Rocky Mountain High

This isn't Colorado, but we are close enough to get some big mountains. Lee and I drove about 90 minutes to the Santa Fe ski area which clocks in at nearly 10,300 feet. For reference, Mt. Hood is 11239 feet high and  Timberline lodge is 7,000 feet. We went for a (very) short hike. At this elevation the air feels thin. It takes only a few steps up the hill to feel winded and dizzy. It's deceiving because at this latitude, 10,000 feet is not above timberline. The path is lined with firs and aspen groves. It's beautiful! Aspens look a lot like our alders, but their  heart shaped leaves dance in the sun and wind like thousands of tethered emerald green butterflies. The aspens grow together because they are one family. Each tree is a sprout from the root system of it's kin. 

Despite the thin air and lack of rain, the flowers and shrubs we saw along the trail reminded us of home. Can you name the flowers below? You can find them as the new tenants in Oregon forests around road cuts, just as we see them here.


Lee and I needed some tree time. The relentless 95 degree weather every day was taking it's toll on our tempers, and getting into that green growing ecosystem was more cleansing than an afternoon thunderstorm (of which there aren't many) in the valley.


Now, time for your quiz. Can you name these roadside wildflowers?

Did you get them? Fireweed, The common Fleabane daisy, Indian paintbrush, and columbine.


Here is a common painted lady butterfly that followed us down the road, sipping nectar on its way.

Out and About - Scenes from ABQ

ABQ lawn art

Rio Grande Nature Center (about a mile from our home)

Butterfly Garden at ABQ Bio Park

Wildlife West Nature Park in Edgewood (about 30 min. drive from ABQ)

Textures in the outdoor patio of the Daily Grind Coffee House in ABQ

Plants we've seen in ABQ

Whasup with this sign at a park restroom??

Fiona and Chi Chi - To each her own

Chi Chi, our 3 year old Lynx Point Siamese, loves to be outside, but she's wisely cautious and doesn't like to stray outside the walled court yard in the front of our house. Even if we let her out the back door, we soon find she's walked around the house to jump over the wall back into the courtyard. There she relaxes in the shade and catches the occasional beetle or corners a friendly toad. She likes to walk around the top of the wall surveying from above. Somehow she seems to know about the coyotes who live in the neighborhood. We only let her out in the cool of the morning or evening.

On the other hand, Fiona, our old Snowshoe Siamese, prefers a soft chair in our air conditioned house. We got her as a stray about 3 years ago and she's had quite enough of the greater outdoors, thank you very much! The only thing on her mind is "When's the next meal?"

Making Music

We found a wonderful acoustic music shop called Apple Mountain Music. The clerk minding the store was playing a hammered dulcimer as we walked in. There was something very welcoming about the shop. It had 'good energy.' We found it because we had signed up for a dulcimer class through Univ. of NM and it was being held there next month. We had gone to this shop to buy the required book. The shop has all types of acoustic instruments and also hosts lessons by local musicians. The next morning was a singing lesson, and we registered for it on the spot! It turned out to be a lot of fun and very worth our time. The instructor was once an opera singer, so the class was much more about voice training then just being a 'sing along.'  The class has been an on-going group, and we will continue to meet with them.


We also signed up for a Mountain dulcimer all-day weekend conference in October with lots of workshops to choose from. I've played my dulcimer for more than 30 years, and although I can get a lot of music out of it, my vocabulary is very limited. Lee bought us a CD of leading dulcimer artists and I was amazed by the variety of music that can come out of a simple 4-stringed instrument. Although I love my new electric guitar, I'm now also excited about expanding my dulcimer skills and using my voice as an instrument. It's a wonderful bonus that Lee is also interested in exploring his musical side and we are taking the singing and dulcimer classes together.


The second day we were in ABQ, we visited Old Town which is a series of quaint tourist shops and artist galleries in the original ABQ business district. To get out of the heat, we entered a small deserted shop with lots and lots of necklaces and other jewelry. Because the tourist season this year has been so slack, the shop is closing for several months so the owner can focus on the other means she has for income. They were having a big sale, so we had to browse! I saw a necklace with an eagle. It spoke to me, so I bought it. I have been wearing it every day since. So many people have commented on it and someone asked me if it represented an eagle or a thunderbird. I hadn't thought about it, but in googling the question, I discovered is that the eagle is the earthly manifestation of the spirit thunderbird, the symbol of creative power. As an analyst, technician, and teacher I am left brain heavy. One of my life goals in retirement is to find ways to nurture my right brain. ABQ is becoming a magical place for me, and is connecting me to my musical path. 

