weather – Page 3 – Mick and Liesel's Antics

Time to go Home

It’s not often I watch Doc Martin on TV while eating breakfast and chatting with Liesel’s Uncle Neil, but it happened today for the first time. Neil has one of the shortest email addresses in the known universe, just ten characters in total, which is great, except that some modern sites don’t accept it as a legitimate address.

As well as being a scientist and a mathematician, he’s a bit of a philosopher and has spent the last several decades researching and writing a now 80-page long document about his theory of, well, everything. Having exchanged email addresses, he sent me a copy which I look forward to reading.

While online, I came across a ‘Truth’ or whatever it’scalled by the President:

Donald J. Trump
@realDonald Trump

After visiting the beautiful city of Albuquerque earlier this month, I decided that it is disrespectful to America to have a state called New Mexico. It is surrounded by America so it should be called America. I plan to sign an Executive Order renaming the Land of Enchantment New America!

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Actually, I suspect it’s a fake, but who knows? It’s so believable these days.

As I was packing for my departure, I thought about some things that I’d observed here in Albuquerque, and beyond.

Piñons are very small nuts and the trees are prolific. The nuts are so small, that some of us just find it easier to eat them whole, shells included, rather than trying to peel them.

Indoors is very dry too, very low humidity. So, often I would touch the light switch, or the fridge door handle, or Liesel, and I would experience a static shock. Every time was a surprise.

When out and about, almost everything is covered in a thin layer of dust. It’s a dry, dusty old state. It is being modernised though: we passed by a few solar arrays on our various trips.

Also, while out and about, I was greatly entertained by the many adverts for lawyers on billboards by the highways.

• Do your research: the husband and wife law team.
• $1 billion recovered for clients
• Hurt? Call Bert
• Injured? Get more. Dial 4…
• Semi truck collision? Call…
• Dead? Call Fred

No, alright, I made the last one up.

There’s one infamous sign that I was hoping to see out on the road, but, disappointingly, it never materialised.

• Eat here and get gas

We didn’t have a barbecue at all here in New Mexico. No Abq bbq, so to speak. Yes, all this time, I could have been using Abq as an abbreviation for ‘Albuquerque’ instead of writing the word ‘Albuquerque’ in full every time I mentioned ‘Albuquerque’.

I know Americans don’t have the monopoly on mangling the English language, but there were a few times on this visit when my ears wanted to pack up and go home. Just a couple of examples:

• When we were in Europe forever ago…
• Hope you guys enjoy you guys’s lunch

This sort of thing is very common too: you see a discount on an item but no actual price. So this conversation was very common:

• That’s 50% off
• So, how much is it?
• Ummm…

Meanwhile, outside the weather was not conducive to a return visit to the Bosque, the Rio Grande River Loop Trail. It rained, again with huge raindrops. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the rumbling thunder was accompanied by a hailstorm. Hailstones as big as peas. There have been larger though. On one occasion, Buzz returned from Phoenix in a car that resembled a golfball. Someone may have been exaggerating, of course!

Helen and Brent called from Australia and Liesel and I had a very nice chat with them. Helen is very happy with her new car, a Toyota.

Liesel and I did get out briefly, though, Gabe drove us to see the storm drains after today’s extensive precipitation. The water was indeed flowing fast.

What a boring picture, I know what you’re thinking, so here’s a nearby, colourful, mural.

And so it was timefor me to say goodbye to our fantastic hosts, Buzz, Neil and Gabe. Liesel drove me to the airport. Now, usually, Liesel drops me off and I’m left to check in by myself. But on the way to the airport today, I received an email telling me that my second leg flight, from Atlanta to Manchester, had been cancelled. I always feel anxious about this aspect of travel, dealing with airlines and airports, because something will always go wrong, right? Well, not always. But this is the first time I’ve had to deal with a cancelled flight.

It was a short queue to check in, because, guess what, Manchester Airport, there were several members of staff working on the counters, all at the same time. Revolutionary.

Tiffany, my Delta agent was great, though. She fought through Virgin Atlantic and Air France’s BS and rearranged my trip back to the UK. I could have postponed the whole thing until the next day, but there’s no guarantee that Virgin Atlantic wouldn’t cancel again, for ‘technical reasons’.

So, rather than Abq to Atlanta to Manchester, I now have three flights: Abq to Atl to Orlando to Manchester. And I would arrive just two hours later than originally planned.

So after all the excitement and fun and places of interest in New Mexico, my fear and anxiety of travelling through airports was, today, fully justified.

In Security, I was patted down, because the poppers on my shorts lit up on their very fussy scanner. As someone else joked, rather riskily I thought: usually I’d get dinner and a drink for that.

At the gate, we learnt that our plane was arriving late so we’d be departing late. So of course, I am now more worried about not making the connections. Whereas my original schedule had a 3-hour layover in Atlanta, it was now 1½ hours. Even less with this late departure. Tiffany was at the gate so again I thanked her profusely.

My window seat was OK, but I couldn’t see anything other than the wing. After an uneventful flight, people with connections were allowed off first. Everyone had a connecting flight.

In Atlanta I walked and took the train to my departure gate, arriving with less than an hour to spare. I took more slow, deep breaths before going for a quick wander to find something to eat. A very nice, tasty tomato, cheese and basil crêpe was the best option.

I don’t know why I worry about the size of my carry-on bag when people seem to get away with bulging backpacks and antique Victorian trunks. Well, very nearly.

This flight was late taking off too, for which they apologised but offered no explanation. I had an aisle seat this time, sitting next to a very rude Italian man. He was upset because he’d been made to check his oversize bag but I didn’t laugh out loud: never mess with the Mafia.

