Big Bend National Park: Butte Beautiful

Butte overseeing Chisos Basin Campground, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

If Monet can do 1,549 paintings of haystacks, perhaps I can be forgiven for four butte-iful pics of a butte that shined grace upon my Chisos Basin campsite?

Butte overseeing Chisos Basin Campground, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

Butte overseeing Chisos Basin Campground, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

Butte overseeing Chisos Basin Campground, Big Bend National Park, Texas. September 2017.

Peace.

El Paso: Sunset Heights: Messrs Cloud and Madame Moon

Flirty moon, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

August 2017


Back in the day, Sunset Heights offered prime seats from which to watch the Mexican Revolution.

Clouds, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

My neighborhood still offers grand seats for watching scrabbling clouds and a flirty moon.

Flirty moon, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

They turned in stellar performances over two consecutive nights in August.

Clouds, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

Below, you can watch the clouds snap and spark. The dogs voiced their opinions, not that anyone asked for them.

Flirty moon, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

Clouds, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

Flirty moon, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

Clouds, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

Clouds, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. August 2017.

El Paso: Moon Angle from Indigo Hotel Terrace

Moon in window, Indigo Hotel, El Paso, Texas. May 2017.

It was the night of the Mariachi Loco Festival at San Jacinto Plaza.

Lots of people there, but difficult to get close enough to see and hear the musicians well. My three companions were terrific company, so it didn't matter so much.

Eventually, we walked over to the Indigo Hotel and enjoyed a balmy breeze on the terrace with the heartbeat of ambient techno music.

The moon looked at itself in the reflection of a high-floor window.

El Paso: Another Gosh Darn Beautiful Full Moon

Full moon over El Paso and Juarez from Upper Tom Lea Park, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.

Full moon over El Paso and Juarez from Upper Tom Lea Park, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.

Full moon over El Paso and Juarez from Upper Tom Lea Park, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.

There's obviously something going on between El Paso, Juarez, and the moon. Love, maybe.

El Paso: Walking With the Moon

Full moon eve, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Sister cities, El Paso and Juarez, are favorite children of the moon, I think.

Full moon eve, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

The moon likes to rise up, I think, and just look quietly upon the millions who've made their homes in the middle of a desert, ringed by folded mountains.

Full moon eve, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

One October evening, the eve of a full moon, I walked downtown from my apartment in Sunset Heights.

Full moon eve, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Often, I choose to walk downtown via Prospect. But on this evening, I chose Yandell.

Full moon eve, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

Did I talk to the moon as I made my way down? Probably not. But I was pleased she was there.

I stopped on an overpass to watch the traffic on Interstate 10.

Full moon eve, Interstate 10, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

The many-lighted bridge across the way is Prospect Street, my usual route downtown.

Full moon eve, Interstate 10, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.

El Paso: Drums Under a Looking Moon

You may have noticed that I've already published several posts related to El Paso moons. Don't know what it is, but La Luna seems to love El Paso because she so often fixes her warm gaze on us with what feels like a special look.

And - On my bucket list is the desire to master some skills in drumming. I even have a drum, given to me by a beloved years ago. It travels with me and all my other worldly goods in my car when I move from year to year.

So how glad I was to learn about Echoes in the Park, a drumming circle that gathers every Friday evening at Upper Tom Lea Park between May and October! The park is close to my apartment, the view is inspiring, and the group members gracious and welcoming.

Below is a video that captures a drumming verse, the glory of the full moon, and the 24-karat glow that warms family play at Upper Tom Lea Park, overlooking El Paso and Juarez.

And because this September moon was so special, a video adoring same, highlighting El Paso and Juarez landmarks:

I am a lucky duck.

El Paso: November Moons

November evening, El Paso, Texas. November 2016.

Although the scene is so prosaic - a Payless Kids store - there's something about the November light glow, with a crisp white moon disk above, that spills a little magic on the corner of this downtown El Paso street.

November evening, El Paso, Texas. November 2016.

Just three minutes after the top photo came this one with the rainbow.

On a different November night, in my neighborhood, a full moon shared her grandosity with her kingdom.

November evening, El Paso, Texas. November 2016.

Rootless Moon Stories

Lingering moon, Alamogordo Balloon Fest, New Mexico. September 2013.

There is a blue moon tonight, which makes me think of other moons.

Full moon, Kutaisi, Caucasus Georgia. June 2012.

Harar, Ethiopia

My favorite moon experience might have been in Harar, Ethiopia. The moon was so bright, I took a shower by the light beaming through the window:

.... I wish I could stay longer in Harar. Sean McLachlan, the online travel writer, told me of the pleasure of walking in the walled city (Jugal) by moonlight. In the narrow, curving, cobblestoned streets, a hyena might brush against your thigh as it made its silent night-time rounds.

Sean was also in the practice of spending an entire day hanging out with a tailor in his streetside shop. I saw Sean doing exactly that one day. Borrowing Sean's idea, I would spend an entire afternoon and evening with a woman vendor, pulling up my own stool to sit under her umbrella. Maybe I'd even shout out "faranjo!" when I saw one pass. Or maybe I'd shout out "habesha!" to all Ethiopians who walked by.

But not enough time for either of these things.

As it was, I showered with my bathroom light turned off so I could look up at Harar's full moon through the high window.

Full moon, Oliver Lee State Park, New Mexico. September 2012.

On a train from Batumi, (Caucasus) Georgia

From The Black Sea, Part 5: The Train to Tbilisi:

... Sandy and I had splurged on a two-bed train cabin. We'd bought late-night dinner fixin's.
We each put our pillows at the end of our beds by the door, stretched out, and we could see the big ol' full moon roll with us on the train.

Moonrise, Alamogordo, New Mexico. October 2012.

White Sands National Monument, outside Alamogordo, New Mexico: 

Full moons get center stage at White Sands, as they should.

White Sands National Monument, NM: Into the Night

Summer Solstice 2013 at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Full moon over Alamogordo, from White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. November 2012.

Moonrise over the Sacramento Mountains

At Oliver Lee Memorial State Park in New Mexico, I was a lucky witness to some spectacular moons.

Oliver Lee Memorial State Park: Always Something Going On

New Mexico: "Dark Skies"

Summer solstice moon, White Sands National Monument, New Mexico. June 2013.