700 Year Old Graffiti

Our hiking experience today took us to the Piedras Marcadas Canyon, part of the Petroglyph Monument on the West side of the Rio Grande. Piedras Marcadas means "marked rocks" and the canyon has the densest concentration of petroglyphs in the park. The canyon is made up of piles of volcanic rock. The ancestors of the Pueblo Indians carved the images into the black rock faces. Here I am pointing at one.

And here's a cooler one:

At first, Stephen said he was disappointed because he thought they would be more artistic and less like "700 year-old graffiti." But then we saw people, animals, and geometric shapes and symbols and started to wonder why they were made. Were they art? History? Communication? Our speculation made them much more interesting. And besides, there was the beautiful view.

We even saw a balloon landing nearby.

Apartment Life

I have never lived in an apartment. I have lived in houses, cabins, and dorms, but the apartment experience is new. Broadstone Heights is an upscale, gated apartment complex with a dozen or so three-story New Mexico-style stucco buildings with four apartments on each floor. We are on the third floor, and the staircase is outside with no elevator. The complex has an office, mailboxes, outdoor pool and spa, and a fitness center. I haven't used the pool yet, but I have been to the fitness center most mornings, and it is quite well-equipped. The apartment itself is very nice, with one bedroom including a walk-in closet, a washer and dryer, dishwasher, entry hall and coat closet, living/dining area, gas fireplace, balcony, central air, and lots of cabinet space in the kitchen and bathroom. The units are either quite well sound-proofed or I don't have any neighbors because I don't hear any voices or music. Since I've been practicing my oboe in the apartment, I hope my neighbors, if any, can't hear me either!

Here's the living room:

The dining room has been turned into my office.

The kitchen has more cabinet space and counter space than my Schuylerville kitchen.

We have ample parking and the spaces are covered, but I learned not to buy too many groceries at once, since I have to carry the bags up 4 flights of stairs.

When we moved in, we had to add a pet addendum to our lease. In order to do that, I found out that I had to bring Annabelle to the office to have her picture taken. I still can not imagine why this is necessary, but I dutifully wrestled her into her harness, stuffed her into the carrier, sustaining only 2 scratches on my calf (should have worn jeans, but it's 80 degrees out) and walked her over to the office. Thank goodness the young woman with the camera decided that she could snap the picture through the mesh on the carrier so I didn't need to let the cat out of the bag, so to speak.

Other than the weird cat-photo thing, apartment life is OK! But I'll be glad to have a little space to plant things and room for the rest of my instruments.

A Little Hike

My first Saturday in ABQ and I was greatly looking forward to spending the entire day with my husband. He had to go into the office for a little while, so I went with him.

Fans of The Big Bang Theory, did you notice "The Board?" Yup, he has a board.

Those of you who know my wonderful husband know that he is not an outdoor person because of his allergies to all things green. This is not an issue for him here in ABQ, so he had promised me that he would go on hikes with me. I tested this promise early! When I visited in July, we found the parking lot to the Three Gun Spring Trail but weren't able to explore much of it because we didn't have water bottles and it was in the mid-90's that day. I didn't want to end up on the local news in one of those stupid tourist stories, having had to be rescued because I went into the wilderness unprepared. So this time we were armed with hats, sunscreen and water bottles. Here is proof that Stephen went outdoors:

The sign at the trail head shows many miles of connecting trails through the Sandia Mountains, with various access points. In the spring, you can see hawks by climbing the Hawk Watch Trail, which is listed as difficult and steep. Sounds good to me! There was a notice on the trail head board about the dangers of the trail, including heatstroke, dehydration, and oddly, hypothermia. That last was not an issue on this day, as it was 86 degrees with a light breeze. I was relieved to see that there were no warnings about rattlesnakes or any other critters.

Part way up the trail, I turned back to take a picture of where we had been.

When Stephen had gone far enough, we rested.

We climbed back down, and on the BACK of the trail head board, there was a small notice about BEARS. If you encounter a bear, you are supposed to stand your ground and wave your arms slowly in the air. If attacked, you should fight back aggressively. Am I the only person who thinks that notice should have been on the FRONT of the board?

We finished our lovely Saturday with a stroll on historic Route 66 downtown and dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant with a colleague of Stephen's and his wife. What a great day!

Library Card!

Today was a day to start getting stuff done. I needed to get an emissions test in order to register my "new" car. Here it is

We named her Ingrid Ortiz because she's a Swedish car in New Mexico. She is super easy to drive, and it's as if Volvo measured my butt to make the driver's seat. Stephen bought her when I was still in NY, and he did a great job! She's a 1995 with 120,000 miles and not one speck of rust. Amazing.

I took this picture for you upstate NY gardeners. Believe it or not, this large shrub, of which there are many in the apartment complex, is lavender. Yeah, that wonderfully aromatic herb that we struggle to grow and that gets about 12" high if we're lucky. This particular one is about 5' tall and 6'wide and it's right by the entrance to my apt, so I can touch it on my way home.