And of course, I was now worried about making my connecting flight in Orlando.

My English accent did me no favours on this flight: I failed to get any milk for my welcome cup of tea. While in New Mexico, only one person had accused me of being Australian, but I still can’t recall the circumstances.

The plane landed in Orlando, and we taxied for ages and ages before the pilot announced that there was currently no gate available. Apparently, after a big storm yesterday, they were still catching up on a backlog of delayed flights.

After about half an hour, we were able to disembark. I’d not been to Orlando Airport since 1992 and couldn’t remember it at all and it’s probably changed anyway since then so I really hoped it would be easy to find my next, and final, departure gate. It was, and again I plonked myself down with much less than an hour to go.

I looked around, but there were no ads for Disneyworld, so I failed in my mission to take a selfie with Mickey or Minnie. There were no food outlets either nearby so I was very glad of the cheese sandwich Liesel had made for me.

Annoyingly, I wasn’t able to order a vegetarian meal for this flight. I’d asked at every opportunity, but no, because the flight is within 24 hours. But it was your airline, Virgin Atlantic, that cancelled my original flight. Oh well, never mind was the official response.

My seat was in the back row, right in front of the toilet and I sat next to a nice lady with an English accent. Well, it turns out she lives in New York state, moved there when she was about 2 years old, and was now visiting her cousin in Chester.

I couldn’t sleep, as usual, so I watched two movies: Paddington in Peru, and Heretic, both of which I can recommend, especially if you’re a Hugh Grant fan.

There was just one thing left for me to worry about. Given my flights were late and the connection times were tight, would my checked in bag make it home on the same flight as me?

After landing, disembarking, walking a long way to Passport Control in Manchester Airport’s Terminal 2, the moment of truth. Along with hundreds of other dazed passengers, I watched the baggage carousel with a mix of excitement at being back on home turf and dread at the thought of the bureaucracy I’d have to go through again if my case didn’t turn up. But, no, look, is that it? Yes, is that the right label? Yes, yes and yes.

The taxi driver took me home the long way, but that meant he just got a smaller tip than otherwise.

Arriving home is always a bit of anticlimax. A quick walk to get some milk then I had a cup of tea and, despite my best efforts, a nap.

I managed to stay awake for the duration of the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who before going to bed properly. Good night.

Oasis v Blur

I woke up early, soon after sunrise, and was so glad I’d risen in the middle of the night to take some photos of the night sky, and yes, alright, just to gaze at the night sky with zero light pollution.

Neil hoovered the place, well, until the circuit breaker broke because the batteries had lost too much charge. The solar panels will charge them back up during the day.

First breakfast was cinnamon and apple flavoured oatmeal and a cup of tea.

We drove out from the cabin once again via Zuni Canyon. And again, I marvelled at the extent of the lava flows. A squirrel wasted no time in running across the road in front of us, phew. A family of ground hogs (same as prairie dogs?) standing in the middle of the road quickly dispersed in all directions. All except one who defiantly stood up on his hind legs until the very last moment, realising that a heavy American car is not to be messed with

‘Do something scary every day’ is one motto I try to live by, although there’s not always the opportunity to do so. Well, I admit, I did forego the opportunity to climb a ladder yesterday. But today, my challenge was, for the first time since about 1979, to eat an Egg McMuffin. We’d arranged to meet Buzz, Liesel, Gabe and Leslie at McDonalds in Grants at 11 o’clock. On arrival, I gave my order, being sure to enunciate to the best of my ability and to emphasise that I didn’t want any bacon on my Egg McMuffin. Loudly tapping the desk, the server who most definitely was not channeling Ronald McDonald’s jolly demeanour, told me that they don’t serve breakfast after 10.30, like everyone knows that, right?Scary Mary was so scary, I was too scared to order anything else to eat, so I just had a cup of tea.

Liesel and co arrived shortly afterwards and after a bit of a chat over tea or coffee or in Neil’s case, a small McFlurry, we all set off again. Neil returned to Albuquerque. The rest of us, almost in a convoy, set off westwards towards Window Rock.

We ate lunch at the famous Earls Family Restaurant in Gallup. It first opened in 1947 . This date reminded me that I would miss out on visiting Roswell on this visit to New Mexico. My huevos rancheros was accompanied by more green chili, which was just borderline acceptable to my taste buds: a few more Scoville points and my ears would have blown off again. Even so, Liesel did ask whether I was red because of the chili or was I sunburnt?

Window Rock is just over the border in the next state. So I was looking out for a big, brightly coloured sign saying ‘Welcome to Arizona’, maybe with flags flying, accompanied by a troupe of dancing girls and a big brass band. But no. A small, insgnificant, almost apologetic sign coyly saying ‘Arizona State Line’. That’s it? Well, what an anticlimax.

In Ganado, we visited the Hubbell Trading Post, established in 1878, now the oldest continually operated trading post on the Navajo reservation. J. L. Hubbell, whose family operated the trading post for nearly 90 years, was known among the Navajo as trustworthy and honest. His trading post became a pillar of the community, playing a large role in helping Navajo families rebuild their lives after the Long Walk.

The place was full of rug dealers, many beautifully woven rugs that would look good anywhere. Lots of jewellery too, they all seem very talented, the earrings were made by the maintenance supervisor.

Arizona and the Navajo nation have a love/hate relationship with Daylight Savings. For a while, the times on my phone and Liesel’s phone were an hour different, even though we were in the same room. Another quirk in this place: no sales tax.

