Photo-finish Friday: desert town

There's a raw, unfinished quality about desert towns that appeals to me. It's the romance of anti-romance maybe. I'm talking about the parts that are unprettified, unlike the gated neighborhoods with their manicured landscaping and absurd grass lawns. Here vacant lots mix with houses that have had the time to show their age, with full grown trees and whatever else has survived over the years, often twisted by the winds. Rocks, which are plentiful and don't blow away, might be arranged in some way, maybe along a property line.

Few signs of life, people staying in out of the sun. School kids indifferent to the heat and going somewhere, on foot or skateboards. Probably aching to be anywhere but here in the middle of nowhere. No sidewalks. Cars and trucks parked in the street. You get a sense of the human tenacity that clings to a spot on earth, no matter how unwelcoming, with little to offer but its own stark beauty.

Photo-finish Friday is the bright idea of Leah Utas over at The Goat's Lunch Pail.