Dorland, Day 25

As I might have mentioned previously, Dorland burned in a 9,000-acre fire in 2004 and the residency had to start from ground zero again. A handful of trees are pretty much the only things that survived on the 300-acre preserve. I've been photographing some of them. They have black trunks where the fire charred their bark and I believe they were tall enough and established enough to survive the flames. Their resilience and strength feel particularly relevant to me right now.

Only a few days left here. I'm going to keep saying it, but I'm so sad to go.

"It wasn't particular things but the space between them, that abundance of absence, that is the desert's invitation. There the geology that underlies lusher landscapes is exposed to the eye, and this gives it a skeletal elegance, just as its harsh conditions---the vast distances between water, the many dangers, the extremes of heat and cold---keep you in mind of your mortality."

Rebecca Solnit, "A Field Guide to Getting Lost"