Tea for Two at Las Cienegas

 Antelope at Las Cienegas NCA 3-25-13

I took my friend to a wild place

in Sonoita, Arizona, nestled between mountain ranges,

 

we followed the road in to a desert savannah

as the morning sun sailed higher into a sea of blue

 

with mountains rising around us

and flaxen grasses waving in the wind,

 

in the cool dawn Celeste surveys the terrain,

 

when out of the golden grass a trio of antelope emerges,

Buff and white, they watch us warily

with large liquid eyes…

 

in the same waving savannah grass a Northern Harrier hunts,

 

and the antelopes start to run on winged feet!

 

It is a wild thing in a wild place,

 

where meadowlarks sing a morning song,

a daytime song, a springtime song!

 

We drive to the old Empire Ranch,

 

The adobe buildings hold ghosts from the past,

baking in the sun of time

they grow thinner and more elusive

until they are bleached and fade away.

 

We follow the trail down through history

wiping the gossamer cobwebs from our minds

and walk into the cottonwoods clear-headed and alert

with the clarion call of Gray Hawks overhead,

 

and warblers singing from the trees,

and sparrows flushing from the grasses,

and butterflies filling the air

with fluctuating color and light.

 

And then we are in the shade.

It is a solemn place,

a cool retreat from the warming sunlight,

filled with the fluttering of birds!

 

A Wilson’s Warbler hides in the shadows…

 

then becomes feathered sunlight in a green tree…

 

turning his head to show his black cap to me!

 

With chipping sparrows chipping all over the place!

 

Like the birds, we are mesmerized by the trees

and we spend hours here!

 

Finally we walk up past the tall cottonwood giants,

and return to the ranch;

 

it is noon and time for tea.

We spread our simple feast upon an ancient stone

and lean back into the cool shadows

 

taking in the view and watching Gray Hawks circle and call

over the green canopy of Empire Gulch.

 

This is our view, this is our noontime song.

 Empire Ranch House interior

 

 Hand-hewn roof beams

 Empire Ranch

It was time to move one, so we drove away,

down the dirt roads through Las Cienegas,

 Red-tailed Hawk 3-25-13

Surveyed by a Red-tailed Hawk,

we are watched even as we are watching.

 Las Cienegas Watering Hole 3-25-13

 

We found a place where killdeer run

water in the desert.

 

And we know we are just two wild things ourselves,

wild things in the grass…

stopping for tea!

Note: Celeste and I visited Las Cienegas on March 25, 2013, only 2 days after my adventures in Sierra Vista with Chris Rohrer. Those adventures encompassed the last 3 posts, so you can see why it has taken me so long to get to all of these stories. It seems that March and April were very busy and adventurous months for me. I had such a good time and took so many photos. Thus, there is still more to come!

• Celestial Ramblings 
• Las Cienegas-Celeste’s Post
• Las Cienegas National Conservation Area
• Birding the Empire Gulch-my post from last October