God Forsaken

One half of my family has been farming and ranching for hundreds of years.  It's part of our DNA.  At some level, when we look at land, we think "grow" something.  It's always been there with me...what is growing on the land?  When we visited Zion National Park, for example, what trees and plants were growing there at that moment was of the greatest interest to me.

I'm absolutely sure that's one of the reasons I fell in love with Australia.  There were so many new-to-me plants to see/touch/smell.

Conversely, when I see arid, God forsaken expanses of 'wasteland' my bent is to shudder....avoid it.  "Nothing grows here."  Preconceived, on so many levels, is that it's a place to be avoided.

Until it rains!

The desert fairly bursts with life.  Now, even though, my visceral reaction is a shudder, I look at dry, arid lands and wonder what it must look like when it does rain.  What frogs unearth themselves for their brief meetings, matings and re-entry to the underground?  What seeds germinate?  What flowers burst open?  What critters' foot prints bake in the mud?

Because of the long held preconception, just under the surface, it is always a moment of surprised pleasure when I see arid, God forsaken, no-man's land, wasteland...... after a rain.

And Then It Rained!

And Then It Rained detail