Mick and Liesel's Antics

Surveys the Prairie

Bandelier National Park is about an hour’s drive from Tammy’s house and that was the destination for our hike today. Google Maps suggested that our route might be affected by a Winter Storm Warning. Winter? It’s April! Snow as forecast for the weekend in Santa Fe, yes, but that shouldn’t affect us today.

Before leaving, though, I did see a couple of pretty birds in the back yard. One had a predominantly red head but I couldn’t find it in the ID parade that is Tammy’s bird-wathing books. The other had black and white stripes on its head, like a badger, and from the books, I believe this was a white-crowned sparrow.

Apparently someone has seen a hummingbird in the area: probably one of the first to return from its Winter further south.

Typical New Mexico landscape plus clouds

This formation is composed of sand and gravel eroded from the Sierra de Los Valles. Its age is between 5 and 2 million years old (Pliocene epoch). It’s known for its ancient pueblo dwellings carved into the volcanic tuff, but we didn’t get that close.

The view from Anderson Overlook on New Mexico State Road 502

The drive took us through Los Alamos and I kept my head down while a guard inspected the driver’s ID. Just in case,

A herd of deer totally ignored us as we drove round one corner, but it was nice to see some wildlife bigger than a bird!

A sign welcomed us to Tyuonyi pueblo. Pronounced ‘QU-weh-nee’, which made me wonder, if that’s how you pronounce it, why don’t you spell it that way in the first place when you’re anglicising a previously unwritten language?

What remains of the village was occupied about 500-700 years ago. Tyuoyni had over 400 rooms and stood 1-2 storeys high. About 100 people may have lived here with another 400 residing in the cliff dwellings above.

We enjoyed our hike by all these dwellings. peeping into caves. Well, you had to climb ladders to visit some caves, and I’m sorry to say I didn’t. I’m not that keen on climbing ladders on terra firma at home, I wasn’t going to experience one of these home-made contrivances close to a precipitous edge.

I saw this sign and immediately donned lots of warm Winter clothing, long johns, padded trousers, three coats and a big furry hat. Then someone pointed out that in fact it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and that the route wasn’t really closed.

It was a bit off the main path, but we did see a flash of colour. At least one cactus has decided to bloom.

I’m glad Jyoti and Rupert climbed these ladders so I didn’t have to. What an experience though.

The Bandelier landscape has been formed by both sudden dramatic volcanic eruptions and the slow forces of erosion.

The Jemez Mountains are the result of 13 million years of sporadic volcanic activity. Two large eruptions, 1.4 and 1.1 million years ago, expelled as much as 200 cubic miles of volcanic ash and formed broad plateaus around the mountains. As the ash was ejected, the center of the volcanic field collapsed to a huge depression known as a caldera. Today, the most visible part of the caldera is the Valle Grande (Spanish for Big Valley).

Small streams, like Frijoles Creek, gradually carved canyons through the plateau, while rain, frost, and seeping water eroded many small holes into the solidified ash (tuff). The Anasazi carved their homes from the tuff using tools made of basalt, another volcanic rock. Volcanism also produced obsidian which the Anasazi used for arrowheads and knives.

Yes, of course I copied that from one of the many information boards, thank you very much.

View from Bandelier National Monument Frijoles Canyon Overlook

As always, a photograph cannot do justice to the scale of this landscape. It’s big and you want to embrace it all but you can’t.

Tammy drove us to White Rock where we ate at Pig and Fig. In the distance, we observed rainclouds, and even rain, which appeared to evaporate before it even reached the ground. It was a bit windy and dusty, but we managed to overtake some tumbleweed on the freeway.

Jyoti, Rupert, Liesel and I returned to Golden Crown Panaderia for pizza and I enjoyed the World’s Best Coffee Milkshake. Grateful thanks to Donald Trump for allowing me to use a plastic straw: a paper one wouldn’t have taken the strain. Thank goodness for Presidential Executive Order 14,208.

Because snow had been forecast for Santa Fe, Liesel and I returned to Albuquerque a day earlier than initally planned. And it did indeed snow. In fact, we woke up to a few flakes here.

Our plan was to do the Three Guns Spring hike. Instead (doing some food shopping on the way) we visited the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, inside, away from the pesky weather

One current exhibition is Entangled Cultures: How Humans and Microbes Co-create through Fermentation. Milk, bread, beer all processed by some mechanism inexplicable to people before the age of science.

We also learned about evolution of apes and humans, and especially the folks who lived here in what is now the southwest of the USA.

People have lived in the American Southwest for nearly 12,000 years. The first Southwesterners were descendents of immigrants from Asia. They came to an unknown world but quickly and successfully made it their home. The exhibition reconstructs aspects of daily life, the ways in which people related to one another through particular kinds of artifacts and architectural structures, and infers some aspects of spiritual life from the symbolic features of art and aesthetic expression. Together, these insights offer a fascinating picture of the remarkable history of the American Southwest.

We had a coffee before returniung home. There was quite a houseful now: us four, plus Leslie plus our hosts Buzz, Neil and Gabe plus cousin Ann and her husband Bruce. So dinner for ten it is. But not just any old dinner.

We enjoyed the Passover Seder, a first for me. The ritual included a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. Gabe was our storyteller, reading from a children’s book rather than the original from the Book of Exodus. A small amount of wine was involved, and lots of food. A place was set for Elijah, so that’s now eleven place settings. He didn’t show up on this occasion.

Meanwhile, this is what we missed in Santa Fe, thanks for the picture, Tammy.

The Mobile Spins

After a busy day yesterday, it was more relaxed today. Liesel and I drove into town, parked up and walked to the Cathedral.

This is one of seven archangels carved in 2005 by José Lucero, a local artist affectionately referred to as Picasso Santero. He created these from the remaining trunks of cottonwood trees that once stood along the river.

Meanwhile, Buzz and Leslie were taking a train from Albuquerque to visit us here in Santa Fe. Meanwhile, Gabe was driving here with Neil. We all met up by the Cathedral, which was too big to fit in the photo.

The Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi

While wandering around the town, we couldn’t help but notice the old Route 66. In 1937, the route changed so is passed through Albuquerque rather then Santa Fe.

But the first port of call was the French Pastry Shop, part of La Fonda on the Plaza Hotel complex. A nice French place with French pastries and other tasty treats. So for lunch, I enjoyed a French baguette with my default, favourite filling, cheese and tomato.

We visited KESHi, The Zuni Collection, where there was plenty of Zuni artwork to look at. The small animals are known as fetishes, but not ‘fetish’ in the way we usually think about!

So far, we haven’t been lucky enough to see any hummingbirds in the wild. This one is made from onyx, with turquoise eyes and some mussel shell for a beak. Mussels and coral are found locally, left over from the time New Mexico was under the ocean, several weeks ago, at least.

After Gabe left us to take Leslie, Neil and Buzz back home to Albuquerque, the rest of us, that is me, Liesel, Rupert and Jyoti, well, we returned to the French pastry place for coffee and dessert. My choice was something called ‘opéra’, layers of sponge with coffee and chocolate and very tasty, merci.

Jyoti found a ring she liked on a stall in the street, and it needed a slight adjustment. The man said he hoped to have it ready by the end of the day. He did, but by then, we’d returned home so we went back the following day to collect it.

