Tag Archives: New Mexico

January 12, 2012 · 5:43 pm

A is for Arrival

The second Ghost Ranch alphabet begins.
What better place to begin than when one arrives at the ranch:
at that time, one checks in.

The main check occurs outside the office.

For the 2010 Peacemaking Conference,
participants confirmed their presence
at the Ghost House.

25 August 2010

Two differences between this and the previous alphabet:
the pictures will include people
but
the pictures may not appear as often as daily.

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January 6, 2012 · 11:54 pm

More to come

“The alphabet is too short.”

So wrote my sister-in-law when “Z is for Zoom” posted in my Ghost Ranch Views alphabet.

I assured her that, while I have no plans to create new letters and extend the alphabet, my postings of Ghost Ranch pictures will continue.

I may go on hiatus for a couple of days – work has reached a busy stretch – but this good thing has not come to an end.

Next up – an a to z series of pictures that feature people. Following that, I will simply post pictures that interest me until I run out of pictures.

More will come.

See you along the Trail.

 

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December 28, 2011 · 2:00 pm

T is for Thistle


This one has posted before. I have tried to avoid repeats, but it continues to intrigue me. It grew outside of Tumbleweed where Tricia and I were staying this past summer. What struck me then and what has remains with me is how much this one plant  – not there by design but simply because of its tenacity – reveals. I wrote the following last summer and repost it here.

Unbidden,
a thistle grows in the yard,
a sturdy, prickly weed.
Unasked,
its green and purple hues
reveal
a simple mystery:
life,
death,
life to be,
triangle of eternity.

16 July 2011 (date of picture)
Ghost Ranch, New Mexico (location where poem was written)

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December 11, 2011 · 9:09 am

F is for flag

The flag pole stands

outside the casitas:

 once used to house guests

(I have stayed there),

now home each summer to

the college staff.

Other years I remember not

what, if anything, flew there,

but in the summer of 2011

this flag proudly waved

in the warm breezes

that caress Ghost Ranch.

15 July 2011

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November 26, 2011 · 10:33 pm

A Thanksgiving tradition

Thanksgivings in Virginia involve
assembling and decorating the Christmas tree
for  Tricia’s parents.
This year proved no exception.
Sean, Tricia, and I put up the tree.
Eric and Tricia added the decorations.
Most of the ornaments are tin;
many are painted, some are not.
Trips to New Mexico regularly include a quest
for new ornaments.

See you along the Trail.

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September 15, 2011 · 10:16 pm

Still 117

Riding up in the elevator today with someone I had not seen in a while, and the conversation went like this:

Did you make it through Hurricane Irene, OK?

I did fine. I was in Oklahoma.

That’s one way to avoid it.

They had lots of coverage. I watched. 

How was Oklahoma?

It was good. Well, it was hot. 117 degrees.

117? (image a sense of amazement and wonder in the tone of voice)

Yes. But it wasn’t so bad. It was a dry heat. Not humid like here.

At this point, the elevator reached his floor. Now I realize that humidity matters. Matters a great deal. One of the things I like about northern New Mexico is the lower humidity. But . . . so as he left the car, I said:

But 117 is still 117.

(laughing) 117 is still 117.

Enjoying cooler weather and hoping it continues!

See you along the Trail.
 

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August 2, 2011 · 12:08 pm

Pots

It took me a while to get there. Several times I tried to visit the Coronado State Monument in Bernalillo, New Mexico – north of Albuquerque. Each time, the monument was closed. Finally, on a cold day last January, I made it. The visit proved worth the wait.

For some reason, among the landscapes and the history, these pots spoke to me. They simply hung on the wall – but they seemed full of meaning as they did.

Is that a sheet of ice covering the top? Or the inside of the pot? I can’t tell. I don’t remember.

See you along the Trail.

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January 25, 2010 · 4:15 am

A day for Saints


The final day of this New Mexico trip saw me hanging out in Albuquerque. I overate again. That stops tomorrow. But I could not pass on the food here.

I got a hotel that has a fitness center. So I did 2.25 miles on the treadmill. I also went to the Coronado State Monument – not sure what I make of that name. It apparently is near the place where Coronado and his party of invaders wintered in 1540-42.

An ancient pueblo there – Kuaua is there. The pueblo was settled about 1300 CE and abandoned toward the end of the 1500s CE. It sits right along the Rio Grande. Despite the cold weather (which the wind that picked up during the early morning did not help), I did the trail along the river and the trail around the pueblo. Then I went to the Pueblo Cultural Center. Interestingly enough, it has an exhibit on the saints of the pueblos.

All that walking led to a step count of 12,807 – the highest so far!

Tomorrow – the return to the Shire.

See you along the Trail.

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January 24, 2010 · 4:59 am

The wins one gets

What has not gone well:
I have overeaten the last couple of days. It is easy to blame that on being in New Mexico and being overly tempted by the food that I love. There is truth to that. But the reality is that I need to be able to face food that I love and eat reasonably.

I have not walked 10,000 steps either of the last two days. I did not make 10,000 steps the last two days combined. 6740 today. I helped to lead an all day workshop each day and that just made it too easy not to get out and do the walking. Again the reality is that I need to learn to cope with that.

I did not do concentrated walking yesterday.

What has gone better:
A friend’s comment on yesterday’s blog inspired me to head back to the track today between the end of the workshop and dinner. I went 1.5 miles – not as long as I should have – but all the time allowed. And it is better to have missed only one day.

While the overeating included starches (chips and sopapillas), it did not include sugar based products. No flan. No fried ice cream. No chocolate chip cookies served on the breaks.

One takes the wins one gets.

Football tomorrow. And walking. Travel on Monday – but late enough in the day that I should be able to walk.

See you along the Trail.

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