I mentioned that my project two weekends back was to put together the Bulletin Board for the elementary school library. I spent most of my day off acquiring the materials and piecing it together.
**New Parents, Those Expecting, DINKS (Double Income No Kids) and Single People Without Kids (pronounced Lucky bastards who don’t know how good they have it) please take note: you will be expected, encouraged and even coerced into all manner of things at your child’s schools. Many of them you will willingly take on, especially in the early years. Kindergarten parents…well they are just funny now in their zealotry. Many things you will not be interested in. Such as PTA membership, Door-to-door cookie sales and fucking choir boosters.**
This was a project I volunteered for. I have something of a creative streak in me. I play DnD. I took every art class in high school. I did theater. I can rock a bulletin board.
Honestly I just wanted the chance to have a little fun and do something the kids and maybe the grown ups can enjoy. Here is my finished product:
I had more ideas, they just kept coming but I didn’t really have enough time and I was already late on turning it in. I’m happy enough with it. I’ll just have to do more with the next one in May.
My favorite poem is on the road there. What is a favorite poem of yours? Do you have one?
Another busy weekend here. I had three days since it was my Friday 9/80 but we managed to fill all three with adventure.
Friday I spent most of the day working on the bulletin board that will go outside the elementary school library for this month. Yes I know I’m late but it was fun to do. I can be pretty creative when I want to. I’ll put up pics once it’s mounted.
Art-house Adventure!
We made a day of Saturday. We took the train up to Santa Fe. The girls had never been on a train and it made for a fun family adventure. Sweetums particularly enjoyed her hot chocolate while waiting for the train.
It was a leisurely one hour ride to Santa Fe. I enjoyed this the most I think because instead of driving I was able to sit back and relax. I read my entire new issue of Trail Runner. Quite the blessing.
We came into Santa Fe and disembarked right into the local Farmer’s Market and Artist’s Market. This was our plan all along. So we made a lap to take a look at everything the hippies had made, which of course included artisan bread. I’m just kidding, there are no hippies here. The hippies are in Madrid. These are yuppies.
When we hit the local park the girls took the time to stretch their legs and play which is always fun to watch. I’m actually not sure there is anything more gratifying and heart-warming than watching those two play together.
Total concentration.Happy mom, watching her kids play.
We wandered back over to the Farmer’s Market for lunch. This is Santa Fe remember. We ended up with a veggie spring roll with hot sauce, a deep fried (veggie) egg roll and a vegan breakfast burrito. Sorry no pics we were too hungry. To be fair the girls had apple and cherry empanadas as well but come on….vegan breakfast burrito? It was pretty good actually.
Meow Wolf!
The big draw for the day was Meow Wolf, the art/museum/thingy sponsored in part by local celebrity George R.R. Martin. Actually he just owns the space they are in but still it helps. Lisa tried to get us an ride to the museum with Uber but no one was working so we took a cab over and headed inside.
That place is fucked up. End of review.
Glowing musical mastodon bones.OK I liked the neon undersea hallway.
Seriously though it is..odd and fun but mostly odd. There are all sorts of interactive displays and things to explore. You start in a haunted house (?) and end up in a mystical wonderland or a neon avenue that looks like it should be in Blade Runner. I walked through a refrigerator and ended up in a spaceport with a tall furry sleepy alien.
What. The. Shit.
There was a lot of light and noise so it exhausts you quickly. Well it drained Lisa and myself pretty fast. I had fun looking around and some of the sound and light installations were fun to play with but overall I was done pretty quickly as was Lisa.
I walked out of this place with the same feeling I have when I walk out of most “high art” installations or exhibits:
I’m not sure if I’m too stupid to understand, OR am I too smart for this horse-shit?
The girls had a blast though and we probably could have spent the rest of the day and evening there (open until 10pm) so that makes this a win regardless of my feelings. I could take the family to Chichen Itza and I’d never want to leave and the girls would wonder why we’re looking at crumbling rocks with faces but this creepy dome is full of eyeballs and that plastic Santa Clause statue glows sometimes…Killer! The statues outside were awesome though.
We snacked under the spider while waiting for our ride back to the depot to catch our return train. We hopped on and headed home, resting and reading on the train. I lost a few games of Rock.Paper.Scissors to Animal.
Our last drama was unexpected and unnecessary. We missed our stop getting off the train. Actually the train left before we could get off because the doors we came in were not lined up with the platform and we had to then rush back a car to get off there.
Only we couldn’t because there was another family rushing to get off but they had a young girl in a walking boot and crutches who couldn’t run from a drunken snail. The result was us watching our truck shrink into the distance.
