This week

I'll be out of pocket most of the week attending professional meetings in Wichita Falls and Abilene. And the following week I'll be on my way to Iowa and Illinois for visits! Hope to see you in Iowa City or Bloomington!

Today through Wednesday, I'm at the state meeting of RC and D Councils. (Resource, Conservation and Development.) They're an offshoot of the old Soil Conservation Districts and they bring rural people together to protect natural resources in ways that will improve the area's economy, environment and living standards. Across the country, RC and Ds work on land conservation, community development, water management and environmental concerns. I'm on the board of the Chihuahuan Desert RC and D. Our group is working on community waste disposal, pupfish environment restoration, offering basic computer classes to the public, and getting free computers and organizational expertise to non-profits.

I took only one giveaway from the exhibition hall--a pasture or range stick--which is like a yardstick, but with handy ranch/range facts, like:

"Drought Planning: if median rainfall for your area is below normal by June 1 and then again by October , a drought management plan should be implemented."

And, "Quail have a high turnover rate - only about 20% survive to a second year."

And, "To estimate plant cover - slide the pasture stick underneath plants with ruler side up count the number of 1-inch marks obscured by foliage out of 33 inches. This number, multiplied by 3 is the percent plant cover. Bare ground determinations can be made accordingly."

I am making new friends and good connections. Most of the people here are very nice, god-fearing cowboys just wishing for a bit of rain.

"Take Your Dog to the Post Office" Day

Every day in Van Horn is "Take Your Dog to the Post Office Day!" They always stay in the back of the truck, but at least they get to ride.

Signs of Van Horn, part 4

(Click on the photo for a closer view)
In case you're wondering, this is a fairly typical building on the main street of Van Horn.

Life and death in the city

Yesterday, I saw my burrowing owl friend at the historic cemetery in El Paso. He'd recently caught some prey, a small bird. I'd approach with my camera and he'd get just spooked enough to take off with his catch in his talons. He'd land a few yards away. I'd snap a few more pictures. We did this little dance a few times, until I thought I was pushing my luck and gave him some room. I took more pretty flowering cactus pictures, and shots of graves of buffalo soldiers and railroad workers from China. You'll see those pictures soon.

Blooming in El Paso this weekend

Dry

It is so dry.

I dream of water...diving into large pools of it, running under the sprinker, getting blasted with the hose.

I've found some comfort: Burt's Bees lip balm, petroleum jelly, eye cream. The blow dryer is on the shelf until "monsoon season" later this summer. My hair dries in about five minutes in this weather anyway. I rub Bounce dryer sheets across my hair to reduce the static. These are the tricks you learn here.

Folks are worried about fire. The land seems so brittle. The flowers looks shriveled and the grass is crunchy. While we want rain the prospect of lightning is scary, especially to the long-time residents who've seen what fire can do here.

Ocotillo

Around the corner behind my apartment

Iowa City

I've been thinking of you all since Thursday's storm. From the internet pictures there appears to be so much damage; it is hard to fathom all the destruction. I'm so sorry you've had to go through this. My heart is with you. I wish I could be there to help with the cleanup.

For those of you not familiar with Iowa City, one of the things lost in Thursday night's tornadoes was our beloved Dairy Queen and its neon signs. It was the subject of one of my first serious embroideries. I'm so glad a local collector owns that piece, and is someone who values the Dairy Queen as an important piece of Iowa City's visual heritage.

I'll be posting some new pictures of Van Horn today. Maybe it will help you get your mind off the storm, cleanup and the traffic of the aftermath.

Signs of Van Horn, part 3

Michael

My heart goes out to my friends and former colleagues at the UI Foundation who lost a leader and friend to cancer on Sunday. Michael New lead the organization through a period of immense growth, which alternately felt exhilarating for its reach and ambition and as awkward as an adolescent growing too fast. But teenagers mature, and Michael's natty and confident leadership helped pull us through a campaign of unprecedented proportions for a school of Iowa's size. The image of him in his pressed jeans and starched Oxford shirts on Saturdays at the office is one that will stick with me forever. I hope he enjoyed those Saturdays, and took pride in what he accomplished and what he motivated us all to accomplish, too.

Books!

This afternoon I took another load of books you've donated to the Van Horn City County Library. Letty, the librarian, was grateful for your gifts as always! She's bowled over by your continued generousity. THANKS SO VERY MUCH! Feel free to pop over to the Second Mile Van Horn Book Drive blog and read about the new donations!

Special thanks to new donors, Libby Slappey and Scott Johnson; and ever generous repeat donors, Teresa Salt, Anne Remington, and my mom!

Iowa City and Bloomington friends, I'm coming your way May 9-16! If you have books you'd like to donate then, let me know ahead of time. I'll collect your books and take care of sending them down to Texas myself!

Celebrating the Holidays with Family

click on the photos for a closer look!

Yes, more pictures of the cemetery again. If you haven't guessed by now, this is my latest "thing." I find the visual and cultural aspects of the place fascinating. I hope you enjoy them, too.

Take the Mexican-American tradition of keeping the deceased as part of the family--here we have efforts to celebrate Easter and Christmas with family members buried in the cemetery. I took the Easter Egg Tree photo last night. It must have been decorated sometime Tuesday night or Wednesday. Now that spring is here, families are gathering at the cemetery more often to tend the graves, add new markers and plant flowers, both real and artificial. Last night one family came in three vehicles to work on their plot. Three generations were there; kids were running around playing while the parents talked and spruced things up. And there are the regulars who come almost every day--more about them in a future post.

Photo 1: Easter Egg Tree on grave
Photo 2: Artificial Christmas tree shape on marker
Photo 3: Candy canes on cross
Photo 4: Small tree behind marker decorated for Christmas

Interplay of Real and Artificial

From the perspective of the neat and tidy Midwest, the Van Horn cemetery can appear wild and unkempt. But there's a freedom of creative thought and an unbridled display of color there I find very appealing.

Consider the mixing of very brightly colored artificial flowers with natural plantings. Now that spring is here, this interplay is pretty hard to ignore! (click on the individual pictures for a closer view)

Top: the purple in the foreground is real, everything else is artificial. (There will be another blog entry about the candy canes and celebrating the holidays with those passed!)

Second: the roses on the left are real, everything near the marker is artificial.

Third: artificial poinsettia blossom stuck on the needle sharp point of an agave. (love that!)

Fourth: same grave, but different real agave plant, decorated with artificial purple poppy and green leaves!

Last: same grave, showing poinsettia-festooned agave surrounded by real purple iris!

Blooming Today in Van Horn

New Kid on the Block

There's a new blog in town, "My Favorite Place," which will be guest authored by folks in the Texas Mountain Trail region.

Right now, my own entry on the Van Horn cemetery is the only one there, but we hope to build some community support for our organization by asking local citizens to write about their favorite places.

You can reach the new blog through the link to the right on this page, or by typing the url yourself: www.tmtrfavorite.blogspot.com

By the way, the cemetery is inspiring some visual ideas for me, and you'll probably see more photos of it here in the days to come. It will show up in my own artwork, too.