NewMexiKen received an authentic New Mexico style Valentine cookie yesterday evening. Bet you people living in states that aren’t the Land of Enchantment didn’t have such a purty gift.
The cookie is decorated in Isleta Pueblo pottery style and is from Chiwewe’s Bakery next to Chiwewe’s Smoke Shop, 1831 State Road 314 Southwest, Albuquerque. Click image for larger version.
Reader photo from the Santa Fe New Mexican. Taken in Cerrillos, New Mexico.
Click image for larger version.
The New York Times takes a look at choice tables in Taos. The article begins:
TAOS is at its moodiest and most beautiful in winter. It’s the time of the silver gray mesa, of ominous clouds, of crackling cedar logs in kiva fireplaces, of snow clouds billowing in across the plain, of the smoke of house fires leaning in lines from the pueblo rooftops. The adobe architecture seems so well suited to winter, both physically and spiritually. It offers the kind of haven from the cold no other building material can.
But northern New Mexico architecture is not just about mud. A large part of its charm comes from its adz-hewn wood — the beams, doors, sideboards, window frames and floorboards made of pine and oak, on which you can still see the blows the adz made.
“[I]t’s not that New Mexico doesn’t count. It’s just that New Mexico CAN’T count.”
LP commenting about states that are discounted (by the Clinton campaign) and New Mexico’s failure to declare a Democratic winner one week after the caucuses.
It was a beautiful, startlingly clear moonless night Saturday evening as I flew home from Virginia via Atlanta. It was fascinating to look down from six or seven miles up at city-after-city, then town-after-town, then vast dark spaces as we got closer to home. It’s nice to live in New Mexico where the people are fewer and farther between.
Today is gorgeous. Crystal clear — the snow beautiful on Mt. Taylor 70 miles west. Temperature in the 50s.
Continuing with the New Mexico elitism, I also have to say that just because it’s wrapped in a tortilla doesn’t make it Mexican food — and certainly not New Mexican food. If they don’t ask “red or green?” it just isn’t the best.
I had to get a few things at the store this morning and noticed that alcoholic beverages were closed off until noon. In my own religious faith we believe alcoholic beverages should only be sold between 2AM and noon on Sunday. What about separation of church and state? Why are we being discriminated against on Sunday mornings?
Readers outside the Albuquerque environs may wonder about why I bother to pick on Albuquerque’s Mayor Marty. Coco illustrates. First she has this quote from the local newspaper, emphasis hers:
Mayor Martin Chávez said the city needed to step in to help restore public faith in the water supply after KOAT-TV news last month reported that a fungus had contaminated some of the authority’s bottled water. “They (the authority) just seem to not want to take responsibility,” Chávez said. “I don’t think they understand the gravity of the situation.”
Coco then explains: “Hello? What is this ‘they’ business? The Mayor sits on the Water Authority Board …”
Beyond that, NewMexiKen doesn’t like the mayor because he made an business agreement with a colleague a few years ago, then reneged on the deal. He seems even less honorable than most politicians.
After the fact I realized today that the TSA agent let me through with the wrong boarding pass. I went through airport security in Albuquerque with a boarding pass for a flight originating in Atlanta.
In its September issue, National Geographic Adventure Magazine picked the “best mountain, urban, coastal, wilderness, and small towns in every state, where you can live the adventure dream daily”
Among cities, these were the top ten:
Chicago, Illinois
Nashville, Tennessee
Austin, Texas
Huntsville, Alabama
Gainesville, Florida
Overland Park, Kansas
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Springfield, Missouri
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Las Vegas was the top “adventure” spot overall.
I’m not usually a weather wimp — well, except for lightning — but we just had a sustained gust of wind here at Casa NewMexiKen that got my attention. I mean it was almost like having the Big Bad Wolf out there huffing and puffing. They’re forecasting gusts to 50, but I have to think this particular gust saw that and raised it 10 or 20.
An inch or snow fell in the last hour. More overnight.
Photographer’s Guide to New Mexico (and a little bit of Colorado).
It begins:
There are three cultures co-existing in New Mexico (if you read the middle third of my Summer 1994 travelogue then you might question the extent to which these actually co-exist). The Indians created interesting pueblos. The Spanish some impressive churches. The Anglos … mostly some houses that look like they could have been imported from Cleveland.
