Desert summer, midwestern spring

Michigan is at its prettiest this time of year - trees blooming, delicate film of green on the trees, color after a very long, monochromatic winter. I'm enjoying the loveliness of spring although it feels a little schizophrenic after a couple weeks in New Orleans where spring was far more advanced but where I couldn't simply revel in it given the almost post-apocalyptic state that so much of the city lingers in. What, you may ask, does this have to do with pictures of the desert - especially pictures of the desert in high summer? It's not obvious nor simple. Some of it is just that this time of year I yearn to be out west hiking and the desert is the place I'd most like to be. When the weather finally warms up enough here to really enjoy being outdoors I want to travel. This spring that won't happen. I'm still digesting my experience in New Orleans. I balance between my utter rage at what has happened there, my pessimism that it will ever be made right and a profound personal desire for the serenity that for me has always been found in the desert. Hence the pictures of the last time I was there. These pix are all from my 2007 trip to Canyonlands.

In some ways I've always felt like the desert is the home I belong in. Ironically enough since I've never actually lived there. It's a disconnect between where I am home and where I feel home is - or will be - someday. I can't complain though - I have a home. It may not be the place I most want to be but it hasn't been taken from me or destroyed. My life is as under my control as much as anyone's is these days. At least as much under my control as anyone's life who is the parent of three teenagers can be! After two weeks in New Orleans working with people who have lost just about everything they held dear I treasure the luxury of both the physical home and the spiritual one and the chance to be in both.