"Don't forget your UV light and glasses!"</em> That instruction, as we headed out to the <a title="Wikipedia entry about the Quiver Tree Forest" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiver_Tree_Forest" target="_blank" data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiver_Tree_Forest">Quiver Tree Forest</a> on the Gariganus Farm, some <meta charset="utf-8"><span data-mce-fragment="1">about 14 km north-east of </span>Keetmanshoop<span data-mce-fragment="1"> on the road to </span>Koës in Southern Namibia, was a reminder of our hosts among the rocks and brush and sand: scorpions, much more visible under black light. Spoiler alert we didn't see any (and we looked!). Some of the trees—named for the quivers<span data-mce-fragment="1"> the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_people" target="_blank" title="Wiki entry about the San people" rel="noopener noreferrer">San people</a><span data-mce-fragment="1"> traditionally made from their branches—</span>are 200-300 years old; </p>
This is one of those places, like the dunes of the Namib Sand Sea, you can read about and look up pictures for hours on end, and still have no idea what awaits you. Because it's not the thing itself that's waiting for you there. Instead, it's the overwhelming wonder and how it makes you feel. At once both small and inconsequential, but also blessed and calm.</p>
A small group of us spent hours walking around this Giant's Playground, inundated with what felt like unlimited compositional possibilities. The afternoon quickly turned into evening, but before the daylight disappeared and the Milky Way rose, I came across these two trees suggesting a garden in which one might choose to relax and contemplate. So I did.</p>
This piece, titled quies inter spinas—repose among the thorns—is <a title="Link to website gallery image" href="https://www.hammondraffetto.art/-/galleries/naturalis/landscape/-/medias/018fd4e9-7cf4-799b-b18e-81341bc80775-quies-inter-spinas" data-mce-href="https://www.hammondraffetto.art/-/galleries/naturalis/landscape/-/medias/018fd4e9-7cf4-799b-b18e-81341bc80775-quies-inter-spinas">available in our Fine Art Gallery</a> in a variety of media, including wall displays and acrylic block printed by WhiteWall.</p>
