making up for my lack of posts.

Prayers to the Heavens

Larger view of front of Contemporary Native American Art

Taken in front of the Museum of Contemporary Native American Art

These other pictures are from Pop Gallery. Wayne Hilton from San Antonio is creating an amazing project over the next  year, Hermosos Huesos. He's creating a total of 15 Catrinas, a tribute to Posada's 100th year anniversary. which will then be shared with the public. You can see his work and plans here, Hermosos Huesos.  I was fortunate enough to see these Catrinas in person, and lucky enough to take pictures.  to click on Don't forget to click on the picture for a larger view.

I am in love with these Catrinas. Not sure exactly why. I also want you know, they are all created from recycled materials. They eventually will all have supportive structures like you see with the beautiful white Catrina.
Wayne is a sweet guy, it was a pleasure to meet him.

I know, it's been awhile. Life is going well, no complaints here. Oh wait....I forgot about my shredded tire. The other day, I loaded the dogs up to go for our hike. As I went down the road, the car was acting sluggish. I thought it was maybe the transmission, but what do I know. So I turned around to head back home. That's when it got really bad, and I thought I'd better take a look. When I walked around the car, I saw the back tire in shredded bits, darn. Thankfully I have Triple AAA. I called them and w/i the time it took me to walk the dogs home and then walk back to the car, the mechanic was there. He got the tire changed, recommended Discount Tires, as the place to go. In looking at the tire, I discovered a large screw that had punctured. So happy this didn't happen if I was on the highway.


Went to Discount Tire, the guy tells me that since this car is all wheel drive, I can't just replace just one tire. I have to have them all replaced. There's no Big O tire place here in SF. If there was, I prob could have had them match it up. So, I take a deep breathe and say, OK. It was going to take 45 mins to change the tire, so I ask him for someplace to eat as this building is on a busy highway. He recommends Horseman's Haven, which is two buildings down the road.

When I walk in, I recognise this is the real deal. Mostly men, but a few women. Southwest menu only. I had cheese enchiladas, with green chili. I've stepped it up to green chili since I've been here, with no problems. I should have listened to the waitress though when she said "Do you know this is hot" I said yes. My mistake. I was thinking it was like the other green chilis that I've eaten here. WRONG! It was the hottest chili I've ever had. Of couse, I was really hungry so I dug in. With the tortilla I had wih my meal, I made it through the enchiladas and beans. Later that afternoon though, I was regretting my decision. Big Time.

When I got back to Discount Tire, my car was just about ready to go. The sales guy told me they upgraded my tires to Perelli which are about $40 more a tire. They must not had the ones I paid for in stock, is the only thing I can figure. Since I wasn't charged any more, I was happy.

 All in all, it was 4 hours out of my day, the day I planned on going to the International Folk Art Museum. I want to share the Hermosas Huesos project and see if they'd be interested in having a show. I think today's the day to go there.

Beautiful Bones Project by Wayne Hilton from Las Cruces New Mexico. I'm in love with his work. he's doing a fund raiser on Kickstarter to raise money to finish his project. This video explains it all. If you can, please support him and his wonderful work. Gracias, amigos.

II didn't realize I haven't posted in quite awhile.

So, it's finally gotten cold here. I was glad I had my "new" to me coat (thanks to Goodwill) and my hat, mittens and wraparound cowl on when I took the dogs out. I even whipped up a new coat for Ella, made from a boiled wool jacket (also courtesy of Goodwill.

 I've bought a few new pieces of furniture. A shelving unit, using it in the kitchen.
Also a printer table which will fit both my printer and my desktop.  I've spent a whooping $35 for both of these pieces. I'm a happy camper.

I had to drive to Eldorado to pick up the printer table. Eldorado is about 35 mins from where I live. It's in the foothills, different landscape than in La Cienega. I'm not sure that I like it better. It's wide open with beautiful views. The house where I bought this sat up on a hill. There were snowflakes falling when I came out of the house.

Eldorado looking south.

 The people who I bought the printer table from were moving to Vero Beach FL. Good choice. Their house was listed by Sotheby's. It seems to be an active realty company here. Guess that means a lot of high end houses.