The Navajo Nation Museum was interesting, and quite moving. But the first thing you notice on arriving and parking up are the large rocks on an otherwise flat terrain.

The next thing we noticed was the big, black cloud that appeared almost from nowhere. And indeed, when we were inside, it did rain for a while.

Between 1863 and 1866, more than ten thousand Diné prisoners of the U.S. were marched to the Bosque Redondo reservation, known in Navajo as Hweéldi, in present day southeastem New Mexico. The Long Walk is actually a series of forced marches, no less than fifty-three, during which captives walked anywhere from 250 to 450 miles, depending on the route taken.

Many of them (Navajos) died from starvation. The kind of food they had, they died from that. Also, I think a larger percent of deaths was caused by homesickness. They wept from day-to-day, many of them, “I wish I was on my own land bark at Chinle or Kayente.” — Dághá Chíí Bik’is, son-in-law of Manuelito and one of the first Navajo Council members (1951).

The Long Walk, then a Treaty between the Navajo Reservation and the United States that is, literally, not watertight. Disputes about the Treaty are still taking place, resulting in ongoing court cases. One current issue is the water supply. The Navajo nation depends upon just three rivers, and they’re being affected by climate change, like everything else.

Diné Cosmic Order by Donovan Snyder, 2018

At the time of the White Land (Ni’halgai), First Man (Áłtsé Hastiin), First Woman (Áłtsé Asdząą), and other Divinities were choosing rock-star mica chips that were laid out on a buckskin robe to place in the sky. They were forming our constellations to light up the dark night.

Mischievous Coyote (Mą’ii) came along and wanted to help, but after witnessing the slow and methodical placement of the constellations, he became impatient. He grabbed the buckskin and scattered the remaining stars into the sky, which is why some stars today are not seen within in the orderly constellations.

After the rain, it was only a quick downpour, we drove to our final destination of the day, Window Rock. At the first sighting of this natural phenomenon, I took this picture:

Window Rock is over there at the back, but, a flying saucer? How cool! Yes, I know it’s a raindrop on the windscreen, but still…

The rock with a big hole in it is well protected, fenced off, we really aren’t invited to go up for a closer look. It’s a great venue for graduation photos, as enjoyed by one new graduate today, having a good celebration with his family.

Here is a fascinating story, we learned a lot about it at the Museum, and there’s a monument here.

The Legendary Navajo Code Talkers:

During World War II, in the South Pacific Theater, the Japanese were extremely proficient at breaking into military radio communications and transmissions. Thus they were able to decipher U.S. Military codes. The U.S. Armed forces needed to find a secure method of communication if they were to have any chance of defeating a clever and intelligent foe. To counter the cleverness of the Japanese cryptographers, 29 Navajo Marines were recruited to devise a secret military code using their native language. By war’s end, there were over 400 Navajo Marines serving as code talkers and the code vocabulary had doubled. So successful was this innovative code that the Marine Corps commanders credited it with saving the lives of countless American Marines and soldiers. It enabled their successful engagements throughout the Pacific Theater which included the battles for Guadalcanal, Wake Island, Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Midway, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The code paved the way to early victory for the allied forces in the South Pacific. Major Howard M. Conner, 5th Marine Division Signal Officer stationed on Iwo Jima, commented on the gallantry of the Navajo Code Talkers: “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would not have taken Iwo Jima.”

Far from their homes, these brave young Navajo Marines served our nation with honor and dignity. The tale of their exploits remained a closely guarded secret for decades in the event that the Navajo Code Talkers unique talents would be needed again. In 1968 the Navajo code was finally declassified. In July 2001, at the National Capital Rotunda, United States President, the honorable George W. Bush, awarded the Congressional Gold Medals to the first 29 Navajo Code Talkers, their surviving spouses or children. In November of 2001 at the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock, Arizona, the Congressional Silver Medals were awarded to the rest of the Navajo Code Talkers, their surviving spouses or children. Sadly, many of the Navajo Code Talkers have passed on never knowing of the honor a grateful nation has bestowed upon them. The Navajo Code Talkers will never be forgotten.

Diné Bizaad Yee Atah Naayee’ Yik’eh Deesdlii.

We checked in at our Holiday Inn before wandering over the road to Navajo Westerners Ace Hardware. Some of the fabrics on sale here are very pretty.

Another shop in this Navajo Nation Shopping Center was the supermarket from where we bought a snack: still full from a big lunch, we didn’t need a big evening meal.

We were followed back to the hotel by a stray dog, but I think it didn’t speak English, since it ignored all my stern commands. Another reason to learn Spanish, I suppose. Or maybe even Navajo.

Going down for breakfast in the morning provided the first chortle of the day. Shouldn’t laugh, really, but… There was a poster outside the hotel shop with a mugshot of a young lady. The caption: Anyone know who this is? They stole our security device.

Buzz and Gabe are here at this time for a weekend of fun with the Girl Scouts.They were at the breakast table along with Liesel and Leslie, plus three other Girl Scout leaders, by the time I arrived.

Liesel looked at a very pretty necklace in the shop, but decided not to buy it in the end. ‘It’s only stuff’ and ‘I’ll probably only wear it once’.

Over the road, the famous Flea Market was being set up. We wandered around, admiring all the jewellery (of course), ignoring the car tyres and electronics up for sale, and just passed some time until the Navajo Arts and Craft Enterprise opened. More locally made jewellery, and this time, Liesel did buy something, an unusual pair of earrings.

