Today I’ve attached a photo – below – as an example of what I am loving about our frequent visits to New Mexico! This state, bordering Oklahoma only in a small stretch of our narrow panhandle, is fascinating. My creative muse loves New Mexico, and as we drive the state visiting beautiful and historic places my mind stirs with ideas for stories, books and poems.

Let me tell you a little bit about the location where this photograph was shot. If you are interested in petroglyphs (drawings scratched on rock centuries ago) you already know that New Mexico has many, many sites where these can be studied. Petroglyph National Monument is located west of Albuquerque, many miles south of the site where this picture was taken. The nearest town, which is south and east of this site, is Espanola. We were driving along an old road west of the Rio Grande in north central New Mexico, and noticed the typical weathered blackface of rocks which often have petroglyphs drawn on them. We pulled off the road and walked back. The rocks themselves are on private property, but it is easy to get close to the fence on the road right of way and take photographs.

What do the drawings mean? Who knows? Anthropologists believe these rocks were like our newspapers, used to pass along tidbits of info to those who might come past this same rock on their own journey. Are they celebrating holidays, warning of trouble, advertising plentiful game? Or just creating ancient graffiti and perfecting their art skills? I don’t know. But I feel a thrill whenever we encounter these rocks and the symbols left behind centuries ago.