We visited a few galleries in Canyon Road, not all 300, that would be a real labour of love. Some say 300, some say 100. I didn’t count.

Amongst our favourites, I think, were the wind-powered mobiles, which are also optical illusions. There are quite a few at Wiford Gallery. Tempting, yes, but far too big to take back to Albuquerque, never mind England.

When we returned home, I took out my new telescope in an effort to capture some landscape pictures. Without realising, I found a cow’s behind.

The same distant hill was viewed though the phone and through the telescope. You can see how good the magnification is.

Unless my detective work fails me, this image shows Cerro Chiflo, located near Taos, a volcanic plug in the Tusas Mountains of New Mexico. Cerro Chiflo’s peak reaches approximately 9,000 feet. The landscape includes piñon and juniper trees, and desert sage.

And of course, I had to have another look at the Sun.

While eating our evening meal, the Sun went down and we had a beautiful sunset, nearly as good as those we see in Northenden.

What was on the menu? Lamb curry for most people, but I believe my potato curry was far superior, thank you very much, Jyoti!

After all this time in NM, I was disappointed that I still wake up every day with a nosebleed. The other side effect of the lack of humidity, and possibly the lower air pressure at this altitude, is that my skin is a lot drier than usual, and my phone doesn’t always recognise my thumb print.

As mentioned before, we returned to town to collect Jyoti’s new ring. We also had breakfast. The green chilli that accompanied my huevos rancheros was perfect, nowhere near as hot as the stew I’d wrestled into submission a couple of days ago. A local delicacy is sopaipillas with honey, but I passed on this occasion. And yes, I am inconsistent with my spelling of chili, chilli and chile, but then so are most New Mexicans.

We visited the New Mexico Museum of Art, in a building that could have been transplanted from a pueblo. The main exhibit on right now is Eugenie Shonnard: Breaking the Mold. She was a locally acclaimed sculptor, being a pivotal figure for the history of art and sculpture in the Southwest, widely recognized during her own time for her contributions to the visual arts, yet largely overlooked in recent decades.

Chest of Drawers by Eugenie Shonnard, ca 1931

“Marsden Hartley traveled widely, taking in the people, cities, and culture of places like New York, Berlin, Paris, Bermuda, and Santa Fe. During his travels, Hartley frequently wrote letters to friends and family about his experiences. In the early twentieth century, writing a letter meant picking up a pen or pencil, or even sitting down at a typewriter, such as the one in front of you. Take a sheet of paper from the top drawer of the desk and write a letter about a place or experience you would like to share. Feel free to take your letter and send it to someone or leave it in the tray to share with other museum visitors.”

How could I turn down such an invitation? Well, it’s been a few years since I last bashed out a missive on a typewriter and I’d forgotten how loud they are. The clicketty clacketty noise I made reverberated all around the rooms, there was no way I could be stealthy. If you want to read what I wrote, you’ll have to pay a visit: I left my sheet of paper there, typos and all.

There were plenty of items out in the courtyard too, including frescoes.

Voice in the Sky by William Shuster, 1934

Here are some lovely people in front of the sculpture Abstraction by Georgia O’Keeffe.

Next stop, Iconik Coffee Roasters for some iconic coffee followed by a quick visit to Beastly Books.

Something scary with an animatronic werewolf behind

What a great shop for lovers of science fiction and fantasy. (We could do with any kind of bookshop in Northenden, thought grumpy old Mick.)

Liesel and I visited the library and sat down for a while. After meeting the others, we dined at The Shed, a Mexican restaurant not too far from The Plaza. I’d been a bit worried that I’d struggle to find vegetarian food in New Mexico, but so far, there’s always been something for me. Tonight, a Tamale Plate: green chile vegetarian (green chile, onion and corn) tamales, served with beans and Spanish rice, a side of red or green chile, and garnished with lettuce & tomato. Again, relatively mild green chile, it didn’t blow my head off.

The Tactful Cactus

The drive to Taos Pueblo was very enjoyable, partly taking us through the Santa Fe National Forest. I say ‘us’, but I should say who ‘us’ was. We’ve borrowed Buzz’s Toyota Prius and Liesel drove me, Jyoti and Rupert today. Tammy worked at home while Aaron went to his place of work in the library.

Rupert, Jyoti and Liesel at Apache Canyon Scenic Viewpoint

We saw a deer on the road, and a few prairie dogs at the side of the road, standing up on their hind legs, on the lookout, pretending to be meerkats.

I think this tree gives a good indication of where the wind comes from. It was a little windy today, but not too cold. Not a high number on the ‘will-Mick-get-earache’ scale. Otherwise, it was an enjoyably warm day, although the wind did kick up some dust.

We were welcomed to Taos Pueblo and we were in time for a quick guided tour. The guide, Summer, introduced us to this World Heritage Site. A few families still live in the pueblo, but there is no electricity and no running water, so most people live in nearby Taos.

People have live here since time immemorial and there are currently about 2,600 Red Willow People.

The many shops were run by the artists themselves, and we wanted to support all of them by buying something. In the end, Liesel and I came away with a small painting. Flat, not fragile and easy to pack: I know, those shouldn’t be the main criteria for selecting a work of art, but it is a very nice picture.

I asked if I could take a picture of the dreamcatchers and the man said, ‘there’s the tip jar’! Bribery and corruption at the highest level!

I bought a glass of lemonade in one place. My credit card was declined. Thus began yet another long dispute with the credit card company. I hope they’re this on the ball when something genuinely fraudulent is taking place. The lemonade was good though, homemade and very refreshing.

Mass is still held at St Jerome’s, built in about 1850 on the site of an earlier war-damaged church. The two religions co-exist very well here, catholic and earth and nature based beliefs.

The buildings here are built from adobe, or sun-dried mud. In some places, the straw used in the mix is very obvious, and I wondered why it hasn’t decayed in the heat of the place plus the occasional rainstorm.

The outdoor ovens were introduced by the Spanish, who in turn had had them introduced by the Moors. According to Summer, there is no accurate temperature control: the only way to tell when it’s hot enough is to see whether or not a piece of straw combusts inside once the fire’s been going for some time.

I didn’t buy anything in the gift shop, nope, not even a bow and arrow, and certainly no jewelry. Nor did I treat myself to ‘fry bread with top pings’. I might have gone with lesser pings if they’d been available.

We visited Taos for a late lunch before driving to walk across and admire the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, the 7th highest bridge in the USA, about 600 feet above the river itself, much higher and more stomach-churning than I’d anticipated.

We’d agreed to meet Tammy and Aaron at an African restaurant, Jambo, in Santa Fe. As usual, I programmed Google Maps to take us there. Are you sure this is the right way? Of course it is. It wasn’t. We had to turn around when its chosen route would have taken us along a dirt track for who knows how far. And then, just round the corner, it told us that we’d arrived at our destination. I sacked Sheila, my Australian Google Maps guide. Rupert’s device got us to the right place.

The meal was lovely, we all enjoyed it, before driving home in the dark, in three cars. Yep, we got us a convoy.

There was a beautifully clear sky so I set up the new telescope, the Seestar S50.

After a bit of messing about (I’m still learning) I got a great photo of the Orion Nebula.

