Tenacity

The tenacity of plants will never cease to amaze me.

Here is a brave little Indian paint brush flower castilla minitia holding its own next to a prickly cactus on a hot, crunchy ancient lava bed. I scratched my finger down into the soil (if you could call it that!) and there was less than 1/3". Plants can do so much with so little.

We've been staying with my 78 year old aunt and cousins in Albuquerque, and this picture was taken from a day trip we took the other day to the western part of New Mexico. My Aunt Shirley is incredible. Despite her age we've hardly been able to keep up with her as we've hiked in the Sandia Mountains, through canyons, pueblos, over and around petroglyph rocks, etc. The beauty here is stunning - I see why New Mexico is known as the "land of enchantment".