The New Jerusalem

The wonderful view from Alexander Heights looking west.  The words, “You are the light of the world.  A city built on a hilltop cannot be hidden,” (Mt. 5:14) naturally come to me as I gaze on this place (Barrio Rio Grande and Sunset Heights), this view that contains so much of my own personal history, and family history as well.

This is another short stop on journey to the East, “die Heimat und Jugend der Seele” (the home and youth of the soul), the fair, shining streets like those of the New Jerusalem.

Spring

Spring has arrived.  It was a little uncertain at first, as the cold days occasionally returned, but it is truly here, and truly a welcome spring.

Flowering almond

Pomegranates, apple blossoms, mugwort

Beim Erwachen begann er fröhlich sein Tagwerk, erbaute sich eine bequeme Einsiedlerhütte, grub seinen Garten, und pflanzte Rosen und Lilien, auch andere Wohlgeruch düftende Blumen und Kräuter, nicht minder Kohl und Küchengewächse nebst fruchtbringenden Obstbäumen hinein. Die Elfe unterließ nie jeden Abend im Zwielichten ihm einen Besuch zu machen, erfreute sich über den Gewinn seines Fleißes, lustwandelte mit ihm Hand in Hand am schilfreichen Gestade des Weihers auf und ab, und der bewegliche Schilf flötete dem traulichen Paare einen melodischen Abendgruß zu, wenn es die Luft durchsäuselte. Sie unterwies ihren horchsamen Lehrjünger in den Geheimnissen der Natur, unterrichtete ihn von dem Ursprung und dem Wesen der Dinge, lehrte ihn die natürlichen magischen Eigenschaften und Wirkungen derselben, und bildete den rohen Kriegsmann zu einem Denker und Weltweisen um. 
                                    

Upon awakening, he began his work cheerfully, and built himself a comfortable hermitage, dug a garden, planted roses, lilies and other fragrant flowers, herbs and kitchen vegetables along with fruitful orchards. The elf never failed to visit every evening at twilight, enjoying the profits of his industry and strolling with him hand in hand on the reedy banks of the pond, as the moving reeds whispered a melodious evening greeting to the intimate couple when the breeze passed through them. She taught her disciple universal teachings in the mysteries of nature, informing him of the origin and the character of things, instructing him about natural magical properties and their effects, and in doing so, formed the raw soldier into a thinker and philosopher.

                                                                     --Johann Karl August Musäeus, "Libussa"

Rue in flower with bee balm shoots in the foreground

The Palisades Canyon Loop

Libby and I took the dogs up the trails of the Palisades Canyon Loop (Crazy Cat Canyon) in the Franklin Mountains today.  The trailhead is only a couple of miles from our house.  The desert is very dry, but the lechuguillas and yuccas and creosote are all clinging to life amid the harshness.  Occasionally, the light green of a mesquite with newly-sprung leaves brightens the landscape.  The Franklin Mountains are all about geology, though.  The twisted formations of Lower Ordovician El Paso Group Limestone are mixed with the Upper Ordovician Montoya Group Dolomite and the Silurian Fusselman Dolomite.  There is a spot where the bright yellows and reds of the fossil-rich (trilobites, cystoids, brachiopods, nautiloids, sponges, etc.) Lower Ordovician Florida Mts. Formation meets the Silurian light grey-white-to-almost-pink Fusselman Dolomite in a sharply-defined discontinuity.  Amid the jagged limestone and dolomite cliffs and the stark, spectacular canyons lie the humble beauties of a bright Texas rainbow cactus or an occasional wildflower.

Chert lenses in the El Paso Limestone

Lechuguillas clinging to life

Yucca, acacia (not yet in leaf), lechuguillas, and Texas rainbow cactus

Fusselman Dolomite

Prickly pear cactus and calcite