"Because it is clean"

After searching the 2002 edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations as well as the internet at length for the specific quote of T. E. Lawrence about loving the desert "because it is clean",  I am still unsure as to whether the quote was from Lawrence himself or a screenwriter's dream.  Regardless of the source, the phrase is epic, one that addresses both the human fascination with and repulsion of the desert.

We have what many from damp climates might consider a desert just north of us in Colorado, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.  I have blogged about this place before because it is mesmerizing, as all deserts and dunes can be.  The dune stacked in the background with scrub in the foreground, has an otherworldly, fantasy quality about it.

Below is a detail of one of the "holes" in the dunes, created and ever changing with the capricious spring winds.

This is the perfect time to explore the dunes, while the temperatures are moderate and Medano Creek may be running courtesy of snow melt.  For the full effect, double click on the images.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image