April has been a month of preparation: preparing for the garden and preparing for the upcoming art festivals and shows. Seedlings and dahlias are starting to sprout inside as our final freeze date is June 6th. I ordered more postcards— replenishing some old designs and trying some new ones, too. This month’s photos include some views of a misty and mystical visit to Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Chinle, Arizona last weekend. An artist friend of mine, Tasha Nez (@pacotacorox), was the artist in residence last week, so that inspired the trip. Little did we expect that we would meet winter weather at the end of April! And, the route that we took was one of the only options for the traffic that was diverted to back roads due to the train derailment and fires which caused I-40 to be closed in both directions for two days. The dramatic landscape and wild weather was a stark contrast to my previous visits to Canyon de Chelly, when the triple-digit heat marked my memory of resting in slivers of shade while hiking down into the canyon to visit The White House Ruins. But, the trail and overlook for White House Ruins is closed for repairs right now. (I’ll include a photo of a painting of mine of the White House dwelling.) Then, we drove to the far end of the south rim— over 7,000 ft. altitude and snowing— to the overlook trail for Spider Rock. A peaceful, wet and chilly walk with not much visibility, until we got to the overlook, and there! Spider Rock! Peeking out of the canyon mist to give us a faint glimpse. It was exhilarating, and Mom and I decided right then that we’d like to return with hopes of a clearer view of this majestic canyon. Also included in this month’s photos— a photo of some of Tasha’s work (a mono print with bluebird, UFO with sheep, and Spider Rock notecard,) the new postcards of mine, seedlings on the windowsill, the stream running off from Ramah Lake, a moonlight walk with the neighbor’s horses, scenes of sky, moon, and of course— the pups.
