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.