Perseverence

Yucca, April 2011, near Magdalena, NM

Here in Magdalena we have had no measurable rain or snow since early March, and the "2011 water year" from October 2010 through March 2011 has been one of the driest on record for New Mexico. "Parched" doesn't begin to describe it; add in "gritty" and you're getting a bit closer... Every time the wind so much as stirs it raises a fine, choking dust that coats and insinuates into everything, even the teeth. This yucca has been thoroughly nibbled by wildlife over the dry winter, yet even without a soaking spring rain new growth has arisen from a deep taproot anchored in this rocky terrain that somehow bears water deep within. I look at this plant, adapting and surviving, and I tell myself, "Well, carry on. It will rain eventually." No drought, real or metaphorical, lasts forever.