Early Summer Albuquerque
Tricia and I recently popped in on my parents to see how they’re doing, lend a hand about the house and yard, amble through a few galleries, and sample the ample takeout opportunities of the southwest. Just a quick visit, bracketing a weekend a few days either side. But always with time for a few photographs — many of which were taken from the airplane window — great cloud formations just one of the many things to see from aloft (though whereas rakkity got landforms topography, I got pretty much the opposite). And as usual, I’ve willfully (and inaccurately) rendered a world completely unpopulated by humans …
Adam
Nice shots Adam! I saw those same circles. Are those just lazy farmers or do they have corner aversions? I get so dizzy going in circles.
Comment by Jen — June 30, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
Those circular watering machines are about 1/4 mile in diameter, with central pillars about 8 ft high. A friend of mine almost got run over by one when he was camping in a farmer’s field. He escaped, but got drenched. Here’s a shot of one I took in the Pawnee Grasslands, up in the “Windy Quarter” (northeast Colorado). And another.
Comment by rakkity — June 30, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
Exactly so, rakkity, and thanks for putting a “face” on a huge thing that’s invisible from 30,000 feet (but for its result) … ! I’ve never been up that close but have seen enough of them to invoke one towards the end of one of my purpler prose pieces on the eponymous camping site:
https://mainecourse.com/stories/fromtheair.html
Comment by adam — June 30, 2008 @ 7:16 pm
Great pink-bordered prose about those lofty puffy ramparts! I always get a window seat on the plane, partly to watch the clouds. One of these days I’ll get a picture of the amazing clouds that look like breaking surf, with regular patterns that go on and on. (I don’t always have my camera at hand, and wished I did, the last time I saw cloud surf. My atmospheres class in grad school invoked the “Kelvin-Helmholz Instability” for them.) And then there are the mountain wave clouds (the flying saucers) which from Boulder we often see in the lee of Long’s Peak. I’ve never seen them from an airplane though.
Comment by rakkity — June 30, 2008 @ 11:15 pm
“His name might be Sam. Maybe Samuel at birth, and still sometimes on Sundays.” This is a great line. I love how we are different people in a multitude of circumstances. It is all these facets that make us the whole of who we are.
Love the recognition of interconnectedness, Adam. I’m reading some interviews with the Dalai Lama (Wisdom of Forgiveness – Victor Chan). He is big on interconnectedness and credits his compassion and forgiving the Chinese to his belief no one, no object, no thought, no action is independent. We are all connected and influenced by many factors. There are no totally bad Chinese, just badly influenced folks who acted badly. (Still struggling with this myself. I still want a single focal point/person to be responsible for my anger.)
Comment by Jen — July 1, 2008 @ 11:26 am
Glory be, the number of people who’ve read that has suddenly almost doubled thanks to rakkity & Jen … ! Most gratifying, thanks!
Is it too much to hope, I wonder, that perhaps intrepid souls will someday soon even backtrack their way to the treasure trove of tales by Mike & me (& a few others) that languish on the blog’s forgotten parent site … Should anyone have such time & interest, the “Words” link is most direct (but incomplete) — try “Couples Therapy” by me (short) and either “Christmas Trees” (shortish) or Boxer Sanitation (very long) by Michael. But it’d warm my heart if anyone wandered through the larger site, and especially if they found their way to Face to Face — hint, it’s within Lower Jo Mary … ).
Comment by adam — July 1, 2008 @ 1:00 pm