First and Last Sketches Hunt 187 and New Mexico Photos, More Raccoons

Sorry to have been absent, we went to Albuquerque to see Joanna and Gene's Mom.  We had a great time.  I managed some sketching for Scavenger Hunt 187 while Mom Frances played bingo.  They were done in my medium sized sketchbook with a Micron 003 pen, very quickly, freehand.

Number 1, stretched - the plastic trash bag in the basket and number 2, leg - the leg of one of the wooden end tables.

Number 3, soft - tissue on a table and number 4, folded - a newspaper.

Joanna and I went to Magdalena as well.  Joanna wanted to visit her Aunt Velma.  It was a nice drive.  The country is so green.  I just had to capture the Ladron Mountains again.  I also got the fog as we were leaving Angel Fire on Sunday morning, early.

There was a Summer Fest in Angel Fire last Friday and Saturday.  They had 6 or so hot air balloons.  I don't think this one made it up on Saturday.

This one was getting close to lift off.  The person on the grass in the dark blue had a stool in hand, I guess hoping to climb in.

As we went on to Eagle Nest for breakfast, the light on the mountains was very nice.

Sunday morning as we left to Albuquerque, the fog was catching that light.

A very beautiful morning.

The light on the Rio Grande Gorge south of Taos, Sunday.

Further south leaving the canyon and near to Española, Sunday.

The Ladron Mountains and the green, green flats.  Very unusual to be so green.  This was on Monday going to Magdalena.

Tuesday afternoon the Sandia Mountains from the north as we left Albuquerque.

And the Rio Grande canyon again between Española and Taos.

 Then after we arrived back in Angel Fire, we had the raccoon visitors again.  I heard something on the porch and saw the mother was trying for the hummingbird feeder again.  I went for the camera and she had found the feeder  empty and was coming to check the drinks we were bringing in from the car.  She was not afraid of me.  I backed up to retreat inside and stomped on the porch and she retreated.

The mom headed to the drinks and to me!!!

The mom pushing right past the young raccoon.

The young one in a bit of a panic .. "Mom, wait for me!"

Their retreat down the stairs.

 

 

 

Making the retreat.

Gathering the "kids".

OK, get going.

Catching up ....sketch and photos

I haven't posted in several days. So much to say, and much that was on my mind will be forgotten. I will have to post more than once a day to catch up!

We went to Albuquerque. The drive on Highway 180 to Cliff, Buckhorn,Glenwood, and Reserve. Then Highway 12 to Datil through Aragon and Horse Springs on Highway 60 to Magdalena and Socorro is just beautiful. It is through the mountains and is green from the summer rains. You cross the Continental Divide twice. You drive along the Gila River, mountains and the St. Augustine plains. From Socorro to Albuquerque is along the Rio Grande.

Some doe and young elk by the road.

We saw some antelope and elk on the way back. We saw gorgeous clouds and thunderstorms and of course, cows and horses. There are abandoned windmills, working windmills and solar powered windmills for water all along the way. Typical adobe houses and old corrals dot the landscape. Some of the cliffs and bluffs are spectacular. It is faster to go south from here to Deming and then up through Hatch, but it is a bleak and flat landscape and a few miles further. From Socorro to Albuquerque is on I-25 with a speed limit of 75 mph. We travel at 60-65 and conserve gas -- we are in no hurry. We needed to go to Magdalena to trade out some glass on a painting. We had to get the glass in Albuquerque so it was tied in to a visit with my mother-in-law.

Castillo house in Aragon

She is another amazing person. She was one of 11 children. Seven boys and four girls. She was born in 1916 and lived in Aragon. Girls of that generation did not go to high school, they were to learn and do "women's" work. Frances talked her father into going on to high school. She didn't get to finish though, and married Jesus at a very young age. They raised 9 children, six girls and three boys. It was sort of an arranged marriage. They lived on a sheep ranch until her father- in-law died and they moved to Magdalena where they both worked. Frances was accomplished at many things, much like my parents. She did sewing, cooking, crocheting, carpentry, and whatever was required to take care of her family. She played the organ and led the choir at church. When her youngest was a senior in high school, Frances decided to get her diploma. She got a GED and graduated about the same time as her youngest daughter. She worked as a teacher's assistant and retired from the school system. Jesus died in 1964 so she raised the youngest four children on her own. At ninety, she was still living on her own, working in her yard and driving in the small town of Magdalena. She decided to move to assisted living in Albuquerque so she can still be a little independent. She quit driving on her own. She is forgetful, mostly short term memory, and that helped her decide on assisted living. It was hard at first, she had been on her own for almost 40 years. She is adapting, though. The hardest part is being on a schedule and eating with the other "old" people. :) She has made a rosary a day for many years. Sometimes several a day. She sends them to missions around the world and gives them to friends and family. She and Gene figured out that she had made about 10,000 rosaries last year. Whew... **Note: She and Gene figured out last year, that she had made about 10,000 rosaries. Not 10,000 last year! Sorry.... corrected 8/9/07, thanks, Gene.

