I’ve always loved the minimalism of the desert. Like everything, it’s more complicated than you think, but it’s easier in the desert to see how the pieces fit together. Nora captures that brilliantly in a little bit of business from her novel that she posted on her blog:

“When I was growing up, I read a lot of haiku. I don’t know if you know them.”

“Yeah, I’ve read a few,” he said, a little amused that an eighteen year old would think of herself as already grown up.

“They’re small, minimal. Only what’s totally necessary is there. It’s the same thing with the desert. Each plant is a small brushstroke of God’s on a minimalist canvas. It’s not that there’s less life, it’s just the difference between a flower bouquet that anyone can make and an ikebana.”