a pinyon/juniper high

there are ancient forests at mesa verde --- it's easy to miss the fact that the pinyon pine and utah juniper that still forest large swaths of the mesa can be very old even though they may be only 25 or 30 feet tall --- the champion juniper is estimated at 1,300 years --- the smell as one walks the trails is truly wonderful

the nevada desert was blooming for us in march, and the colorado/new mexico desert did the same for me in may

in memoriam

"happy memorial day" is a greeting that grates on my nerves --- it's a good time to go to the lake or whatever, but it's mostly a day to commemorate the killing of a lot of people in war ---

spruce tree house

this is the most accessible and probably the best-preserved of the cliff dwellings at mesa verde --- it was named for a spruce tree (actually it was a fir) growing in the ruins when it was first "discovered" in the 1890s

a highlight is the descent into a reconstructed kiva, for the experience of a close space

cliff palace

most people go to mesa verde for the cliff dwellings, with cliff palace (ca. 1190 - ca. 1260), which is the largest, sometimes all they see --- there weren't any tours since it was closed for repairs, but it was nice to see it without dozens of tourists (such as myself) tromping around ---

. . . and a good time was had by all

i think i'm gonna miss the solitude, peace, and quiet the most --- it was that kind of trip --- not thinking about anything else but what was around me: the high desert in bloom, thunderstorm and rain on the mesa, snow on the la platas and san juans, seeing shiprock off in the distance, walking through ancient ruins, ancient forests, and along narrow ledges and up 30' ladders, the layers of earth's history in stone, that rush of adrenalin when i'm wondering if i'm lost or can i do that or am i falling off a cliff ---

travel could be a full-time job

more anon

casas de suenos is a fine place to stay if you're ever in albuquerque --- built as a sort of artist colony in the 1930s and 40s, now an excellent b&b ---

 

punching out

off to the high desert in the morning, so there may not be much else from me on blogger until the end of the week --- i will miss my animals and my view

long overdue

what's up with kale lately? the kale growers are on a roll i think --- this place is in the works at sixth and juniper --- somebody has called it the best juice bar in the universe, but i forgot who

i'm getting amped up for the mesa verde excursion next week, cept i'm gonna miss this face

hiatus

the last week has been a mess, what with a damn cold and all, but i managed to wind up a second project and put it out for review --- and i also found out i'm stuck with a dilated eye for a while longer, which i'm almost getting used to --- in between times i've been binge watching "six feet under"

now i can look forward to next week at mesa verde: crisp, dark nights; cool, quiet days; and a fine atmosphere at 4,300 to 7,000 feet up in the air --- oughta clear the sinuses and my head

humor that has aged well . . .

although it has dawned on me that one might not appreciate firesign theater quite so much unless one had grown up with radio, teevee being a relatively late addition to the distractions of life for us early baby boomers --- but "the pure white light of stupidity" is one of the more awesome lines in the history of mankind

crap

at first i thought it was being around a bunch of cigarette smokers over the weekend, although all of the smoking was outdoors --- but, no, it's a damn cold ---

some purty great stuff blooming in ansley park right now, including what is probably the most magnificent mountain laurel in the city near the corner of westminster and the prado

time to go somewheres

off to mesa verde week after next --- wheeeee! they were closed for the stupid republican govt shutdown when i went in 2013, as were el morro and petroglyphs national monuments --- might squeeze in el malpais, too --- i'm amped

a fine night for the balcony

giants

bartram was afraid people would think he was exaggerating his description of forests he passed through in east georgia in the 1770s --- the photograph here is of a chestnut tree somewhere along the little river in east tennessee in 1900, just before they cut it down

"Continuing some time through these shady groves, the scene opens, and discloses to view the most magnificent forest I had ever seen.  We rise gradually a sloping bank of twenty or thirty feet in elevation, and immediately entered this sublime forest; the ground is a perfectly level green plain, thinly planted by nature with the most stately forest trees, such as the gigantic black oak (Q. tinctoria) Liriodendron, Juglans nigra, Platanus, Juglans exalta, Fagus sylvatica, Ulmus sylvatica, Liquid-amber styraciflua, whose mighty trunks, seemingly of an equal heighth, appeared like superb columns…
 To keep within the bounds of truth and reality, in describing the magnitude and grandeur of these trees, would, I fear, fail of credibility; yet, I think I can assert, that many of the black oaks measured, eight, nine, ten, and eleven feet in diameter five feet above the ground, as we measured several that were above thirty feet girt, and from whence they ascend perfectly strait, with a gradual taper, forty or fifty feet to the limbs; but, below five or six feet, these trunks would measure a third more in circumference, on account of the projecting jambs, or supports, which are more or less, according to the number of horizontal roots, that they arise from: the Tulip tree, Liquidamber, and Beech, were equally stately."
  

herding cats

some friends dragged me to see the acrocats at seven stages tonight --- what a big ol' mess, but i had no idea what you could actually get a cat to do --- a purty good way to spend the evening ---

abg

 the new light show at atl bot gdn is nice and all but $22 a head? even members don't get much off that --- plus they've killed the fourth thursday cocktails in the garden for members entirely, since it wasn't making them any money ---