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Northern New Mexico is high country, with elevations ranging from 5,000 feet to over 13,000 feet above sea level. Precipitation is low—less than 14 inches per year. When it comes it’s usually in the form of snow or quick gully washers. At first glance, the land looks intimidating and desiccated. But on closer inspection plant life abounds.
Ubiquitous high plains sagebrush
Blooming cholla cactus above; skeleton of dead cholla below.
The sand is a graveyard for what was once green.
Rangewriter 
Reblogged this on Agung Pramudyanto.
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It seems that in a desert environment, the colours stand out even more.I too am attracted to those curly grasses (no. 7) Even in what is considered barren, there is much beauty. Thanks for sharing.
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My Heartsong, you picked my favorite. Thanks for taking the time to care.
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Linda, I agree with My Heartsong. It makes you appreciate the colors that do peek out. Thanks for sharing, BTG
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Thank you, btg. I was there in early spring. I wonder if there’s still as much color. Of course, I know the sagebrush and the sky are still there…;-}
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The browns, greens, and blues contrast so nicely, don’t they?
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You’re right John. What constantly caught my eye, however, were the inspirations that I noticed for much of Georgia O’Keefe’s work. There’s a famous series of paintings of clouds that she did which have a graphic quality. If you’ve never seen the New Mexico sky, they are hardly recognizable as clouds. But I swear I saw her work in the sky that sheltered me during this trip.
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The desert has a beauty all its own. Still, the presence of Scorpions and venomous snakes would scare me.
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What a gorgeous gallery of pictures. You have a keen eye for the lines and angles of nature, as well as the blooms and colors. Lovely.
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Thanks for the kind words, Renee.
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There is so much beauty in the arid world. I am happy you find so much of it. Your pictures are beautiful The ‘ubiquitous sagebrush’ reminds me of a Jan Myers pastel, an artist from Arvada, Colorado. She has a website and you will enjoy it. Wallace Stegner once said (in an essay in Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs) when you are thinking of planting in the west, forget green. He is right in the eastern sense of green, but the dessert greens are muted tertiary and even quaternary greens which have a mystery all their own. (I have given away over thirty copies of that book…an important compendium on what the west is all about.)
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You are so right about the western colors. They may be more muted, but in juxtaposition to that big sky, they are every bit as compelling. Thanks for the lovely comment.
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I have always been amazed about the abundance of life in a desert. Of course in a relative perspective; compared to a rain forest it’s quite a different story. Love you images, Linda, which show the beauty of life in the desert – as well of an imminent and always present death threat. Very nice!
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Those plants, surviving and even flourishing on fourteen inches of rain a year, can teach us a lot. If nothing else, maybe we could stop feeling so deprived.
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It’s all about adaptation. We do need to adapt ourselves a bit more and the planet a whole lot less,
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Reblogged this on bainmusic and commented:
I love this writing
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Thanks!
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