Photos: Experience Spiti Valley's splendor, in monochrome

Rock Paper Scissors: Chitkul

Once I cut out some magazine copy

that quoted the "O Pioneer!" author, Willa Cather:  

“I like trees because they seem

more resigned to the way they have to live

than other things do."

I pasted the quote on a pencil box, and read it to myself for years.

Just be a Willa tree. Just be a Willa tree.

I lost that pencil box in a sudden move, and I lost my inner Willa tree, too.

Then I found these.

And I thought of my old friend Willa.

If only she had known magnificent rocks like these—rimrock,

she would have thought very differently of trees.

Poem by Melissa Alipalo