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| Vigas -- exposed roof beams. |
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| Archways and decorative ironwork. |
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| Adobe, wooden ladders |
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| Clay tile roofs |
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| Carved wood beams, massive wood doors. |
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Walls and Courtyards |
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Abq Architecture
There are some repeating elements of the Pueblo Revival Style that you will see all over Albuquerque. Here are a few examples:
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Anniversary and a Mystery Road Trip
Stephen asked what I wanted to do for our anniversary, given that our traditional road trip to the coast of Maine was going to be slightly problematic this year. I said I wanted to go on a road trip to somewhere we hadn't been yet, which leaves pretty much everywhere in the Southwest except for Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos. This decision had been made weeks ago, and I made many suggestions for places to see, but Stephen was busy with work so it was about four days before the trip when he finally said, "I made reservations." After a few moments of silence, I said, "You're not going to tell me where we're going, are you?" He said no, but that he would give me a hint. He got the idea from a song that he used to recite to me. Recite? He also said that we were going out of state. To get there in a day, that meant Arizona, Colorado, or Texas, I figured.
I spent the next four days singing every song I could think of with a place name in it. I was sure Stephen was regretting his hint by the fourth day, but he said no, that I sing all the time anyway. We set off on Saturday morning and I thought I would be able to tell which state by the direction we took on the highway, but he faked me out by avoiding the highway and taking secondary roads. After a time, I realized we were headed North, and he confirmed that our destination was in Colorado. I have no idea how I finally came up with the song, but eventually it dawned on me that he RECITED the song because it was a talking song, and I somehow dredged up the memory of a snippet of lyrics from the old C.W.McCall country classic, "Wolf Creek Pass." For those of you who don't know this timeless gem, I will include the (extremely lengthy) lyrics at the end of the blog post. The last line is: "crashed into the side of the feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs." And sure enough, that's where we were headed. Not the feed store, fortunately, the town.
Our idea was to stop at any interesting places we saw along the way, so we followed the signs to Abiquiu Lake, which is a man-made reservoir in Abiquiu, New Mexico. We parked at the overlook and hiked about a half-mile on a trail above the lakeshore. The color of the water and the colors in the rock faces were brilliant.
This is the view in the other direction, away from the reservoir.
This volcanic plug looked cool with the cloud sitting on it.
When we left the lake, I fell asleep for a short time. When I awoke, the world had turned green! This was still in NM, but close to the Northern border. From this point on into Colorado, the roads we traveled followed rivers, so there were green meadows with the Rocky Mountains in the background.
We arrived at High Country Lodge and moved into our cozy cabin. Stephen rested from all the driving and I hiked the short trail behind the cabins.
This is the view from the trail. Stephen never did hike it with me, but I'm not sure he would have enjoyed it because along with all the green comes pollen and bugs. Neither deterred me.
We had dinner at an elegant restaurant in Pagosa Springs,The Alley House Grille. The menu had no vegan options, but Stephen had called ahead to make sure the chef would be able to accommodate, and my meal was excellent.
The weather forecast called for cool nights and hot days, so we decided to do our hiking in the morning and explore downtown in the afternoon. A delicious and complete hot breakfast was served at the main lodge, which we enjoyed before heading out. Our first stop was Treasure Falls, at the base of Wolf Creek Pass. We hiked the trail to the falls, taking pictures along the way.
Hiking back down the mountain, we could hear drums and singing. When we got back to the parking lot, there was some sort of Native American ceremony going on. Women and children were watching, and men were making the music while other men were painting each other, apparently in preparation for some ceremony involving the water. I wanted to know what was going on, but decided that it would be respectful to keep my distance.
We got in the car and headed up Wolf Creek Pass. The views were spectacular, and we were particularly charmed by the snow that remained in the crevasses, despite the temperature, which would reach 90 by afternoon.
Pagosa Springs is at 7,000 feet above sea level, and Wolf Creek Pass goes up over 10,000 feet. There are awesome switchbacks and two tunnels. We went all the way over to South Fork, where we had lunch at Ramone's Mexican Restaurant. We sat on the deck and admired the views. Stephen was tired after lunch, so I drove back over the pass. I had the Volvo in third gear most of the way down so I didn't have to ride the brakes. It was a fun drive!