I found Mars nd Jupiter too, but other objects eluded me as the clouds rolled in and slowly covered the sky. At least we were outside before the Moon rose.

During the night, I looked out a few times, but there was no point in taking the device out again, the clouds stayed.

While Tammy and Liesel went off to town for a relaxing, refreshing massage, Jyoti, Rupert and I set out for a walk across country towards the local Community Center. This was a perfect opportunity to see some local wildlife. Some birds, yes. And a beetle.

This might be one of the local stink beetles, so I’m glad I didn’t mess with it!

The dusty path was well formed, whether by animals or people, I don’t know, and the only concern was that we’d be able to find our way back later on. We relied on landmarks, such as this.

A drop of rain fell from a small cloud in the sky. Out of all the places it could land, it found its way to Jyoti’s skin. She didn’t want to get wet so this was our cue to head back. It didn’t rain much, to be honest. It was a good walk though, and interesting to see cactuses in various states of life.

In the afternoon, while Aaron was still at work, Tammy drove us to Madrid. That’s Madrid, with the emphasis on the ‘Mad’ rather than the ‘drid’.

It’s a cute little town, it looks old, and I could imagine it being populated by old peopl⁰e, hippies and drop-outs. I felt right at home.

We dined in the Mine Shaft Tavern and Cantina. Before visiting New Mexico, I’d been warned not to eat the green chili stew because it’s not vegetarian. Well, this place had a veggie version of the local delicacy, so I thought I’d give it a go.

I ran out of napkins drying my tears and mopping up my sweat. But despite the spicy heat, I persevered and with the help of a small bowl of sour cream, I managed to finish off the bowl of stew. Without the chilis, it would have been a very nice but simple vegetable soup. I’m glad I had the opportunity to try it, but next time, I think I’ll leave it for another customer.

In other news though, I did find out that some parts of the film The Man Who Fell to Earth were filmed here, along with several other movies. Yes, the film in which David Bowie, being an alien, just played himself.

Having had my tongue set on fire, I really wanted an ice cream, but while wandering around the town later, I was thwarted in my mission. We looked in some galleries though, and again, we oohed and aahed at and admired the artwork but didn’t purchase anything.

Liesel and I both thought that Martha in particular would enjoy walking around this town because it is paved, not with gold, but with shards of pottery, many different colours, stones, rocks and all sorts of debris.

It’s definitely a colourful little place, redbud trees, flowers, other blossoming trees, well-decorated buildings, murals and brightly coloured cars.

Sadly, sometimes it’s necessary to chop down trees. Here, they occasionally turn the stump into something beautiful. Not sure about the subject matter here, but I thought this chain-saw carving was very well done.

In the evening, we visited Tumbleroot Brewery Distillery, not for the beer but to relax to some music. I had a glass of cider on this occasion. We found seats at the back, as far from the stage as possible, and hoped that not too many folks would be standing and dancing on the floor, blocking our view.

The support act was Haylie, who goes by the name Lady Apple Tree, a little bit folk, a little bit country and very good, despite having to battle against most people in the audience talking while she was performing.

The main band, Cactus Blossoms were a bit louder and they kept us well entertained. They reminded me of the Everly Brothers, having similar harmonies (two of the members are brothers) and the instrumental arrangements reminded me of early ’60s pop music. Apparently, this was their first gig in Santa Fe, but they’d brought along some supporters.

They were very smart in their baby-blue suits, although the colours produced when combined with some of the different coloured spotlights were less than flattering!

I was still full from my lunchtime bowl of lava, but that didn’t stop me from eating some chips (French fries) here in the pub tonight. I thought the chips were very salty, although some vinegar would have helped with that. On the other hand, the ketchup was far too sweet for my taste.

Not knowing the songs, I couldn’t sing along, but I hummed, tapped my foot, drummed my fingers on the table and mentally added them to the playlist for a radio show sometime soon.

What a great way to end a very busy day.

To Santa Fe

If we wanted to immerse ourselves in the local culture, we couldn’t have asked for better hosts than Buzz, Neil and Gabe. They’d arranged for us all to attend the Pueblo Immersion, organised by the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC). Before leaving for this event, though, Liesel and I started packing for our next little adventure, side-trip, whatever you call it.

We drove past the Cannabis Dispensary on the way to the IPCC but made no plans to pay a visit, sample the goods or anything.

On arrival at IPCC, we were all presented with a Visitors’ lanyard and all of ours had a blue sticker which meant that later on, we would all be in the blue group for the tour around the museum.

We were seated at tables, all facing the front, like being in a school classroom again, not quite trusting the folks behind us to behave.

After an enjoyable lunch, we watched Flo and Lee with an interesting pottery demonstration: Flo making the clay bird while Lee very carefully painted a finished, fired plate.

The pottery is made using shale clay mixed with old pottery shards to create a water-tight seal. After “white slipping” with wet white sandstone, the pottery is polished. Orange paint is made from mashed and strained orange sandstone, while black paint is a mix of Iron Oxide and wild spinach juice. The Yucca leaf is used for applying paint after being chewed on to remove excess fibers and achieve the correct thickness for fine line and detailed painting. I would never have guessed that spinach was involved, but all the skills have been passed down through several generations. Flo and Lee are pleased that their grandchildren are now showing an interest too.

Anthony was the guide for the blue group’s tour of the museum. We saw how the different pueblos developed, how the people got on, even though there were several different languages being spoken. And the pots made in different places have distinctive shapes and designs.

We learned about Po’Pay’s successful Pueblo revolt against the Spanish invaders in 1680. The Spaniards were either killed or expelled from the province. Unfortunately for the locals, they returned 12 years later.

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) is honored to collaborate with NSRGNTS, an Albuquerque-based duo comprised of artists Leah Povi Lewis (Laguna, Taos, Zuni Pueblos/Hopi/Diné) and Votan (Maya/Nahua), on a commissioned mural created for the Art Through Struggle Gallery. NSRGNTS is a successful Indigenous brand, business, and art collective that advocates for Indigenous rights. They are known for their murals of Indigenous resilience painted in vivid colors in a “kawaii” style – a “cute,” illustrative style similar to Japanese anime. Their seven-panel mural provides a visual story of Pueblo empowerment throughout the past, present, and future.

This, the middle section focuses on an integral event of Pueblo history – the 1680 Pueblo Revolt that resulted in the ousting of Spanish rule in Pueblo lands for 12 years. Holding a knotted yucca cord, Po’pay, the Ohkay Owingeh leader of this revolt, stands at the center as a role model and a figure of strength.

As soon as the tour ended, Liesel and I had to rush off to the airport, oops, sorry, Albuquerque International Sunport. Jyoti and her new man, Rupert, were joining us from North Carolina. We found them easily enough, hugged and all that, and took them back for a quick hello-goodbye with Buzz, Neil, Gabe and Leslie. The new arrivals were joining Liesel and me on our trip to Santa Fe. This will be the first significant amount of time Liesel and I have spent without Mom for about a year.

The drive to Santa Fe was interesting, as we passed many different landscapes. It seemed to me that the further north we were, the greener it was. Santa Fe is also 2,000 feet higher in altitude than Albuquerque and I was already fed up with the nosebleeds caused by, or at least exacerbated by, the high altitudes and low humidity.

This isn’t a volcano but a naturally eroded hill southwest of Santa Fe.

