It is perpetual, breathing life into every entity on this planet.  The wind - whether we appreciate it or not, whether it destroys what humans and other living entities build, causing tragic loss of life, whether it contributes to deadly fires, whether it peppers our faces or legs, or whether it drives us mad - is a necessary part of life.  The spring wind in the Rocky Mountains, including New Mexico, causes upwelling in lakes, pushing the surface water aside and allowing nutrient rich cold water to rise to the surface. (NOAA). The process is essential for the health of any body of water, including the world's oceans.  And while we humans locally were moaning about the wind's bite, it was working on each and every body of water it touched.  Over millennia, its power alters and changes parts of mountains and plains, into smaller pieces of sand and dust.  It is frequently said that the only sure things in life are death and taxes.  I would add wind to that rather morose statement.

Self-portrait on a very windy March day
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Colorado

Scenics Great Sand Dunes, Colorado (14 of 22)

The layers of change in the sand at Great Sand Dunes is evident in the photographs below.

Scenics Great Sand Dunes, Colorado (2 of 22)

Scenics Great Sand Dunes, Colorado (11 of 22)

A detail of one of the many "holes" that occur within the dunes
Scenics Great Sand Dunes, Colorado (7 of 22)-2

In the southern part of the state near Alamogordo, White Sands National Park is home to the world's largest gypsum dune field.  The dunes are startlingly bright white. 
White Sands National Park, New Mexico

The wild wind, along with the water of the Pacific Ocean, have been working their magic on lava, creating the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach on the island of Hawaii.  Sea turtles sun themselves in the warmth of the sand.  

sea turtle on black sand beach, Big Island of Hawaii  

Whether the wind is insanely wild as it was in many part of the United States this week, or it barely moves, leaving us begging for more, it will always be part of the formula of life on this planet.  

"When a complex system is far from equilibrium, small islands of coherence in a sea of chaos have the capacity to shift the entire system to a higher order."  

Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize-winning chemist from Belgium

Thanks to Jean & Sam, Ingrid, Victoria, Kay, Barbara F. R., Steve, Catherine, Heather H., and Karren for commenting last week! 

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image©