Sidetracked Charley

The Sangre de Cristos   I drove to the market yesterday for avocados. It was Thursday before the Memorial Day invasion. The tourist season comes on Harley Davidson motorcycles decked out in their leathers. Supposedly they are "celebrating" a war I marched to end. I usually just hide away in my Black Lake home and try to shut my ears as they roar down Hwy 434. The rest of the tourist season will be quieter but also not welcome. This year I feel like a tourist. I have just returned from exile in neighboring Eagle Nest. I have been an evacuee for 12 days. I have been glad to be back in Black Lake on the land I love but it has not yet felt like home. I feel like a cat on a hot tin roof. Thicke, my cat, has settled in better than me. I stand in my studio and pace trying to figure what to do next. I come up with a plan to unpack this or rearrange that. Move a few things then abandon it.  I had planned to go to Taos and stock up with groceries for the invasion, and go by Ace Hardwar...

Old Friends I have long known that photographers are only truly happy with a camera in their hands. And paradise may be having a photographer buddy to share fstops with. I say maybe because there are photographers and there are photographers. We don't all want to capture the same subjects. Or talk about the same things while scouring the landscape outside the car looking for the next object of attraction. And there is nothing more awful than being in a vehicle driven by a non-photographer unless you forced yourself to leave your camera at home. Better to travel with just your camera. But the last three days have been awesome with my photographer friend from the east coast visiting. Since her last visit I have been cataloging old trucks to share. And yesterday we hit the truck trail. Some were old friends of mine. And some I had saved for her visit. International at Eagle Nest And some were eureka moments while looking for buffalo and antelope or discussing the nex...

Mardi Cresting the Hill There have been a large amount of huge things going on in my life; Getting ready for the July show, trying not to go blind before then, a plethora of pet sitting engagements, and two badly infected teeth that must be pulled today. All of it has been complicated by requirements, re-scheduling, people not coming home when they said they were, and a winter which seems to be playing hide and seek with spring further delaying planting the garden. Beneath all that noisy stuff have been the little gifts and victories it is wise not to miss as they are our reasons for living. Mardi Gras at 14 and one half is still taking cross country walks. If she is not always keeping pace with Magique, Magique is slowing her pace to not lose her. Even letting her lead sometimes. Mistress, as usual, is overly concerned with her photography. Mardi and Magique's annual physicals showed that Mardi is doing great. And my vision improves. With a perfectly functioning right ...

I know it was week 32 because I do that 365 Day Photography challenge weekly blog on Creative Journey . Though I must confess I recently double checked that because I was pulling photos out of a folder marked week 33. That all probably comes under the category of TMI - Too Much Information - for those out of the texting loop. It was a week about completion and rain and flowers. It was about rediscovering my garden. Seems to have gotten along without me quite well. Hail storms had necessitated the replacement of the plastic cover. While at that task I opted to put a double fold of the old plastic just across the top to help cushion the other plastic and add more protection from hail. The squash plants have developed a powdery mold which I am told will respond to aspirin dissolved in a misting bottle and sprayed on the leaves. I harvested Swiss Chard, Collard Greens and Kale which I chopped and blanched and then frozen in an ice cube tray. These cubes are to be used this winte...

Ripples in the Pond by J. Binford-Bell Turned 67 yesterday. Birthdays are not like those of my youth. Of note was turning 21 twice. It was easier to fake ID's in those days. I made the mistake of celebrating my 21st birthdays at the same bar and the bartender remembered. "Happy 21st Birthday Again," he said. Most bars in Albuquerque during those days gave you a free drink on your legal age birthday. The key was to hit as many of them with your friends as possible. Central Avenue was lined with bars. No way could you get to them all. So you picked a side - north or south. And a direction - east to west or west to east. I obviously picked the same side and the same direction twice. Hell, my 21st birthdays were a couple of years apart. Maybe three. This birthday it was ice tea (not the Long Island kind) with dinner at Calamity Jane's in Eagle Nest. It only has two bars. One on each side of the street. The big gift of the evening was a fishing license. I now qual...