— and yes, you can live in California and be homesick for the West — then do not look at Kimberly’s photos of the New Mexico sky, for you will dissolve into a slick puddle of romantic longing for that landscape. Although you will also learn how a mountain range there got named after a watermelon.

And there’s something there about a horse, I think.

1. 
   Amanda Marcotte 2006 05 21 at 7:29:51 pm

   I’m not going to be egotistical, but how’d you know?

   I don’t really miss it but the beauty is quite real.

2. 
   spyder 2006 05 21 at 7:42:50 pm

   Friday afternoon the great wakinyan being strode over the city.  For some, not inexplicable, reason it perched above my house for 20 minutes or so, laying down huge bolts of lightning, massive amounts of hail and rain, and howling winds.  It had been such a beautiful day i had my windows open, and while i was outside shouting my Lakota messages to the wakinyan spirit i didn’t realize what all tricksters must get to know.  The inside of my house was almost as wet as the outside.  I almost lost some recording equipment, a DVD player, a new TV, and other stuff.  It might have been worth it.

   For later as the being passed to the north and east, reeking havoc on the bigger areas of the city, stopping traffic, shutting down power grids, wiping out data files, i was treated to the most beautiful ethereal light show.  Brilliant colors from the near setting sun passing through clouds danced on the leeward side of the storm’s giant tail.  At one precious moment, a stunning green hue streaked out, only that wavelength of the otherwise hidden rainbow.  No, i don’t miss the West, i live in it.

3. 
   Roxanne 2006 05 21 at 7:56:03 pm

   I’m in a constant state of being homesick for the West.

4. 
   decrepitoldfool 2006 05 21 at 9:09:09 pm

   What Roxanne said.  (Washington expatriate living in Illinois.  Too many responsibilities to move right now.  Sometimes actually dream of travelling to Yakima valley and going up into the hills to die.)

5. 
   KathyF 2006 05 22 at 6:03:46 am

   I’m not really that homesick, since I’m looking at green fields and flowers and lilacs and wisteria and all the things I love better than brown desert grasses. And did I mention flowers? They’re everywhere, on trees, climbing houses, and poking up in my lawn.

   And I hear the temperature is in the 90s in Albuquerque this week.

   There are lots of different theories about how the Sandias got their name, btw. For about 5 minutes at sunset they turn pink. (So did the Alps in Grenoble.) They’re also shaped like a watermelon. And supposedly the Spanish explorers found watermelon-type fruit growing there. Who knows?

6. 
   I Gallop On 2006 05 23 at 5:20:30 pm

   You should have seen the sky here in New Mexico last night!  Breathtaking.  We stayed outside until it was pitch black dark.

   Thing is—I need to get a new camera!

   Thanks, Chris.  Kimberly @ I Gallop On