Leslie chose to stay with Buzz today, with the Girl Scouts, so that left Liesel and me to drive back to Albuquerque. Having plenty of time, we paid a visit to El Morro, for more local culture and a walk. Thanks to some roadworks, we found ourselves driving along the rumblestrips at the side of the road, and that’s a very uncomfortable feeling after a while. You’re doing nothing wrong, but we’ve been programmed to think that that noise means we’re too near the edge. Weird.

We listened to Classic Rock 93X: Putting the rock into Window Rock! Well, classic rock? Over half of the songs they played were new to me. They may have been big hits and very popular in the USA, but it was reassuring when the odd, genuine classic, came on.

On to El Morro, then. This cuesta has long been an oasis to the travelers who left their mark upon it. A reliable waterhole hidden at the base of a sandstone bluff made El Morro (the headland) a popular refuge for hundreds of years. Native Americans, Spanish explorers and missionaries, and American soldiers and pioneers carved over 2,000 signatures, dates, messages, and petroglyphs. Atop the cuesta are the remains of the fourteenth-century pueblos of Atsinna and North Atsinna where the ancestors of today’s Puebloan communities once lived.

A most enjoyable and interesting walk. The guide lent us a book, and we followed the route more or less as suggested.

These artefacts won’t last forever, being carved into sandstone and where they’ve tried to hide post-1906 markings, the surface looks unnaturally smooth.

As we walked back to the Visitor Centre, we felt a few spots of rain. Big spots. But, just as quickly, we stepped over a crack in the concrete path, and it wasn’t raining any more.

We heard the thunder in the distance, relieved that we weren’t caught in a major storm.

Our journey back to Albuquerque continued. We saw sheep and horses close to the highway, mostly behind a fence, but not always. Not ideal when the traffic is moving at 60mph or more.

We can sort of understand why people might choose to live out here in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest town. But, then, why would you build your house so close to the noisy highway?

We drove over the Continental Divide, elevation 7200 feet. This was a much more interesting sign than ‘Arizona State Line’. And if there was such a sign, we missed ‘New Mexico State Line’.

But we couldn’t miss the thunderstorm ahead of us, so of course I had to try and get a picture of the lightning. Liesel wasn’t keen on me almost leaning out of the with with my phone. But it was worth it!

Back at home, we took Neil out for a meal at Monroe’s, a return visit for us. I enjoyed my final New Mexico meal: #6 Veggie Tostadas (Gluten free) 2 bluecorn tostada shells stuffed with avocado, whole beans, pico de gallo, mozzarella, lettuce and tomato. Served with calavacitas and salsa. Hey, I remembered what I ate! But only because I screenshot the menu.

Final NM meal? Yes, my time here was nearly up and I had to do some packing. I have more to take home that I came with, especially the Seestar S50. Four weeks here, and it’s all a bit of a blur right now. I need a holiday, as they say.

Oh, and WordPress has just told me that this is the 600th post on this blog. What a lot of antics!

Seeing Stars

There was no point in revelling in our success at the pub quiz last night, since we didn’t have any! We came joint last, but it was all good fun. In the morning, we left Tammy and Aaron in peace and drove into Santa Fe city centre for breakfast in Clafoutis, the French bakers. No, we didn’t mind sitting at a ‘communal table’. But our ‘companions’ left as soon as we sat down. We had the table to ourselves until a couple of ladies joined us. One from Colorado, the other from Pennsylvania.

Liesel and Tammy had had a great massage last week, so Liesel took me to the same place and we were pummelled and poked for an hour. I think it was a good massage. To recover, we spent a little time in the book shop next door. So many books to catch up on, both new and old.

The drive back to Albuquerque was quick, I think I nodded off for a bit and missed a lot of the stunning New Mexico scenery.

As a prelude to a visit to the zoo, I spotted some wildlife in the courtyard.

There was nothing special about these millions of ants apart from their speed: they were very busy, or at least, running around, looking busy. Fudgelling, I think, is the word.

Liesel drove Leslie and me to Albuquerque Zoo , or more accurately, ABQ BioPark Zoo. We had a nice wander around the place, which wasn’t as crowded as we’d expected, having seen how packed the car park was.

It wasn’t only the animals we were here to see: some of the plantlife was fascinating too. There were some bigger animals, as well, don’t worry. The polar bear here seemed to have a lot more room than that poor old thing in Chessington World of Adventures a few years ago. This one appeared to be having fun too, climbing rocks, diving and swimming.

The kookaburras responded to my recording of their cousin, made in Australia some years ago. It was mean, really, they probably think they have a new friend. Sorry. That’s nearly as bad as little boys chasing ducks.

In the café, the man had to show me how to order food on the touchscreen because it was too hard for him to listen to my order with his own ears. Having placed the order electronically, he then read it out to me from his own screen, just to confirm what I wanted. Anyway, my bowl of fries was very nice, just what I needed. Liesel and Leslie had an ice cream instead.

The sign on the fence told us there were zebras in this enclosure. Well, that small rodent with a fluffy tail looked more like a squirrel to me, it didn’t even have any stripes.

One of these characters is preparing to add some charcters to the mural, the other is playing hide and seek with his troop.

The hippos were very active, although Liesel was disappointed that none of them did the thing with their tail, spinning it round and round to spread the love from their bottoms.

The cutest thing was undoubtedly the Mum gorilla carrying her baby around.

Time for a return visit to the cabin. Neil and I left quite early and spent the day and night there, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere.

I helped Neil with a few odd jobs. Fixing a light fitting was OK. Attaching the fan was OK, I just let Neil climb the ladder. Fitting the fan blades was a bit of a let-down, because the wrong size screws had been supplied.

