Santa Fe

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the first stops on our road trip was Santa Fe. It is always one of our favorites because of its rich cultural heritage. The plaza, pleasant with its shade trees, musicians, and food carts, is a nice place to stroll and people watch. We grabbed a quick taco from the food cart and spent an hour on a bench watching the tourists.

The architecture is reminiscent of pueblo style, using rough beams and stuccoed walls. Visiting there gives one a feeling of being somewhere different--unique and not like most American cities.

One one side of the Plaza is the Palace of the Governors where  Native Americans display their jewelry and other handmade wares.

The city also has many Hispanic residents, and there is a strong flavor of things Mexican--in the food and decor.

Our major quest on this trip was looking for golden aspen---so we didn't stay here long--just a quick visit to remember times past.

synchronicity

 

from Wikipedia:

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. The concept of synchronicity was first described in this terminology by Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, in the 1920s.^[1]

The concept does not question, or compete with, the notion of causality. Instead it maintains that, just as events may be grouped by cause, they may also be grouped by meaning. A grouping of events by meaning need not have an explanation in terms of cause and effect.

When I stepped from the car after watching the film of the previous post on my iphone,  I found this butterfly at my feet. It seems to be same species that is in the last frame of the film. It is the first time I have ever seen this type, and I do not know the name. But it gave me a nice shiver to think that I could see it twice in a few moments in events not related.

Beautiful film

Hummingbirds performing incredible feats, bats, butterflies, bees--the pollinators.

This is beautiful.......be sure to watch closely (around 2 min 40 sec) and observe the baby bat under its mama.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0

East New Mexico

Pronghorns----
We saw a hundred or more.
The most I've seen on a trip this way.

Prost!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since much of central Texas was settled by Germans, there are many opportunities to celebrate Octoberfest. It's always fun to attend--lots of German food, dancing, and of course, BEER!

Watching the young and old dancing together, some folks even carrying their toddlers to participate is a great joy---  Polkas, group dances, and everyone's favorite, the chicken dance, give everyone a chance to join in the fun.


Eins, zwei, Drei g'suffa!
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi,
Prosit!

West Texas

Cotton and oil, cotton and oil!

Miles of it !

October! Harvest Moon!

 

 

 

 

 

One of the loveliest months of the year! Cooler days, bright skies, leaves beginning to turn, pumpkins everywhere.
The full harvest moon is so bright that it is hard to sleep. It seems to call me out to admire the landscape under its silvery light. I take binoculars and look at the moon. If I am lucky, I can see migrating birds passing across it luminous surface. I study the craters, dark shadows and bright "maria". Overhead I hear the sounds of birds calling to each other as they migrate. Good birders can identify them by the calls they make to each other as they fly. I can only make out a few thrushes.

Soon I will buy pumpkins and Indian corn. After Halloween, I will process the pumpkins for use in pies and breads for the holiday season, and hang the Indian corn for Thanksgiving.

The roadsides are lined with sunflowers and the pomegranates are ripening on the trees.

fall potpourri

Bright orange persimmon lanterns glow from the tree

Sparkling Burgundy sasanqua blooms blushing with blue highlights

This big fellow came right to the house garden to feast on magnolia seed pods. Most years the squirrels have stolen them all before they ripen. So startled was I to see him in the yard that I barely had time to grab the camera.They are good at hide and seek in the trees, usually keeping something between us.---a pileated woodpecker.

This blue fly--probably something unpleasant--had perished on my window sill. Nevertheless, it is a stunning iridescent cobalt blue, and I just had to have a photo.

fragrant pink

Fragrant Pink is one of the early blooming sasanquas, a member of the camellia family. In Louisiana, this group of shrubs blooms through the fall and winter giving us color in a dreary season. Fragrant Pink  lives up to its name filling the area under the oaks with a bubble gum scent while blooming, but the foliage seems to have fragrance, too, because I can always smell a spicy scent when I walk by it.

This particular bush has a funny story. I had searched for a specimen of it every time I went shopping for plants and was elated when I found 3 bushes at a local nursery. But always searching for more, I rushed on to investigate everything that was there. When I returned all 3 bushes were gone! I spun around and spied them on a wagon being carted to the checkout. Oh! you're buying all three?!!
I must have looked so upset that the kind lady reached down and handed me one.

I think about her whenever it blooms, and how foolish I was to pass it by looking for more.

citrus season

 

 

 

Fall in Louisiana signals the beginning of the local citrus season. In the past, there would be plentiful supplies of the small orange like fruit called satsuma.  It separates easily into small sections that are handy to eat, and the skin comes off easily.

Many years ago my family had an old home that was "down the river". We would drive there to pick satsumas and scavenge for pecans in the tall grass. My great aunt lived alone there and was not able to keep up the farm that had been in the family for several generations, but the trees persisted, and we were usually able to find something.  On the way home we cracked pecans, peeled satsumas and stuffed ourselves.

Christmas was the season for navel oranges, which are larger, and have a small protrusion like a navel on them. There was always one in our Christmas stocking.

Today the citrus industry is struggling in Louisiana. Since it is in the "toe" of Louisiana and surrounded by the sea, and the Mississippi River runs through the center ---it is often flooded as it was this year and is being affected by the salt water that is encroaching on its water table. A few weeks ago Isaac shook most of the crop from the trees.

I included a photo of the satsuma and kumquat tree that we had for a few years, but the drought and severe freezes killed the satsuma.

I was happy to find a few local satsumas in the market yesterday.

making hay

 

 

A quick walk this morning sticking to the roads since the woods are still filled with mosquitoes. The neighbors are making hay--I love to see the bales on the hillside--fall is on the way.

The skies were filled with contrails--probably a sign the weather is about to change.

antique and heirloom roses

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fabulous fragrance, beautiful full bushes that require less care than the regular modern tea roses, intriguing histories that often trace back centuries, some gathered from cemeteries, old home sites, and roadsides, passed along roses............antique and heirloom roses are all those things.

I was enthralled for about 10 years until I reached about 100 of them. Yes, they required less care, but didn't grow if neglected. Along came drought, hurricanes, family changes that required me to be absent for periods of time, and they went into decline.

I still have about 1/3 of them, and they aren't as manicured as they used to be. I know it is not possible for me to keep it all going as I used to......but I am enjoying those that I still have.