In the afternoon we visited the Pagosa Springs Museum which was full of displays from the history of the town. The hot springs made the area a mecca for health-seekers, and of course there was mining and lumber harvesting. The hot springs are still a tourist attraction, but we didn't visit them. The Wolf Creek ski area also brings in many visitors.
After the museum, we browsed in a few shops and galleries, then ended up at the Farrago Market Cafe for dinner. We sat on the patio and watched pedestrians, motorcycles and cars cruise the strip.
On Monday, after another delicious breakfast at the lodge, we checked out and headed West. Stephen never likes to return by the same route, so we headed to Durango, Colorado before turning South toward New Mexico.
One of the things I noticed about Southern Colorado is that there are thousands of grazing animals in the lush green meadows, but no crops being grown at all. I did not see one single field that was anything but grass, and no evidence that anyone was haying (no tractors, no hay bales in the fields). I didn't even see a single vegetable garden by a house! There were lots of rivers, creeks, and ponds, and plenty of irrigation pipes. The ground seemed rocky, so I suppose the soil could be quite thin, but I would think that after generations of animals grazing, the soil would have gotten a good deal of improvement. It wasn't very easy to find vegan fare in the area, as you can imagine if no one is growing any vegetables. Once we passed Durango and headed South from there, I started to see farmers haying. I didn't see any crops until we got into New Mexico, though, which is strange because of the lack of water in NM. All the crops there require irrigation. Curious.
We re-entered NM and the world turned brown, red, and gold again. The architecture changed from log homes and board sided houses to adobe and stucco. We had planned to stop in Aztec, NM to see the Aztec Ruins, which is actually a settlement of the Pueblo people, inhabited between the late 1000's to the late 1200's. We took a self-guided tour that brought us into the kivas and houses.
Following Rte. 550 out of Aztec, we traveled about 100 miles seeing nothing but desert, a few crazy rock formations, some oil rigs, one Indian Casino, and a handful of cows and horses. Finally, we came to some variation in the landscape.
When we got home in the late afternoon, it was 100 degrees outside. Thankfully, our house stayed quite a bit cooler than that, and when we got the swamp cooler going it quickly got down to a comfortable temperature. What an awesome adventure for our anniversary!
Wolf Creek Pass by C.W. McCall
I spent the next four days singing every song I could think of with a place name in it. I was sure Stephen was regretting his hint by the fourth day, but he said no, that I sing all the time anyway. We set off on Saturday morning and I thought I would be able to tell which state by the direction we took on the highway, but he faked me out by avoiding the highway and taking secondary roads. After a time, I realized we were headed North, and he confirmed that our destination was in Colorado. I have no idea how I finally came up with the song, but eventually it dawned on me that he RECITED the song because it was a talking song, and I somehow dredged up the memory of a snippet of lyrics from the old C.W.McCall country classic, "Wolf Creek Pass." For those of you who don't know this timeless gem, I will include the (extremely lengthy) lyrics at the end of the blog post. The last line is: "crashed into the side of the feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs." And sure enough, that's where we were headed. Not the feed store, fortunately, the town.
Our idea was to stop at any interesting places we saw along the way, so we followed the signs to Abiquiu Lake, which is a man-made reservoir in Abiquiu, New Mexico. We parked at the overlook and hiked about a half-mile on a trail above the lakeshore. The color of the water and the colors in the rock faces were brilliant.
This volcanic plug looked cool with the cloud sitting on it.
The weather forecast called for cool nights and hot days, so we decided to do our hiking in the morning and explore downtown in the afternoon. A delicious and complete hot breakfast was served at the main lodge, which we enjoyed before heading out. Our first stop was Treasure Falls, at the base of Wolf Creek Pass. We hiked the trail to the falls, taking pictures along the way.
We got in the car and headed up Wolf Creek Pass. The views were spectacular, and we were particularly charmed by the snow that remained in the crevasses, despite the temperature, which would reach 90 by afternoon.
 |
| A highway switch-back. |
In the afternoon we visited the Pagosa Springs Museum which was full of displays from the history of the town. The hot springs made the area a mecca for health-seekers, and of course there was mining and lumber harvesting. The hot springs are still a tourist attraction, but we didn't visit them. The Wolf Creek ski area also brings in many visitors.
