We were on the return of a nice little walk towards “The Window” in the Basin of the Chisos Mountain in Big Bend National Park. There she stood,  Casa Grande (Grand House). While for sure not the tallest mountain in the area, it is one of the most outstanding by way of it’s presentation.

My grandfather, James Welsey Metcalf, who I am named after, worked the Big Bend in the early 1900’s. He had run away from his home of too many brothers, dreams and too soft a bed. He landed as a 13 year old in the wilds of far Southwest Texas. When I was a young boy, he introduced me to the draw of this place. I reveled in his stories of the adventures he told. Looking at Casa Grande I could not stop being reminded of him and I longed for just a taste of his life.

I  am sitting in the ease and comfort of a too soft chair and a mind full of dreams: the longing of the nicker of a horse, the squeak of leather, clear air and a bed under the heavens.  I settle for pushing some buttons on a keyboard, converting a modern digital image to look a little like it might have been. but it’s too sharp, too clear, too easy. It smells of compromise and just not quite right.

Ah, I pine to be able to push the right buttons to elicit real change in my life..

Dream of your journey…nada te turbe † jim