For the next few weeks, we’ll still have these views right out our back door. Views like this give me an instant sense of place. The bigness of the sky and broadness of the horizon does not make me feel small. It makes me feel located. Situated. Part of everything.

From atop our butte, we can stand in the sunshine, and watch three or four different weather systems cross the high desert plateau. Huge cloud shadows slide across the ridges and creases of faraway hills. Today, there are waves of snow passing west to east–the white, vertical swaths in this photo. From inside, where I sit working, I can watch the graupel fall and skitter down the incline of our neighbor’s roof.  Every few minutes, it switches to soft, drifting flakes. Right now, I can see a robin on that roof, holding nest makings in her beak. Spring-winter mashup. (Sprinter?) It’s beautiful.

Friday, March 8, 2013