We arrived at Tammy’s house while it was still light. You remember Tammy? She walked Hadrian’s Wall with Liesel, Jyoti, Teresa and me two years ago. Sadly, Teresa, Tammy’s sister, wasn’t here for the grand reunion. We miss you, Teresa! For the first time, I met Tammy’s husband, Aaron.

After breakfast (Jyoti fixed me her world-famous fried eggs on toast, and I still don’t know why Americans fix food, it’s not broken, is it, but there you go, separated by a common language, now where was I…?) oh yeah, after breakfast, we all drove into Santa Fe and had a walk around the Old Town.

The original walls and altar of the San Miguel Chapel were built in 1610 by a group of Tlaxcala Indians from Mexico, who accompanied the early Spanish settlers to New Mexico. The site of the chapel shows evidence of previous human occupation from around 1300 A.D.

The chapel roof was burned during the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680. Evidence of the fire that destroyed the roof can be seen in the adobe bricks of the chapel today, since new adobes for the reconstruction were mixed on the site and bits of charcoal were inevitably mixed into the mud.

This city too is proud to show of its artworks, murals, sculptures and of course, the architecture is wonderful, and it’s always good to see a low-level place: there are few skyscrapers here

There are 300 art galleries along Canyon Road. We’ll probably visit them one day, but we’ll need to find something to do later on in the afternoon.

The locally made rugs attracted our attention. They’re not necessarily perfect, sometimes the colours run, but if we had the wallspace, I think we might have purchased one.

We viewed some phots taken by Edward Curtis. He was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and Native American people. Sometimes referred to as the “Shadow Catcher”, Curtis traveled the United States to document and record the dwindling ways of life of various native tribes through photographs and audio recordings. I was going to buy a book about him, but the typeface was tiny, so I’ll get it on the old Kindle later on.

Liesel and I had visited an exhibition of Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings at Tate Modern some years ago. It was good to visit the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum here in Santa Fe. She lived for a long time in New Mexico.

A painting by and destroyed by Georgia O’Keeffe

No idea what this picture was, but Georgia didn’t like it and cut it up just a couple of years later. What a shame.

I realised that I have a lot in common with Georgia O’Keeffe. She liked to dress in black or white. And all the socks I currently own are either black or white. I wish I had her artistic talent, though.

Have you ever seen a horse box?

We sat outside watching the Sun go down behind the trees and the mountains, listening to the birds and even a train tooting its horn as it passed by in the distance. And it did become noticeably colder as the evening wore on.

Science

The Karl G Jansky Very Large Array is a two-hour drive from home, about 130 miles. Neil, Liesel’s uncle, invited me to join him on his first visit there for several decades. I will always enjoy a visit to an astronomical telescope, whereas Liesel thinks she’s seen enough.

During the drive, Neil told me about many of the events that occurred during his long and varied career in the Air Force, some details of which are still classified. He explained why and how he and Buzz settled here in Albuquerque.

We drove through a lot of desert, what I expected New Malden to look like, no, not New Malden, New Mexico, no idea what happened there, muscle memory in the two typing fingers, I guess. Anyway, we even drove through an Indian Reservation, but if I hadn’t seen the sign, I wouldn’t have known.

Apparently pecans require a lot of water to grow, so it seems strange that there is such a large plantation here, in a state which is really quite dry. Even the great Rio Grande has been known to dry up sometimes.

On the way, we passed an array of solar panels much larger than I’d ever seen, anywhere. It must produce a lot of energy, but what a shame the panels aren’t a little bit higher, so that grass can grow underneath for the local flock of sheep, or other grass-eating food. My offer to drive a bit and give Neil a break was declined. I’m sure I would have coped on the long, dead straight highways with little other traffic.

After nearly two hours, we saw the VLA in the distance, through the trees and we soon parked up.

We took our time on the self-guided walk around the site. The solar radio telescope looks more like a musical instrument, being horn shaped, but no, I didn’t blow through it.

I was very impressed by the Bracewell Radio Sundial, though, so different to all the other sundials I’ve seen, and indeed, even made, in my youth.

I’m so glad Neil gave me the information sheet so I don’t have to remember all the details myself…

Using the Bracewell Sundial

The Bracewell Sundial has a large sphere mounted atop a slim metal post. Locate this sphere and note where its shadow falls. There are three major sets of markers – metal disks – set into the concrete that mark the hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at four dates of the year. The disks labeled “Summer Solstice” show the time on June 21; the disks labeled “Winter Solstice” are for December 21; and the disks labeled “Equinoxes” are for March 20 and September 23. Small, diamond-shaped markers indicate the hours at intermediate dates, such as July 21, August 21, etc. The sphere’s shadow thus indicates not only the time of day but also, roughly, the time of year. All the markers for a particular hour, the round disks and the diamonds, trace a line toward one of the concrete piers.

It’s a long way to go to find the time. Plus, of course, they have to pick up all the posts and move them round a bit to accommodate Daylight Savings.

The main attraction here of course is the Very Large Array, comprised of 27 radio telescopes, each of which weights 230 tons. They are moved along the ‘wye’, a Y-shaped configuration of railroad tracks, each 13 miles long. In effect, the array acts as a single antenna with a variable diameter. The angular resolution that can be reached is between 0.2 and 0.04 arcseconds.

The building in which we believe most of the work is done seemed deserted today: at least, we couldn’t see anyone as we peered through the window from the balcony.

Shiva: Shiwana by artist Jon Barlow Hudson

Funded through the New Mexico Arts Council, this three-armed sculpture represents the three tracks of the VLA and the floating, three-dimensional natures of the objects the VLA studies.

On the drive back, we stopped for lunch in Socorro and yes, of course, I couldn’t finish my avocado salad, the serving was far too big. Even Neil an acclimatised American, couldn’t manage that much food.

And of course, the problem with eating that much food meant that come dinner time, I wasn’t at all hungry.

Thank you very much, Uncle Neil, for a fascinating day out!

Liesel and I enjoyed seeing the petroglyphs in Australia a few years ago, so it was only fair to go and view some here in New Mexico. They’re hundreds rather than tens of thousands of years old, but just as fascinating.

On the way through the city centre, we passed a rather smaller array of dishes than I’d seen yesterday.

Piedras Marcadas Canyon looks like I expected the whole state to look like. Desert sand, a few volcanic rock, some cactuses, a few cacti as well. Because it was flagged as ‘strenuous’, we chose to do the Mesa Top Trail, a ‘quick’ mile and a half hike that would lead us to the Petroglyph Viewing Trail, another mile and a half of fun. We were also warned that on the mesa: no petrogyphs, no water, no shade, no facilities and definitely no bushes behind which one could take ones ease.

What we got instaed was a challenging hike up a fairly steep rocky and sandy slope to the plateau. The view of the city was stunning but sadly, my attempted panoramic picture just shows too much foreground. We did see a few small lizards, though, and a few ants. The hinted-at millipedes remained hidden from sight.

There were plenty of other people on the path which now was almost pure sand. The volcanic rocks, basalt, were well spread out, and it was onto these that long ago, people were happy to show off their artistic skills.

Among the petroglyphs, we saw stars, birds, hands with six fingers (proving that in fact, they were made by aliens), an alien face (see?), road-runners, snakes, reversed music notation and a man wearing a funny hat. One was dated 1541, but we couldn’t determine whether that was when the conquistadors turned up or if it was drawn in 1541 BC.

