More Pictures

While there's not a lot to write about today, I do have some pictures I wanted to post.

I got up early this morning and took this just as the sun was coming up over the lake.


Then it seems like I didn't do much the rest of the day, just visited with a lot of folks, which I do enjoy. It was really hot today, around 100 degrees, so we were both quite lazy. Fortunately there is usually some sort of breeze which makes it seem not so warm, but still we stayed inside for the hottest part of the day.

When it started to cool off, we moved outside and it was just beautiful. We've set up bird feeders and slowly but surely they are beginning to come. It seems like some places they find the feeders immediately, but at others, it takes them a week or so to find the food.

As the sun sank lower in the sky, it became more and more colorful.

Have I mentioned how much I love the open skies of New Mexico?


In just a matter of moments, the entire sky behind the rig filled with the most wondrous color. . .

Which quickly transformed itself into this.


Just a few moments later, we started walking the loop, and I noticed a view that I've missed up until now. This is taken looking through some bushes, across the lake to this mesa off in the distance.. You can just see a bit of the lake in this photo, but I loved the look of this photo. It kind of reminds me of an old Kodachrome postcard.


And just so you know, I haven't neglected the hummingbirds this summer. So far we have two feeders and two birds, but no pictures of them yet.

Life is Good.

the Various Johns . . .

Regular readers know I am a huge movie fan.

Short of slasher films, there are very few I don't like, but what I really love are the old classics. The ones where you say "They just don't make em like that anymore."

Now that I've said that, I must confess that the are some classic movie stars which I don't quite get.

And for the longest time I just didn't get John Wayne. He seemed to always just play John Wayne, or so I thought (ashamedly admitting that I probably had never sat through an entire John Wayne film).

Then I saw the Quiet Man, and my whole opinion changed.

Not only is it a wonderfully crafted film, beautifully shot, subtly acted, but it also boasts an exceptional script. This film opened my eyes to the John Wayne- John Ford dynamic, and what a fine pairing it was.

So I started watching lots of John Wayne films. Some were definitely better than others, but the man certainly delivered on screen. Both Terry and I particularly like certain of his westerns, including Red River, the Cowboys and the Shootist. Then there are those which he made with John Ford.

Since we've been spending so much time in the Southwest, we've found that we enjoy fine western movies more than ever. With that in mind, I've been looking for a selection of three films known as John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy.

These films include Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande. After searching various libraries, Movie Galleries and Blockbusters all over New Mexico, I finally decided to break down and purchase them through Amazon.com. Then I figured we could have ourselves a little western/cavalry marathon.

So of course, even though I ordered them at the exact same time, they all shipped separately with the last one arriving just today, Hurrah!

Then I took at look at today's lineup for Turner Classic Movies . . .

As proof that great minds think alike, tonight, they are showing, in order, Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande!

Oh well, I guess if this is the worst of my problems , I can truly say that my Life is Good!

(Reviews to follow, I'm off to the movies.)

Santa Rosa - And Garlic!

Every morning I wake up and am so pleased to look out my windows, the views here are glorious. The truth is I love the open skies of New Mexico.

I remember years ago speaking with a friend who had moved to Hawaii. She said that what she loved were the incredible open skies. I sort of said Yeah, Yeah, but I was still infatuated with the redwoods of Northern California. And while I still appreciate their beauty, I am just tired of being closed in, not seeing the horizons.

I love New Mexico.

So when we went for our morning walk, I took the camera and took a few photos of the campground for the blog.

When we first step out of Cholula Red, this is our view. I do love these trees.


Here's a wide view of the campground. I really like the layout of this park, lots of open spaces. While every spot doesn't have a view of the lake, it's never far out of sight.


And as I mentioned yesterday, the flowers are just coming out. This is the first cactus blossom I've seen this year (and it looks a lot nicer when you click for a larger version).

This is just a shot of one of the campsites. As you can see, very roomy and again, look at that sky!


And here we are back at our campsite. We've put out the hummingbird feeders but have only seen one hummer so far, hopefully we'll get more as they discover the feeders.


And now I want to talk about something completely different.


When we were in Albuquerque, we had the luxury of Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Costco, what a wealth of choices for someone who likes to cook!

At Costco, they were sampling this, just sprinkled on some plain pasta.

Well, it was just so tasty I had to try some, and am I ever glad I did. This stuff is just wonderful.

So far, I've used it on pasta, we've made garlic spread with it, flavored a pot of beans (Yum!) and used it on fresh green beans, EXCELLENT!

If you see it in the store, you might want to pick it up, I like it a lot.