After the museum, we browsed in a few shops and galleries, then ended up at the Farrago Market Cafe for dinner. We sat on the patio and watched pedestrians, motorcycles and cars cruise the strip.
One of the things I noticed about Southern Colorado is that there are thousands of grazing animals in the lush green meadows, but no crops being grown at all. I did not see one single field that was anything but grass, and no evidence that anyone was haying (no tractors, no hay bales in the fields). I didn't even see a single vegetable garden by a house! There were lots of rivers, creeks, and ponds, and plenty of irrigation pipes. The ground seemed rocky, so I suppose the soil could be quite thin, but I would think that after generations of animals grazing, the soil would have gotten a good deal of improvement. It wasn't very easy to find vegan fare in the area, as you can imagine if no one is growing any vegetables. Once we passed Durango and headed South from there, I started to see farmers haying. I didn't see any crops until we got into New Mexico, though, which is strange because of the lack of water in NM. All the crops there require irrigation. Curious.
We re-entered NM and the world turned brown, red, and gold again. The architecture changed from log homes and board sided houses to adobe and stucco. We had planned to stop in Aztec, NM to see the Aztec Ruins, which is actually a settlement of the Pueblo people, inhabited between the late 1000's to the late 1200's. We took a self-guided tour that brought us into the kivas and houses.
Wolf Creek Pass by C.W. McCall
Me an Earl was haulin' chickens on a
flatbed outta' Wiggins
And we 'as spent all night on the uphill side of 37 miles o' hell called Wolf Creek Pass
And we 'as spent all night on the uphill side of 37 miles o' hell called Wolf Creek Pass
which is up on the Great Divide.
We was sittin' there suckin' toothpicks, drinkin' Nehis an' onion soup mix,
An' I says, “Earl, let's mail a card to mother and send them chickens on down t'other side,
yeah, let's give 'em a ride.”
Chorus- Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side.
Well Earl put down his bottle an' mashed his foot down on the throttle
Then a couple of boobs and a thousand cubes of a 1948 peterbuilt screamed t' life.
We woke up the chickens.
We roared on off of that shoulder sprayin' pinecones, rocks, and boulders,
and put 400 head of them Rhode Island Red and a couple of burned out roosters on the line.
Look out below cuz here we go.
Chorus
Well we commenced to truckin' and them hens commenced to cluckin'.
Then Earl took out a match, scratched his pants, and lit up the unused half of a dollar cigar
and took a puff, says, “My ain't this perty up here.”
I says, “Earl this hill can spill us, you better slow down, you’re gonna' kill us.
Just make one mistake an' it's the pearly gates for them 85 crates o' USDA approved cluckers.
You wanna' hit second?”
Chorus
Well Earl grabed onto the shifter and stabbed her into fifth gear.
Then the chromium-plated, fully illuminated, genuine accessory shift knob
We was sittin' there suckin' toothpicks, drinkin' Nehis an' onion soup mix,
An' I says, “Earl, let's mail a card to mother and send them chickens on down t'other side,
yeah, let's give 'em a ride.”
Chorus- Wolf Creek Pass, way up on the Great Divide
Truckin' on down the other side.
Well Earl put down his bottle an' mashed his foot down on the throttle
Then a couple of boobs and a thousand cubes of a 1948 peterbuilt screamed t' life.
We woke up the chickens.
We roared on off of that shoulder sprayin' pinecones, rocks, and boulders,
and put 400 head of them Rhode Island Red and a couple of burned out roosters on the line.
Look out below cuz here we go.
Chorus
Well we commenced to truckin' and them hens commenced to cluckin'.
Then Earl took out a match, scratched his pants, and lit up the unused half of a dollar cigar
and took a puff, says, “My ain't this perty up here.”
I says, “Earl this hill can spill us, you better slow down, you’re gonna' kill us.
Just make one mistake an' it's the pearly gates for them 85 crates o' USDA approved cluckers.
You wanna' hit second?”
Chorus
Well Earl grabed onto the shifter and stabbed her into fifth gear.
Then the chromium-plated, fully illuminated, genuine accessory shift knob
come right off in his hand.
