Raspberry Picking

Earlier this week I spent the day with friends and one of the things that came up was raspberry picking at Salman Ranch. I mentioned that I had wanted to drive up there this year and somehow time had gotten away from me. It was probably too late to go now - all of the raspberries were probably gone. Then a couple of days later I received an email from the Ranch and it said that there were still tons of raspberries left and that this weekend would be a great time to drive up to La Cueva and do some picking.

So, this morning Thomas and I and two friends set out to Salman Ranch. We had a nice drive and great weather. It was a beautiful Fall day and there weren't very many people. Pretty much we had the entire field to ourselves. I really enjoyed myself and it was easy to pick these berries. They came off the bush very easy and there aren't the thorns or stickers that you find on blackberry bushes. We each picked two buckets of berries and ended up with a total of 17 pounds of raspberries.

After paying we stopped in to the Café to have a little lunch and then walked through the gardens before making our way back to Santa Fe. Once home I placed all my raspberries on trays and put them into the freezer. Tomorrow I will put them in bags and hopefully have enough to last me until the Spring.

The Stick People

Today I went to Albuquerque with some friends to attend a class at Papers! to learn how to make a paper wreath. But before the class we did a few things. Peggy and Diane did a little letterboxing in the bosque - they found a crawdad, a climbing tree and a pedalin girl. It was fun and nice along the bosque but it was really cold. Before the class we had some dinner at Il Vicino. We had a nice dinner and got to relax in a warm place before making our way to Papers! for the class. We made a nice wreath that was pretty easy and could be made for just about any occasion. The one we made tonight was for Christmas. But all you have to do is change the type of paper you use to get the desired effect for whatever celebration you wanted.

But the thing that stood out for me was the stick people at the Bosque School. A group of New Mexico arts organizations have gotten together to present LAND/ART. So after the letterboxing and before dinner we made our way to the Bosque School to see an exhibit by Patrick Dougherty. He uses tree saplings to create semi-permanent sculptures. At the school he created three sculptures that are faces. They stand close together and are intertwined with a tree. It was incredible. You can walk through them and look up into them. They are pretty tall (maybe 20 feet or so) and the structure is wonderful. There were also a few pieces that were not anything specific - more like little rooms that you could walk through. I was truly amazed at the artwork and now I want Patrick to come to my house and create one in my yard. No way is that gonna happen but I can dream. You should check out the website and see if there is anything that he is doing in your area and try to get there to see it. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Thomas the Ghost

Back at the beginning of 2008 I decided to take pictures everyday and post those pictures on a blog. I decided to do this so that I could learn more about photography and learn to look at things differently. My photography is getting better and I definitely look at things differently. You can see some my photos at As I See It 2008 and As I See It 2009. Because of all this picture taking I have been reading lots of different blogs and looking at lots of different photos and investigating lots of different websites. On Halloween I was looking at different websites and I came across an article on how to photograph ghosts. Well, I haven't seen any ghost around the house lately so I had to make a decision if I was going to be able to complete this challenge.

Someone had to become a ghost and since I was taking the picture it turned out to be Thomas. Now don't go getting all worried or upset. As soon as the picture was taken I resuscitated Thomas and all is back to normal. I really had fun with this project and I loved learning how to manipulate photos for different effects.

A Little Sand, A Little Soda, A Little Lime and A Lot of Heat

***A Quick Note: The Oregon Coast Visitors Association saw this post and put it on their website under Stories from the People's Coast. If you have a moment go to the following link and leave a comment for my story and I may have a chance to win a prize. Thanks!
A Little Sand, A Little Soda, A Little Lime and A Lot of Heat

A few weeks ago we were on vacation on the Oregon Coast. One of the things that caught my attention was the prospect of looking for and possibly finding glass floats. At one time Japanese Glass Floats could be found along the coast but the chance of finding one now is pretty slim. These floats were used on nets by fisherman and sometimes the float would break off the net and eventually find its way across the ocean to the Oregon Coast. Now a days some towns along the Oregon Coast place modern floats blown by glass blowers from the area on the beaches. They are usually placed between the vegetation line and water. Sometimes they are hidden in plain site or hidden behind beach junk. So on a couple of occasions we took some long walks on the beach and looked for tidepools, sea shells and floats. We found the tidepools and the sea shells but the floats eluded us.

