C enizo Not es
by Carolyn Brown Zniewski, Publisher and Danielle Gallo, Editor-in-Chief
love watching the
sunsets from my
porch at this time of
year. The days are per-
fect for working at out-
door projects that have
been put on hold for the
rush of late summer and
getting ready for the
school year. The weather
is cool even in the mid-
afternoon, and it stays light fairly late. You can
clean out the remains of the garden, maybe even
find a few late vegetables before mulching the
beds. Perhaps do some fence repair where the
goats pushed their way through, or the dog
knocked it down chasing a rabbit. It is a good
time to put in a few fruit trees or perhaps a love-
ly pecan. Just keep them well watered and it will
give the roots a good start before they start
growing taller in the spring.
Big Bend is a place that grows good roots in
people, too. I hear from folks so many times that
they grew up here and moved away, only to
come back. Others mention coming for a visit
and staying for years, like I did. This is not a
place you only visit once. This is country for
people and families of all styles. If you are look-
ing for fame and fortune you will be looking
elsewhere, but if you are looking for the things
that really matter: the land, the river, people and
wildlife, beautiful sunrises and sunsets and the
incredible glory of the starry night, then Big
Bend is a place to be. We try to share a little cor-
ner of that world here in the Cenizo. Please sit
back, watch the sun spread out over the moun-
tains, watch the stars come out. Then turn on
the light and read a bedtime story or two.
We say a fond goodbye to our long time
writer, Bill Smith. He has been a contributor
since the very early days. As of his final story in
this issue, he is retiring. Thanks for all your
excellent work, Bill!
I
love the geology of
the Big Bend. I love
to explore all the
uplifts, ash flows, lime-
stone reefs, cutouts; the
folded ridges of caballo
novaculite arching the
hills south of Marathon;
the beds of crinoids like
stacks of pesos, frozen in
the crumbling Permian
sea bed, nestled in piles of deep purple fluorite
crystals left behind from the old mine shipping
days.
What I love about the geology of the Big
Bend has less to do with acquiring these treas-
ures than it has to do with the way I feel while
I’m searching for them. The quiet is so vast and
absolute that it has its own mass, and weighs on
the eardrums with a strange pressure. The slow
walking through the desert brush, the focused
gaze that catches and discards each stone in
turn, engender a peacefulness I rarely find else-
where. Autumn is the time to go rock hunting
out here, when the quality of light is perfect,
and even the middle of the day is tolerable to be
out in the sun.
When I’m out looking at the stones, I can’t
help but remember how puny is the span of
human history. The time it takes for a creature
to be born, live, die, and turn to stone is like a
single inhalation for the Earth in her slow evo-
lution. This forced perspective of geologic time
makes my worries about the now vanish like a
mist—fracking wells in Presidio county, mass
shootings in my old stomping grounds, political
chicaneries, artificial borders between nations
and peoples, can arise and vanish in a blur that
passes utterly unnoticed by the stones.
I hold those stones like a talisman, believing
in the passage of time with all my might, unable
to really grasp it.
I
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Danielle Gallo
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Published by Cenizo Journal LLC
PUBLISHER
Carolyn Brown Zniewski
Eve’s Garden
Concrete to cabinets,
welding and all
types of fencing
45 years of experience
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325-340-0175
Cenizo
Fourth Quarter 2019
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