Catching Up

I've recovered from my whirlwind week, two trips to Colorado in a week's time, moving out of a storage shed and hauling some things here to Santa Fe and some things to store in my brother's garage. Big thanks for that. I am officially moved out of my storage shed!

The weather here is gorgeous, the fall colors are beautiful. I tried to show a video of the panoramic view but Blogger isn't cooperating at the moment.

This is the hill I walk to get to the spot where I shot the video. And it goes up even higher than this picture shows!

This is another view of the backside of the hill, looking down into the valley.

I think this is a gorgeous estate that's for sale, I'd love to win the lottery and buy this. see it  here.




This pic is of a very old church just down the road from where I live, La Capilla de San Antonio. 

Santa Fe River runs through this canyon

 

 

What a day!

My plans for today included going to a 2hr art demo being held at Artisan here in Santa Fe. I took the dogs out this morning, we had a nice long walk. About 12:45, I decided to leave. It seems like anywhere you need to go, I should plan for 1/2 hr to get there. I'm almost ready to leave, went to get my purse, and out the door to the car.
Oops, I realize I don't have my keys. Not in my purse, go back to the house and see them laying on the desk, which is right by the front door. The front door's locked. Usually I'll leave just the security door in the back closed/locked and the inside back door open. Not today.... It was locked too. Darn it all, what to do?
I tried the windows, no luck. I was able to get the screen off one window, but it wouldn't open. I tried seeing if I could jiggle the handle or pry my way in. No Luck.
So, over to my neighbors, we try to see if togeter we can slide the window. Still no budging.
I call AAA, since I have a premier membership, I have home lockout service. Thank God for that! So, I call AAA and they say someone will be out. My neighbor and I wait, she gets me water and something to read while I wait. She leaves then to meet her friend. I say that I'll be fine.
I wait 1/2 hr, call again. Told the locksmith will be here in 1/2 hr. It goes by, and I wait a little longer and call again. This time they say it'll be 10 mins. Yeah....right. I try all the doors/windows again, just in case. By this time, I'm ready to break a window. Fortunately the locksmith showed up before I broke the window.
She tries for 1/2 hr to get the door open, no luck. She finally decides she doesn't have any other choice but to drill the lock out. So, after another good 20 minutes, the lock is out!
By then, I'm light headed cause I didn't have any lunch. It's 4:00.
A few lessons I learned, don't fool around any more. Hide a key somewhere outside. Also a bottle of water, maybe a granola bar, a long extension cord cause the only outlet is at the main house. Be prepared...isn't that the girl or boy scout motto?
Since's its gotten very windy and chilly , I decide I'm gonna try building a fire in the woodstove. Here's the stove, and the cords for the wireless. See how nicely I taped them to the wall with my gorilla tape. For a first time fire builder, I think I did pretty well. No smoke inside and a nice glowing fire that felt really good. 

What's wrong with this picture?

Cars and cows

Here's my car update: the workaround for the catalytic converter didn't work. The mechanic told me that doesn't happen very often. So, since it would cost $1000 for a new catalytic converter, I opted to just live with the check engine light on. He says it won't affect the car and since NM doesn't have emission control inspection, that's not a worry either.

Tin Can Installation. At the BLM petroglyph site

Tonight's adventure.

 I parked my car on the side of the road where I usually park. There was only 1 cow in the middle of the field, didn't see any others around. As I started walking on the opposite side of the road, the cow started mooing and walking towards my car. It kept up the bellowing for the whole time it took us to walk up the hill. It stayed right next to my car and didn't move.

I'm wondering why did this cow start making all this ruckus and come stand by my car. Maybe it didn't like the color red. Maybe it was mad cause I parked there.




All kinds of thoughts running thru my head, mostly thoughts about am I gonna get back in my car w/o getting attacked by this upset cow.