While driving through Newport one day we saw an art glass studio and noticed a sign for glass blowing classes to blow your own float. We didn't stop that day - we just kept driving to our destination. The next day happened to be a cloudy and rainy day. We did manage to get in a three mile hike before we decided that we had had enough of being wet. So we made a choice to abandon the outdoors and find something to do indoors out of the weather. We returned to Newport and made our way to The Edge Art Gallery. We thought if we couldn't find a glass float we would make our own. So we went in and inquired about the class. They informed us that they didn't have a class that day but we could come back the next day. Unfortunately we couldn't make it back the next day. So we decided to look around the gallery and maybe just buy a float. Then we were completely surprised - they decided to make the time for a class just for the two of us. Now that's what I call customer service and good business. Going out of your way for the custormer - what a novel concept.

We read a brief safety letter and signed a consent and then the instructor took us back to the studio. The instructor's name was Jeff. A young man who was very pleasant and went out of his way to make this experience a great one. He turned out to be an excellent instructor and he managed to make us feel relaxed while we handled molten hot glass. The first thing he did was explain the process from beginning to end while demonstrating each part. Then it was time for us to begin. We first got to choose our colors. I picked three different greens (one that was a little iridescent) and one blue, Thomas picked a bright blue and white. I made my float first and then Thomas made his. The steps were the same for both floats so I will just go through them once.

Jeff picked up a glob of glass from one of the furnaces and then turned the blow pipe over to me. I had to keep turning the blow pipe so that the glass didn't just fall to the ground and to keep the glass in a crude ball. Then I had to put the glass into another furnace to heat it up. Once it got hot enough I took it over to a table where Jeff had spread out little chips of glass - these chips were the three colors of green that I had picked out. They were mixed together and I just rolled the hot glob of glass through the chips until the entire glob was covered. Then I reheated the glass and again rolled it in the chips. This was done four or five times. All the while I kept the blow tube turning and the glass centered. I reheated the glass in the small furnace and then took it to a bench. I sat on the bench and rolled the tube on the supports to keep the glass centered while I took a large pair of scissors and stabbed the glass and twisted it. This was done to create swirls with the color. I did this three times - heating and twisting then Jeff took the blow tube and went to the large furnace to add more clear glass over the green color. He returned it to me and I reheated it and then went to the table with the colored chips - this time Jeff had spread out the blue ones and I rolled the glass through the chips only adding minimal color. I rolled the glass on a flat table to smooth it out a little and give it a little shape. Then the glass was heated up again and then it was back to the bench to twist the color again. After two times of this I heated the glass up and then Jeff blew a bubble into the glass to get it started. Then he reheated the glass and I sat at the bench with a wooden form while Jeff placed the glass into the form and shaped it. Then we switched places and Jeff attached flexible tubing to the blow tube. He kept the blow tube rolling on the supports to keep the shape while I blew into the tube to expand the float to the size I wanted. At the same time Jeff used scissors to make a weak spot on the glass just before the tube so that it could be separated from the tube. He then held the glass over a padded bowl and I tapped the tube with a wooden paddle and the float separated from the tube and fell into the bowl. Jeff added a loop to the top so that the float could hang. He then transferred it to the annealer to cool.

It was an incredible experience even though we had tons of help. I really enjoyed our time learning to blow glass and I have a new found respect for the artist that create wonderful works of art with glass. We didn't get to see the finished pieces because they had to be transferred to the annealer so they wouldn't crack. We left the studio with terrific memories but without our floats. We decided to have them shipped home and we would have to wait to see them. Yesterday we were surprised when they arrived in the mail. They aren't exactly perfect but that is part of their beauty and we have a great souvenir of our time on the Oregon Coast.

A New Challenge For Me

Last year I thought about joining National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) where you write 30 posts in 30 days but I just wasn't sure if I had enough to say or even if I wanted to say anything - especially every single day. But for the past year I have blogged more and now I really want to give it a try. Part of my problem is do I have anything to say or does anyone really want to read what I have to say. But I realize it doesn't matter. I can write about anything, even if it doesn't make sense and if no one likes it that doesn't matter either - the real reason for doing this is to get better at blogging. I have a lot of thoughts inside my head and most of the time I have a difficult time organizing them. I am hoping that this little project helps me to get them organized and I can write about them.

