert.html
I’ll live your desert fantasy if you live my cool wet forest fantasy…
Oh my, kyce! Are we neighbors? I live on the Olympic Peninsula of WA. This wonderful blog is a wish fulfilled– to be allowed to share this lovely New Mexico experience. I’ve read Stanley Crawford’s A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a small New Mexico Farm, also his Majordomo & craved a window into this world. Thank you so much for sharing!
Stanley Crawford is one of my heroes. His talent for capturing this landscape and its people is such a pleasure. Wishing you a sunny spring!
How this makes me miss the desert! Much of my family lives in Taos and when I was young we used to make annual pilgrimages there in one old Volkswagen or another (never a van). Thanks for allowing me to taste that landscape and those roads on my tongue…
i am definitely a universe in a grain of sand person too. what would we do without the beautiful details? your ambling journeys looks lovely and restful and full of warm, bright sun.