John Fleck reports on the good news in our otherwise very dry winter:
As of Friday, snowpack in the high country that feeds the Rio Grande headwaters was 59 percent above normal, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Snow in the headwaters of the San Juan is 50 percent above normal, and snowpack in the mountains that feed the Pecos is 25 percent above normal.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Down here at 5,000-6,000 feet, less than a quarter inch of precip in six weeks. (Though I had a pretty little dusting of snow yesterday morning). Dry, dry, dry.
First, this news item from the Albuquerque Tribune:
Police say somebody stole an “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” utility truck from the parking lot of a hotel near the Big-I on Tuesday night — the same day the crew unveiled a new home to a Southeast Heights family.
The show was in town to build a home for the Martinez family, who live in the Trumbull Village neighborhood, known for its history of crime and poverty — a fact mentioned repeatedly on promotional material for the show.
Here’s my idea — Extreme Makeover: Cops Edition.
Bad boys, bad boys, what’cha gonna do
What’cha gonna do when they come for you
The problem with my idea is that four years ago Mayor Marty banned Cops from filming in Albuquerque. “The city’s police officers are portrayed in a good light, but the rest of the city looks horrible. That has a real impact. That’s all people see, and that’s not who we are.”
Tell that to the Extreme Makeover guys.
… was established on this date in 1923.
Around 1100 A.D. ancient peoples embarked on an ambitious building project along the Animas River in northwestern New Mexico. Work gangs excavated, filled, and leveled more than two and a half acres of land. Masons laid out sandstone blocks in intricate patterns to form massive stone walls. Wood-workers cut and carried heavy log beams from mountain forests tens of miles away. In less than three decades they built a monumental “great house” three-stories high, longer than a football field, with perhaps 500-rooms including a ceremonial “great kiva” over 41-feet in diameter.
A short trail winds through this massive site offering a surprisingly intimate experience. Along the way visitors discover roofs built 880 years ago, original plaster walls, a reed mat left by the inhabitants, intriguing “T” shaped doorways, provocative north-facing corner doors, and more. The trail culminates with the reconstructed great kiva, a building that inherently inspires contemplation, wonder, and an ancient sense of sacredness.
“After discussing the issue and at the request of several legislators, Governor Richardson has agreed to put the red-light camera issue on the agenda for the ongoing session,” the New Mexico governor’s blog stated. “The governor believes it is reasonable for the legislature to revisit the issue.”
Richardson, who recently dropped out of the presidential race, is taking aim at Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chavez (D) who recently quit his run for the US Senate. Chavez had promised Richardson that he would drop the cost of fines in return for the veto, but Chavez has failed to hold up his end of the bargain. By doing so, Chavez has enjoyed $11.7 million in revenue since 2005 with more than $5.1 million in net profit to spend on new government programs.
Chavez briefly toyed with the idea of killing his automated ticketing program after it proved unpopular and became a drag on his aspirations to higher office. The city council, however, recently discovered that it has no ability to cancel the contract because of backroom agreements Chavez made with Australian vendor Redflex in 2005. The changes erased a cancellation clause that had been part of a draft contact approved by the city council. Some council members expressed concern that after more than two years of ticketing, even the city’s “blue ribbon panel” comprised of government officials and the insurance industry failed to generate evidence that the program has provided a public safety benefit.
Additional key quote: “The council is also powerless to change the per-ticket method of compensation that gives Redflex up to $45 for each ticket it is able to issue.”
Mayor Marty is looking to the courts to overturn the limit that prevents him from seeking a third term. It seems to this observer (who doesn’t live in the city) that it’s the people of Albuquerque that should be looking to the courts — to remove the mayor from office.
… was established by President Herbert Hoover on this date in 1933.
At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert lies a mountain ringed valley called the Tularosa Basin. Rising from the heart of this basin is one of the world’s great natural wonders – the glistening white sands of New Mexico.
Here, great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 square miles of desert and have created the world’s largest gypsum dune field. The brilliant white dunes are ever changing: growing, cresting, then slumping, but always advancing. Slowly but relentlessly the sand, driven by strong southwest winds, covers everything in its path.
17º here at 6:30 PM — on a day where it never got above 28º or so at Casa NewMexiKen. That’s unusual and I don’t like it.
Bundle up.