So I have joined NaBloPoMo and this is my first post. I want to focus on what is happening around me and write a little about it. For the past two years I have been doing a photography blog called As I See It. I take pictures everyday and post one picture on the blog for that day. It has helped me to look at things around me in a totally new way. I notice more and have gotten better at taking pictures. I am looking at this challenge in the same way - maybe it will help me to think about my world differently and open my mind a little. It may even help me to become a better writer (since I have never seen myself that way).

I spent a lot of time today debating about whether or not to start this project and there were more positives than negatives. I guess I spent too much time thinking about it and not actually doing it since here it is the end of the day and I am just now posting. Now that I am actually writing something I am feeling more confident that I can do this. There are quite a few things that I want to write about and I am looking forward to finding my own style and improving my skills. So with one day down there are only 29 more to go.

It's State Fair Time!

Expo New Mexico started on September 11th and runs until September 27th. Thomas and I usually try and make it to the Fair at least once. Today we had to pick up a friend at the airport so we decided to do a little letterboxing and then go to the Fair.

We arrived at the Fair Grounds early afternoon and it was a good time - it wasn't very crowded yet and that made it easy to move around. When we first entered we passed by an area with stadium seats and notice a crowd in the stands and someone talking. So we stopped and watched the Marcan Tiger Preserve, Tigers of India. It was a neat show and I especially loved the white tigers. After the show we wandered for a little while and then stopped to see Dock Dogs Big Air. This show incorporates the locals. It is a competition between dogs to see which can run down the dock and dive to catch an object - the goal is to see who can jump the furthest. It was okay but we got bored soon so we started walking around again. We next stopped in to see the Fine Arts Exhibit. Now I am not an educated art critic but I was seriously doubting the judges abilities. Some of the winners were awful and some of the nicer pieces (at least the ones I thought were good) didn't win anything. It was still and enjoyable exhibit. After the Fine Arts exhibit we went to the Creative Arts exhibit - I liked this much better. More arts and crafts type stuff here and some very talented people entered their creations. I really enjoyed seeing everything here and left with quite a bit of inspiration.

Next we did a little shopping at the Manuel Lujan Building - they were selling anything and everything here - it was a little overwhelming. So we left and went to the barn to see some baby animals - this was more enjoyable and relaxing than the shopping area. We spent the next half hour or so just walking around and watching people. We saw a live bronze statue, a puppet parade with kids and their parents and a food booth where everything was fried (moon pies, oreos, twinkies, m&m's, cookie dough, snickers and cheese cake). Then we wandered over to the rides area. We didn't ride anything but we walked around and enjoyed the sounds, sights and smells. I took lots of pictures of the midway and we enjoyed watching people on the rides (I wasn't getting on any of them).

Well, we had a great time at the Fair but we were all tired and hungry. As we were walking to the exit we passed this gentleman sitting on a curb, he apparently was more tired than we were because he seemed to be napping while sitting. Anyway, we left and went to find a place to eat and made our way back to Santa Fe. I really enjoyed the Fair this year and I might make another trip this coming week.

A Day of Rockhounding

Today Thomas and I joined our friends Diane and John for a day of rockhounding. Last night I got everything together and packed into a backpack and this morning I put together some things for lunch. We arrived at Diane and John's house and loaded up our things into Moby (their Land Crusier) and headed out.

Our first destination was the Harding Mine between Dixon and Penasco. So we headed up Hwy285 - driving through Pojoaque and Espanola and making our way to NM68 to NM75 and then to CR63A to the caretaker's place. To visit this mine you have to fill out a relaease form and notify Mr. Griego. Once the preliminaries were out of the way we could head out to the mine. We made it to the parking area, got our things and headed up the trail to the mine. We stopped at the "purple room" first. This is a shallow cave that is covered with lepidolite - it is purple and white - and really beautiful. Thomas and John spent quite a bit of time searching for rocks there while Diane and I explored a little further up the trail. Mr. Griego showed up and spent some time giving Thomas and John a little lesson on the minerals available in the area. They all eventually joined Diane and I and we all continued on the trail. Mr. Griego showed us were to go to find some calcite. John and I walked up the hill and looked around the area and were able to find a couple of nice pieces. We then returned back down the hill and met Diane and Thomas - they were just looking around the area and collecting a few samples of different types of rocks. I really had trouble keeping up with the different types of rocks but I still had a great time. We did find a medium sized rock that I loved. It was mostly white with some purple and black intertwined on it and it also had some lichen growing on it. It now sits in our garden and is beautiful.

