Thursday, October 22, 2015

Serendipity

A bit of serendipity....I am reading James Michener's Texas, since we are in that part of the country....one of my goals is to read all of Michner's books.....I just read the part about frontier forts...1855 to 1890s,,,,In New Mexico I went to Fort Union....same era.....could just imagine the Native Americans on their horses racing across the plains....or the Calvary coming to the rescue of a wagon train.....guess I watched too many Westerns as a kid......Fort Union was also  supply station  along the Santa Fe trail.....Also love small,narrow-focused museum....went to the Rough Riders Museum in Las Vegas New Mexico.....The Rough riders had their reunions in there. Both places were excellent.....









Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Oh Hail

Here in Santa Fe, we have encountered our first multiple day bad weather since leaving CA in early July. It is our first heavy rain experience and I am relieved to announce we have no leaks. That's been on the back of my mind for a while about our Vilia.
With that satisfied, Cathy and I are surprised and pleased to be enjoying being in our "cabin" without having the fever.  We always have something to do on our agendas.
Thunder and lightning have fascinated me since childhood back in Connecticut. In Napa, we had, maybe, a half dozen T&L events in our three decades there. Hail, twice. It is such a benign climate.
So forgive the photos for those who see this type of thing with more frequency, but it is fun to be "re-experiencing".



Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Successful Poltrack Reunion!


Na Zdrowie

Na zdrowie
Growing up in a family of Polish heritage provided me and my cousins with a handful of Polish words and phrases.  I cannot say "I would like some milk for my cereal", but I can say "I need to use the outhouse". (My grandma, or "Babcia" was from the old country). My cousin Bev recently wished me Na zdrowie for my birthday. Meaning “for health” or “to your health, it is the Polish toast. Pronounced,  nahz drove yay, it also doubles as “bless you” after a sneeze. Both customs, raising glasses with kind words and blessing after sneezes have ancient origins and no concrete evidence seems to exist how they came about. Do you sneeze your soul out? Does a sneeze mean you might be catching the plague? Does your heart stop momentarily when you sneeze?  Is your wine so bad you put stale bread in it, (toast), to “soak up the bad flavors”? Do you clink glasses to splash liquid with your host to safeguard against being poisoned or is it to make noise to ward off the ever present evil spirits? Ah, maybe it dates back to when folks did not have individual cups and the drinking vessel was shared. Left floating in a bowl, the community cup was “raised” to others when a drink was taken.
I find it curious that, in many languages, the same word or phrase applies. “Did someone sneeze? No but I’d like a drink”.

I know…no travel news. It is a rainy day in Santa Fe. Hey, maybe that will be the start of a poem.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Sante Fe for the week...

Sante Fe....a fine and refined city......Great restaurants....Museums...pictured are Folk Art Museum and Native American Art Museum....Trip to Ojo Caliente.....8 different natural hot pools...loved the arsenic pool....A new Sante Fe necklace for Cathy.....Autumnal New Mexico and Ghost Ranch....Last photo could be the favorite one that I have taken on this trip.....











El Malpais and El Morro National Monuments

El Malpais NM.....a volcanic area with lava caves (tubes that collapsed)...10 of thousand bats live in them....hiked part of Continental Trail....El Morro....an oasis with a permanent water hole in the desert.....People stopped and signed in on the sandstone.....oldest signature was 1500....before Plymouth Rock!!!.....National Monuments and National Historical Sites never seem to disappoint me!!






No No NO...Not more dwelling ruins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IF you have been following our trip, you might say...."What...more dwelling ruins of Ancestral Puebloans"...Actually Bob said that and played golf while I did these two.....But I find that each site is different and I learn something new each time....and the hiking and overall scenery is always exceptional.....Aztec Ruins was small and had a reproduced kiva so one could experience it as it was in 1100.....Chaco was huge...the New York of the area.....and was way out in the boonies....guess the boonies change over the years.....One is able to walk thru the ruins at Chaco.....and I saw an original roof/ceiling from the 1100s...Spectacular  hiking........Amazing!!











Now it’s mud.
We are in Santa Fe, a place we first visited some 40 years ago and it is so good to see that the heart of this city, The Plaza area, remains unchanged. Long ago, city officials wrote strict building codes that all structures must be in the adobe style. This homage to preservation of a unique sense pleasing uniformity has attracted a brilliant combination of wealth, culture and fine art talent. Santa Fe is doing okay.

But our poor California. I saw where route 58, between Bakersfield and Mojave, reopened after days of closure after a massive mudslide brought on by torrential rain. The interesting news clip also had a “science spot” where they showed how drought baked soils need to absorb water slowly. Too much at once, and it just runs off, not in. A very wet El Nino winter is forecast for southern Cal. It feels like we are living in the “Age of Natural Disasters”— although the picture did make me wonder why they would build a non-elevated highway on a flash flood plain...
 

Friday, October 16, 2015

my 3 cuties....



Seeing these 3 cuties next week....a collage of some of my fav pics of them....Izara at 3, Olivia at 3 and Ceiba at 2. THis pic is iin our dinning room in our RV!!

Happy B-day Bob



Last night I said to Bob...."Oh I want to remember to say Happy Birthday to you first thing in the morning".....I woke up to this.....Funny guy....has kept me laughing for for 43 years!!!

Thursday, October 15, 2015

El Morro

El Morro National Monument, by Grants New Mexico is a massive monolith that has seeped water at its base forming a small pool. This desert oasis has nurtured travelers for thousands of years.  Part of the attraction here are the petroglyphs  of the ancients and the inscriptions in the soft sandstone of later travelers. One of the earlier ones was Spanish and from 1609. Many were artistically done and two or three from the 1700’s were tool chiseled in a very professional manner. It was very interesting, and the nickname is a nice touch.


Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Hovenweep....

Hovenweep National Monument...way out in the boonies....drove about 65 miles to get there....Many of you know my passion for the National Park Service and my life goal to go to all the National parks, monuments and historic sites....have been working on it for many years.....have been to about 200 of the 400 units.....Hovenweep is known as the Jewel of the National Monuments"...great hiking and Ancestral Puebloan dwellings.