Have I mentioned before how much I love living in New Mexico? To me it totally lives up to its claim to be the Land of Enchantment. The place, especially the high country where I live, enchants me fully. It is never the same but it’s always magnificent.
I took the base photo for this landscape yesterday because of the lovely shadows. What you see is the southern edge of a good-sized mesa that is about 5 square miles in size, and just a few miles from my property. Aside from the arroyos coming off of it, there are few trees. It’s mostly green grass (when it rains) and rimrock. The northern part of my county looks mostly like this: rolling grassland and mesas dotted with piñon pine and juniper, yet just a few miles to the south the Ponderosa pine covered mountains begin and they stretch for miles and miles. Hundreds of miles, actually. (Obviously what you see here was digitally messed with, the base photo wasn’t so colorful though it was still beautiful.)
A couple mornings ago I was outside and caught some movement right above me. At first I thought I was looking at a huge raven, then I thought it was a vulture, but it was an immature bald eagle. A bald eagle! Just a couple dozen feet above me, watching me. I was too blown away to think of grabbing my phone/camera, darn it.
Yesterday I noticed a light colored unfamiliar winged insect on apetunia blossom. A teeny little fly of some sort. Except it wasn’t, it was a crab spider. Love those little critters! What’s crazy about crab spiders (family Thomisidae) is that they are masters of camouflage and, like chameleons, can change color. But look at that little beauty (and I do mean little – its body was under 1/32″). It wasn’t trying to match the petunia’s purple, it was trying to stand out. Why? Well, crab spiders are sit-and-wait predators but when they move they move fast. They can mimic stationary things like flowers and bird droppings but I swear this one was mimicking a small fly, with it’s two front pairs of legs held back and up to resemble wings. Wowza!
Last time I went hiking out onto my neighbor’s allotment I caught a bunch of cows watching me watching them. So of course I had to take a few photos. I liked this one the best.
Many places in this world are beautiful, but there’s only one place where I belong, one place that calls to me so clearly. I am so blessed to be here and to have the opportunity to capture the every-changing beauty. This is my Land of Enchantment, for sure, my muse for photography and writing. And now I’m taking a course right now to learn new techniques for combining photography and fiber art. I’ve just started and have nothing to show yet but you bet I’ll share here.
Meanwhile, I gotta get as much play time in as I can while my manuscript is with the editor. After that, it’s back to work. Catch you later, friends! I gotta get outside and take some more pictures!
PS – you should be able to click on the photos to enlarge, but if not you can see them in my Ko-fi gallery.