We retruned to the car and then headed toward our next destination. That destination was the Hondo Canyon to look for staurolites (aka Fairy Crosses). But on our way we decided we were hungry and decided to stop off of NM68 and sit near the Rio Grande and have our picnic lunch. We ate and talked and John even took a little walk in the river. We had a nice relaxing time near the river but we also wanted to go and search for staurolites. We packed up our lunch and made our way up NM68 and just a few miles north of Pilar we turned right onto a gravel road. We saw a couple of cars parked just a little ways up the road but we were driving further up the road and closer to the area where you find the crystals. It is about two miles in to a meadow where you can park and then you just have to walk a little ways up the road. The road is quite rough with a few big rocks along the way and you definitely need a 4WD vehicle with pretty high clearance - and Moby fit the bill - it did a great job getting us up the road - as did John and Diane with excellent driving. Anyway, this put us in the Hondo Canyon and right in the area where we could look for crystals. Diane stayed on the path and planted a letterbox while John, Thomas and I went up the hill to look for staurolites. As we made our way up the hillside looking for an area to search Thomas found one right away. We walked around for a little while trying to find the best area but ended up just searching all over the place. We each found quite a few pieces of the 60/120 degree ones (some better than others) but we didn't find any 90/90 degree ones. We stayed in the area for about an hour and then headed out.

On the way back home we decided to stop at Embudo Station for dinner. We had a nice meal and drinks and relaxed and talked about the day. It was a really intersting day and I got to see places that I didn't even know existed. I love exploring and learning new things. Thanks John and Diane for introducing us to some great places here in New Mexico.

Chicago by Train

On May 7th Thomas and I are taking a vacation to the Midwest. We are going to Chicago. Thomas' family is from that area and we will be visiting one of his Mom's cousins and doing some sightseeing. We decided to take the train and we will be traveling on Amtrak's Southwest Chief from Lamy to Chicago. This will be my first visit to Chicago and it has been quite a while since Thomas has been there - so it will be almost like a first trip for him as well. It will also be our first time traveling by train - we are both very excited ab

out this trip. I have been doing a lot of research and planning so that we will have a memorable trip. Here are some fun facts and trivia about Chicago.

Chicago Fun Facts

Chicago is the third largest city in the United States, with a population of nearly three million people. Its scenic lakeside location, world-class cultural offerings and unique architecture are just some of the reasons why Chicago is a great place to live and visit.

Chicago is home to...

237 square miles of land

An estimated 2,896,016 residents

Dozens of cultural institutions, historical sites and museums

More than 200 theaters

Nearly 200 art galleries

More than 7,300 restaurants

77 community areas containing more than 100 neighborhoods

26 miles of lakefront

15 miles of bathing beaches

36 annual parades

19 miles of lakefront bicycle paths

552 parks

United States President Barack Obama

Did you know . . .

Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837.

Chicago’s nicknames include: The Windy City, the City of Big Shoulders, the Second City, and The City That Works.

The "Historic Route 66" begins in Chicago at Grant Park on Adams Street in front of the Art Institute of Chicago.

The first Ferris wheel made its debut in Chicago at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Today, Navy Pier is home to a 15-story Ferris wheel, modeled after the original one.

Chicago’s downtown area is known as “The Loop.” The nickname refers to

the area encircled by the elevated (‘L’) train tracks.

In 1900, Chicago successfully completed a massive and highly innovative engineering project – reversing the flow of the Chicago River so that it emptied into the Mississippi River instead of Lake Michigan. Each year, the Chicago River is dyed green to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the largest and most extensive collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world.

When it opened in 1991, the Harold Washington Library Center, with approximately 6.5 million books, was the world’s largest municipal library.

The Lincoln Park Zoo, one of only three major free zoos in the country, is the country’s oldest public zoo with an estimated annual attendance of three million.

The Sears Tower is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 110 stories high.

The Sears Tower elevators are among the fastest in the world operating

as fast as 1,600 feet per minute.