Another job was plumbing related, definitely not my favourite thing. But we succeeded without losing too much water from the system.

The most interesting job though was to affix a Moultrie Edge cellular trail camera to a tree, facing the cabin, so that from home in Albuquerque, Neil can keep an eye on the cabin and monitor the weather.

It can be set up with a motion sensor so that any passing wildlife will be captured on film too. Well, not literally film, but you know what I mean. The first animal it took a picture of was, er, me, posing by a tree.

Walking around the area surrounding the cabin cannot be done stealthily. There’s always something crunching under foot, leaves, wood, pine cones.

Later in the evening, I prepared my new Seestar S50. The Moon was easy to spot, but the sky was pretty much obscured by clouds, which was disappointing.

I also found Jupiter and its four brightest moons, but I couldn’t discern the coloured bands on Jupiter itself. As it got darker, more clouds moved in, so I went back inside, and very soon, it was time for bed.

At about 1.30, I woke up for the usual reason, and while outside, I couldn’t believe how clear the sky was, how many stars I could see. No clouds at all. Well, even though it was cold, I decided I would take the Seestar out on the balcony again and do some stargazing.

I was very impressed with these pictures, but I wasn’t so impressed with the how cold it was outside, brrr, apparently it was about 40°F, that’s so different to the daytime temperature. So I went back to bed.

Valles Caldera

After last night’s Seder feast, today we celebrated Easter with a big breakfast. Gabe had retrieved a crate of Easter paraphernalia from the garage and the house is now suitably decorated.

And so, it came to pass that it was time for Jyoti and Rupert to leave this place and return to Charlotte, North Carolina. After saying goodbye to them at the airport, Liesel and I failed in our next mission, to find vegetarian gravy. Oh well. One thing I’ve realised recently was that you don’t see cows with cabbages on their heads these days.

The nearby mountains were patchily covered with snow, probably not enough for a decent skier. Plenty for me, though, to observe, from a distance.

If you mention Red Arrows at home, you’re probably talking about the aerial display team. Here, it is a popular landmark in the city centre. The Giant Red Arrow was constructed in 1961, is 20-feet tall and stands opposite the Whole Foods Market, very convenient.

It is now iconic, a landmark, and most people like it being there. Not so much the guy that would like to rip it up to make room for a few more parking spaces.

It can literally be seen from space, look!

The rest of the day was quite relaxed. Some TV, a spot of reading, a bit of writing.

Liesel had some work to do, and after writing for a while, I went for a walk, locally, with Neil. We didn’t go far, but it was nice to get some exercise.

Even this close to home, cactuses can be seen to grow wild. They’ll take over, one day. This stormwater storage area was home to a couple of deer until the rotten authorities cut the vegetation back.

In the park, a group of young people were having fun sliding down a homemade water slide.

I hope they remembered to take all their buckets home afterwards. There was one hosepipe leading to someone’s house over the road. I suspect their water bill will be higher than usual next time.

In an alleyway next to the tennis courts, we collected 23 tennis balls that had been hit out of bounds. Neil, Buzz and Gabe take them to the local dog park where the dogs have a great time. I can’t work out how the dogs hold the rackets, though.

Liesel prepared dinner tonight, a festoon of vegetables, thank you very much: very nice, very tasty.

We did get out and about next day, we weren’t confined to barracks. It was a hot drive to Jemez pueblo and we passed through some more stunning landscapes.

Again, the photo doesn’t show the scale of this place (which, incidentally, Google thinks is in Namibia, but even using Google Maps, we rarely get that lost).

The red rocks really showed up against the normal sandy colour.

In places, yes, it did remind me of the Australian desert, but not everywhere: the red here doesn’t appear to ‘glow’ as much, maybe it does when it becomes much hotter. Today was a very pleasant temperature. There were even little pockets of snow still present on the ground, not enough to make a whole snowman, but I think we were both surprised to see so much of it, so long after it fell.

But surely, we saw some wildlife? A cow and a man on a horse. Not the actual things, of course, just the yellow signs warning us of their presence.

There are many geological formations in the Jemez Mountains, and we were spending some time here in Jemez National Recreation Area just looking and going ‘wow’.

On a more human scale, I’m still surprised at how strong the Roman Catholic church is in New Mexico.

Jemez Springs is a very small town, so it feels like this church is in the middle of nowhere.

Further along the road, we came across Soda Dam, so we screeched to a halt to investigate it. (We didn’t really screech, Liesel was in the driving seat, and we came to a well controlled stop just off the road.) Not my words, but:
This spectacular formation has built up over the centuries by deposits of calcium carbonate from a spring that bubbles to the surface at this point. The river flows under a dome that is still building. The dam is 300 feet long, 50 feet high and 50 feet wide at the bottom.

I clamboured over the crash barrier for a closer look, but I was reluctant to walk over what looked like a very slimy, damp area, the result of water running in from under the highway.

We’d noticed that many of the cottonwood trees were a much brighter green now, whereas even a few days ago, we were commenting on how dead they seemed to be.

My ears knew we were on a road trip that involved changing altitude quite a lot. They kept popping, the left one more than the right, and feeling asymmetrical is a sensation I’m not that fond of.

More geology now: Valle Grande is a large caldera. There’s no sign of the volcano erupting again any time soon, but it’s strange to imagine what might be gurgling away beneath the surface.

We decided not to go for a hike on this occasion: it’s been here for millions of years, it won’t change much before our next visit. As we were driving away, Liesel thought she saw a wolf by the watering hole. I missed it, and on reflection, it was probably a coyote.

