Photo: Vejez de la Frontera, Spain

I took this picture in Vejez de la Frontera in southern Spain, as I sat with my family at a cliffside cafe. I just pointed the camera upward at the blossoms in the orange tree we were sitting under:

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Photo: Bryce Canyon, Utah

I took this photo in July 2001 from the rim of Bryce Canyon in southern Utah. I was transfixed by the endless weird red rock spires. They’re called hoodoos, which seems to fit.

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Photo: Santiago de Compostela, Spain

I took this photo in April 2007 in Santiago de Compostela, in the province of Galicia in northern Spain.

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Photo: Convento de Santa Isabel, Toledo, Spain

I took this photo in April 2007, from the rooftop deck of the Santa Isabel Hotel in Toledo, Spain. It shows the roof of the Convento de Santa Isabel.

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Photo: San Xavier del Bac, Tucson

I took this photograph of the San Xavier del Bac Mission in December 2000, on a solo visit to Tucson.

The mission stands about 9 miles south of Tucson, on the Tohono O’odham reservation. I drove there three times during my week-long stay in a cottage on the western side of Tucson, on the edge of Saguaro National Park.

I was drawn there by the beauty of the historic mission, which is more than 200 years old, and by something else. I’m not sure what.

On one visit, a chorus was practicing inside the church, singing sacred Christmas music. I can’t remember the music, but I will never forget the feeling it gave me. 

Photo: Land’s End, Cabo San Lucas

I took this photo of the rocks at Land’s End off Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, from the deck of Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas in January 2006.

(Click on the photo to see a larger version.)

Professional photographers talk about how photography is all about the light, but I didn’t even start to think about that until I looked at this photo. I wasn’t really aware of the light when I took the photo, and I can’t claim to understand it now. But at least I see it.

I had wanted to see the rocks at Land’s End, where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific, for years — ever since I saw a National Geographic photo of them. They were even more striking than I expected. And Cabo, one of those end places, is lots of fun.

Gothic Seville

Did I mention that the kid is in Seville? She sent this:

This is the Cathedral of Seville, the largest church in the world by cubic measurement. (Saint Paul’s in London and Saint Peter’s in Rome have a bigger footprint, but they’re not as tall.) Christopher Columbus is buried here, or at least some bones purported to be his.