I love the desert at night. I think of it coming alive on summer nights under the stars. The doors open, the oppressing heat of the day is swept out and the night life sidles up for another tour of duty in the desert dance hall. The cool air and clear skies making the perfect playground for the soaring night hawks, gliding through a sea of western stars. This area of the Sonoran desert is deeply romantic and beautiful to me. There always seems to be music drifting in on the night wind, the Palo Verde trees swaying in the rhythmic breeze. The shapes of the mountains like a natural adobe home sheltering her animals, decorated with stark sculptures of waving saguaros, and the teasing voluptuous bodies of fish hook and beaver tail cactus. Then suddenly color like silk scarves in a Paris boutique, colorful wild vibrant cactus flowers in every shade of outrageous calling for love. The night bloomers tarting up with perfume to attract a dance partner, lingering until the first light and heat of the day and then fainting away with exhaustion.

The Javelina are my favorite desert dweller. They seem so well suited to the peaceful easy environment, with their lazy stubble and bristly durability as they go about their feed on the succulent feast. Well served travelers through the desert scrub.

Winding trails and paths are symbolic of the journey through life we are taking. Representing the transformation that occurs between getting from place A to place B. These roads also denote the passage of time, places and people you have been that are shaping who you will become. Not quite there yet. Still a traveler on a desert highway under western stars.