Yep, Life is Good.

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

I woke up this morning to find a light rain had fallen. While that's sometimes not the best of news, it just washed everything clean and sparkling and I had to take a few pictures.

This is what I saw the very first thing this morning as I opened the shade.


And when I opened the back shade, this is what greeted me, Off in the distance you can see Santa Rosa Dam. This thing is HUGE.

When I finally got up (I'm quite lazy these days) This is out our side windows. These trees are so beautiful, we're not sure but we think they might be Russian Olive trees. All the tiny flowers are coming up and it really looks like Spring here in Santa Rosa.


And I must apologize, these pictures were taken from inside the rig through rainy windows, so they're not as sharp as I would like. Also, the dark windows distort the colors, but I still wanted to share our view with you. I'll try to take more pictures later when the weather is a bit "brighter".

This is indeed a lovely park.

The rain stopped early with the sun intermittently peeking out, but it's cool and a perfect day to cook!

Last night I set a pound of mixed beans to soak, so today it will be a long slow cook in the crockpot. There's just something so soothing about a big old pot of beans, don't you think? I'm always trying different ingredients, today I'm playing with heat, some chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce, a new cilantro dip I'm trying, we'll just have to see how they turn out.

{Well crapola! during the long cooking, I looked at the beans when I should have just let them simmer and I broke my crockpot lid! When we first started traveling I was sure I wouldn't need a crock pot, but I found this one for $3.00 at a yard sale and it has been a great thing to have when we stay for a while. I guess I got my $3.00 worth out of it, but now I have to decide on a new one. Amazon, here I come!).

Anyway, before the crock pot fiasco, I looked around the rig and discovered we had a bunch of apples that were going soft, so I got on the internet looking for apple recipes and came up with this recipe for Apple Bread.

After doing a bit more research, I decided to replace half the oil with butter, half the white sugar with brown sugar, triple the cinnamon, add about 2 tsp of fresh nutmeg (and if you don't use fresh nutmeg, you really don't know what you're missing), add in another cup and a half of apples, replace the walnuts with pecans, and just for the heck of it, throw in about a cup and a half of Craisins.

WOW! Here's the loaf out of the oven . . .

And here's the moist chewy goodness of the inside.

You'll notice the recipe makes two loafs. I almost only made one, but thought it would be nice to have enough to share, and boy am I glad I did!

This one is a keeper.

And now I'm off to bake a fresh loaf of bread to have with our bean soup for dinner, YUM!

And before I go, here's one final shot, taken after the sun had come out and the sky had blued up a bit.

We're going to like it here.

Life is Very Good!

Going Back in Time

Well, here I am again, and while we've been busy doing boring things lately, there is quite a backlog of pictures so here we go!

We found Leasburg Dam to be a truly lovely place to camp. Our spot was out in the open, with a beautiful cactus garden to one side and a view of the mountains to the other side.

We put out our bird feeders and within a day, we had literally hundreds of birds. Since we had the garden to our side, the birds would hang around in the bushes and take their turns at the feeders.

It was a wonderful thing to see, and unfortunately I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but I'll share what I did manage to shoot.

We had LOTS of finches.

While this shot isn't anywhere near as sharp as I would like, I liked the composition so I thought I'd include it here.

I was playing around with different lenses and got this shot. While I know it's not exactly the right way to use a lens, I liked the look of it. This was the view out of my bedroom window every morning.

We had so many Silver Cardinals, everyone was commenting on how lovely they are. Remember to click on any of these photos for a larger image. They look much better in the larger versions.

Leasburg Dam State Park sits on a bluff above the Rio Grande River and it is a sight to behold. After spending so much time in the desert, it was such an amazing sight to see all this water, not to mention beautiful green fields.

These next two shots of the Rio Grande were taken from the day use area at Leasburg Dam. While the rive is quite wise, you can walk across the whole width and never get wet above your knees!

One more shot of the mighty Rio Grande.

One day as we were driving into town, I was literally struck by these fields of harvested alfalfa. After so much desert, it was like my skin just drank in all the green.

One more shot of the green, I just couldn't resist.

And here's one final shot out of my bedroom window. This was our view every evening.


I will be posting a few more Leasburg Dam/Las Cruces blogs in the next week or so.

While there, we attended a Cast Iron Cooking Class, Pioneer Days at Fort Selden and had a lovely afternoon at the Las Cruces outdoor mall, so stay tuned for full reports.

And for now, we're relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather here at Santa Rosa.

Life is Good.

. . .Hello!

Yes, we're still here.