We passed a couple of places where the trees showed signs of having been burnt

Lunch was taken in Los Alamos, at a place called ‘Beef and Leaf’. I wondered whether it was related to the ‘Pig and Fig’ where we’d been the other day. Two things of note in this emporium. The coffee cup and saucer were fun to play with. You could spin the cup around, and it would rotate almost frictionlessly for quite a while before stopping.

The other thing fulfilled a nearly lifelong ambition.

Yes, we saw a cow with a cabbage on her head. Wonderful!

Being in Los Alamos, we thought we’d visit the Historical Museum. Yes, the place is most famous now for the Manhattan Project, but there was plenty of history before the second world war.

Ancestral Pueblo People started arriving on the plateau in the 1150s, about the time St Mary’s Church in Chessington was being built.

John “Mike” Michnovicz, born in 1923, documented the people and activities in Los Alamos, and there were plenty of his pictures on display here. Such a big project, with such devastating results, yet all the participants look like normal people. And no, I don’t know what kind of being I was expecting to see.

A highlight for me was seeing Richard Feynmann’s drum: just a bit sad it’s behind glass and I couldn’t have a bash.

The History is Here campaign was a major fundraising effort conducted by the Los Alamos Historical Society during 2012-2016 Our motivation was to enable the preservation and communication of the remarkable history and inspiring stories of Los Alamos. Through the generosity of these donors the Society bas been able to protect its archives and collections, expand the museum, preserve historic buildings, create new educational programs, sustain its publishing capability and collaborate with the Manhattan Project National Historical Park.

I always look at such things, but very rarely do I actually find a long-lost relation memorialised. Thank you Uncle Arthur and Auntie Nancy.

Dr J Robert Oppenheimer and General Leslie Groves

We explored Hans Bethe’s House too and a gallery of local artwork.

On the way home, the end of the world as we know it. For some reason, Google Maps decided to speak to us in Spanish. I have no idea why it did this. Random emissions from a secret laboratory in Los Alamos? Punishment because we’d decided not to go and pester Tammy and Aaron? The text all appears in English still, but my Aussie Sheila has been replaced by a Spanish lady. All the internet could offer was to check the settings. I did. Nothing appears to be changed. The only way I could resolve this ridiculous problem was to uninstall and reinstall the app. As they say: to err is human, to really mess things up, get a computer.

We ate pizza at a place called Farina in Albuquerque and when we arrived home, nobody else was in. Where were they? The cars were still here. Phones on the table. Another mystery.

But still, a cow with a cabbage on its head, how exciting.

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 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.

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.

What’s going on?

Mahjong is a game that I’ve never played with real tiles, but a few decades ago, I did enjoy playing it on the computer. This week, I downloaded a version onto my phone. It’s very addictive so, after reaching level 200, I deleted the app. Good fun though. And I’m sure the way I describe the Chinese characters and symbols on each of the tiles to myself has nothing to do with what they actually represent. The funny thing is, Liesel too has downloaded an addictive game onto her phone, and when she’s in the zone, she’s really in the zone.

It was pancake day and as there are now three of us in this household, I increased the volume of my batter mix by 50%. I do venture into the kitchen more than once a year, honest, and I’m glad to report that none of my tossed pancakes fell on the floor nor stuck to the ceiling. We had a mix of savoury and sweet, but I think my favourite will always be freshly squeezed lemon juice and white sugar.

In local news, gas mains are being replaced in Royle Green Road, round the corner from us. They’re working from both ends, which means whichever way we want to leave home, we have to wait in a usually long queue for traffic lights to change.

And if I wanted to draw attention to a specific house, this is exactly how I’d do it. With a nice big yellow loop.

It’ll be nice when it’s finished.

The Wednesday walk through the woods was wonderful, although Liesel missed out on account of having lots of work to do.

The Thursday walk through the parks and woods of Wythenshawe was probably wonderful too, but I wouldn’t know, on account of not waking up in time.

World Book Day was again celebrated by William and Martha and their schoolmates.

Leslie and I just went for a short walk in the sunshine to the community library and back: we had just one book to return.

It’s always nice to see Spring flowers surviving despite being so close to the public footpath.

The Friday walk was wonderful too, the short one in Wythenshawe. Again, Liesel was working so I took Leslie along. And then, in the afternoon, the three of us visited Dunham Massey for another quick wander in the sunshine. And, for the first time this year, I got my lallies out. Yes, it was warm enough to wear shorts and I displayed my pasty white legs for everyone’s enjoyment.

The Holly here and by the wooden bridge have been cut back as part of a 4-5 year cycle to allow more Light into borders and Keep the Holly at an appropriate Size.

The Gardeners

Well, I’m sure they know what they’re doing, but, have they cut back too far?

As we were leaving, Liesel spotted a heron over the water, sitting in a tree, which is unusual. It made us wonder again what has become of the heron that used to live on the Mersey near us? We haven’t seen him for several months.

That’s one National Trust property. One’s not enough, so we visited two more a couple of days later.

We have been here before, but not for a few years. This photo is almost identical to the one I posted last time. Spot the differences.

We met up with Jenny and family for a picnic as it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. We walked around the house with its wonky floors and creaky walls. It’s a fascinating place and I think Martha and William enjoyed looking at the old artefacts

The guide told us that this mantlepiece is one of only 4 places that are truly horizontal in the whole house. In real life, it looks crooked because the wall is leaning over and the floor is on a slope. He also told us a lot more about the history of the place. A guy called William Gee did a lot of the handiwork here and he oftem brought along his granddaughter, Mary Martha. Both are commemorated in a few of the 32,000 glass segments that comprise the windows of the great hall.