Ah, but here’s an explanatory plaque: Petroglyphs represent a valuable record of cultural expression and human occupation in the Rio Grande valley. They have deep spiritual significance to modern Pueblo groups as well as other indigenous people such as the Diné (Navajo) and the Apache. Similar images continue to have value in contemporary ceremonial life for many Southwesten tribes. The associated meanings of some petroglyphs are known by a few Southwestern tribal groups, while the direct meanings of other images have been lost over the centuries.

It was a really good hike, in the heat of the Sun, and looking around, we could see mountains in the distance and, again, just a few solitary clouds drifting by.

When we got back to it, the car was like most politicians: full of hot air.

Meanwhile, back at home, Martha took part in a performance of Annie at school, singing all the hits from the show with great gusto. Yes, Great Gusto and all her other class mates.

The sun will come out
Tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar
That tomorrow
There’ll be sun!
Well, there’d better be, here in New Mexico, thank you very much.

At home, making use of one of her birthday gifts, Martha built a machine that blows bubbles. A scientist in the making.

Branching out

We were sorry to miss Martha’s birthday again, but we spoke to her briefly online. She was about to sink her teeth into her third birthday cake. Not to mention a delicious beverage in a Greek restaurant.

Just as exciting, for me, was the continuation of my own birhday. Jenny and Helen had arranged for their present for me to be sent here to Buzz’s place and I wasn’t allowed to see it until we were all together, chatting online. It was lovely to see them both nd we had a good chat.

Half of Jenny, half of Helen and a whole Mick

I opened the box online, and it did feel like one of those influencer-style unboxing videos on Instagram that come up and bore us from time to time. Thank you Helen and Jenny, it was a fantastic idea, something that I’d never thought to have asked for. I am now the proud owner of a Seestar S50, a smart telescope that (of course) is controlled via an app and will let me take some fab pictures of the night sky.

It’s a bit of a learning curve (where did that phrase come from?) but I’ll get there. Being the middle of the afternoon, the obvious celestial object to look at right now was the Sun. After several failed attempts, due to incompetence, plus clouds getting in the way, here is the very first decent image.

I have so many ideas of objects that I’d like to capture myself in the coming weeks and months. I have admired (and been envious of) many of the pictures taken by others over the years.

The following night, I stayed up late to see the night sky. The Moon was the obvious next target: it’s big, and just a few days from being full.

Because of street lights, and other issues, I couldn’t focus on any stars or planets, but that will come with time. Watch this space. Again, thank you very much, Jenny and Helen.

One of the best ways to see a city is on a bus tour. Here in Albuquerque, Liesel, Leslie and I chose to go on a Trolley Tour of the city. Our guide (sorry, I can’t recall her name) was very informative and, given all the various jobs she’s had over the years, in several states, she must be about 120 years old. Half Indian and half Spanish/Mexican.

Explora Science Center and Children’s Museum

I wondered whether all the landmarks would feature domes, but no, I think these were the only two. We passed by several buildings and sites that feature in the TV series Breaking Bad, but of course, not having watched it, despite several recommendations from lots of people, they didn’t mean much to us. Our guide was once a carpenter, and she was responsible for laying a floor in a room for a scene in Breaking Bad. One of the characters said it was a lovely wooden floor. Now, that is a claim to fame.

We drove along a section of the old Route 66, 18 miles of which is within the city boundaries.

The city supports local artists and is very proud of the murals that appear everywhere, on pretty much every otherwise blank wall.

What we find amazing is that none of the artwork has been spoilt by graffiti or tagging. So civilised.

The local Minor League Baseball Team is known as Albuquerque Isotopes, so named following a sequence in an old Simpsons episode, and a popular name due to the large number of scientific facilities in the state dealing with nuclear research. Remember that for your next pub quiz.

In the afternoon, Liesel and I visited the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. Not at all because we wanted to escape the heat of the day! Actually, it’s a great place, lots of focus on dinosaurs and climate change.

Greeting us in the museum was the Bisti Beast, an animated model of Bistahieversor (meaning “Bistahi destroyer”), an early
ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Yes, of course I had to take a selfie using the camera on the life-size replica of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Does that make us Martians?

In the planetarium, we watched Life: A Cosmic Story, telling us how life bgan on Earth. Being narrated by Jodie Foster wasn’t enough to prevent Liesel from nodding off a bit. Well, it was warm and dark and the seats were so comfortable…

Another video we watched was about the asteroid that ultimately made the dinosaurs extinct.

The Chicxulub Impact

The Chicxulub (CHIK-shoo-loob) crater is believed by scientists to have been created by the asteroid impact that ended the Cretaceous Period. The crater was named after a nearby village. “Chicxulub” is a Mayan word that means “sign of the horns.” Half of the crater is buried beneath the limestone plains of the Yucatan and half beneath the water and sediment of the Gulf of Mexico. Instruments have shown that the whole crater is about 112 miles in diameter. The object that created this crater was probably about six miles in diameter and traveling at a speed of 9 to 12 miles per second when it struck the Earth. On impact, it released energy equivalent to the explosion of more than five billion tons of TNT.

The plaque onsite has a typo, which I have corrected here in this reproduction. But what amazed me was, what great quality the film was from 65 million years ago,

Outside it was now 88°F according to the car’s display, 31°C.

Settling in

After arriving in the cold, I thought maybe that was just a hiccup, and that normal service would be resumed the following day. No, sirree. It was still cold, so, reluctantly, I wore a coat for our visit to The 15th Annual Southwest Chocolate and Coffee Fest. The event was very popular, hundreds of stalls, and hundreds of visitors. I’d like to say we tried hundreds of samples, but no, just a few. The pecan and green chilli cookie sounded intriguing. But my small sample was enough to set my tongue on fire and for steam to erupt from my ears.

It wasn’t all chocolate and coffee, lovely though that was. We tried cheese curds, various jams and bread, but not the candy floss. This girl did, though.

On this day, we saw a roadrunner ahea⁰d of us on the road, but the following day, I was quick enough to capture one, photographically speaking. It ran across the road in front of us rather than along the road like the cartoon character, but still, this was our first New Mexican wildlife.

Well, I say ‘wildlife’, but some of the locals do feed these birds. We visited Albuquerque’s Old Town and learned some history of the place. Here, it was the Spanish conquistadors who arrived and changed the way of life of the indigenous peoples. We visited the Romero Street Gallery and enjoyed a wide variety of different art.

To name just three artists, we liked David Schneider’s photographs. He must hang around for hours just to get the perfect lighting, the optimum number of clouds and nothing to distract from the shot. He does no digital editing afterwards, making the large, printed pictures all the more remarkable.

Paul Uhl’s pottery at first sight looks a bit wonkey, but the decoration is superb. One piece in particular appealed to Liesel and me, featuring aspens, which look very similar to silver birches.

Digital art is the forté of Barry Reithmeier. His pictures look very futuristic, recalling the covers of some old 1970s science fiction books.

Why no pictures here? Because we weren’t allowed to take photos in the gallery. You’ll just have to visit yourself, come on in.

