We have had a very busy two weeks with friends from England visiting us - it was a fun time, but we kept a very busy pace while they were here. During their stay with us we visited Old Town Albuquerque, ate at a couple of our favorite restaurants (Monica's El Portal for breakfast and Casa deBenevidez for dinner), visited the Albuquerque BioPark where we went to the Zoo one day and to the Botanical Gardens and Aquarium another day.

A special treat when we went to the Zoo was to see the newest baby, three-day old Amani who is a reticulated giraffe – daughter of 17-yr old June. What lovely animals, and how amazing it is that the baby giraffes are so well-developed at birth and begin walking right away! I took MANY photos, but here is one of my favorites of Amani with her mother:

We also drove north to take the Cumbres-Toltec Steam Train trip from Chama, NM, to Antonito, CO - gorgeous scenery! If I ever finish sorting through the hundreds of pictures that I took I'll post some photos here.

After the train trip, we spent a night in Taos and saw the Pueblo the following day - I hadn't been there for about twenty years! Back home we went to see the Petroglyphs in western Albuquerque, visited the Rio Grande Nature Center, and of course we rode the Tram up to the Sandia Crest to watch a typically beautiful sunset over Albuquerque (followed by dinner at Santiago's Mexican Grill). And, we spent their last day here by going to Santa Fe (lunch at Coyote Cafe Cantina) - that evening we sat around our newly re-built firepit and gorged ourselves on s’mores (something our friends had never before experienced!).
 

Our Newly Re-Built Firepit

 

Hummingbirds

As I sit at the computer, I can keep an eye on the hummingbird feeder just outside my window. I'm not as quick as the little hummers, but I keep my camera next to my laptop and have managed to catch a few shots through the window. Not crystal clear, but they're kind of sweet.

Here is a little green hummer feeding from the blossoms of one of our red yuccas - I think this variety is the Magnificent Hummingbird, but correct me if I'm wrong.

The hummers like our roses also.

Hummingbird at the feeder

New Mexico Sunrise

If you know anything at all about New Mexico, you probably are aware of the beautiful sky over desert and mountains. I just wanted to share a couple of sunrise photos that I took a couple of mornings ago.

Update: Fence Gate

I thought I'd better post a follow-up so that you could see the finished gate. It will be quite useful - in fact, tonight at dusk we took the dogs through it and out into the mesa for a nice quiet walk.
Here is the gate from inside the back yard:

Here it's open so that you can look out onto the mesa:

And this is what it looks like from the outside - pretty cool, right? No visible sign of a gate here - if you look closely you can see Jay's head looking through the lattice! (The different colored fence slats are just newer slats, they are not a part of the gate.)

Jay created a string-pull system so that we can open the gate from the outside, and it's locked from the inside when we're not using it. Jay is so clever, he should have been an engineer!

New Gate in Back Fence

One thing we've wanted to have ever since moving into our house in Rio Rancho is a gate through our back fence going out into the mesa. One reason is that we like to take walks in the mesa; another reason is balls thrown for the dogs occasiionally go over the fence; and finally, previous owners of our house apparently thought it was OK to throw garbage (old plastic flower pots, wooden pallets, etc.) over the fence. It looks terrible, and we want to get it cleaned up. We might even plant some nice flowering desert yucca or sage back there eventually.

So, anyway, Jay has started to build the gate into the existing fence. It took a lot of work and muscle to dig holes for two posts in the rock-hard soil here (even with a post-hole digger), but he finished the post holes yesterday. Today he mixed up cement and poured around the posts into the holes.

Tonight the cement has mostly hardened, so tomorrow Jay should be able to cut the fence and add the hardware (hinges, etc.) for the gate. I'm anxious to see the finished product!

Breakfast Frittata

Jay and I are retired, and in the New Mexico climate we're able to eat breakfast outside on the patio for many months of the year. We're in Rio Rancho, which is the high desert, so it does actually get quite cold in the winter, but this time of year we just enjoying eating outdoors.

Here is the breakfast frittata that I make every couple of weeks. It makes enough for us to have the leftovers on day two.

Brown some bacon (about 8 strips, cut into small pieces) until crisp in a cast iron skillet. Remove the bacon to a paper towel to drain, leaving the fat in the skillet. Slice or julienne potatoes into the skillet, enough to cover the bottom of the pan, and begin to cook over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion to taste (I use about 1/2 cup) and continue frying until onions are translucent. Turn the potatoes once.

Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, combine 8 large eggs (we buy cage-free brown eggs) with a splash of heavy cream (about two Tablespoons); add 1/2 cup chopped green chile, and one small (Roma) tomato (diced). Whisk together and add 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground sea salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper.

Pour egg mixture over potatoes and onions and top with slices of cheese (I generally use Colby or Monterey Jack). I usually sprinkle a teaspoon or two of finely chopped herbs fresh from my garden over the mixture.

Cover the skillet and cook over medium heat for about ten minutes. Uncover skillet and add the bacon to the top of the frittata.

Move the skillet to the middle rack in your oven and bake at 325 degrees for another 10-15 minutes. Check every few minutes to make sure that the bottom is not becoming too crusty (read: burned) and to see if the eggs are becoming a custard-like consistency. When eggs are cooked suffiently, cut the frittata into wedges and serve with buttered English muffins or toast.

Santa Fe Indian Market

This past weekend Jay and I drove into Santa Fe for the annual Indian Market – this year was apparently its 90^th year of existence! The weather was perfect - well, there was a downpour at one point that lasted only about ten minutes, it IS monsoon season here now after all! But for the most part it was very comfortable, and the Plaza was packed with attendees, artists, and performers. Here are some pictures of tribal dancers of the Mt. St. Elias group from Alaska:

There were several young children performing their native dances - this little guy got a lot of attention:

People-watching was great! Most of the New Mexicans, and a lot of the tourists, were decked out in their finest New Mexican turquoise jewelry along with long broomstick skirts, braids or pony-tails, and western boots. The performers were dressed beautifully in their elaborate native costumes.

 

We didn’t buy any food, although I suspect it would have been heavenly. Indian Fry Bread is just not what I need to be eating right now, I keep struggling to get somewhere under these last eight pounds that I’ve gained since moving to New Mexico. But that’s a whole other topic!

We did sit on the balcony at the Coyote Café Cantina for some shared soup and shrimp ceviche.

Although we found many, many beautiful objects to admire, we did not buy anything – but there were gorgeous rugs, pottery, jewelry, sculpture, paintings, sunshades, metalwork and much more. The prices were pretty much triple what we see in the shops we normally go to (Old Town Albuquerque, Bien Mur, etc.), but the artists appeared to be doing good business, so there must have been a lot of wealthy people in attendance! 

We enjoyed several different performances – most notably, the dancers from Alaska, and the final entertainer of the day, Tony Duncan. Tony writes his own music and plays the Indian flute beautifully; in addition, he just happens to be the World Champion Indian Hoop-dancer – so fun to watch!

Here Tony is performing a beautiful piece written for his wife, Violet.

This is one of four tribal members who sang and chanted during Tony's hoop dance. I had to chuckle at his Superman emblem!

This segment of the dance represented riding a horse and using a lasso.

This started out as a bird flying and ended up as a ball that Tony held over his head as though he held up the earth.

One of my favorite things...

One of the absolutely beautiful things about moving to Rio Rancho, New Mexico, is that we have the great pleasure of seeing hot air balloons overhead or even taking off/landing behind our back fence. It happens at least weekly and sometimes more often!

This past weekend there apparently was some sort of gathering, because we saw 25-30 balloons behind our house, overhead, to the east and to the west. Color everywhere!