Desert plants here in Baja California Sur often intertwine and lean on one another like the cardon cactus and elephant tree (torote) pictured above. A local plant expert described this to some friends, my husband, and me as being simbiotico; that is, a symbiotic relationship in which different organisms cooperate. Sometimes, he explained, well-meaning folks […]
Photo above: Bald cypress tree beside the river at the Fisher Place, taken at a time of extreme drought. I still feel the years of my growing-up in my bones. Somehow, forty-five years later, I still fish with my big brother Eric on the river at the Fisher Place and try to snag the old […]
As I rode horseback with my local friend Manuel into the desert mountains this week, I noticed lots of Baja fairy dusters in bloom. Just the name of this plant is enough to enchant me, but the brilliant red stamens arranged like tiny whisk brooms equally draw my attention. I like to picture the little […]
The human impulse to say, “I was here” hasn’t changed much in the past few thousand years, has it? Top photo, wall of children’s playground, Baja California Sur. Middle photo, cave paintings at La Trinidad site, Baja California Sur. Bottom photo, wider view of La Trinidad site and its famous deer with checkerboard body. Link […]
Almost three years ago, my husband and I stopped for lunch at the little Baja restaurant whose sign is pictured above, and I immediately noticed the prolific vine covering the fence out front. Its orange blooms overpowered even the adjacent bougainvillea, and I snapped several pictures. As I approached, I noticed some Queen butterflies nectaring […]
“I had her 52 years and 11 days.” In 1995, Nick Nickerson was a widower moving away from our town to marry a long-time friend. A slender, youthful looking man in his late seventies, Nick greeted me warmly, and spoke with a lively light in both his voice and his eyes. He was selling some […]
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