southern new mexico
the gila valley:
after nearly three years of knowing i would come here, i am here.
this is a beautiful desert forest of rolling hills 5,000 feet above the sea
there are barn owls, skunks, 6 inch long lizards with turquoise throats and bellies,
and there are bugs.
there are more grasshoppers and crickets than you can shake a stick at, mosquitoes after dark, and flies of all kinds; most are really interested in diving into any body orifice available.
a tiny one drowned in my eyeball the other day, hurt like hell.
my first three days were a lot of muttering: "why did i come here? it is so fucking hot!" and spending most daylight hours hardly moving except to jump in the irrigation ditch nearby.
now i feel much more myself, though midday is still no time to be doing much.
here is a place of nothing has to be done, do anything.
and, a great wealth of knowledge and experience is available to me.
last night in the setting sun i rode bareback and barefoot on a mama burro through the wilderness behind the land where i camp.
i am here, and i am saying yes.
