TAOS: LAY OF THE LAND

Before I lose my city-girl perspective, I want to share a few observations about how it is with the land, here in Taos and Northern New Mexico:

• My casita is two blocks from the center of town; even so, this horse and her pasture are between my home and the center. If I go along the road in another direction, toward the city park, there is an empty field with an abandoned irrigation trestle.
• About a third of the roads I walk or drive on are dirt. A fair number of New Mexico state highways are dirt. Most of the time, I can walk along a highway (paved or dirt) as though it were a trail, since the traffic is so light, I welcome a driver when I see one.
• However, I hear many sounds when I walk: the birds, the crickets, the prairie dogs if I go out late in the afternoon. If it is a windy day, I hear ONLY the wind. Never did I realize how noisy wind could be.
• As I opened my gate this afternoon, there was a snake right at my feet.
• The power went out all over town this afternoon, the second time since I've been here. Streetlights didn't work and stores had to close. Nobody cared much.

All these details are becoming part of my personal landscape and I hardly notice them. By the time I go back to Oakland, I'll have to adjust to walking on sidewalks again.