Manzano Morning

Maybe you remember the photo above, which I posted last November. 

The morning light was pretty darn amazing. Blog reader and artist Leenie Black thought so, too,

and she asked for and received my permission to use it as a reference for one of her paintings.

A week later, Leenie let me know the painting was done, saying, "My work never turns out 

exactly as I imagine, but I hope it at least comes close to capturing the wild beauty 

of the New Mexico morning."

 Hell, yeah, it does. The moment I saw it in Leenie's Etsy shop, I knew it belonged on my wall.

I finally got around to having it framed, and now it hangs next to my bed, opposite the real view.

I couldn't love it more.

But the story doesn't end there.

Leenie had tucked a surprise into the package:

It brought me to tears.

This one hangs in the kitchen and stops me in my tracks every time I pass it by.