As regular readers know, we were both sick for a spell, then we left Leasburg Dam State Park, had car troubles, went to Manzano Mountains State Park, stayed one night, got evacuated due to the Trigo fire, moved to Mountainair, stayed one night, started packing up to go back to Manzano, were told we couldn't return because of the fire, decided Albuquerque was the answer, decided it was time for a new toad (LONG story which I don't even want to get into, so don't ask),finally found a new toad (don't EVER try to buy a car in New Mexico, the pickins are slim), now have a 1998 Subaru Forester BUT we can't afford to put the tow equipment on it for a while so we came to Santa Rosa State Park to sit a while, were approached about camp hosting, found out that we wouldn't have to clean toilets or campsites or work in a Visitors Center, (basically just be social and help folks out), so now we are committed for at least a month!

Is that the longest sentence you've read in a while?

Whatever, it's my story and I'm sticking to it.

And it looks like once again I can truthfully write that Life is Good.

Well Again . . .

I would like to thank all of you who have emailed and called.

The truth is I got sick, and then Terry got sick, so we've been lying kind of low.

In the middle of this, we moved, spent a night at a Wal-Mart, moved to Manzano, spent one night, got evacuated due to the Trigo fire, spent a night evacuated, thinking we could go back the next day, started moving and got told we couldn't return and FINALLY ended up in Albuquerque at a Passport America Park, where we are currently hibernating.

Soon, we'll be back among the living and I'll post all kinds of stuff . . .

I am feeling much better and Terry is almost 100% so once again, I can truly say that life is looking good, or at least better.

Where Have I Been?

Doing all kinds of things, taking pictures, attending Pioneer Days, going to Farmer's Markets, watching birds, hanging out.

Wow, I've been BUSY!

And just as I was getting ready to post about all this, once again, I got sick!

What is wrong with me?? Do I have the Plague?? Valley Fever?? The REALLY Big Disease???

I just don't know, but it always starts with a sore spot in my throat, followed by a runny nose and a dry hacking couch, and boy am I tired of it!

Anyhow, I'll be back as soon as I'm among the living again.

Ollie Johnston

An era has now officially closed.

Once upon a time, we were deeply involved in the world of Disney. We collected, we attended conventions, we wrote a monthly newsletter for Disney collectors, I wrote articles for magazines and we made many, many good friends in the community.

Now a bit of history is in order here.

Back in the very early days, I'm talking the 1930s here, there were people who worked with Walt Disney who spent their time creating a legacy and fulfilling a vision. They worked hard and produced magic and made history in a field that, prior to their efforts had not existed. They flourished for years and left us with works of art that entertained and affected millions of people.

They changed the world.

Among these many talented people were a group known as Walt's Nine Old Men, a play on words that referred to FDRs Supreme Court.

Two of these Nine Old Men, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston always shared a special bond.

They met in college and formed a lifelong friendship that is like a fairy tale. The worked together, met their wives around the same time, bought property and built homes next door to each other and maintained a close working relationship and a friendship that was a model for us all for some 70 years.

After retirement, they begin a whole new career, authoring books that became known as the official bibles of animation. Starting with Disney Animation, the Illusion of Life, they explained, in words and pictures how it all worked, written so that we can all see a bit deeper into the process that created so much magic for all of us.

Both Frank and Ollie were honored around the world for their unique place in the art world. They were also commemorated in a fine film called simply Frank and Ollie, directed and written by Frank's son Ted. If you are at all interested in this unique pair, I really suggest you get your hands on this film for a glimpse into their story.

But for me, they were much more than this.

We had the honor of meeting them in the late 1980s and became friends. They enriched our lives in so many ways and I always felt special when I got the chance to spend any time with them. These two men, along with their lovely wives were models of how we all would like to be. Talented, funny, creative, kind, warm and wonderful, they were different than most of the people we met. Not only were they supremely talented but, to a fault, these were Ladies and Gentlemen whose likes we aren't going to see again.

And why am I writing this now? Well, my heart was really sad when Frank passed away in December of 2004, and just today I learned that Ollie Johnston, the very last of Walt's Nine Old Men, left us today.

And the world is a poorer place for it.

So the next time you pop a Disney film in a DVD player, remember that these characters were created by real people. When you see Captain Hook and Mr. Smee, you're looking at Frank and Ollie. And when you see Bambi, or the Dwarfs in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or Lady and the Tramp or any one of a dozen or more classic films, you're looking at Frank and Ollie.

And now they are both gone from us.

And tonight I am really sad.

Is Anybody Here?

While this blog was started for my own enjoyment, I assume some folks are reading it, but maybe not?

