[ A broad expanse of valley, seen from a high vantage point, and bordered on the left side by snowtopped mountains receding into the mist. Patches of trees give way to flat grassland, dotted with cultivated fields. Much closer, a few trees frame the view, scattered boulders below. ]
Okay yeah, that one’s big, it happens. It’s a good chunk of the San Luis Valley, which is, in fact, the largest alpine valley in the world. It’s a hell of a view.
I could get inspired & make some DAMN good faery home decor pieces there, assuming, that is, that I could find a flat spot large enough for a chair _and_ my workbench, the odds of which are an open question, because most of that part of the hill I parked on look more-or-less like this.
[ To the left, a clump of rough, lichened boulders. Directly ahead, worn and weathered pinyon pines. The ground below is uneven, rocky, and dotted with scrub oak and occasional small cacti. There’s about room to stand, but only if your balance is pretty good. ]
There are open spots, but they’re not flat, & the flat spots aren’t open, & it’s a good place to wander around for a while, but I don’t think I’ll be making jewelry there.
I did, however, cleverly notice that those pines are all piñon, & I giddily wandered around harvesting hunks of resin in between taking pictures, & I got enough to fill another tin. Which is good, I’ve been running short. (Here follows a rare product placement: I do sell piñon resin, & you can find it here.
[ A close view of a mostly-horizontal branch, upon which one can find, from left to right, a small round nugget of golden-brown pinyon resin, the large but long-healed gash in the bark from which it formed, and one of Loiosh’s forepaws. ]
I walked down to the road (such as it was & what there was of it — it didn’t have more than a suggestion of tire tracks, & I later discovered it was absolutely, definitely too steep for the van to go up) to get back to where I’d parked, finding, along the way, this interesting flower.
[ A bright yellow flower with three layers of long oval petals, seen from directly above. The leaves are long and narrow, and sprout in a circle right from the base of the flower stem. There’s another flower that has already closed up; its stem is round and reddish brown, and between where the petals have closed, there’s bits of white visible. ]
Is it a dandelion? The stem & leaves look right but I have never in my life seen such a simple dandelion flower; they’re usually a whole dome of yellow, not just three layers!
[ A closer view of the same flower. ]
After poking through a handy-dandy guide to dandelion lookalikes, I’m going to conclude that these are, in fact, dandelions. Maybe they’re just having a hard time up there? Maybe it’s a different species than the one I’m used to? I was just happy to see them, that yellow is so cheerful.
