.

Under the cooler air of the pre-season, the gypsies went out again.  To the high desert and to the sand dunes and amazing fauna and flora they love so much.  A lovely breeze was running through the campsite making out of the art of camping a real true joy. 

The old gypsies stationed their gypsy trailer right under one of the biggest and broadest trees adorning the campsite, and right under its fronds they arranged their chairs and called the space their little living room… 

Refreshing breezes played in branches and among leaves as the songs of birds filled the heavens and serenated the early afternoon.  We read, we made lunch and then continued reading some more.  I watched at how puffy white clouds moved along the bluest emptied sky, resembling old ships navigating some ancient seas.  I listed for the voices of coyotes in the far distance and to the songs of birds, then we decided to walk down to the lake… 

Oh but this is still the desert my friends, and it is still the end of summer too, which means that all of a sudden the afternoon turned to fire on us.  A great heat came pulsing down on us, surrounding us like flames and heavy sweat and the entire campsite felt drowsy and heavy and the only thing we could do to cease the discomfort this heat brought on us was to run to the showers for a nice refreshing soak.  And how nice it felt and how refreshed our skin felt after that.

When we came to our campsite again after our shower, how different things looked and felt.   The Fisherman made pizza and we ate our dinner as we watched at other campers and new arrivers come in and worked on their spaces.  Soon, the sun was glowing gold in the west and the light was like a cascade of glimmers and jewels and pieces of gold being showered down on us from the heavens.  So beautiful, so very beautiful the entire sky had turned, that I decided we should go out again and walk the trails of the dunes under this magnificent light.  And thus, we did.

 

a blaze of color -- oranges, pearly pinks, the sky turned to a dusky purple...

Soon it got dusk, a grapy dusk, a purple dusk over tangerine desert vegetation, prairie, lake and marsh habitat; the sun the color of pressed grapes, slashed with burgandy red, the grasslands the color of love and Spanish mysteries.

Oh sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.”

 

On our way back we were welcomed by one of the most intriguing and beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen… dusty rose and smoky burnt orange sky illuminated by this kind of an obtuse grey light that reminded me of light streaming in through wavy paned glass windows, and I’m not sure why it took me to a memory of another place in time that I couldn’t place...  the shadow of the moon fell on the world in peace…

 

 And what a beautiful beautiful the next morning of that Sabbath was.  In the afternoon we left our gypsy trailer and went to a nearby lake to spend the hottest hours of the day by the water.  On our way we saw a mule deer and stopped at the center for ice cream.  At the lake, the Fisherman when to fish and the gypsy girl sat down to read under the shade of a plant growing by the water, and she remembered Jonah and the story and how the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.  And so was I with my plant.  It was breeze and under its shade I stood for hours reading while the Fisherman talked to his fishes until he had enough. 

That night we decided not to go to bed as early as we usually do and instead went star gazing at the Observatory!  We watched a presentation inside the Education Center, saw the night sky and viewed the planets, nebulas, and galaxies.  People went in their Pjs, and it was dark and cozy and you felt as if flying the night sky to other galaxies far away.  Then, it was the real viewing of the heavens through the Observatory’s collection of telescopes outside.  People made lines and the Fisherman and I headed over to our cozy gypsy trailer for the night… there was a bright full moon illuminating shadowed trails and the desert seem to glow. 

I love this place so much... in every season and every weather.