Sidetracked Charley

I began going back to Las Vegas after my head injury because it has the Social Security office. And I hated going to Taos so much I even went to Santa Fe medical appointments via Las Vegas. I came in from the Mora direction and then had to find myself to I 25, which is not clearly marked. And Social Security is hidden behind Walmart. So I came to use the term lost again in Las Vegas. Given my wanderings around it would seem I could have found everything by now. But when you are being led by a camera and interesting old buildings I am just thankful I am not hopelessly lost. I have found the important places like the Castaneda Hotel by the railroad. The train station looks new and not what I saw from the train. Need to google that. Glad they are renovating the hotel. And I found Highlands University because they were filming Longmire just across the street. I found Luna University because I was looking for a background casting call for Longmire.  ...

Castaneda Hotel awaiting renovation December 24, 2001 I was hit by a drunken skier while teaching a lesson at Angel Fire Resort. Prior to that day I was known for my memory. It took me a while to totally know the depths of the loss that day. I was thrilled at first that I had only lost three and a half hours of time. Later, when I passed the short term memory tests, I was elated. Except for not always knowing the right word at the right time my mind seemed fine. But recovery from a closed brain trauma is a very complicated thing. To stay sane I concentrated on the positive, and practiced what I did not want to lose. Unfortunately I was not really aware of what I had lost. Largely I do not miss what is not in my head any more. At least until I am confronted by friends or circumstances with the reality of what is gone. Last weekend I was in Las Vegas, New Mexico with an old friend. She was driving and we went to places in Las Vegas I did not remember. She talked of adventures th...

Windows off Main Trinidad, Colorado Every dying town has its cave people. I have been doing research on the Village of Angel Fire, New Mexico for an article I just finished writing. I live five miles south of the village near what was once the town of Black Lake. It once had a store and a school and a church and a post office. Now Black Lake is where they shot the Montana scenes for Lonesome Dove. I love old towns with history. Angel Fire is not old and it does not have history. No old school house or cemetery with tell tale dates to contemplate. It has no grand buildings or even a real main street. No sidewalks. Angel Fire was incorporated as a village in 1986 severing itself from the ski resort of the same name opened in 1965. The resort is still upset. As I was preparing to write this blog it dawned on me I have no pictures of Angel Fire. It has nothing worthy to photograph beyond the mountains which surround it. It has no park like Los Alamos, also a young town, and wh...

Hoover Dam before 2010 and the bridge I had never been further west on Route 66 than Flagstaff, Arizona the summer I graduated from high school. Dad took the family on the grand tour of National parks in the four corners area. All other vacations had been to visit family in Missouri at Christmas, or fishing trips in Colorado. Now I was hitch hiking with a Playboy bunny from Chicago and three other class mates who had been rewarded with summers in Europe after prep school graduation. I grabbed shotgun. And they climbed in the back to get some sleep. Riding shotgun, my pilot father used to explain, is a lot like being co-pilot and navigator; duties I was more than willing to fill because I could see the entire panorama of the scenery before us. It also meant keeping the driver awake and engaged. So I knew more about Charley, our host, than the others by the time we got to Hoover Dam. Charley was the first man I had met outside my high school English teacher who did not look at me ...

The almost two weeks of continual snow was unusual but not the return to spring like weather. It is one of the things I enjoy so much about New Mexico. The state only seems to play with the seasons. Sunday was in the 60's and so it was difficult to stay inside and do taxes. The snow was almost all gone but what replaced it was small streams, new ponds and mud. Definitely gardening was out. Could not resist trying to put a shovel into the ground, however. A few inches down was still frozen. And doing any structural repairs to the polytunnel would mean walking around through mud and standing in melted snow. I'm flexible. I grabbed my camera and shopping list and headed down to Las Vegas. I am more and more choosing it for picking up supplies. It is further and requires more of my day then a quick hop over the mountain to Taos but it has several advantages. The Walmart there is a super one and aims its products at a more educated and upward mobile clientele than Taos or Espa...

It really isn't winter. Not winter like the northeast US is having. Not winter like 2006 (but it was a once in 70 year winter). Not the winter it looked like it was going to be in November with 18 inches at one time. January thaw started in December and continues in spite of a small snow yesterday. It was the type of snow I like - here today and gone tomorrow. And more on the mountain than here in the valley. A pretty snow. I confess to rather liking winter. Especially now with the big 4x4 pickup. All my annoying fair weather friends are gone. And with the caller ID I can avoid them calling from Florida to check on the weather. This year they are wasting their money. I have not been snowed in for real once. So I dedicated myself to getting out and about with the camera at least once a week or so. First it was Coyote Creek in search of ice. Found some ice. But mainly just clear blue water. Should have bought the fly rod instead of the camera. Was definitely over dres...