I did some other errands today, getting paperwork together and such, but the most important and exciting thing I accomplished today was getting my Albuquerque library card! My local branch is within walking distance of the apartment, and they have two book clubs. I was even able to check out a book today. Since I have a novel and a music memoir in progress, I took out Beginner's Spanish Grammar. Not much plot, but lots of new vocabulary.

An Account of Sept. 18 -- MOVING DAY. Dad arrived at 3:20 AM while I was still cleaning out the litter boxes and Annabelle was still asleep on the bed. Dad had brought me a travel mug of coffee! He packed the car while I took out the garbage and double-checked my list. I went upstairs to get Annabelle, who was instantly awake, alert and MAD. I struggled to get her into her harness, then Dad held the carrier vertically while I tried to drop her in as she yelled and clawed at the sides of the carrier. I drove to the airport and Dad tried to drown out Annabelle's yelling with classical music and talk. I managed to get a few sips of my coffee on the way. Did I mention how much I appreciated the coffee? Check-in was uneventful, although my suitcase that weighed 46 lbs on the shipping scale at home had somehow gained weight on the trip and barely squeaked by at 49.5 lbs. When I was standing in line at security with the noisy cat, a friendly TSA agent told me to ask for a private screening because we would need to remove A from the carrier in order to x-ray it. Just in case I was planning to blow up the plane with my cat, I guess. I am quite sure that the other passengers in line were all praying that I was on a different flight than they were. I sent my shoes and backpack through the x-ray machine and stepped into the scanner while an agent held the cat carrier. Then we went into a small room with 2 agents. I clipped the leash onto A's harness and took her out of the carrier. She explored the room a bit while one agent took the carrier to be x-rayed and the other stayed to watch us. She was fine until it was time to go back into the bag. One agent held up the carrier while the other agent and I tried to stuff her into it. Have you seen cartoon animals with all 4 feet spread out in a doorway? I got a nasty scratch on my arm, but the agents emerged unscathed. On the first flight, from Albany to Chicago, I sat on the aisle with no one in the middle seat. On the floor by my feet, A. wailed plaintively whenever I moved my legs, when there was any bumping or turbulence, when anyone walked by in the aisle, and at other random times. I could hear the other passengers saying, "A cat." "Yes, it's a cat." I pretended it wasn't my cat and put in my earbuds so my ipod could partially drown her out. A. cried through O'Hare airport and complained while I purchased coffee and a bagel. The man in front of me in line couldn't quite figure out where the sound was coming from since the carrier is black mesh and A is mostly black. It looks like a regular duffel bag unless you look very closely. I looked around like I didn't know either. She quieted down for about 15 minutes before we boarded for the second flight, but then she started up again. It was a much smaller plane and I was by the window with a seatmate who fortunately was a cat lover and a very friendly and kind person. Our flight was early arriving at the Albuquerque Sunport, so I texted Stephen while we waited for our luggage, and he drove over from the office. A. was louder and more upset in the car on the way to the apartment than she had been on the plane. Once we got into the apartment, I let her out of the carrier and showed her where her litter box, food, and water are. She calmed right down and explored and as the evening went on she ate and drank and settled in just fine. Stephen and I left her in the apartment while we went to his office to pick up the boxes of stuff I had sent via UPS. I unpacked, we had Chinese take-out, Stephen set up my computer. Day one of the excellent adventure was complete!

Since we decided to move to Albuquerque, I have been busy getting ready. Here’s an abbreviated list of the preparations I have been making:

Paperwork Applied for NM teaching license. Looked up what papers I need to establish NM residency, get a driver’s license, library card, and voter registration. Found my birth certificate, marriage certificate, and SS card. Forwarded the mail. Transferred prescriptions.

Organizing/Cleaning Had a yard sale. Cleaned basement, garage, shed, closets, freezer, refrigerator. Organized and boxed my school files. Purged old household files and boxed and labeled the keepers. Took down the car tent. Neatened up the gardens. Gave away tons of stuff that didn’t sell at the yard sale.

Packing Decided what to take with me for the short term and what Stephen forgot to take with him, and packed 5 boxes (computer, instruments, etc) to send by UPS. Packed for the plane.

Cats Moved Spike to a friend’s house to stay until we own a house in Albq where he can safely go outside. Took Annabelle to the vet for a health certificate for the plane. Bought a soft-sided, airline-approved carrier, disposable absorbant pads to line it, a harness and leash, Feliway calming spray, and calming treats for her trip.

Misc. Went to Massachusetts to visit the Grandmas. Went to Parkway and bought a case for my Gretch bass so I could ship it safely, and also bought a digital piano for the apartment and had it shipped to Stephen. Had lots of friends come by to dig up perennial divisions. Brought bags and bags of produce from my vegetable garden everywhere I went all summer since I wasn’t canning or freezing. Met with the mover to inventory the contents of the garage and house. Met with the realtor several times to go through the house, determine the asking price, take pictures, and sign paperwork. Got my hair cut and had my hairdresser take pictures of it so I could show a new hairdresser what it’s supposed to look like.