Four states are visible from the Sear Tower Skydeck (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan & Wisconsin).

There seems to be some different opinions about how Chicago got its nickname - "The Windy City". I found three different writings about this . . .

Jon Boyd's Site

Hub Pages

World Wide Words

I am sure there are quite a few other opinions but I thought I got a good feeling about The Windy City from these.

There seems to be an endless supply of things for us to do while we are there so I am focusing on certain things. We both love architecture so we will be taking a river cruise that focuses on just that, we also love art so we will be visiting a few museums. And a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio has been planned. Both of us also like being outside so we will probably visit one or more of the following - Grant Park, Millennium Park, Lincoln Park, Museum Campus and Navy Pier. These things are just the tip of the iceburg - there is also lots of music (jazz, blues and rock), food, the zoo and aquarium and public art. So I think we will be busy the entire time. I will write about our trip on this blog probably every two or three days. So hopefully I will have a good journal of this trip by the time we get back home.

*The painting above is called 'Chicago Skyline' and is an Oil on Linen (22x28) - 2008 by Anastasia Mak.

We Would Like You To Meet Daisy

Well, as of tonight we have a new dog. Thomas talked to someone at work about a week ago and they mentioned they had some puppies that were 11 weeks old. The puppies are a cross between a Blue Heeler (the mom) and a Red Heeler (the dad). We drove out to Romeroville this afternoon and met the guy and all the puppies. The one we chose was very friendly and playful. It also seems to have more characteristics of the blue heeler - mainly the coloration. She was just adorable and kept nipping at my pants. After playing with all the puppies for a little while we decided that we liked her personality the best and just like that we had a new dog.

So we headed home with our new puppy. She did well in the car - she sat in my lap for part of the trip and then on the floor for the rest. She did wimper and whine a little - I guess she was missing her mom and siblings. So we got her home and let her play in the yard. I got her some water and just watched her explore her new home. Thomas went to get some dog food and a dog house. He has been wanting an outside dog for a while now and this one will work out well. So we set her up with food, water and blankets in a kennel. She did some more whining for about 30 minutes but she seems to have settled in just fine. Now she is sleeping in her new bed and seems content.

Oh, and the entire way home I kept telling Thomas he had to pick a name and he didn't know what he wanted to call her. Then while he was out getting food I came up with the name Daisy - it seems to fit her nicely. I hope she likes it.

Barack Obama

Barack Obama

44th President
United States of America

Election Day - November 4, 2008

Well I made my way to the polls this morning. I have been torn throughout this election and frankly I am glad that it is over. Tomorrow we can all move on and all those ads, phone calls and door-to-door campaigners will be history. I don't think I have ever put this much time and energy into researching an election. But I am glad I did - I feel like I made a very informed decision and I have an extremely strong feeling that things will change - and for the better. Obama wasn't my first choice in the primaries and when he won I wasn't sure if he would be the person I voted for today. Here is where all the research came in. I am not absolutely sure he is the right man for the job but with all the problems we have had for the past eight years I knew there was no way I could vote Republican. And after researching I came to the conclusion that with all the choices we had today (meaning all the Independents and Green Party candidates as well as the Democrat and Republican candidates) - he would be our best HOPE! Whatever the outcome is on November 4, 2008 it will make history! No matter what your opinion or political affiliation is I just hope that everyone gets out there and votes.

Old Dog, New Trick

Last night Thomas and I had dinner with his cousin and her husband. Nothing unusual there except for the fact that they live in Albuquerque and we live in Santa Fe and we don't actually get to see each other very often. It just happened that we had to take our friend Regina to the airport at 4:30pm and pick up our friend Donna at 7:30pm - so we had four hours to kill. Thomas' cousin has food allergies and it is always a little difficult to find a place that she can eat at. They suggested a sushi place but neither Thomas nor I eat sushi - but they assured us that we would be able to find something. They were right - Thomas had Teriyaki Pork and rice and I had Super Crunch (shrimp tempura wrapped with shrimp and avocado). The new trick came when I decided that I had to learn to use chopsticks. This would be my first time - and after a short lesson by Thomas' cousin I actually got the hang of it. I actually made it through the entire meal and did not drop one piece of food. So you see it is easy to teach an old dog new tricks.