We usually eat at some favorite restaurants in Albuquerque. This time we were remembering Mac's Drive-Ins. They were famous for Steak in the Rough (strips of steak, battered and deep fried) and green chile hamburgers. We went to what may be the original location, which is somewhat like a diner, no drive-in, on west Central. Gene had the Steak in the Rough and I had taquitos. We didn't read the menu well and Gene didn't get gravy. I guess over the years cole slaw and french fries have become the standard sides instead of gravy. You have to ask for the gravy now. They say you can never go home. Ah well. We did go to Villa di Capo at 7th and Central. It is still a quiet and great Italian food place. We have been going there for years, discovering it after we lived in South America, when we saw that they have tables outside in sort of a garden. Very nice.

I didn't have time for much sketching. I did take photos of cottonwoods for tree research and practice. I always take many photos.

As we left Magdalena to go to Socorro I pulled out the travel sketchbook that Sue gave me. It says, "Do you daydream in Color? A Journal for the imagination." It has a plaid cover and lines on half the page for writing. Four colored pencils on the cover, hardly used. As you know by now, I am impatient and colored pencil takes lots of time and coloring.

Ladron Mountains

I sketched the hills across the Flats, where the Ladron Mountains are to the left, you can see a couple of the hills on the right in the photo. About 10 minutes with a regular Pilot ball point pen.

Pastel Show Entries

My entries for the Austin Pastel Society Seventh Annual Juried Show are on their way. Artists can enter three soft pastel paintings. Richard McKinley is the juror this year. They will be juried by digital photos. About 55-60 pieces will be picked to hang in the Corridor of Art in the Chase Bank in downtown Austin, Texas. The show will be up from March 4 to May 6, 2007, with a reception on March 18. I expect there will be over 150 entries, so wish me luck!

I chose these three paintings. I really like, Young Alpaca, it is 8 x 10 inches. Bolivia is so close to my heart and this painting has the youg girl in the background dressed in her aguayo (colorful shawl) and spinning some wool on a spindle. Joanna took this photo of the painting for me last year for my brochure and news stories for my shows in Bastrop and Magdalena.



Boys with their Toys is Jennie's dogs, our grand-dogs. They won't pose, of course ,so this is from several photos that Jennie and Larry took and the way I see them. Larry took care of the dogs on a recent trip we took with Jennie to New Mexico and he took her dogs on a photo shoot. He added the remotes as he said that they enjoyed watching Animal Planet while with him and the little one liked Jeopardy. I like the straight on view of the dogs. It is 16 x 20 inches. Larry took this photo of my painting. It is hard to get good color with the white and dark.




The landscape, Lookin' for Rain on the Flats, is special to me as it has the Ladron Mountains, Sierra Ladrones, in the background. Those mountains are so fascinating. They jut out to 9,000 ft. altitude above the river plains at about 5,000 ft. I have taken many photos and they look different every time. Blue, purple, cloudy, dusty, you choose. You can see this view from Highway 60 as you top off Sedillo Hill between Socorro and Magdalena. You can also see it from I-25 between Socorro and Albuquerque as you follow the Rio Grande. When we used to work cattle at the Field Ranch and it was very hot, we would ride along where it was sunny like the far hills in this painting and just wait for the big puffy clouds to come over and be in the "shade" and cool off a little. Lots of good memories in New Mexico. This is 18 x 24 inches. Larry took this photo of my painting as well.


Here is the latest photo I took in December, 2006, as we left Magdalena. A snowy version of the Ladron Mountains!

Into Albuquerque - Photos

We left Austin in the fog. A mess at the baggage check in for American Airlines (only two check in agents for about four flights, and we missed our flight. We were in line 1 1/2 hours. They accomodated us on the next flight and we ended up only a couple of hours late to Albuquerque via Dallas. My suitcase, that caused us the long wait, arrived later in the evening, so we had to go back to the airport for it. It was a pretty good trip all in all. The agent, Lisa, in Austin that helped us with our re-booking and the people at American in Albuquerque were great.

Mom Frances was glad to see us. She is happy this morning receiving her birthday calls.

This is Jennie and Mom Frances in October this year. Happy Birthday Mom! She is 29 she says. Actually she is 92. She is so beautiful, looks younger than me! Party time tomorrow!!

This is just about the only time we saw the ground on our flight. These are the Manzano mountains with a sprinkling of snow on our approach to the ABQ (Albuquerque) airport.

And you know I would have to take a photo of the Ladron mountains about 60 miles to the south. In this link you can see a painting I did of the Ladrones and if you put Ladron in the search box above on my blog you will find this post an many more with the mountains. Gene says I have enough photos of them, well, we shall see.