I avoided the issue by walking down the hill on the opposite side of the barb wire fence, just in case. Would that barb wire really protect me if the cow was mad at me? By the time I was halfway down the hill, I see other cows being herded down the road by several people. When I finally got to the bottom of the hill and talked with them, I found out that the other cows had wandered off, and the bellowing cow had got left behind. Not just that, but she was wanting her calf back. By the time I left, momma cow and calf looked quite content. And I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. It's a good thing I take my walking stick with me, I just never know when I might need it. :-)

Railroad Yard and Guadalupe St

I took my car in to have a little work done, so I had the mechanic drop me off near the Railyard Park.This is a revitalized area on the corner of Guadalupe St and Cerrillos Rd. There's various shops and places to eat. Very upscale.

Today's trains, the Santa Fe Southern and the New Mexican RailRunner.

  The original train station, not sure what year this is from.                                 

            The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

417 Aqua Fria St Santa Fe NM

It was inspiring to see a few people come up to the statue, make the sign of the cross, and offer prayer.

After all of my walking around, my feet were tired. I sat here waiting for my ride, and ready to go home. 
Life was good, no check engine light on. Halfway home, that darn check engine light came on again!! So, I'll be making a trip back to the garage to see what the code reader says.



 

Another day tending to business.

I spent this afternoon getting my car registered and trading my Colorado license for a New Mexico license. The final plastic copy will come in the mail. What they do is punch a hole in the out of state license and give you a paper copy of your NM one. So you need to carry both with you till the hard copy gets here.
I also have a pretty turquoise blue license plate, it looks like this one. 

The dogs and I discovered that the cows are now grazing in the area that we walk. I was trying to be careful and stay away from them, after all it's not like there isn't enough room. So, yesterday morning when we were almost back to the car, who should I see heading our way...
Fortunately I got the dogs in the car before they got any closer. They were too close for me. 
Ella was growling at them, she's so brave. I told her she'd be a squashed dog if one of them stepped on her.

          There's probably a dozen or so that are grazing in all.

The other exciting happening yesterday was Ria, deciding to go explore on the other side of the barb wire fence. It's not like there's not enough room to roam, the grass is always greener on the other side, I guess.
It took a little bit of work to figure out how to get her back through the fence. I'm not quite sure how she got through in the first place, but thankfully, I have my handy wooden walking stick that I used to lift up the fence so she could scoot underneath. All in a days adventure for Ria!

                                          tonight's view

Sunday Sunset, no words needed

The flea market today

Entrance

Food, of course!

what outside stalls look like

                          

Taking care of trashy business.

Time to figure out how/what to do with my trash. There's no pick up in Santa Fe county, so it's off to the dump, known here as the transfer station. I'm guessing what gets left here might get moved somewhere else to consolidate. Not sure about that

There's a yearly permit required. $75.00. There's no charge for recycleables. So household trash is what you're paying for. It doesn't seem too bad, other than I miss my big green container. I don't think I'd put any trash outside here, too many dogs or other creatures that could get into it. 

 

This is the area where I live.

road where we walk

Don't forget, you can click on any picture to see a larger image. Leave a comment also, if you like something or want to complain about something :>)

Exploring. Food.

I think that I've found quite a few of the different grocery store chains here in Santa Fe. A girl has to eat, don't ya know! Let me list them,
Smith's (a Kroger chain)
Albertson's
Natural Grocers
Sprouts (isn't there a new one in G J?)
Whole Foods
Trader Joes was my most recent find yesterday. It's on the other side of town, so it'll only be an occasional visit.
A couple I haven't been to yet:
La Montanita Co-op
Paisano Market
plus there's a spice shop I'd like to visit.

 Before my visit to Trader Joe's,
I had a late breakfast at the Santa Fe Bakery and Cafe.

Santa Fe Bakery
The carne adovaba burrito was huge, filled with yummy chili seasoned chunks of pork. I'll be back here for sure. I was told by another customer that it's the best place in town. It has a huge menu, serving all sorts of things.
Another excellent place I've eaten at is the Blue Corn Cafe. The BEST chili rellanos I've had in a few years.
 Blue Corn Cafe and Brewery

Are you hungry yet?

Rainbow, out the back door.

After the rainstorm on Tuesday.

Glorious colors.