Just wondering . . .

Anyhow, today is turning in to a pretty exciting one.

While we were Bosque del Apache last winter, I got a bug to try painting with watercolors. Now mind you, I've never painted anything more intricate than my bedroom wall, and have no drawing talent whatsoever. But never being one to let inexperience stop me, I dug right in.

And promptly got stuck.

And that was when, once again Serendipity struck.

See, there were these folks who pulled in to the RV park and we got to talking (as often happens) and it turns out that the Mrs. of the rig was a watercolor artist! And not just a watercolor artist, but the President of the Southern Chapter of the New Mexico Watercolor Society which is based in Las Cruces!

She spoke with me at length, and gave me lots of tips, and I played with the watercolors a bit but discovered I really needed more help. Consequently I've been carrying my little kit with me but doing nothing at all with watercolors.

When we pulled into Leasburg, I decided to send her an email and see if we might get together. Well, she has extended a gracious invitation to dinner at her home, and it also turns out that the Southern Chapter of the New Mexico Watercolor Society is having a meeting today with a guest artist and we can attend!

What fun!

The artist is David Rothermel, whose work I love so this will be a most entertaining afternoon and evening, Wahoo!

More on this later, but if this isn't nice I don't know what is!

Leasburg and Fort Selden, Wow!

This is my one hundredth post, just thought I'd mention that.

Do I ever love being out on the road. In the immortal words of Kurt Vonnegut, who left us one year ago today . . .

"We are here on Earth to fart around, don't let anybody tell you different"

Taking those wise words to heart, we are having the time of our lives.

Just yesterday a lovely couple walked by and asked if the spot next to us was open, and we said yep, so they pulled in and set up camp.

We chatted for a bit yesterday then met them again this morning and spent most of the day talking and getting to know each other.

Now we have new friends, is that wonderful or what? I just don't know another lifestyle that has so many opportunities to meet so many wonderful folks.

I woke up this morning to he sound of birds tweeting chirping and doing their version of the morning bark (for you Disney folks). When I looked out the window, we had about a dozen Gamble Quail, a like number of house finches (with their beautiful red heads), Mourning Doves, a group of Silver Cardinals, several Thrashers and a host of Little Brown Birds.

Whenever we park, we always set out some black oil sunflower seeds and they always attract the birds, but this place is a real treasure trove!

I thought I'd share a couple of pictures that I took from my bed this morning. I just love the giant windows in our rig, and particularly in the bedroom. Every morning is a visual feast.

This is one of the many Finches.

And here's a Silver Cardinal. Remember you can always click on a photo for a larger version of any picture. They really do look much better when viewed in a larger size.

After watching the birds for an hour or so, we decided to go over to Fort Selden. The fort is right next to Leasburg Dam, and was the center of life here in this area back in the 1880s.

In most of the State Parks and Monuments here in New Mexico, they erect these structures as places for people to rest. I know there's a name for them but I don't know what it is! I always take pictures of them, I just think the structures are so aesthetically perfect for this land.

From the inside, each one is different and I'm always fascinated by the patterns of the native wood against the sky.

I took a bunch of pictures and finally couldn't decide which of these two liked the best, so I'm including both of them.

This shot is kind of sparse, but I found it so easy to imagine troops and horses and the whole parade of frontier life in this open area.

Everyone at the Fort is getting ready for Frontier Days next weekend. There will be all kinds of events and demonstrations. We're looking forward to the fun.

This is a group of re-enactors who are practicing for the big event.

And now the REAL reason I'm so excited. This is Dave, a Ranger here who gives demonstrations of frontier cooking. We heard that he offers classes and we are hoping to get a group together to learn to prepare a cast iron meal cooked over an open fire.

I have spoken to him on the phone and he's a big fan of home made bread, so we spent a good amount of time discussing the ins and outs of bread making.

This is the horno at Fort Selden. It's an adobe oven often used in the olden days. The origin of the horno is Moroccan. This one was built by Dave and is used frequently for his demonstrations.

He also goes around the state and teaches folks how to build their own horno.

Here's a shot of Dave's cooking area. The big pot in the foreground was originally a washing tub, but would also have been used for rendering lard, making soap and other large tasks.

Here's a shot of Dave's chuck wagon. Guess what? It was originally the chuck wagon on Oliver Lees' ranch!

And here's the coffee grinder, mounted handily right on the side of the wagon.

As we were leaving Fort Selden, I took a couple of shots in their garden.

Isn't this a lovely collection of desert plants?


And here's a teaser of things to come, these beautiful cactus are just starting to bloom.

