Spring Fires

Winds have been severe the past couple days. The air is warm and the sun wants to shine, but fires over the mountains to the northeast of Santa Fe are raging, fires to the west have spread, and the Ruidoso mountain town to the south is afire. The air is awful here in between.

We are in no danger, but the air smells of smoke and I can't get it out of my clothes and hair when I come inside after being outdoors.

The light is weird. Sometimes filled with dust, sometimes hazy, a little smoky and red tinged.

This view of the deck is just odd -- the color is strange. The light is weird. We stay indoors.

As always in these catastrophes, I think of the utter devastation to fire-ravaged areas nearby and homes lost, and how safe we are in our little spot, thank god. Thank god.

The hummingbirds visit often now even in the high winds. Tiny black violas in a little container on the patio bob in the fierce winds. 

Dried kochia weed branches, big as tumbleweeds, are blown down the street and get caught in the pine trees in front. Every morning I go out and untangle the dried, stiffly branchy spindles from the pine branches and then do it again the next morning.

Wind. 

Fire. 

Spring in New Mexico.