Near Crownpoint, McKinley County, New Mexico, by L. Heineman

Crownpoint, New Mexico, is one of those places that makes clear the extent to which water (or its lack) constrains human geography.

Lissa and I drove out Friday evening to the monthly Crownpoint Navajo Rug Auction. Crownpoint’s the biggest city on the eastern edge of the Navajo Nation, but at a population of 2,500, it’s small. The embrace of an unbelievably green desert right now is striking (today is the ninth consecutive day with rain at our house, which I think is a record since I began tracking in 1999), but make no mistake – this is the desert. Place names around here are a testimony to longing for water – Littlewater, Mariano Lake, Casamera Lake, Smith Lake.