After eating our picnic lunch, we went for a bit of a walk. Through a few gates, but I stopped at one because I felt it was too muddy for my shoes. So while the others proceeded, I carried our picnic bag back to the car. I wish I hadn’t. I missed watching Martha plopping through the mud, losing one shoe, then another and ending up very dirty. Liesel and Jenny tried their hardest not to laugh. I’m sure I would have kept my composure as I took photos, but sadly, I missed the incident.

For a longer walk, we decided to go onto out third NT property of the weekend, Biddulph Grange Garden. The children were of course still full of energy and probably ran twice as far as us old folks walked.

They both enjoyed the climbing apparatus along the path, as well as climbing a fallen tree.

Jenny, Liam, Martha, William, Liesel, Leslie

Soon after 4pm, we went our separate ways. Thanks to the fresh air and exercise, Liesel, Leslie and I were all tired so we ordered a pizza and picked it up on the way home. Very nice, very tasty. Then I received a text message and an email telling me that because they were out of some ingredients, they’d cancelled my order. As they say: to err is human, to really mess things up, get a computer system.

Well, I don’t often get drunk any more, I just can’t drink enough volume of beer or whisky. Plus I’m worried about how my bladder will behave later in the day. Recently, we’ve been binge watching the ITV medical drama, The Royal, about a community hospital in the 1960s. There’s one piece of dialogue that crops up often on many TV drama series: “What’s going on?” Yes, someone walks in on a discussion between other people and exclaims, “What’s going on?” Liesel and I started a drinking game while watching The Royal. One swig of whisky for every “What’s going on?” A double swig for every “What on Earth is going on?” And on the rare occasion it’s “What the Hell is going on?”, we enjoy a triple slurp. Yep, I haven’t been that drunk for years.

The other thing I enjoy about the show is the music, mostly from the 1960s, and including many Beatles songs. But the final episode of what turned out to be the final series ended with a Pink Floyd song from 1973.

Obviously, listening to a New Scientist podcast about sleep was going to send me to sleep. It did. Twice. Fascinating subject of course, but it took me three goes to hear it to its conclusion.

Flatpack and puck

Everyone seems to be using AI tools to do everything these days, and I am no exception. We went to see a local production of the Ira Levin play, Deathtrap, which we all enjoyed. I remember seeing this play with Sarah in Peterborough in the early 1980s, but of course, I’d totally forgotten the story. Until it started this time, then it all came flooding back. But there were still a couple of incidents that made me jump. On the way home, my mind was wandering and I thought it would be good to rewrite the play as a series of rhyming couplets. Well, I don’t have patience for that, but I did ask ChatGPT to do something along those lines. Here’s the result.

Sidney Bruhl, once a playwright famed,
Now sits in a slump, his career badly maimed.
His box office flops, they keep him awake,
A writer once great, now struggling to make.

He picks up a play, with a grin so wide,
Tells Myra, “This script, I can’t let it slide.
A student’s work, by Clifford, you see,
It’s brilliant, a hit, it’s meant to be free!”

With playful reassurances, he adds with a smile,
“Just kidding, my dear, but it’s worth your while.
Perhaps I could kill him, and steal all the gold,
For a script this good, it’s worth its weight in bold.”

Myra’s alarmed, she starts to grow cold,
Her husband’s dark humor’s growing too bold.
Sidney picks up the phone, no time to delay,
Calling Clifford, to have him come and play.

“Come over, my friend, let’s talk through the night,
I’ve got suggestions that’ll make your play right.
Deathtrap’s a hit, and you’ve set it so well,
I’ve got ideas to make it excel.”

And thus begins the game, so clever and slick,
In the world of Deathtrap, where plots tend to stick.

That’s just the first scene. That’s plenty. Obviously American English, less than ideal scanning and not as entertaining as the play itself. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn’t bother reading it. Northenden Theatre Players Club did a very good job, but their run is now over.

Spring is a bit slow coming this year, snowdrops seem to be winning the race against crocuses and daffodils: there are little patches of them in really strange or unexpected places.

A couple of relatively warm days are invariably followed by a really cold spell, easterly winds straight from Siberia.

Liesel and I have watched Transatlantic Sessions on TV for a few years, not so much recently: not sure the shows are broadcast any more. But there was a live show here in Manchester and we couldn’t resist going to see the performance at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International.

It was very nearly a full house and we enjoyed over two hours of great folk and country music from Scotland, Ireland and USA. It’s a great band, they all play on each others’ songs. We particularly liked Julie Fowlis, Loudon Wainwright and Niall McCabe.

Liesel and her Mom went out for a coffee and by mistake found themselves at Ikea, buying a wardrobe for Mom’s room. This meant I had to blow the dust off my tools and build the wardrobe, in situ since we don’t have enough floor space. It was straightforward enough, the instructions were good, but I found I was using muscles that long ago were resigned to never having to do any DIY ever again. Injuries incurred? A bruise on my left biceps, no idea how, and one broken finger nail, can’t remember how.

This was a weekend well spent and I think Leslie enjoys having somewhere to organise her clothes.

Meanwhile, Jenny and family were in London for the weekend, visiting friends, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. The highlight for me was seeing the children outside the family ballet shoe shop. They were also a little bit naughty and went to see the musical Matilda.

Helen and Brent went for a quick break in the campervan, but it broke down, so they ended up camping at home. Still, it’s all an adventure.

Liesel’s Aunt Buzz lives in Aluquerque, New Mexico (although by the time you read this, Trump will probably have renamed the state New America.) Buzz’s daughter and son-in-law Andrea and Steve moved to the UK a couple of years ago and they now live in Richmond. Well, Buzz is visiting Andi and Steve and the three of them came up north to visit us for a few days. Leslie was very happy to see her older sister.

