Midsummer Fantasies

Cotton candy clouds on azure canopy

Cede sky realms to golden veils ablaze.

Farewell daylight on wings of fantasy,

Prevail on moonbeam dances to amaze.

Daylight finds Cooper and me afoot in morning mists. Remnants of thunderstorms form a gray facade across the eastern horizon. They delay the fury of the mid-summer sun. Her pearly disk makes fleeting appearances in the brume amid dark wisps of vapor racing across her feeble countenance.

We advance into the damp prairie. Where days ago the curled and blistered surfaces of ephemeral mud flows crunched underfoot akin to cornflakes, reflecting pools of water affirm the saving graces of summer rains. Where days ago the sweet scent of fresh cut hay on the wind invited escapades of youthful tomfoolery, aromas of sage and soil sway heart and soul to introspection.

Here and there along our trail stray rain showers breach their ethereal confinement. They long for the earth’s embrace. They long to tap dance on my straw hat, form rivulets, and ooze off the cocked brim. I long for the exhilarating sensation of summer rain on my skin. The brief downpours saturate my clothing and Cooper’s coat. Invigorated we make leisurely headway.

Moments wax minutes, then an hour. The sun slips her vaporous fetters and reclaims her celestial dominion above the field of dreams stretched before us. In the aftermath of the amazing grace rains bestow upon the parched prairie, wildlife resumes pursuits of survival and vegetation rejuvenates. Ribbons of water on red dirt ranch roads become reflecting pools and the single, delicate blossom on a Puncturevine becomes a rose.

I pause and allow the lessons of the Llano Estacado environs to reach into my heart. Days passed and those ahead touch in a flash of enlightenment. I conclude another chapter in the never ending saga of understanding the wild. As Cooper and I head homeward, we tread lightly and leave only the footprints of our shadows upon the face of the fragile prairie ecosystem.


© Ilija Lukić 2012

Field Of Dreams (monarda pectinata, aka Pony Beebalm

Divine Proportions (1.61803399 the Golden Ratio, aka helianthus annuus)

Broadleaf Milkweed (asclepias latifolia)

Passion In Blue (commelina erecta)

A Rose By Any Other Name (tribulus terrestris, aka Goat Head, Puncturevine)

Amazing Grace

Sporobolus Heterolepis (aka Prairie Dropseed)

Sawtooth Daisy Loop Patrol (Cooper)

Twin Cronies (yucca campestris)

Sun Burst

Sister To The Sun (helianthus annuus, aka Common Sunflower)

Don't Tread On Me (Bullsnake)

Yellow Hymenopappus Feast

Gaillardia Refrain

Broad Leaf Sun Shelter (asclepias latifolia)

Stealth Mode (pituphis catenifer sayi)

Pollen Collector (Bush Morning Glory)

Serpent In Eden (Bullsnake)

High Wire Act (Metallic Green Sweat Bee)

Reflecting Pool

Artful Wanderer (pituophis catenifer sayi, aka Bullsnake)

Bottlebrush Squirreltail (elymus elymoides)

(unidentified)

Tread Lightly (Cooper and El Llanero)

Yellow Sweet Clover

Stranglehold (Desert Kingsnake)

Texas Blueweed

Texas Horned Lizard (phrynosoma cornutum)

Mexican Hat Dance (ratibida columnifera, aka Long-head Coneflower)

Sisters (monarda pectinata)

Redroot Pigweed Invader

Ironplant Goldenweed (haplopappus spinulosa, aka Cutleaf Ironplant)

Summer Crossroads

This summer, I pause at a crossroads in my writing and image making odyssey. I ponder possibilities. The grand landscapes of the Southwest and our homeland in general beckon. Per contra, I am reluctant to part with capturing and sharing intimate landscapes. My sojourns into the Llano Estacado ecosystem with Cooper have been nothing short of a magical, thought-provoking quests of discovery and self-realization. The tenacity of Llano wildlife and her emerald domes of Broom Snakeweed, sun-kissed yucca, hardy cacti, and rough-hewn tablelands of shortgrass prairie are etched onto my heart. Unquestionably, whichever direction my journey takes I shall continue to foster connections between the human spirit and the natural world.


© Ilija Lukić 2012

Summer Crossroads (Cooper and El Llanero)

Bundle Of Joy (cirsium ochrocentrum, aka Yellowspine Thistle)

Sun-kissed (yucca campestris)

Sundance (gaillardia pulchella)

Are You Lookin' At Me?

Soggy Passage (Cooper)

Yucca Curtsy

Viridescent Love Affair (augochloropsis metallica, aka Metallic Green Sweat Bee)

Bullsnake Sinuosity (pituophis catenifer sayi)

Propeller Throng (Broadleaf Milkweed)

Emerald Dome Boondocks (gutierrezia sarothrae)

Pensive Respite (Cooper)

Summer Harvest (pogonomyrmex barbatus)

Short-Ray Prairie Coneflower (ratibida tagetina)

Aged To Perfection (yucca campestris fruit pod)

Cooper's Sidekick

White Horsenettle (solanum elaeagnifolium)

Ring Around The Roses (acanthocephala terminalis, aka Leaf-Footed Bug, nymph stage)

The Need For Speed

Pssst...Seen Any Pocket Gophers Lately?

Sombra Hirsuta (Shaggy Shadow)

Yellowspine Thistle (cirsium ochrocentrum)

Shade Hound (Cooper)

Bee Bull's Eyes (Cane Cholla)

Long-Headed Coneflower (ratibida columnifera)

New Mexico Spiny Star (escobaria vivipara var neomexicana)

Odd Lady Out (cylindropuntia imbricata)

Groovin' In Sunshine (Horned Lizard)

Desert Straw (stephanomeria pauciflora, aka Wild Lettuce)

Silver Winds (artemisia filifolia, aka Silver Sage)

Pink Cajolery (Cane Cholla)

Delicate Embraces (opuntia engelmannia and yucca campestris)

Pronuba Moth (tageticula yuccasella)

Where The Llano Ends

At the northern reaches of the Llano Estacado Plateau its grasslands tumble abruptly into the ancient Canadian River Basin. Pinion and juniper saddle rugged alluvial tongues, which reach into the mesquite and cactus covered river plain. In the distance portions of the legendary Route 66 still meander through towns with names that conjure images of its glory days--Tucumcari, San Jon, and Glenrio.

In 1946 Nat King Cole first recorded the Bobby Troup rhythm and blues song “Get Your Kicks on Route 66”, while the hopes and dreams of our Nation flowed east and west on the two-lane ribbon of concrete. Today, as in bygone days the panorama of the Northern Llano Estacado Escarpment delights weary travelers. Its timeless sun, wind, and rain-swept slopes endure and I gladly give in to the allure.

After hours of exploring scraps and discards of history I wend south towards the Llano. Just below the tablelands I pause for a parting look across the color and drama of red soil and blue New Mexico skies.


© Ilija Lukić 2012

Where The Llano Ends (Quay County, New Mexico)