El cielo

Ah...el cielo. It's one of my favorite words in Spanish (meaning "heaven"). The inside of the store was like heaven to me, full of comfy beds, bath gels, and terry cloth robes. But since I couldn't afford anything inside "cielo", I walked outside and took this picture. I love the way the sky & tree branches are reflected in the glass above the store's sign. That and the fact that the door to heaven was wide open. We can only hope...

Western Wildlife Art

I love this photo for its shabby/mangy feel. Notice the crazy roots climbing the wall at the bottom of the photo, the rudimentary homemade sign, and how everything seems to be off-balance. While this wasn't done intentionally, I think the picture seems to effectively capture the "wild" in the Wildlife Art.

Poco a poco...

This spot was in Old Town, Albuquerque. I love that "Poco a poco" ("Little by little") is painted over the entrance to the stores. Like the bronze statue (see below), there are things around town to indicate that life is just a little slower down in New Mexico...in a good way. People take their time there; I found it to be a good reminder to us New Englanders who rush around so much, stressed out that we're not moving fast enough, working hard enough, or making enough money. "Poco a poco" reminds us that things happen as they should.

Casa Rondena Winery

Within the first 24 hours of being in New Mexico, my father insisted that we stop at a winery. The first day at the winery was great (who doesn't love to do a little wine tasting at noon on a Sunday?) but when he decided to revisit the same winery a few days later, I decided to go out back and take some pictures of the owner's property. This structure (which looks like something you might see in Rome) is in the vineyard owner's backyard. Pretty nice.

Cactus & hidden window

This is a relatively simple image that captures the ubiquitous cacti of New Mexico. I also like the fact that the tree is obstructing the window so that it's not clear what's inside.

"Idle Thoughts"

This is a picture I took during my recent trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was struck by the beauty of this statue (there are bronze statues all over the city but this one caught my attention because of its somewhat controversial nature). The statue was a series of three --the other two said "Faith or Fear" and "Truth or Illusion"-- but "Idle Thoughts" was by far my favorite. I also like how the picture unintentionally captures the statue pointing to the wooden chair in the background as if to say, "Take a load off and just chill out".