I can hardly wait!

I'll close with one more word from Mr. Vonnegut (who I adored, can you tell?)

"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

Well, if this isn't nice, I certainly don't know what is!

Life is very good.

What Were We Thinking???

We've moved to a spot I was sure I wouldn't like and have been telling everyone is a place we would never camp. But was I ever wrong.

Let me back up a bit.

Some time last year, we were staying at Oliver Lee State Park over in Alamogordo and decided to take a trip to check out Leasburg Dam State Park. Leasburg is located about fifteen miles outside of Las Cruces, the second largest city in New Mexico. Our thought was that this might be a good place to sit a spell.

But when we arrived, I don't know what we saw, but it wasn't good. We both looked around and went YUCK! we don't ever want to stay here, so we just wrote it off. For the last year or so have not even considered it as a possibility.

Then a few weeks ago, we were talking about where to land after Rockhound, and we thought that we would come to Leasburg for just a day or two, since we KNEW we wouldn't want to stay here for an extended time.

But, what can I say? We pulled in yesterday and went, Hey, this doesn't look too bad!

We had to dry camp one night, but woke up this morning to a glorious sight, cactus in bloom, a lovely desert scent, birds, bunnies, it was just so swell we decided we would stick around for a while. We even had our choice of a couple of different sites and found one we like a lot.

Here's a shot of our campsite. Pretty wonderful, don't you think?


Remember you can click on any of these photos for a larger version. Most of them look a lot better when viewed in a larger size.

At dusk, we took a stroll around the campground and I took some shots for the blog.

Here's a shot of one of the many yuccas that are blooming here at Leasburg. The light wasn't great so bear with me on this one.


Here's an ocotillo that's trying its best to bloom. I thought I might take a series of shots so you can see its progress. The ocotillo is an amazing desert plant, as so many are. With just a bit of rain, it will sprout numerous small green leaves, but when the water gets scarce, it will drop them all to conserve mositure. The flowers are an intense desert orange and quite lovely.

Hopefully this one will continue and there will soon be flowers to share with you.

Here's a shot of the sunset this evening. I believe I'm going to like it here!



I have a few other photos I've been saving for the blog, so this is as good a time to post them as any.

Most of you know that Cholula Red is named after a hot sauce and that Terry and I both love chili peppers. While in Deming, we had lunch at a Mexican restaurant named Canos. As we went to leave, I saw this guy hanging in an alcove. Well, I'll tell you, I would have bought him right then and there, but he wasn't for sale, so I had to make do with this picture.

Just before we left Rockhound, we had a bird that flew into one of our windows and stunned himself. We found him in a kind of stupor, sitting on the ground. Terry picked him up and tried to give him some water but he was just so shellshocked, he wouldn't respond.


Here's one more shot, shortly after this was taken, he came around and flew away to join the other birds. Thank Goodness he was OK!

And I just couldn't resist, here's one more shot of the desert at sunset.


Life is good.

the Movies

I'm sure I've mentioned before how much we miss going to the movies in a theater.

Both Terry and I agree that there is just something special about seeing a film in a big dark box on a large screen, hopefully without the interference of rowdy neighbors.

Unfortunately, movie theaters are pretty few and far between in the areas of New Mexico we tend to visit. This year there were a lot of movies that were nominated for Oscars that we REALLY wanted to see but never even got close to a theater where they were playing.

But now, they've all come out on DVD and we've been having a mini marathon. I must say, I thought last year was a sterling one for film.

There Will be Blood just literally blew me away. I am always amazed to watch Daniel Day Lewis at work, I really believe he may be the best of a current generation of fine actors. While the movie is a bit slow in places, he literally shines and I feel I can recommend the movie 100%.

I also really liked No Country for Old Men, a fine piece of work from the Coen Brothers. I've loved most of their films and this one in particular.

I also thought that 3:10 to Yuma was a most entertaining endeavor. While not up to the quality of he other two, it was thoroughly enjoyable and a beautiful film to watch.

I guess it doesn't hurt that these films were shot here in the Southwest and carry a particular sensibility that seems to resonate with this part of the country.

On an entirely different note, have you seen Enchanted? I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but it really is in a category all by itself. Light and charming, Amy Adams is a revelation, hitting the perfect note of naivete and old fashioned charm, the likes of which I haven't seen on screen in years. I couldn't begin to talk about this film without mentioning James Marsden, whose portrayal of Prince Charming is dead on. If you love light and airy romance, this is the film for you!

Needless to say. we are once again feeling more in touch with ourselves, having somewhat caught up on our movie viewing.

Life is good.