Afternoon in Santa Fe

If one ignores the wrong turns

I made a bee-line 

for the Georgia O'Keefe Museum.

Some pieces I had not seen before

though my favorite watercolor

of a train engine

was not in evidence.

Returning to the plaza (way too many cars there)

I passed the Art Museum

it's free on Friday nights, so I will return then.

(The curves of adobe remind me of Gaudi)

Browsed the nearly empty shops

too many going out of business

the streets crowded with cars

but lightly peopled

In search of a bakery 

I stumbled instead 

into a courtyard

where I found this:

a sculpture by Dwight Hume

(who just died this week, I discovered later, dammit)

A lovely talk with Daniel Bethune

the owner of Gallery Chartreuse

and this sweet service dog

and I floated back to my car in a daze of beauty.

Leaving town, I u-turned into a parking lot that advertised

long windshield crack repairs

an hour and a companionable conversation later

my windshield cracks 

(courtesy of a large truck 

and a sizeable chunk of gravel

a month ago)

are rebonded and smooth,

still visible, as I expected,

but no longer likely to expand or leak.

$40 well spent.

Back to Coronado Campground
to lie fallow in the rain

all the next day
absorbing wonders

and painting the wall

My backyard.

Relocation

Manzano State Park is an hour away 

from Albuquerque

on rough and winding roads

too far to commute

so I moved into the city.

One night at Walmart

noisy

smelly

sleep much interrupted

has relegated that option

to the bottom of the list.

Left early and parked outside

an art supply store

listening to my Open-Focus cd

while waiting for the store to open

so I could get a darker blue.

On my parents' recommendation

I took the Sandia Tramway

to the top of the world.

Spent a glorious morning 

hiking the crest 

ran into some old hams 

at the Kiwanis hut

running antennae

trying to talk to New Zealand

10,000 ft up with clear lines of sight in all directions

makes for one tall antenna.

Coronado Campground

between ABQ & Santa Fe

expensive (by my standards)

at $18/night

has showers

and electricity

and cell service

though no wifi

and a hell of a view.

It will do 

for my time here.

(I have yet to find a spot with the trifecta

power, wifi & cell service - two out of three is all I ever manage

if that)

The Coronado State Monument

next to the campground

offers an adobe workshop

this weekend

think I'll stick around

I love adobe

When the scalp is clean, the brain can breathe

After the catwalk

I wandered on to Aquirre Spring

a National Forest campground

vault toilets

no water

large friendly Ponderosa pines

and a measure of stillness

I have begun to paint

the interior wall of Alicia for now

a colorful abstraction of my subconscious

it makes for good dreams. 

(Pix eventually, when it is farther along)

Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge

(As always, you can click through the slideshows to larger versions at picasaweb)

At the end of a day of many small frustrations

- get mildly lost several times

(New Mexico signage is not optimal for me)

- can't camp at the Bosque

- the rest area is closed for paving

- no national forest camping near the city

- grimy and hot and tired

late in the day I aim for Manzano State Park

state parks have showers

hours on winding roads

arrive to back into one of the last two spots

dig holes to level trailer

and find

there are no showers.

*brief meltdown*

grit teeth

haul out the as yet unused Zodi

attempt to set up the cabana tent

lost the instructions

this can't be right

the pole can't bend that much

*shove tent under table, growling*

make dinner - mashed potatoes, tuna & broccoli

(instant mashed potatoes have come a long way)

consider watching a dvd but pass out instead, still grimy

Suprisingly good dreams prime the way

for a patient hour of untangling

adapting

and applying far more force than seems reasonable

to erect the tent

and achieve a shower.

That was a production. 

But my hair is clean!

Antiseptic wipes only go so far...

Big Rocks

(As always, click on a slideshow to see larger versions at PicasaWeb; also, sometimes the captions are out of sync with the images in the blog)

In the Gila Mountains. Visited the Gila Cliff Dwellings, so called, though the current theory leans to them being more of a sacred gathering place and/or community center.


Gila Hot Springs - my first bath since early February - hot springs in the moonlight - bliss


The Catwalk Recreation Area, in Whitewater Creek Canyon
Gold and silver were mined here; the original catwalk was giant pipes that brought water to the mining town; the workers used to have to go up the canyon crawling on top of them.

The Cheese Mountains of the Moon

(As always, click on a slideshow to see larger versions at PicasaWeb; also, sometimes the captions are out of sync with the images in the blog)

Yay! Found wifi! The signal in the library in Las Cruces or somewhere around there (they're starting to blur; must keep better notes) crapped out on me. In Albuquerque now; much glorious scenery and internally productive time lately. New Mexico is indescribable. Here are some pix; more coming in a few days.

Sitting Bull Falls

an oasis

in the mountains

moss and diamond drops

and pools

bluer than blue

White Sands - pictures don't start to do it justice, and words even less so

this alien sahara in our midst

where we sled down sand

whiter than snow

get lost among ever-moving dunes

glaciers of dust

ringed by far-off mountains

and clouds

trudge through the drifts

to the source of the whiteness

let it scour skin

(let - ha! try to stop it)

and abrade reason

until there is only

mound upon cloud upon mound

curves

ridges

the occasional reptile

if I lay down here

how long would it take

to make me disappear?

a day

or less

but I stay on the surface

sliding down in my purple saucer

kin to the little Aga in Wallace and Grommit

that always wanted to ski

and finally did

on the cheese mountains of the moon.

this place was magic

like none I have seen so far

I will come back

with a polarizing filter

and tripod

and twilight

or dawn

but for now, this is a pallid reflection of what I saw: