A Couple Of Little Side Shows #52

I forgot to tell all of you about the beautiful little canyon, called Dog Canyon, at the Oliver Lee Memorial State Park in New Mexico where we spent nearly a month. This spring fed stream has created a micro-ecosystem of incredible beauty here in the midst of a vast desert outside of Alamogordo. The three of us hiked up the washed out trail to scramble over boulders and rock slides discovering wonderfully cool pools and moss covered vertical walls. Here sunlight played tricks of color while orchids, ferns, willows and cottonwoods grew side by side with yucca, Cholla and prickly pear cactus. The moisture and coolness refreshed us and made us appreciate why the ancient Indians sought this natural sanctuary for thousands of years to rest and restore themselves. Of course Kae and I are especially thankful that we have Cokie and her ability to capture such fleeting beauty with her photography.










We also took a little side trip north a few miles to photograph another sanctuary we had heard about – a small locally built church. It is tucked several miles off the main highways near the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains in an area called Three Rivers. The adobe church was constructed in 1908 to honor a generous child bringing bread and water to the prisoners of a Spanish jail sometime in the 17th century. Many worshippers felt that this child was the Christ child incarnate, so the story grew and became a part the Catholic story. The Mexican settlers brought the religion and its stories with them and created this small local church to honor “El Nino de la Atocha”. Again we found the rustic beauty of the church, its setting, artifacts and paintings to be rather sweet and comforting in this mad, mad, mad world. Plus I found wonderful smells of past fiestas and dinners to fill my nostrils and a fast and furious kitty to test my old chasing instincts. It was a good day for everyone! Thanks for coming along on these two wonderful little adventures that we almost forgot.