When you’re driving across America’s wide-open spaces, your worst enemies are an empty tank and an empty belly. Although a car may not be picky about the brand of gas you put into it, a body cannot run on beef jerky alone. That’s why we’re crazy about NEW MEXICO ROAD FOOD. Perhaps it’s the harmonious convergence of Mexican, American Indian, and Western-frontier cooking traditions found there, or maybe it’s the daunting distances between population centers, but we know of no other state in the Union where you can so consistently find such tasty cooking along the asphalt byways, often only steps from the gas pump.
Follow the link for a number of suggested pit stops.
Thanks to Colorado Luis for the pointer.
… was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on this date in 1912.
In just one $115 million installment — buy a 250,000 acre parcel of Bell Ranch in northeastern New Mexico.
An interesting article in The Albuquerque Journal ($) includes this:
There aren’t many pieces of private land left in this country where a man can stare for miles in any direction and see nothing but his own domain. The Bell is one.
The person who buys it will be the 22nd-largest landowner in the country, according to a ranking The Land Report magazine published in August.
But whoever saddles up to the $115 million asking price will be buying more than just land. They’ll be buying a piece— a very big piece— of history.
The Bell Ranch started to take shape in 1824 when a newly independent Mexico granted 655,000 acres of Indian hunting grounds to Pablo Montoya, a former captain in the Spanish army. It wasn’t until 1872 that cattle were brought to the ranch by its third owner, Wilson Waddingham. A “flamboyant Canadian” who fancied himself an Englishman, Waddingham personified cattle barons of the era and registered the Bell brand in 1874.
This video was developed and produced by Mudhouse Advertising to help raise awareness about issues of homelessness. For every unique viewing, Mudhouse will donate $1 (up to $10,000) to support ArtStreet programming.
It has been snowing fairly hard and fairly consistently at Casa NewMexiKen since 7:30 this morning, yet there is no accumulation on the pavement.
Beauty without the inconvenience.
Simply put, Albuquerque has the best four-season climate in the U.S.
Update: At 1PM it’s snowing and the sun is out. I’m thinking someone is making soap snowflakes around here like at Disneyland.
Gosh, Karen makes me homesick and it’s not even Christmas and I’m at home — Top ten things I miss about Christmas in New Mexico.
For those few NewMexiKen readers outside New Mexico who may have been following the saga of Albuquerque Mayor Marty in the U.S. senate race, this is just to let you know he quit the race last Friday.
A poll had him behind Rep. Tom Udall for the Democratic primary by 30 points.
In May, [Albuquerque Mayor] Chavez had announced plans to expand his program to include freeway-based speed cameras. In April, he successfully lobbied New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) to veto legislation that would have limited profit from automated ticketing. The pro-camera lobbying effort was so strong that leaders of the state legislature asked for an investigation into whether lobbying rules were violated.
Despite this active and effective role in the photo enforcement program, the official Chavez for Senate campaign website biography limits his most important mayoral accomplishments to: “He declared war on gangs, graffiti and DWI.” Photo ticketing does not merit even a brief mention on an extensive list of his accomplishments while in office.
The New York Times takes a look at the New Mexico senate race — Political Upheaval Follows a Rare Decision to Retire.
Absolutely nothing new or revealing, but . . .
NewMexiKen has clerestory windows on both the east and west side of my living room. These are delightful in innumerable ways — the morning light, the evening color, seeing the moon and stars or the glow of the Albuquerque lights reflected on the mountains at night.
There are alas, two downsides. For one, it is almost impossible to watch TV when the sun shines directly in the west windows in the afternoon or early evening (depending on the time of year). And two, the bird-brained birds fly into the windows because (I’m guessing) they can see straight through the house.
At the moment there are three “etchings” in the glass from these collisions. The impact is so hard the bird leaves an imprint of itself that would do the Shroud of Turin proud. Of the three impressions currently, one is head on, one appears to be an oblique shot, and one is wings extended. If you click on the image and look carefully you can see this last image, almost like a ghost.
And perhaps it is a ghost, though in nearly nine years I have found just one carcass.
There are by the way six or seven quail gobbling up this morning’s birdseed as I speak. Still time to get in your Thanksgiving orders.
The photo was taken from the living room at around 9:30 this morning. The plants on the berm are — ah choo! — chamisa (Chrysothamnus nauseosus), its fall yellow dying away, and Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), its lavender flowers long gone.