Next door, we had one of the best cups of coffee ever. Santa Cecilia is the name of the place, and you can imagine our disappointment a couple of days later when we turned up only to find it was closed.

We walked around the Old Town some more, and it wasn’t long before we came across another animal. Dead, admittedly. And only a small part of the beast. Some shops are decorated with skulls.

Another common sight was chili peoppers hanging up outside many of the shops. There are a lot of chilis in Albuquerque, whether hanging outside to dry, or being sold in shops, or appearing in most meals.

It was Sunday and there was probably a service taking place, so we didn’t explore the church.

This church was built in 1706 and is one of the city’s oldest buildings.

We dined at Monroe’s, Albuquerque’s top(?) Mexican restaurant. The booking was for six, but in the end, Neil didn’t come. It transpires bookings are often made for more people in the party than will actually turn up, because then, everyone gets more space.

On the drive home, I couldn’t help but notice how the clouds look fake. Like a painting of clouds. They look like how clouds used to look in my childhood, fluffy and white, not the solid battleship grey slabs we get in Manchester now.

Note also the mountains over there, covered in snow. Yes, it has snowed quite recently in New Mexico, all around Albuquerque.

Gabe had recommended to me and Liesel that we visit the Rio Grande Nature Center. Yes, the actual Rio Grande flows through the city, and it wasn’t too far to drive to the Nature Center. It was warmer today and the weather forecast looks promising too, getting warmer every day this week. On the drive, we encountered one of the city’s few roundabouts.

It’s heartlifting to see this sign, confirming again that not everyone in America is a magat. Just like the sign in the coffee shop yesterday. There are plenty of decent people around, despite what the news outlets would have us believe. In fact, Gabe attended one of the many ‘Hands Off’ protest rallies across the country.

While expecting to see birds out on the water, we were surprised to see several turtles soaking up the heat of the Sun.

Have you heard of a red-eared Slider turtle before? No, us neither, yet here they are in all their red-eared glory.

We did see some birds as we explored The Bosque, well, a small segment of the 300-mile long forest ecosystem along the valley of the middle Rio Grande in New Mexico that extends from Santa Fe, through Albuquerque and south to El Paso, Texas.

Running roughly parallel to the river is the riverside drain. Which today was dry. Even the great river itself was very low and for a long time, we couldn’t see any flowing water. But then, a glimpse through the bushes.

Liesel and I had planned to do some proper touristy stuff today, and our next destination was the Coronado Historic Site and Kuaua Pueblo, north of Albuquerque. A pleasant drive, and for the first time, it was hot enough for mirages to appear on the long, straight, undulating roads.

We enjoyed our stroll around the old Pueblo, admiring the adobe buildings, basically made from the local mud.

The history of this place was intriguing because, while Coronado was ‘exploring’ Mexico and searching for the seven golden cities, the Tudors were in control in England and yet our school history lessons never mentioned what was going on in the American continent at the same time.

Lunch was taken at Bosque Brewing Company in Bernalillo. I was glad to find this place, because should the opportunity ever present itself, I will be welcome to bring my child bride here.

Our final attraction today was the Petroglyph National Monument. This would entail a long walk, longer than we came prepared for. We’d brought no water with us and it was beginning to warm up nicely. So we decided to return on another occasion.

We returned to Buzz’s place for another filling evening meal, thank you very much, followed by another night, for me at least, of weird and wonderful dreams that I can’t remember.

United in Atlanta

After a day of packing and ticking things off the to-do list, we collected Martha and William from school. It was a nice enough day to spend some time in Bruntwood Park. Of course, that meant their snack for the day was ice cream. Martha spent most of her time spinning in the small thimble in the sandpit, allegedly to prevent the smaller people from filling it with sand.

Meanwhile, William ran about all over the place, climbing both the climbing frame and a couple of trees. Then, being a slightly smaller child, he put some sand in the newly vacated thimble

After dropping the children off at their home, the three of us returned to ours. Some more packing before a very short night’s sleep.

At 3am, we arose, bleary-eyed, excited and trepidatious. I took Liesel and Leslie to the airport for their very early flight to Frankfurt. They had a great time in Michelstadt and Heidelberg with our friends Fe and Gabi, whom we’d seen last year. I can’t describe in detail what they all got up to, but here are some photos, thanks, Liesel. Naturally, I went back to bed for a few more hours.

Half-timbered house in Michelstadt old town

I think it’s fair to say they had a better time for a couple of days than I did! I was busy at home, packing, eating, washing up, taking out the rubbish, booking a taxi, putting an address label on my suitcase, but most interestingly, replacing the battery in my Kindle. A straightforward job that I’ve done before, but this time, I managed to damage the screen in the process, grrr. I copied all the photos from my phone to the PC. I drove over to see Jenny, briefly, to drop the keys off and offload some vegetables that will just rot over the next few weeks. You’ve probably guessed, I’m going away too, and I had a lot of last-minute jobs. I missed out on the regular walks this week, but I did go for a quick stroll via the barbershop.

My flight wasn’t quite as early as Liesel’s, and I was more worried than usual about flying into the USA, given the stories we’ve heard about visitors and students and others being detained or even deported by ICE. Other than the tag-printing machine not working, I sailed through the processes at Manchester Airport, no problem.

My flight to Atlanta was great, in the sense that I managed to watch two whole films, Le Comte de Monte Cristo, in French, but with English subtitles, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Director’s Cut), which was probably the version I saw many years ago, then known as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Special Edition)!

In-flight afternoon tea, thank you Virgin Atlantic

The moment of truth. Deep breaths. Try not to look guilty. But the Customs and Immigration Officer I met today in Atlanta was the most friendly, welcoming, smiley one of the many who have ‘greeted’ me over the years.

I caught the Plane Train to another Terminal, rode the escalator up and met Liesel. She and her Mom had arrived from Frankfurt just a couple of hours earlier.

I had a plate of nachos before we walked to our gate for the next flight, to Albuquerque. We’re staying with Liesel’s aunt (Leslie’s sister) Buzz, not forgetting Neil and Gabe.

They all met us at Albuquerque Airport… oops, I mean, Albuquerque International Sunport, and drove us back to their house. It had been 27° in Atlanta, but here, it was a miserable 7°. What a contrast.

We’d all been up for over 20 hours, so it wasn’t a hard decision to make: yep, let’s go to bed straightaway.

Stones and Jones

As I think I mentioned last time, I was delighted to receive so much chocolate for my birthday. But amidst all the excitement, of course there’s a reminder of why our great nation is often referred to as ‘Rip-off Britain’. There’s even a TV programme with that title. I opened a box containing a large bar of chocolate, I couldn’t wait to sink my fangs into it. Very nice, very tasty, but also, very small. A lovely cardboard box containing a plastic tray holding a bar of chocolate much smaller than the depiction on the outside packaging.

Yes, I’ve eaten some, but look how much smaller the actual bar is, compared with the picture. And the plastic tray, lovely and sturdy as it may be, is no good for anything else apart from recycling.

Haha, and you thought that by passing my three-score year and ten, I wouldn’t be whingeing nearly as much! You’ll be lucky.

So, let’s look up and not down. Nothenden is becoming more colourful as time goes on. Cherry blossom, magnolias, daffodils, even more blue skies. And when the northerly wind stops, it can even feel quite warm.