Look up!! See the balloons over our house?

Finding Music

Hey, this retirement stuff isn't so bad. In Portland we used to sleep until 8 or 9, but now we wake up at 5:30 a.m. ready to start another sunny day. Lee opens up all the doors and windows to bring the temp in the house down to the mid 70s. We've been keeping the AC turned to 82 at night, so the house is pretty warm by morning. Then we putter around, usually all morning. People used to tell me they found themselves busier after retirement than they did before, and I couldn't imagine it, but now I understand. Instead of trying to find ways to avoid life, now there is always something calling me to do it. I visited a local guitar shop and restrung my dulcimer for the first time in probably 20 years!! I also restrung my electric guitar. Swapped the wimpy 'beginner' strings for strings with more voice.  I've found a blues teacher (I hope) - Stan Hirsh. To find a teacher, I did an Internet search and he popped up. When I emailed him, he said we might be able to start in August when he gets back to ABQ. He's on tour now. He's probably older than I am, an accomplished bluesman, and an experienced teacher.  He has put his first few lessons on the Internet for his students. I feel very comfortable with his musical philosophy. It's what I've experienced first-hand when teaching myself to play back in the 70s. Here are some excerpts:


The more you are “plugged into” the rhythm, the more musical your playing will sound. All good musicians are rhythm players. Even if you only know one chord, you should be able to get people movin’.



Simplicity or complexity are not gauges of musicality or measures of artistry. Dig into your limitations, strengthen them, your style must conform to them!  

Why do we use our strongest hand for the strumming or picking ? Because we need that accuracy and strength for the most fundamental and important part of music making; The rhythm! Most of us forget this because we become unavoidably preoccupied with the fretting hand and all the flashing, shinny, glittering details.

All musicians who play any music (complex or simple) that sounds solid can vocalize what it is they are playing. From the basic rhythm to the most complex arrangement of notes. This does not mean they can “sing” them in perfect pitch (although some can), but they can vocalize the phrasing (rhythm). They hear the part (inside their head) and can bring it out into the physical world by vocalizing it. Then play it on their instrument.


Besides the guitar and dulcimer, Lee and I both are learning to play the ukelele and we have a practice place set up in an alcove of the living room - very convenient! I'm beginning to get used to and even enjoy this bigger house with it's bigger footprint. It's a good thing we can't afford to live like this in our 'real' lives in Portland. 

Last night we watched the movie "Danny Deck Chair." In it, the hero, in a desperate attempt to find some excitement in his life, ties a bunch of helium balloons to a lawn chair and accidentally takes off with no way to come back down. He ends up crash landing in a small town far to the north. He remains an anonymous stranger in this town and finds a new, more fulfilling life. "How did I get here?" David Byrne asks in his song "Once in a Lifetime." That's how we feel. We wake up every morning in this palatial, sunny, warm, adobe house listening to roosters, peacocks, horses, and guinea fowl and wonder... How did we get here! 

Our first day

After a long and slow start in the morning, we unpacked what we had, and Lee made a beautiful brunch of fresh OG veggies, eggs, and corn tortillas that we had bought at the Farmers’ Market in Moab the day before. Then we went to visit Old Town. Everyone was so friendly. People in the shops and art galleries volunteered their favorite places to eat and Bob, the volunteer at the visitors’ center was a mountain of information. He gave us enough ideas to keep us busy for the year we plan to be here. After another trip to the Co-op for basic supplies, we came home to eat on the patio. We let out Fiona and Chi Chi into the back yard. Fiona came right out to explore the territory, but Chi Chi hung back in the house to make sure nothing bad happened to Fiona before following her outside. Fiona went toward the fence to look at the horses grazing out in their paddock. They saw us at the fence and ran over to greet us. There was also an old, sweet and friendly Chihuahua who came to the fence and touched noses with Fiona. I didn’t want to push my luck, so I brought them both in and we will let them out again tomorrow.