This is Mt. Taylor to the west. It is about 90 miles out there near Grants, New Mexico. There were some snow flurries evidently.

And the view of Albuquerque.

We stopped to get some snacks for the room at Smith's grocery and the buildings in that area have the typical luminarias on the roofs. When you see those you know that you are in New Mexico for Christmas!

Magdalena Old Timers, Saturday, July 7, 2007

The parade was in the morning at 10:00 a.m. There are horses, stagecoach, queens, floats, and assorted cars and groups. Traffic on Highway 60 comes to a stop for a couple of hours. Poor tourists.


Here are the queens. The new queen for this year is Mary Gomez in the sunglasses. She was a classmate of ours in high school. Ouch! Remember this is "Old Timers".

Miss Teen Alamo

Roger (Gene's brother) ran into Earl Gleason, cowboy song writer and singer. He had met him once before. He had the number one cowboy song this year, "Springerville". It is about the cattle drive from Springerville to Magdalena, 117 miles. They drove the cattle on a driveway for many days. The cattle grazed and were sometimes fatter when they got to the railroad and trucks than they were before they started.

Here is a snapshot of the tourists trying to get through after the parade and you can see Roger and Earl Gleason on the left.

Valencia County Sherrif's Posse

Holly, the Basket Artist

The show went on as scheduled, sort of. I had put in my advertising from 12 noon to 4:00 p.m. and Peppers had put from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. so we were there from 12 noon to 5:00 p.m. Not a great crowd and the rains came about 2 p.m. and the outside vendors had to close shop. Not as many visitors to Magdalena as in past years.

Adobe Memories
11 x 14 Acrylics

The painting, Adobe Memories, sold to a very nice collector. Thank you, Lynda! We also sold some of the items from my cafepress.com store. The tiles and tile boxes are just beautiful.

Sun Pears

Pastel, 5 x 7 inches

The door prize of the painting, Sun Pears, was won by Pat Valentine from Socorro. The painting was painted at Peppers as a demo last summer.

This is my corner in Peppers Art Gallery.

The Ladron Mountains

On Friday we took another photo of those interesting mountains. They look different every day. If you put Ladron in the search box above you will find three more photos of these rough peaks and a painting. A favorite subject in my photos.

Albuquerque to Magdalena Photos

We went to Magdalena today to pick up some of my paintings from Peppers Gallery. It was a quick trip. I always take photos out the window and today was no exception. I have taken these same photos over and over I am sure. I especially like the Ladrone Mountains as you can see if you put Ladron Mountains in my search box.

This is the Ladrones from I-25 near the Rio Puerco with the salt cedars for color. You can see some of todays photos on my Picasa albums.

We are spending the evening washing clothes and will be packing tomorrow. Exciting stuff for my blog. We will be on the road on Thursday heading back to Texas. I'm happy and sad about that. I imagine you understand that, right?

Road Photos to New Mexico

Not much time for writing today. We got to Magdalena and put up my exhibit at Peppers Art Gallery. It looks pretty good. It is always interesting to see my paintings all together, framed and all. I did not take photos of the paintings. Hopefully in the morning!

There wasn't much going on around town today. People will pull into town tomorrow, Friady. I will paint Friday, Saturday is the reception and Sunday I will paint again and have the drawing for a door prize.

It should be nice and cool, whatever else happens. The high tomorrow is 78 with possibility of showers. May need a sweater. Ha.

Here are a few photos of the drive, yesterday and today.

Not many of these around anymore! Near the county line between Bastrop and Austin, Texas.

Lake Travis has water! Early in the morning with a little fog.

In the hill country near Brady, Texas.

Big rain in Big Spring. Wow! We couldn't see 20 feet in front of us. We pulled into Wal-Mart and sat for about 10 minutes and then we could go on. I never saw so much water coming down in 20 minutes or so. I took a couple of movies but they don't show much through the windshield and I couldn't open the window.

Cotton fields near Brownfield on the Llano Estacado.

More cotton fields and oil.

Looking back at the rain. It rained all around us today, we didn't get in any more ourselves.

Interesting cotton working equipment. He was going down the highway about 50 miles per hour or so. Amazing.

Overnight in Roswell.


Many pecan orchards in the Roswell area.

Near Capitan, New Mexico.

Breakfast in Capitan in Smokey the Bear territory. Not great, but filled the empty spot in our stomachs!

In the same area on down the road.

Looking across the Malpais, Valley of Fires.

A closer shot of the Malpais, lava rock beds.

Going up the hill from Socorro to Magdalena, New Mexico.

Never pass up a chance for a photo of the Ladron Mountains.

We are back down in the valley in Socorro tonight. Looking toward the Magdalena Mountains.

..... and the sunset. So beautiful.