Forsythia (nice to see you, to see you, nice)

In local news, progress is being made to repair the weir. I wonder if it will be finished in time for the annual Northenden Boat Race, at the end of August?

We went into Manchester for a lunchtime concert. As we walked down the road behind the prestigious Midland Hotel, we couldn’t help but admire their enterprising thinking by providing tents on the pavement for their less affluent customers.

The concert itself was most enjoyable: a performance by the Royal Northern College of Music Brass Band. They played three pieces by unknown (to us) composers. I especially liked Flight by Mario Burki, which included a thunderstorm halfway through as we ‘flew’ across the desert.

Afterwards, we had lunch in Society, just along the road a bit. I was tempted, but did not choose ‘Big Mick Fries’.

We packed for a weekend away, just a couple of small bags, you’d think, but we took a tonne of food with us. We were meeting Jenny and family in a cottage on the Isle of Anglesey, Ynys Môn.

As we crossed the border into Wales, we saw our first red dragon. Soon after, we noticed some pink elephants. We watched as a herd of cows walked across the bridge over the road in front of us. And then, an old lady pussycat on the back of a bus that is the venue for afternoon teas. When we drove closer to the sea, we noticed a few white horses, it was that windy.

Mainly though, animal life consisted of sheep with many, many newly born lambs gambolling in the fields.

The drive was mostly uneventful, just a 5-minute hailstorm that was loud and a bit scary, coming on as suddenly as it did, but we were absolutely delighted by how stunning the views were, all the way through the Welsh mainland.

After a bit of a fight with the GPS, and Google Maps thinking there are two Ship Inns close together and close to our final destination, we parked up at our lovely new home in Red Wharf Bay.

The view from the living space in this house was pretty good too. We could have sat there and looked out over the bay for the whole weekend.

Jenny, Liam, Martha and William set off straight from school and arrived a couple of hours after us.

It’s an upside down house, in that three of the four bedrooms are downstairs, while the living room and kitchen are upstairs. Very disorienting yet exciting from the children’s point of view.

In the evening, we walked up to the Tavern on the Bay for dinner. We were happy to pass by some fairies in the bushes.

I think we agreed that our house was a much nicer place to stay than in one of the seemingly hundreds of caravans, all made out of ticky-tacky and they all looked just the same.

By the time we’d finished eating, it was dark, so the walk back home was a wee bit challenging. Torn between needing a few more street lights so we could see where we were walking, and wanting fewer artifical lights so that we could better see the night sky. I was very proud of Martha for spotting Orion’s Belt, and of William who realised he couldn’t see the Orion Nebula because of the light pollution. Still, we got home without anyone falling in a ditch.

After a good night’s kip, and after a jolly good breakfast, including Coco Pops, we all went for a walk a bit further along the coast, starting near Moelfre. The cold wind came back, and was determined to find its way into my very sensitive lugholes. Other than that though, we had a good time. And yes, William probably walked and ran twice as far as anyone else.

All the while, I was looking to see the partially eclipsed Sun, but with the clouds that thick, it was hard enough to even see where the Sun was. Folks in other parts of the country got some great photos. Oh well.

We walked by a couple of small shingle beaches, where Martha, Liam and I had a go at skimming stones. I got nowhere near my personal best of 14 skips. Selsey, since you ask, in the mid 1990s.

The other interesting beach at Moelfre is covered in cairns or stacks of stones. My effort was just about knee high, but there were some very tall stacks here.

In places, the path was quite rugged, but we all managed, including Leslie who was walking with her stick. Martha and William lapped it up: they’re a pair of mountain goats, after all.

After a big lunch, we went over the road to the ‘beach’: the tide was out again. It was still windy, an ideal day to fly kites. I stayed out with them for a few minutes but that wind was too strong for me so I went back inside. It was also too much for the kites, just blowing them inside out, so no lift and they kept crashing to the ground. A little bit disappointing, really.

Liesel and Leslie watched the activity from the comfort of the nicely heated living room: whoever decided to install large windows here is a hero.

In the evening, we dined at The Boathouse, a much shorter walk. The menu didn’t really sell the meat to me. ‘This morning, this lamb was playing in a filed, now, it’s sitting on your plate.’ No star-gazing this evening though, due to the clouds.

Back indoors, we played games. Martha is fascinated by Backgammon. Then we all played a game called GoGoGo!, the party game, in which over several rounds of different activities, we compete to win three crowns. William deliberately picked a yoga pose that involved balance skills, knowing that his Grandad would be wobbling all over the place. Still, it was all great fun.

A huge breakfast comprising of waffles and fruit and Liesel’s family chilli eggs was a good way to start the day, before a much longer walk than yesterday. So glad the wind had died down. We thought the children would be impressed by the place with the longest name in the UK, even if none of us could pronounce it correctly.

We continued our drive to the west side of the island, and set off on a hike through Newborough Forest. Somehow this felt like a proper forest, moreso than the woods back home. Tall trees, silence and the possibility of seeing red squirrels. If we saw any at all, they were disguised as ravens.

Some of the paths and tracks were covered in thousands of seashells, making a nice crunchy sound but providing us with a nice dry surface. I kept thinking how nice it was to be out of the cold wind, today.

Eventually, we found our way to the beach, and I for one was surprised to see so many people here, in quite an isolated place. We walked along the beach and up and down the dunes as far as the lighthouse, Goleudy Tŵr Mawr.

Martha picked up several shells from the beach, with which she plans to decorate a picture frame back home. Liam spent a long time opening an oyster shell, but sadly, there was no pearl inside.

William is happiest away from terra firma. Any opportunity to climb, he’ll take it. If you glance away for a couple of seconds, he’ll be waving at us from the top of a rock formation on the beach.

Although it’s a bit scary to watch hime someties, I really hope he doesn’t lose his sense of adventure.

Surprisingly, there were some ponies up near the lighthouse. One of them approached Martha and William, presumably looking for some grub, but it soon lost interest and wandered off.

We walked back along the beach to the car park. But with brilliant foresight, Liam and Jenny brought kites for the children to fly. And once the kites were launched, the string unravelled to its fullest extent, they remained in flight for the whole length of the beach as we walked along. A much more successful kite-flying day than yesterday, when the wind had just been, ironically, far too strong.

In the evening, Jenny and Liam packed, we all ate dinner and there was time for one more game of GoGoGo! No acrobatics for me this time. It was sad to see the family depart, but I know we all had a great time.

In the morning, Liesel, Leslie and I packed for our departure: we had to check out by 10am. As requested, we left the house as tidy as possible, and we even left the tide all the way out, just as it was when we’d first arrived.

The drive home was uneventful, no problems with traffic, we just stopped for coffee once, arrived home, unpacked, and… time to relax.

Interesting question of the week: if there is no letter J in the Welsh alphabet, how come Jones is the most common surname?

Lots to celebrate

The magnolias are in blossom and that’s another good sign that Spring really might be here. I walked up the road for a repeat visit to the dental hygienist. Last week, she took care of my bottom

set of teeth and this week, my top teeth were given a deep clean. A deep and very uncomfortable, unpleasant clean. A necessary procedure, I know, if I wish to preserve the gnashers for a few more years, but I’m so glad I remembered to dose myself up on painkillers before the visit.