Late afternoon saw all of us enjoying a meal at Albert’s in Didsbury along with Jenny and the family. This party of 10 was the biggest group we’ve booked a table for in many, many years. We remembered the last time Jenny met Andi. We were all on holiday in Hawaii with many other family members. Yes, 10 of us in the restaurant having a great time and yet none of us took any pictures.

We’d also booked an organised walk in Manchester so we met up at the Alan Turing Memorial statue in Manchester. There were about twenty people altogether on the tour, which was interesting, although I think we all thought the guide spoke for a bit too long before we started actually walking. Standing around in the cold, biting wind is not my ears’ idea of fun, even with a decent Winter hat.

One thing I’ve never seen before is the Monument to Vimto. Yes, that horrible sweet and nasty beverage that is an anagram of vomit. Someone though it would be a good idea to have a statue.

During the walking tour, we visited or passed by a number of places of interest, each with a interesting story.

We learned about the Peterloo Massacre and how it lead directly to the publication of The Manchester Guardian, now the Guardian newspaper that we read online far more often then we buy an actual physical copy. I do miss doing the various puzzles though.

We had a late lunch at The Oast House in Manchester where, although it was tempting to have a cocktail, it was so cold outside, it was more warm beer type weather.

Fletcher Moss Botanical Garden was the venue of our walk the following day. There’s mud everywhere, signs of recent flooding.

The wind wasn’t as bitingly cold as yesterday: I didn’t feel I was verging on earache in the same way. We walked down to the river but the path towards Northenden was blocked, it looks like some maintenance work is taking place.

There are a few plants in bud and very soon, we hope, the park will a carousel of colour. After a quick cup of tea at the café, we wandered into Didsbury, visiting La Chouquette for a loaf of their delicious sourdough bread and visiting none of the charity shops. We had lunch at The Art of Tea after which we went our separate ways for a while. I took Leslie and Buzz back to our apartment where I also picked up my pedometer. Yes, I’d walked miles and miles this morning without the steps being counted: what a waste!

Meanwhile, Liesel went into Manchester with Andi and Steve. I later joined them at Sinclair’s Oyster Bar for a drink. I can’t remember the last time I went on a pub crawl, but I enjoyed today’s.

Next stop, The Old Wellington next door. This pub dates from 1552. In June 1996 a bomb exploded in nearby Corporation Street & damaged many of the surrounding buildings including The Old Wellington. It was repaired & reopened in 1997 but due to the city’s redevelopment, it was decided the building would be dismantled & rebuilt 300 m northward to its present location in Shambles Square, which opened in 1999. So says the plaque inside the pub.

Our final stop today was The Temple of Convenience, you know, the underground pub in what used to be a public toilet. The one where Elbow celebrated their Mercury awards all those years ago. For a while, we were the only customers, so plenty of opportunity to read the posters and the graffiti.

I ordered pizza and we picked it up on the way home. We had a lively discussion about whether to pronounce ‘pizzeria’ as ‘pizzeria’ or ‘pizzeria’.

We said goodbye to Andi and Steve who were returning home to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Liesel, Leslie and I would spend one more day with Buzz. We visited Quarry Bank and wandered around the mill. We couldn’t follow our usual walk down through the gardens as there had been a landslide.

After the tour of Quarry Bank Mill, we enjoyed lunch in the restaurant. My cauliflower pastie was fabulous, much nicer than the scones, although I could have had one of those too!

A few days earlier, Liesel contributed a green crocheted heart to the postbox decoration with her WI buddies. I think this is the first time I’ve been able to put a name to a yarnbomber.

While Buzz stayed at home with Leslie, Liesel and I went to Altrincham for our Valentine’s day date night. We should have more date nights, just the two of us.

We dined at a Chinese place called Gonbay, and it was reassuring to see a big Chinese family enjoying their meal on the table next to ours. I wasn’t expecting to see one of these though:

After the meal, we had a 14-minute walk to Planet Ice. Ooh, a night of ice-skating? Nope. We were here to watch my first ever live ice hockey match. Manchester Storm v Dundee Stars. I didn’t shout it out loud of course, but I wanted Dundee to win, since that was the birthtown of my Mum.

Strangely, ice hockey is a game of three halves. Manchester Storm were 2-0 up after the first period. And, actually, if you trust the announcer, the local team is called Man. Ches. Ter. Storrrrrrrrm.

The group of supporters from Dundee was confined to a small area in the corner, but they were quite vocal at times.

The background music, mainly from the 1980s, was OK, but they only ever played short snippets, persumably so they don’t have to pay royalties. It’s certainly a fast and furious game, you need to be fit. But from the spectators’ point of view, not exciting enough, since we were entertained by a quiz and a raffle during the breaks.

In the end, Dundee Stars won 4-3. The puck travelling at hundreds of miles per hour made it very hard to follow at times. None of the players were injured, well, apart from one incident after which it took a couple of cleaners quite a while to scrape the blood off the ice. And somebody broke their stick.

Who would have guessed, when Torvill and Dean won the Ice Dance competition during the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, dancing to Ravel’s Bolero, that 41 years later, to the day, I would be watching other ice skaters doing something completely different?

Early in the morning, Liesel drove Buzz to the railway station: she’s rejoining Andi and Steve in Richmond for a few more days before returning to New Mexico.

I’ve been sneezing a lot this week and it took a few days for me to realise that it’s probably hay fever.