Eideard

Click photo to enlarge.

One of the delights of living in high desert country is the frequency of beautiful sunsets and sunrises. This was this morning.

Click pic to enlarge

The first two blossoms on one of my favorite chollas out in the back meadow by the bosque.

After a long dry winter and a matching spring – courtesy of La Niña – our high desert flowers have been sparse and late. This cholla is several feet high and often has nests from a few pairs of prairie birds; so, I tend to leave it undisturbed except when I can’t resist capturing a few snaps of its brilliant flowers.

You can see another dozen or so buds in the same frame – ready to explode in the coming week.

This won’t dazzle anyone living in a climate with moderate amounts of humidity. But, hoarfrost is pretty rare in New Mexico.

After recent snowstorms we’ve been bumping well above our usual 15% humidity and, last night, a gentle breeze from the South combined with humid air – at minus 8ºC – our first walk, this morning, found the fence coated with ice feathers.

Here’s a close-up

Yeah, yeah. I know. I take new snaps and post ‘em every year.

Buffalo Gourd is still one of my very favorite high desert summer flowers. They dazzle me every morning.