14) Desert Solitaire RIP

I thought of the late author and environmentalist, Edward Abbey, often while driving across the open desert. He loved the desert and devoted his life to it’s protection. Sadly, he knew what was coming ‘down the road’ so to speak.

“Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other places but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life-forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom.” Edward Abbey

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