For me, as a recently retired Park Ranger, 2022 is about creating an image of myself, the future, and with the camera.  I want to fill the year with travel, laughter, and fun.

Wish you could have been here to share the cloud dances on the eve of a new year.  What will the new year bring, we ask.  What can I expect?  What image have I created for my immediate future?  Right NOW, today, I am still thoroughly enjoying my desert experience, the apricity and deserquies.  I see myself sharing desert passion with a small friendly group of like minded people.  We are camped barely in sight of each other without blocking views.  A centralized firepit, chairs, and a few small tables.  After a morning meeting of the minds, each of us organize ourselves for a short ride to the end of the road and a half-mile Palm Canyon hike. Bring water, snacks, camera, and childlike wonder to this Geogypsy Journey.  We arrive to the actual overlook of a side canyon shortly before noon when the overhead sun lights up the only known native Palm trees found in the state.  Only one reason this is the preserved Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.  (I saw a gathering, more later.)

First day of this new year and it was a little chilly especially with a brutal north wind that kept me inside most of the day only stepping out briefly for a quick yet colorful sunset.  I’ve been struggling with my camera creating an image that’s consistently in focus.  Seems I’ve had this problem before.  Research tells me the Nikon D5600 takes about 7 seconds to focus.  That’s long.  I bracket my shots and it does seem the second, also darkest, is often the better focus.  I usually make landscape photos, a scene that isn’t moving much, so I’m reminding myself to slow down, recompose, take a stance, keep my elbows against my body, and hold my breath for the click.  Yet the camera is heavy and after a few hours of shooting I feel the burn in my left and worse shoulder, and both wrists.  I want a lighter camera but that will have to wait for price drop and income increase.  I’m creating that image too, a lightweight mirrorless camera around my neck.  Can you see it?

I paid for those clear skies the next morning when I got up the first time to 34°, then turned the heat on before crawling back under the covers.  I fell back to sleep by creating an image of me being warm.  Later in the day, playing with the phone, I tried creating an image of both Sierra and myselfie.  I only recently started taking more photos with my phone but I’m not finding it easy to hold still with the phone while creating an image.

Also started notes for a book idea as a Forest Ranger at Mt St Helens.  So many stories.  Now I’m creating an image of me actually writing the book then marketing myself doing presentations while I travel.  Did get a pretty sunset.

Hope I’m not creating an image of me only sitting inside the camper all the time, surrounded by the beautiful desert nature around me.  If it’s too cold that may be true.  I do spend a lot of time on my laptop and that just isn’t comfortable working outside with glaring sun or chilly shade.  Thank goodness for sunshine, light wind, and the camper as a wind block, so I do get out and enjoy the desert apricity.  I usually sit and read, soaking up the warmth, sometimes creating an image of shorts and sandals and maybe a swimming pool.  Just kidding.  Even in the low 60s that’s not warm enough for me to bear much skin.

I have worked on creating an image of myself.  You saw a few of my fun hats.  Jewelry is also a wonderful creative expression and I have enough to open a store.  I dug into packed jewelry and felt the magic of wearing some of my favorite turquoise.  Used to be a most important part of getting dressed and often the deciding factor for what to wear to match the jewelry.  I let it slide and now want to feel the comfort of the stones once again.  I’ve always collected rocks and for years made jewelry with semi-precious stones and beads.  Once I started blogging and improving my photography in 2008, crafts went out the window.

Neighbors on both sides left so I had no problem creating an image of the desert and Kofa Mountains with no white van to avoid in the frame.  Yet the brilliant blue cloudless sky didn’t lend itself to creating an image until the end of the day with a touch of crescent moon.

As clouds returned, the wind slowed, and the temperatures rose, a perfect combination in my mind.  Yet cold and ice in the upper atmosphere were creating an image of a morning sundog.

Wasn’t long and a new neighbor moved into my window view, at a good distance mind you.  I went for a couple hour stroll going barely a mile and took over 200 photos.

I am intrigued by the twisted shapes of the dead trees that are part of the desert story for a long time.

So many desert plants look distressed and perhaps dead but are not, simply conserving energy during the driest of times.  Like the fountain-shaped Ocotillo only bearing well-spaced leaves and brilliant red flowers after some healthy rain.

Late in the afternoon and just before sunset a Skoolie (school bus conversion) pulled in across the road joining a van and car.  One woman in their group had an overly loud voice that carried far across the land.  A prelude of more to come.

I hated to leave this (otherwise) quiet piece of desert but it was time to dump and fill the camper tanks, and I planned to return.  I didn’t have to rush out in the morning so spent some extra time with Sierra.  She’s never happy when I tell her, “We’re going to roll.”  Not usually a very vocal cat, she gives me a dirty look, “meow”, and crawls under the bed covers until we are absolutely stopped in our new space.

Because it’s January, the busiest month in Quartzsite, I had called Shady Lane RV Park to make a reservation.  The same small space I’ve parked in for years provided the hookups I needed plus the $1.50 15-minute hot shower was divine.  The owners, Finius and Breezy, stopped by to say hi as we’ve gotten to be friends over the years.  They are very busy at the “campiest camp in town” and I highly recommend a stay there while in Quartzsite.  Make it for several days and you might get to go with them to their mining claim and climb around in the desert.  Or, just follow Finius the Skinniest on FB because he’s funny.

I like Shady Lane, but it’s in town, and town is bright and noisy.  One night was enough.  After getting the propane tanks filled in the morning—I didn’t cuss once, good on me—I drove 30 minutes west on freeway (yuk) to Blythe for a grocery run.  Can somebody explain to me why emery boards—along with mascara and fake eyelashes—would be in a locked glass-fronted case?  I cooked my pizza lunch while in the parking lot as pizza just won’t fit in the freezer.  Between that and a fuel stop, I didn’t get back to camp until 2:30pm.  Town always feels like an all day ordeal.  I need to work on creating a better image of that.

I instinctively headed to my previous campsite as I really like the view, vegetation, and only one mile of gravel road.  But what the…  That one Skoolie, was now a gathering of possibly 50 vehicles parked across the road in two parallel lines.  Mostly vans with a few buses and RVs.  OK?  They were surprisingly quiet all afternoon.

Then at sunset, the music started.  By 8pm there was a whole lot of whooping going on and all I heard was drum beat.  I don’t want to complain as I’d be right there with them, when I was young(er), and if I’d been invited. I just hoped it wouldn’t last all night as I fell asleep to the beat while creating an image of me swirling to the beat, as the go-go girl I was 50 years ago.

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