Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly

"As it started to snow, some 300 men, women, and children, perhaps tipped off by a sentry that an army was on its way, ascended to the top and pulled up the ladders. Hoping the evil might pass beneath them, they planned to hunker down and dwell in silence for months.Then one day, as the bleak winter sun slipped behind the canyon walls, a column of American soldiers came marching into the canyon, laying waste to fields and chiseling their Kilroys into the sandstone. Some of their inscriptions are still visible today.  Somehow detecting the Navajo sequestered on top, the Americans camped near the base of Fortress Rock, beside a stream called Tsaile Creek, and attempted to starve them into final submission.

Beyond A Shadow :

Two days a year in the enchanting landscapes of Monument Valley a mysterious event occurs. The Mittens,  designated as the East and the West are two free-standing sandstone buttes , two classic iconic symbols of Monument Valley. In March and September, the West Mitten's shadow will land on the East Mitten in a perfect reversed image. A photographers dream. When all the elements play well together, the sunset, clouds and a little magic, something truly spectacular occurs.

Drifting Away

Watercolor by Valerie Millett

I brought her good news and her face lit up. Her soft blue eyes, slightly closed by the huge grin on her weathered and tired face beamed with measurable warmth.  To see her smile, I felt a sense of relief. This exact moment in time everything was good in her world made that everything good in my world.  She was leaving. She steadied herself, legs unsure for a moment and reached out to hug me.  It felt good to hug her.  She held on longer and paused to kiss my cheek.  She held my face in her hands and lovingly looked into my eyes and told me she loved me. I told her, I love you, back.  As she left, she turned around and waved and looked at me as though she'd loved me an eternity. She left me, in tears.

Making Peace With The Canyon

My first and only encounter with the Grand Canyon was when I was a child. My constant companion was a stuffed rabbit and I can recall to this day the pink velvet pants he wore and the curve of his sweet face, his black loving eyes. He was my safe place to land during a childhood that was at time often fraught with unimaginable darkness. 

It was on a family trip where he was snatched out of my hands and held over the railing and dropped. Every ounce of security I had in the world plummeted into an abyss in front of my eyes. I didn't know, I didn't know a lot of things, I was a child. He had really just landed on a ledge that I couldn't see as I lay on the ground in a heap of grief and despair. Onlookers witnessing my public humiliation.  These were the stories that populated my youth and these were the stories one never shared in school. 

So with great anticipation and some intrepidation, I returned to the canyon after all those years as an adult.  I wondered if I would remember the exact railing of a scene so long ago. Turns out, I did. 

A bittersweet journey into the past. A more loving memory: My mother had bought a small box of polished rocks and crystals when I was there and I cherished them for lifetime.  I still have them.  As a young girl,  I used to lay them out on my bed and study them. I was fascinated by them and I attribute them to that spark, that first realization that an immense natural world of beauty and wonder existed for me to explore. Little did I know at the time, how that wonderful natural world would come to mean so much to me and in reality guide so much of my life. Save my life in so many ways.