A fierce westerly wind began to blow early this morning, as if to make up for yesterday's calm, idyllic weather. By midday, Blanca was all but submerged in a sea of dust. Eric took this photo of our new sunflower windsock. He decided that today would be the perfect opportunity to test the sunflower's relentless optimism. I thoroughly expected the windsock to be somewhere in New Mexico by the time we finished running our errands in town, but it clung to the post, as cheery as ever.
After the trip to town, we decided to the last afternoon of 2011 at Mountain Home Reservoir with the dogs. The reservoir must be a testimony to our recent drought; the flat, frozen dish of water lay at least 50 yards from the boat landing across an expanse of sand and weeds.
But the frozen water had an austere beauty -- the mysterious opacity of ice. The last evening of the year looked something like the last evening of the world.
The dogs, who apparently didn't mind the signs of pre-apocalyptic drought, had a blast. Jake wore an orange bandanna for the occasion; Shelby wore a purple one.
On the way home, this view of the Blanca Massif met us on the other side of a crest in the road. This stunning, unexpected gift seemed like a good portent for the new year.
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