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The California high desert is for the most part arid, unforgiving, and desolate.
Late summer heat is unbearable with little shelter and no water. Early May and the desert will breathe again.
Springtime showers persuade melting snow from surrounding mountains to call forth carpets of delicate wildflowers. Lakes of muted color will suddenly splash the hillsides with unexpected light.
Inevitably spring fades into summer. With its passing, any lingering pretense at hospitality is soon discarded.
From “Lonesome Farewell” ODDNESS COLLECTION
Late summer heat is unbearable with little shelter and no water. Early May and the desert will breathe again.
Springtime showers persuade melting snow from surrounding mountains to call forth carpets of delicate wildflowers. Lakes of muted color will suddenly splash the hillsides with unexpected light.
Inevitably spring fades into summer. With its passing, any lingering pretense at hospitality is soon discarded.
From “Lonesome Farewell” ODDNESS COLLECTION
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“There is a quality of stillness in these high desert hills and canyons. Echoes perhaps, from far distant times when Indians lived in these lands. We sat for a while in peace, each of us absorbed with our own thoughts.”
From “Stunt Dog Demonstration” ODDNESS COLLECTION
From “Stunt Dog Demonstration” ODDNESS COLLECTION
“Two hours of hard but unhurried climbing saw us both standing on a sloping plateau, waiting in the heat and emptiness, at peace in each other’s company.
If you travel in these wastelands, answers may be found. Faded childhood memories come whispering softly through the canyons.
One may sometimes find religion in that awful solitude, among the huge jagged rocks.
As the searing noonday sun cuts bottomless shadows into a hostile landscape, decisions must be made quickly with no time for regret. Heat shimmers all around and pushes from above like a cruel, relentless wind. There are many times when this terrible heat will decide whether you live or die.
High above faintly traced paths and shadowed hills we stood, dwarfed by ancient sentinel rock.”
From “Lonesome Farewell” ODDNESS COLLECTION
If you travel in these wastelands, answers may be found. Faded childhood memories come whispering softly through the canyons.
One may sometimes find religion in that awful solitude, among the huge jagged rocks.
As the searing noonday sun cuts bottomless shadows into a hostile landscape, decisions must be made quickly with no time for regret. Heat shimmers all around and pushes from above like a cruel, relentless wind. There are many times when this terrible heat will decide whether you live or die.
High above faintly traced paths and shadowed hills we stood, dwarfed by ancient sentinel rock.”
From “Lonesome Farewell” ODDNESS COLLECTION
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CLICK ON ANY SMALLER IMAGE TO ENLARGE?...........Perhaps, perhaps not.
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The passage of time has no meaning for the ghosts and delicate memories that inhabit these places. Inside the long abandoned house, past broken walls and ruined floors, there are traces of previous occupants to be found in what may have been the kitchen.
A rusted can, a thick glass medicine bottle and, in the corner, a piece of brittle, yellowed newspaper. The date, August 1938, is barely discernible.
Outside in a small, leveled area that was probably a garden, a few short fence post stumps and brown earthenware shards are all that remain. Almost.
My boot heel caught in a small object and brought a child’s toy to the surface of the sandy soil. Filled with dirt, corroded almost beyond recognition, a small cast iron railway carriage rested in my hand. Part of a train set, perhaps? No one cares now; there is no intrinsic value in the old fragments. None of these small artifacts are of any concern to the living, but they did matter to the forgotten ones who once held them long ago.
From “The Ring of Fire” ODDNESS COLLECTION
A rusted can, a thick glass medicine bottle and, in the corner, a piece of brittle, yellowed newspaper. The date, August 1938, is barely discernible.
Outside in a small, leveled area that was probably a garden, a few short fence post stumps and brown earthenware shards are all that remain. Almost.
My boot heel caught in a small object and brought a child’s toy to the surface of the sandy soil. Filled with dirt, corroded almost beyond recognition, a small cast iron railway carriage rested in my hand. Part of a train set, perhaps? No one cares now; there is no intrinsic value in the old fragments. None of these small artifacts are of any concern to the living, but they did matter to the forgotten ones who once held them long ago.
From “The Ring of Fire” ODDNESS COLLECTION
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The children would often stop to chat, some harmless distraction for them in this small neglected agricultural community. My wife was planting a pomegranate tree in the front garden. Like a magnet the kids were drawn to the place where she was working. Laughing and joking they pleaded to help plant the tree.
So, between them they broke the hard desert ground and the little tree was eventually planted. Lemonade, biscuits and cookies rewarded the laborers for their toil. A small lesson, but an admirable one. Everyone gave happily with no though of reward. Prejudice and enmity was rinsed away at least for a few hours, by the simple act of planting a tree together beneath the high the desert sun. They have ventured into a bigger world now, putting away childish things and living lives far removed from the day when they came to our garden, laughing and playing under a bright sky. Perhaps in their quiet moments some of them will recall the time when they planted a tree. Perhaps they will not, but the tree remembers, and every year brings fruit in gratitude for their effort. |
My backyard. An oasis in the desert, most things will grow here just add water.
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