Entrance to Sunset Heights via Yandell, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
October 2016
One October day, I struck out for a visit to Segundo Barrio. On my way there and on my way back, I catalogued some of the architectural sweets on Prospect and Yandell Streets in my neighborhood, Sunset Heights.
On my way down in the morning, I took Prospect Street.
On Yandell Street, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
Oh, how I love the building above. Its low-to-the-ground profile pleases me, its brick-red color cheers and warms me, like thick chili with beans in the fall. The taupe highlights satisfy. The park benches, the sculptured trees soften angles. This is a human abode. It is a place that recognizes the spirit in us.
On Prospect Street, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
On the way back home in the afternoon, I came up Prospect.
On Prospect Street, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
There are houses that impose.
On Prospect Street, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. October 2016.
Yellow bid of paradise, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. April 2017.
April 2017
Around the corner from my place is a low-slung, butterscotch adobe house that's easy to walk by without noticing, but when you do notice it, you think, "Gosh, that's a pretty house."
I pass it most days when I go to continuing ed classes at UTEP.
Yellow bid of paradise, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. April 2017.
One late April day, the flashy yellow and red tree in the house's side yard called me over to say, "Hey, I am one good-looking tree, am I not?" And I said, "Oh yeah, you are a handsome one. Can I take your picture"? And like a Georgian, he said, "But of course!"
Yellow bid of paradise, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. April 2017.
Yellow bid of paradise, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. April 2017.
Yellow bid of paradise, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. April 2017.
Sunset Heights, Prospect Street, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.
On a soul-warming sunny day in March, I walked to downtown El Paso by way of Prospect Street in Sunset Heights.
On my left I heard the burbling water sounds of a fountain or waterfall, accompanied by the melody of one of my favorite birds, a mockingbird. Oh, what a small oasis tended by the owner of the sweet cottage! A minute of Spring below:
Creeping succulents shot pink and yellow flares to catch the attention of tiny, flying pollinators.
Sunset Heights, Prospect Street, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.
Another cottage's reflective window captured the image of its neighbor across the street.
Sunset Heights, Prospect Street, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.
Gosh, El Paso is so pretty.
Sunset Heights, Prospect Street, El Paso, Texas. March 2017.
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.
Steps going nowhere, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. December 2016.
I don't blame them - the top of the steps to nowhere have a killer view of I-10, downtown El Paso, and Juarez.
Steps going nowhere, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. December 2016.
These steps to nowhere climb the cusp of Sunset Heights. In Hurting Game, a short story in Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club, Benjamin Alire Saenz' protagonist talks about Sunset Heights:
I lived in Sunset Heights, an old neighborhood that had old houses with a lot of class. It also had a lot of shabby houses that were falling apart. I like the shabby houses. I liked that I could walk downtown. It was February and the night was cool, but it didn’t feel like winter. It was as if spring was knocking at the door again. Not that I liked spring in El Paso. The winds came after us and left us beat up to hell, the taste of the desert sands being shoved down our throats by a God who didn’t love us much.
Steps going nowhere, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. December 2016.
Steps going nowhere, Sunset Heights, El Paso, Texas. December 2016.
