Night time trail maintenance and hiking ....

An ordinary night after work.... a desire to go for a little hike before dark.... The ominous dark grey skies delayed our start and we only made it to the trail head around 7.30 pm....
Despite the threat of hiking uneven terrain at night without the benefit of moonlight, we still found some time for vital trail maintenance ;-), even if it made us cross the creeks in the dark and feel our way through the last 2 miles back to the car....

Amazing how much we rely on our vision in daily life!!! And how great it is to live in a place where an ordinary evening can turn into a beautiful hike night....

SOOOooo good...

I'm realizing I have no picture of Joan but I do have one of the tale end of lunch / dinner with her on Monday at Oceano's.... (What does that say about me??).
This desert of a brownie baked in phyllo dough served with fresh custard and ice cream truly tasted as good as it looks... and the company was, if possible, even better than that...





MMMmmm......

St. Louis visit

I made it back.... When driving out here last fall, I just assumed I would be going back for a St. Louis visit every few months or so but somehow it didn't happen..... until this weekend.... Doug and I flew back for a less than 48 hour visit and got a good flash of St. Louis life; wonderful friends, too much good food and lethal humid swampy weather...
It really did feel like a visit and not like I was returning 'home'... Somehow, I don't know when or how, I transitioned from calling St. Louis my home to calling and feeling NM my home...








Beyond visiting people -great to see all the ones I did, sorry to miss the many more I didn't this time 'round-, we drove by Doug's old home and elementary school (he spent 1st and 2nd grade in STL) and drove by my house and through my Webster neighborhood....

And yes, although I did live in STL almost 8 years , we did get lost intermittently..... The I-40 closure combined with my lack of direction sense proved to be quite a combo....

In sync....

Back to school?

Well, not really..... but if I'm going to be in healthcare in NM, I have to learn Spanish!!! I'm hoping to do some self study this summer to than join Doug in a "Spanish for HC professionals" course at Santa Fe community College in the fall...

I don't think this will make up for my lack and loss of French but still... ;-)!!!

Birdsnests...

Is this a human imitation birds nest ;-) ?

A new favorite Northern NM hike!

We started out with a breakfast burrito (with green chili) in town in sunny, 75 degrees, beautiful clear blue sky weather... We than drove up into the mountains and started our hike from the big Tesuque campground, hiking straight up along the stream, beautiful and challenging... Unfortunately my camera battery seemed to go to sleep for a few hours in this amazing part of the hike so I don''t have pictures to post, they are engraved in my brain though and I am very determined to go back sometime very soon!!!



We followed the road upto the ski area and the weather changed....... clouds appeared and some thunder and lightening seemed ominously closeby.... Somehow we were saved from a rainstorm but did get some snow/hail (YES, in June!!!). The views were stunning and despite the fact that I wished I hadn't worn shorts for the adventure, I smiled the whole way and can't wait to get back!!!

On the way down, there were Aspens and more Aspens..... Beautiful in the spring, I can only imagine what this picture would be like in the fall.....