Karen’s and my shadows from atop a sand dune in White Sands National Monument, located about 55 miles north of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Just before we started walking down the dune from the view from the top, I asked Karen to come closer to me, so I could get both our shadows in the same frame. I took one photograph, then Karen said, “Lets hold hands!” So we did, and happily so.

Two love birds, enjoying the beauty of the natural wonder that is the White Sands desert, and savoring the love we have for each other by a simple touching of hands. I’m grateful for having found the love of my life, and happy that she finds me hers. “Warts & all” is our motto for the love that we have that encompasses all the good and not perfect in the other.

For that moment, we both felt the same joy that love brings that we had over 32 years ago. Amidst the winds that grind the gypsum rocks into the tiniest grains of pure white sand, our love has been ground to a simple touch that means so much.

Nice to have a photograph of that moment, rich as it was, and still is.

From the very end of the road in the foothills of the Organ Mountains, I’m looking back towards another set of mountains that are beyond Las Cruces, New Mexico. The city of Las Cruces is between these two mountain ranges, with more mountains in other directions.

It was a fantastic afternoon, just Gary & I, off exploring and photographing the mountains, the sweeping vistas and the local vegetation. On the way back home, I saw my very first roadrunner bird. It was doing a slow scurry across the road in front of us.

Usually, there’s not many clouds that cover the sky like the began to do today. Both Gary and I concluded that it was due to the hurricane making landfall in south Texas. It was likely pushing wind and clouds ahead of it.

Enjoy, I know I did.

The rays of light coming from behind the Organ Mountains outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The sun was setting in the exact opposite direction, and in fact had already set.. There is a mountain range in the west, which may have something to do with the formation of these beams of sunset light.

Whatever the origin, the rays were a delight as we were trying to find a good spot to capture the Organ mountains at sunset. Karen & I had gone out with Gary, searching with his help for the best but close vantage point. We got a late start to position ourselves for the sunset. After a full day at the wine festival, and out for a quick supper, we almost didn’t go. I’m glad we did.

I’ve got more vistas and flora to seek out and capture. Good thing we have more days to explore.

Karen got this excellent shot of a hummingbird about to feed.

We stopped by to sample the wine varietals from the Rio Grande Winery, just south of Las Cruces, New Mexico. They have an outdoor patio, and an indoor seating area, with one set of tables just in front of large windows, looking out to the vineyard. There are flower bushes just under the windows, with two separate hummingbird feeders nearly up against the windows.

We counted about 5 or 6 hummingbirds, swooping down to one feeder or the other, sometimes pushing one another out of the way in competition, it seemed, for the sweet water which was in the feeders. With about 8 separate feeding “flowers” to choose from, all giving the same amount of food, all of the birds kept going to one of the “flowers” on one of the two feeders. Only occasionally would they go to, again, one feeder on the other station.

Both Karen and I were trying our best to get a good capture. I didn’t have a telephoto lens on at the time, and didn’t want to tear myself away from the scene. Karen got the best captures with her point and shoot, leaving the flash on to stop the motion.

Both of us, had never seen hummingbirds up close like this, and never so many in one place.

It was a magical moment.

I’m grateful that we stopped at the winery. The wine was good, but the scenery holds the special place in our memory.

The City of the Crosses – Las Cruces, New Mexico. That’s where you will find this display, recalling the dual towers of a church, with each crowned by a cross. The sun’s rays also remind me of a cross.

We had spent the morning, touring at a leisurely pace through a densely packed and blocks long farmers market. The variety of goods was vast, from local produce, artwork of all media and styles, wood products of all sorts, baked goods, freshly made on the spot kettle corn, the list would go on and on. There were street performers at every turn for that bit of culture, my favorite being the musicians. Musicians for all tastes, guitarists, keyboardists, and a mariachi band, but the gentleman playing a hammered dulcimer as the “Musical Mendicant” complete with full monks robes was the best for my ears.

Just as we were taking our hot and tired selves to our car, I saw this sculpture, and stopped for one more composition.

Las Cruces is nearly 4,000 feet high, and the skies are the most delicious shade of blue. Our friends that we are visiting say that they get even deeper blue at times. There’s a thinner layer of air, the higher up you go. That, plus a complete lack of heavy industry, leave the skies very clear, much to my delight. I do miss the clouds, though, but I’m told that the form behind the surrounding mountains, as I’ve seen already in the short time we’ve been here. The clouds seem to build up behind the mountains and not cross the valley between them.

More to come. The mountains are calling me.