Monday, January 10, 2022

Welcome Snow

Taos Plaza in falling snow

Entering a glowing Ledoux Street

The Inger Jirby Gallery with shards of snow

New Years Eve we were blessed with six inches of glorious snow. At midnight the town was still and bright. As we drove through Downtown Taos and our historic plaza the snow darted down and the lights beamed in the dark night. The lights on Ledoux Street leant a caressing glow to the New Year. It was a magical welcome to 2022.


Leaving Casa Immel on New Years morning

Approaching the Rio Pueblo Gorge

The west rim of of the Rio Pueblo Gorge

Brush Strokes, La Morada de Nuestra SeƱora de Guadalupe, December 11, 2007

Brush Strokes Redux, January 1, 2022

The next morning, we left the Immel rancho for a photo jaunt to the junction of the Rio Grande and the Rio Pueblo. At the top of the Slide Trail that dips into a narrow canyon carrying the Rio Pueblo to the Big River I turned walked along the rim to get a grab bag of shots. One of them took me back fourteen years to the image that launched my Sketches of Winter series. It’s called Brush Strokes because, well, it looks like a drawing.  Another shows the west rim of the Rio Pueblo gorge with the epic sky we’ve come to expect in the Rio Grande Recreation Area ten miles southwest of Taos. The swath of high desert scrub is riddled with hiking and mountain biking trails. It’s become a favorite place for a hike though a leisurely stroll through the juniper and sage is a more apt description. Taxing it isn’t. Scenic it is.

1 comment:

Blacks Crossing said...

What a miracle snow is during drought conditions! And if it is going to snow in New Mexico, it will be either on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. This year did not disappoint, and you certainly caught the beauty of it. What great night shots of Ledoux Street! Very painterly, capturing the huge snow flake strands. The Rio Pueblo Gorge is a landscape for the ages, draped in snow. It was wonderful of you to take a nighttime drive on the eve of 2022 and another drive as the new year opened. The snow was indeed a good omen. Thanks, Steve! I have no doubt the new year will bring forth great photography and writing from your cameras and keyboard.