Today is all about sky and wind, lilacs and birds. Magpies, those legendary thieves, are flying around with sticks, string, cottonwood puffs in their beaks and who knows what else. One spring they stole all the seashells I'd put around a plant in a terracotta pot on the deck. Over some weeks I wondered what was happening as I noticed them disappearing. Wind? The dog? Then one day I actually saw the culprit. He swooped down and flew off with a small scallop shell in his beak. Somewhere high in a tree in New Mexico there must have been a nest lined with salty seashells. What an image!
Magpies are big strong birds and can be quite aggressive when protecting their nests. Seconds after I snapped his picture this one turned around and flew at me threateningly. I didn't linger but continued walking home. I'd been to a meeting with the book designer who just happens to live at the other end of my dirt road. My head was so full of photographic images and the lovely way the book is shaping up that I saw everything around me as if through a lens - albeit a tilted one. I was sort of in that mood. A little off center.
So few days are mediocre in Taos. What with the weather and the wildlife. And now the lilacs are out up here too - a bit less showy than last year's super abundance - probably due to the harsh winter and late spring. But so welcome. I call this cascade of blurry purple Judith's Garden because these belong to my neighbor and nearly stuck me down with a heady intoxication as I strolled by.
The photographer I interviewed this morning (more about that in future posts) talked about "the truth of the moment" which is pretty much what my head has been filled with for a week. He is not a fan (nor am I) of altered images - although we both agreed that it's necessary for certain subjects - fashion and advertising. And fiction!
Time for yarns of blue
Airing on the windy clothesline
They blend into sky
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