This is then tenth in a series of quotidian website blog-posts, of writings and artworks that celebrate personal mobility, in pursuit of mindful engagements with history, nature and the environment. In relation to a finished painting, or an essay, this process is no less a work of art than is the tree to the fruit it bears. In a sense, this practice may be ceremonial, acts of reverence, in beholding the world around us. Offered as messages of hope and solidarity, these posts will appear every day, until these dark days are behind us.
Roadside vista. Rio Grande Gorge from NM68. 10.0000 degrees NE. from 36.4105 x 105.2424. May 5, 2019.
Two hikers climb over the wire fence hundred behind me (south). Motorists pull over and snap photos. Almost every one of them hold their phone or camera, arms fully extended above their heads, as if they could peer into the nearly thousand-foot ditch two miles away. Speeding past, drivers honk and wave at me. Taos Valley is actually the southernmost extremity of the San Luis basin, the northern end of the Rio Grande Rift. The two distant peaks are volcanic domes. Ute Mountain lies dead ahead, with Antonio Peak to the left. Alluvial sediment, laid down over volcanic ash and lava flows, is crossed by the river through a deep gorge. While the waters are navigable, they tend to be treacherous at this time of year. Record snowpack this past winter promise dramatic floodwaters later this spring. The plain is covered in Desert Sage (Salvi dorrii) and Pinyon Pine (Pinus monophylla). Taos Pueblo is at the foot of the mountains to the far right. Across the river, County Road C-8-115 descends to Taos Junction Bridge, just below the confluence of Rio Pueblo de Taos. The road continues south through Orilla Verde and Pilar, terminating at NM68
(A preview of SKETCHBOOK TRAVELER by James L. McElhinney (c) 2020. Schiffer Publishing).
Copyright James Lancel McElhinney (c) 2020 Texts and images may be reproduced (with proper citation) by permission of the author. To enquire, send a request to editions@needlewatcher.com