Welcome to Playland

Many people feel this way in El Paso.  

Sometimes you have to wonder what people are thinking.

For instance: who decided on the dying steer as part of the play area at the Outlet Shoppes of El Paso?

Did his or her kids run up saying, "Yes, yes! I want to crawl all over the plastic despairing remains of an animal! Make one look sad and sick, please, oh please!"?

An Elephant's Memory of Blizzards

Whenever the blue cloud untangles itself from the red sky, we will continue to pray for you—in our invisible ship, our invisible
fortress—

for the divine discourse of the soul,

for the end of the in between,

and for the windows to open unto an unentangled sky of white clouds free-floating against the insane blue—

and embrace each other like mighty humans.

-- Neil de la Flor, excerpt, "Prayer for a Blue Cloud," An Elephant's Memory of Blizzards




Neil de la Flor has a new poetry collection out: An Elephant's Memory of Blizzards.  His second solo collection is being published by Marsh Hawk Press.

You should go buy it.  Right now.

Neil's hat, Almost Dorothy &
Floyd the dashboard frog

Note that net proceeds from the first 30 books sold will benefit The Center for Positive Connections where de la Flor is on the Board of Directors. TCPC provides HIV prevention and health education, social and emotional support, mental health counseling, holistic health treatments for those living with (and affected by) HIV/AIDS in South Florida.

For information on buying the book, and getting your very own signed copy, see:
http://almostdorothy.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/an-elephants-memory-of-blizzards-by-neil-de-la-flor/.

Snow Day!

Snow, yucca, well-house & hacienda. 

Gorgeous and unusual snow arrived here, leading to a complete halt of anything productive. I opted to stomp around in the snow with the also delighted dogs.

Since it is virtually always sunny here, I follow the weather less and less, and so the snow came as a complete surprise.

Not much will blowtorch me out from under the comforters in the early morning, but a window clouded with blowing snow is one of them.

Change invigorates the soul.  And leads to a great many photographs.  

Visual Journal

"Dinnertime?"

My mother gave me a sketch-a-day notebook for Christmas, which I tested out today.

I hope to use it at least semi-regularly for quick sketching (any practice helps) as well as keeping track of any other odds and ends that further my creative work.

Leo is in favor of art, as long as it doesn't interfere with the dinner hour.

Happy New Year!