Church in Algodone.

After a pretty slovenly weekend in which I pretty much did as little as possible for one and a half days, I did do some very brief home care this afternoon before sunlight and the outdoors called, and picking a random direction, I drove north and after a while left the freeway and looked for an off road to get to a higher elevation, somewhere where I might take a few pictures for practice.

The sun was setting in Algodones north of Albuquerque when I did find myself on an off road for a short time. I parked my truck at the end of that road and walked into a bosque near the river there and then snapped a few pictures of seemingly withered and exploded trees in a surreal landscape clawing against the darkening sky. While there, I also saw a flight of about 20 crane or geese in a broken wishbone V flying south over a nearby bluff, and, to my surprise, a foal or tiny pony lingering alone among the shattered trees.

The free space foal.

A flight of fowl.

When it was almost dark I left the bosque and, while everyone else watched the Super Bowl, decided I wanted to go visit my parents.

When I arrived unannounced, the house was quiet- my mom was in her bedroom, and my dad was at his computer playing solitaire. I let them I just wanted to see them, and my dad then asked what I had been doing this evening, and I told him about the bosque, and then mentioned I had posted a few photos from the evening on Facebook, and then he pulled it up so that we could look at them.

And then he wanted to look at all of the others which I had posted over the last two years. Which meant I got a short replay of the last two years of my life.

But I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it because my folks share a joint account on Facebook, and it is usually my mom who uses it more, which means my dad had not seen a lot of my photos on there. They were new to him, and he enjoys photography, and especially pictures of places.

I also enjoyed it because I got to talk with him about some of my beloved experience from over the last two years, which I may not have talked with him about when they happened. Because I had some photos there from my trip to D.C. with my sister this fall, I got to tell him about my experiences from the trip. And because he’s also been there, we exchanged notes about some of the things we did and experienced while we were each there.

And as he ran backwards through the photos, we revisited two seasons of Cubs baseball, and a few road trips I had take in the last two years, and family events, and even old family photos thrown up there to poke good ole fun at one or several folks.

But at each photos viewed, we talked, and remembered, and he also let me talk about what I had seen as he listened, even if I went on a tangent about art periods or baseball standings or American writers.

So tonight I say thanks to Facebook for giving me a good hour of sitting and talking and remembering with my Dad. It’s super valuable to me that i get to do that with my parents these days. And I am grateful they do it with me.

Mom also gave me a slice of pie and some milk. That was a super extra bonus.

Bosque tree.