far from home

i brought this handful of the joshua tree mojave desert home with me from california. i love the desert palette–the sun bleached colors with the bits of terra cotta earth and quartz that add just the right amount of earthy contrast. but now that these bits have been sitting on my desk for a week, i wonder what i should do with them. most of my subjects come in the house, just long enough to have their portraits taken, and then i return them to the woods surrounding my home. but these desert bits are so foreign to this place, that it feels a bit odd to willy nilly toss them in the woods. i suppose there is a metaphor here. but i am not thinking in metaphors today, i am simply clutter clearing my workspace. i suppose i will save the cactus spines (those crazy star-shaped barbs) lest they turn up in the dogs paws and release the rest. and now my brainless day of cleaning has just gotten complicated as i think through the meaning, desire, and ethics of wanting souvenirs, of taking a bit of one place on earth and transporting it to another. damn it all anyway, it was supposed to be an easy day of mindless clutter clearing and listening to podcasts.