Galisteo Basin Shepard's Iron Cross

She stands as if born of wind and earth, her hair unraveled from a weary bedspring, her arm stretched in rusted steel, her heart strung with copper and a charm of sun-baked glass. A mother’s presence lingers in her stance — protective, watchful, yet never harmful.

Each fragment was found wandering the wide Galisteo Basin of New Mexico, gathered over years like blessings left on the land: a spine of iron rising fifteen inches tall, an arm as thin as breath, and adornments kissed by desert sun and time.

It is said that while the matriarch of the Hilliard family served far away in a Haitian hospital, this cross stood guard at her home. It carried her warmth and steadfast spirit across the distance, a quiet sentinel of loyalty.

It still adorns the same wall…for 33 years now.