Friday, the beautiful spring weather (summer weather, by Upper Michigan standards, 75 and sunny!) beckoned me to leave my casita in the afternoon, for a beautiful hike up the “Devisadero Peak Trail” in Taos Canyon — so close, I could see the Mabel Dodge House and the great cottonwoods lining Kit Carson road from along the trail. And yet a world removed from Taos, high and dry, a rocky trail that winds gently but persistently upwards, gaining elevation from 7000′ in Taos to about 8300′ on Devisadero. A beautiful break! Today it is stormy — wind gusts of 40 mph — but only a handful of sprinkles falling in Taos. It remains a very dry spring.