I says, “You wanna screw that thing back on, Earl?”
Well he was tryin to thread it on there when the fire fell off of his cigar and dropped on down,
sorta rolled around, and lit the cuff of Earls pants an' burned a hole in his sock.
Yeah sorta set him right on fire.
Well I looked on outta the window an' started countin' phone poles
goin' by at the rate of 4 to the 7th power.
Well I put 2 and 2 together and added 12 an' carried 5,
come up with 22,000 telephone poles an hour.
I looked at Earl and his eyes was wide, his lip was curled and his leg was fried.
His hand was froze to the wheel like a tongue to a sled in the middle of a blizzard.
I says, “Earl I'm not the type to complain, but the time has come for me to explain,
that if you don't apply some brake real soon,
I says, “You wanna screw that thing back on, Earl?”
Well he was tryin to thread it on there when the fire fell off of his cigar and dropped on down,
sorta rolled around, and lit the cuff of Earls pants an' burned a hole in his sock.
Yeah sorta set him right on fire.
Well I looked on outta the window an' started countin' phone poles
goin' by at the rate of 4 to the 7th power.
Well I put 2 and 2 together and added 12 an' carried 5,
come up with 22,000 telephone poles an hour.
I looked at Earl and his eyes was wide, his lip was curled and his leg was fried.
His hand was froze to the wheel like a tongue to a sled in the middle of a blizzard.
I says, “Earl I'm not the type to complain, but the time has come for me to explain,
that if you don't apply some brake real soon,
they’re gonna' have to pick us up
with a stick and a spoon.”
Well Earl rared back, cocked his leg, stepped down as hard as he could on the brake,
pedal went clear to the floor. Stayed right there on the floor.
Said it was kinda like steppin' on a plum.
Well from there on down it just wasn't real perty, it was hairpin county and switchback city.
One of 'em looked like a can full of worms, another one looked like malaria germs.
Right in the middle of the whole damn show was a real nice tunnel now wouldn't you know.
The sign said clearance to the 12 foot line, but them chickens was stacked to 13-9.
We shot that tunnel at a hundred and ten like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen.
Took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp.
Went down an' around an' around an' down til’ we ran outta ground at the edge of town
and bashed into the side of the feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs.
Chorus
Well Earl rared back, cocked his leg, stepped down as hard as he could on the brake,
pedal went clear to the floor. Stayed right there on the floor.
Said it was kinda like steppin' on a plum.
Well from there on down it just wasn't real perty, it was hairpin county and switchback city.
One of 'em looked like a can full of worms, another one looked like malaria germs.
Right in the middle of the whole damn show was a real nice tunnel now wouldn't you know.
The sign said clearance to the 12 foot line, but them chickens was stacked to 13-9.
We shot that tunnel at a hundred and ten like gas through a funnel and eggs through a hen.
Took that top row of chickens off slicker than scum off a Louisiana swamp.
Went down an' around an' around an' down til’ we ran outta ground at the edge of town
and bashed into the side of the feed store in downtown Pagosa Springs.
Chorus
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Xeriscape, continued...
I'm working on getting some green stuff to fill in the rectangle that used to be grass next to the patio. I'm experimenting with creeping thyme (which seems to be doing very well), catmint (which might need too much water) and red clover (I scattered the seed but it hasn't germinated yet).
In the front yard, I'm filling in the empty holes where I removed the dead arborvitae. The prickly pear cactus had a bright yellow blossom yesterday! I bought agave, desert mallow, and desert willow yesterday and planted them. I noticed that deer have been munching on the red yucca blossoms by the street, so let's hope my new choices are relatively deer-resistant. I know the deer will eat anything if they are hungry enough.
In the front yard, I'm filling in the empty holes where I removed the dead arborvitae. The prickly pear cactus had a bright yellow blossom yesterday! I bought agave, desert mallow, and desert willow yesterday and planted them. I noticed that deer have been munching on the red yucca blossoms by the street, so let's hope my new choices are relatively deer-resistant. I know the deer will eat anything if they are hungry enough.
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| roses blooming in the back yard |
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| brand new agave |
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| new desert willow |
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| prickly pear cactus blossom |
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| red yucca in bloom |
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