Orogenous* Zones

[*Look it up: orogeny.] This pic is about 10" x 10", in pastels. Done plein air in the Garden of the Gods. There was a sheer cliff right behind this cluster of boulders that rose about twenty stories. Straight up. It was dotted with swallows' nests. But almost at the very top was a white-smeared ledge where an eagle pair was tending a nest. While I was there Parent "A" brought in a morsel, greeted most cacophonously. Neat-o!

On to Taos today, passing by and through your Southern Rocky Mountains. Or more particularly the Sangre de Cristo Range.I stopped for a very late breakfast at the world famous Old West Cafe in Fort Garland. There I packed away such a breakfast, washed down with a root beer, that will stay seared into my psyche forever.

Taos for the night, a town where all landscaping, including the occasional window box or sidewalk planter, is banned from the historic town center. There to be replaced with the required (I believe it's a law) three-foot-long, hanging cluster of dried up shiny red chiles. La ristra. A must-have.