After picking the children up from school this week, it was nice enough outside to go litter picking, an activity that we’ve been neglecting a bit lately. There’s a lot to pick up, so why they have to haggle over the smallest piece of rubbish on the pavement or in a hedge is beyond me. Still, they did a great job, and the bag left by the litter bin was taken away by the following morning. Martha was especially proud of the old rusty padlock that she found. It’s now time for the Great British Spring Clean, so please join us in a spot of litter picking, and get some fresh air at the same time.

At home, Liesel cooked us all a lovely, spicy, Indian meal. William and I played hangman and both children made something that will be a surprise for someone special sometime soon.

Some days are like dominoes. One topples over then another then something else goes wrong and then something else and oh my goodness, no wonder I’m drinking wine out of a pint glass. Cheers!

Neither wife nor mother-in-law joined me on the walk this morning, which may have been a blessing in disguise. Nobody was sitting on the other side of the table from me in the coffee shop, so nobody was drownded by the cup of decaff latté that I knocked over. The barista, who was new to the establishment, was very good about it and cleaned up my mess. My replacement drink was nice and I was very careful not to twitch, jerk or make any other sudden movements.

Liesel has booked a weekend away for the end of the month, which is great, but at first I was a bit miffed that we would miss seeing Maisie Adam perform just up the road at Boxx2Boxx. I very sheepishly had to ask if they’d take the tickets back.

At home, Liesel pointed out the funny noise being emitted by the soundbar every 50 seconds or so. A bit like the noise loudspeakers used to make when a call was coming into a mobile phone on the O2 network. A quick investigation revealed that the strange noise would appear whether the TV was on or not, and when the soundbar was playing sounds via Bluetooth. Looking at the internet for help, the next step would be to get in touch with the supplier. I suspect the soundbar is probably out of guarantee by one day. Sod’s law.

John Lewis sent a message with a two-hour window for installation of the new dishwasher. The engineers arrived, very professional and friendly. But full of bad news. First, our current dishwasher has been connected to the hot water supply and it shouldn’t have been. If they disconnect the hose from that pipe, it will probably leak. So, before installing the new machine, that pipe needs to be capped off and these guys couldn’t do that: we’d need a real plumber.

Then, on closer inspection, they couldn’t install the new machine anyway because it needs to be a ‘top-fitting’ appliance, not ‘side-fitting’, otherwise the wooden door that is fitted to the front would be in the wrong place. Or something. We’d have to order a different model. I called a plumber and waited for him to return the call: he is someone we’ve used before so I hope he’s still in business.

Liesel and Leslie were out at this point, enjoying coffee with the ladies of the WI, and I dreaded giving Liesel the bad news: no new dishwasher.

So I revisited the soundbar. Run out of ideas. I unplugged the whole lot: soundbar, TV, Freeview box and internet router. The strange sound was still being made. Uh? I followed my ears. It was the old Simon game, on the floor, beneath all the aforementioned electronic devices. Liesel had brought it back from Alaska some time ago, thinking Martha and William would enjoy playing it. But it needed new batteries, two different sizes and we only had one. Well, I now remembered that the previous night, Martha showed interest in it, and I think she must have left the switch ‘on’, even though that didn’t provide full functionality. And Simon has been beeping, tweeting ever since. Well, that was an easy fix in the end, but what a fiasco.

Feeling peeved about the dishwasher yet relieved that I’d resolved one issue, I poured myself a half pint of wine. Then I opened a birthday parcel early thinking it might be chocolate, purely for medicinal purposes of course. But instead it was whisky, a welcome gift from Pauline and Andrew, which I shall indulge in very soon. Not on top of all the vino, though.

We binge-watched a drama on TV called Protection. About halfway through the third episode, I realised it wasn’t about family planning, after all. It was most enjoyable, though.

The plumber never called back, so I got in touch with another one. He agreed to come over later that afternoon. He made the necessary changes to the various connections, hoses and pipes under the kitchen sink.

So, how’s the new dishwasher? Nobody else at John Lewis can see why the machine that we ordered can’t be installed. We even drove over to John Lewis in the Trafford Centre to speak to an expert, and he didn’t have a scooby either.

It was dark by the time we left, after eating at Tampopo for the first time in many years. Liesel’s been on the phone to customer services, left on hold for ages while they investgate, but today, five days later, we still have no dishwasher.

The Friday walk took us through Painswick Park as usual, but what was unusual was seeing a coot out of the water.

A few years ago, I enjoyed re-reading Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. Recently I have been plodding and slogging my way through a modern day take on the tale, Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. My review, for what it’s worth: it’s too long and it’s nowhere near as funny. I’m sure there are many American cultural references that I missed out on, but I just kept saying, ‘get on with it’ and ‘OK, I get the message.’ There’s an opioid addiction problem in the United States, I get that, but I found it depressing to read that much about it.

More TV: we watched the new film Conclave from the comfort of our own home. It was good, interesting, entertaining but, suddenly, was that it? It was over. Compared with a six-part TV drama, it was very short. No spoilers, but we’d like to see Part 2 in which we see how the newly elected Pope gets on.

It was a dark and stormy night in March, 1955. Mount Alvernia Hospital, Guildford. A woman was in pain and being helped by a Sister Frances to give birth to a bouncing 7 lb 8 oz baby boy at quarter to three in the morning. The baby’s cries were audible even above the thunderstorm raging outside. The woman’s name was Betty. She and her husband bestowed the names Michael David on the infant. Michael: no idea where that came from. David: that was the father’s name. Yes, it was me! And this weekend, I celebrated my 70th birthday.

Liesel had an appointment in Manchester so while waiting, Leslie and I visited the Whitworth Gallery and wandered around the exhibition, JMW Turner: in Light and Shade. The exhibition pairs Turner’s evocative Liber prints with a series of his watercolours from the Whitworth’s own collection, as well as loaned works from public and private collections. As invited, we explored Turner’s artistic legacy and the significance of his prints. Etchings, mezzotints, the prints were all quite small and monochrome, but the watercolours were easier on the eye. I was pleased to see that JMW Turner visited Guildford, where I was brought up, at least once.

We drove home via La Chouquette where I picked up a loaf of bread and a chocolate-based birthday cake. Back at home, I opened my cards and a couple of pressies. Chocolate, chocolate and chocolate! Not complaining at all!

We drove to the restaurant Delhi Dream in Cheadle and met up with Jenny, Liam, Martha and William for a big family celebration. Martha had brought the helium balloon with my latest age upon it, not at all embarrassing.

We had a lovely meal, lots of food, almost too much. And the waiter realising it was my special day, gave me a bowl of ice cream with some cherries. I struggled even to eat the ice cream, that’s how full I was.

Back at Jenny’s, I was presented with a cake baked and decorated by the grandchildren. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to determine which is the shop-bought and which is the home-baked cake. No prizes, just for fun, as they say!

It took a while, but things settled down and I was able to enjoy a slice of each of the cakes with a cup of tea. It was difficult to move for the rest of the day, but worth it.

Martha and William were more excited about my birthday than I was, I think. No children were harmed in the demonstration of their kick-boxing skills.

Jenny, William, Martha, old fart, Liesel

So another year older, not that I feel it really, I still alternate between 70 (now), 29 and 14.

If you require details of my new cake, chocolate and whisky diet, just let me know.