We got off at the next station three miles down after sharing some words with the employee on the train. After a few minutes of texting friends, Lisa accidentally ordered a ride through Uber. We were brought back to the truck and returned home probably fifteen to twenty minutes behind schedule. Life is hard.
All in all it was quite a day. I enjoyed the Farmers Market and the park and the train ride was probably my favorite. I’d say go check out Meow Wolf. It’s worth a visit. After one visit though, I’d rather get outside and get some earth under my feet and wind in my hair.
As you can see we packed a lot of stuff into our first day and we were pretty beat by the end of the day. All this withing 2 hrs of ABQ! Awesome.
We headed off to our campsite for the night which was the Grants KOA. It wasn’t until last year or the year before that we found out you can rent cabins at KOA’s! Not just four walls and a roof (generally) but full on with bathroom and showers at some locations. This is a nice compromise with the girls who currently are a bit more particular. Lisa and I would just camp in the tent.
Kozy!
After dinner (pizza for the girls and asparagus soup and rice for Lisa and myself) we settled into bed in our sleeping bags and I don’t know about the others but I passed out.
Playground right next door! You never see Merry-go-rounds anymore.Cookie smile.um…cookie?Dinner!
In the morning we had a continental breakfast which = donuts for the girls and then headed off on our day.
Acoma (Sky City)
Our one stop for Day Two was the Pueblo of Acoma. One of the 19 pueblos in NM, Acoma is easily one of the most beautiful places I have seen in the state, and that is saying a lot. It is a pueblo built on a mesa top with a secret(ish) and highly defensible staircase that aided in their resistance of the Spanish.
It is reputed to be the oldest continuously inhabited site in the United States.
Lisa overlooking Acoma in the distance.
When you get to the museum you check in and pay your (slightly large fee) for a tour and permission to take pictures. The museum itself has a lot of great artifacts and information but it’s not as educational or entertaining as the tour.
The guided tour takes about an hour and winds you through the pueblo on the mesa top. The adobe structures are beautiful and timeless and in some places in disrepair. I agree with Lisa’s assessment though that overall Acoma appeared to be in better shape than Taos.
Church, no longer in use.
Ladder leading to a secret kiva.Horno.
The history here is beautiful and awful. I am always particularly struck by the horrific things humans are capable of doing to each other and the amazing capacity of humanity to survive.
Here the Puebloans utilized three-story housing, rotating their kitchens depending on the season. Having the kitchen on the upper floor when it was summer to let the heat escape and moving the kitchen down to the bottom floor in the winter to capture the rising heat. Ingenious and sensible.
If I lived here I’d be outside all the time. The views are, well they are beautiful. I admit I found it very inspiring in a DnD sense as well. My best DnD ideas are from history.
At the end of the tour we opted to walk down the steep, hidden staircase that had helped protect the Acoma people. I can understand why as it is basically a ladder cut into the rock in places. Snookums was a little hesitant but she did it and we all made it down safely.
Steps cut into the rock.All smiles…..almost.There’s a stairway there.
Home for the Birthday fun.
Afterwards we headed straight home to relax and finish celebrating my birthday and the beginning of Spring break.
Lisa and the girls made us Rootbeer floats and got a small slice of tiramisu because yum.
I then forced them to watch Pee Wee’s Big Adventure which everyone enjoyed (surprisingly) and they gave me my present. Which btw I do not deserve. They gave me about the best thing they can give a old sailor. My very own hammock.
I basically lived in a hammock on the ship.
That combined with the items I bought for myself on the trip (something I rarely do) makes for a very generous birthday weekend.
I’m a lucky man and happy to have my family around me to celebrate my birthday and more importantly to celebrate the ability to spend time together as a family.
I pray you all had a happy and safe Spring break.
Have you been to the South-West? Where did you go? If not you better get down here.
Yes I am quoting Larry Norman but that’s not the point. Though it is rather fitting considering I’m currently managing the largest STD clinic in the State of New Mexico. Gonorrhea indeed. Though, truth be told I did order extra condoms and Plan B knowing V-Day was coming. Semper paratus.
Oh, yeah!
I don’t really want to talk about VD. I do want to talk about our Valentine’s Day escapades. As I mentioned last time, the weather here in ABQ has been lovely. 60’s-70’s and sunny. The girls and I got out to the park to get a little sunshine on our skin and smiles in our faces.
Well, kind of a smile.
This was all in the morning before my 16 mile run so I guess it was a warm up. Not sure how getting dizzy and sick to my stomach aids my running, but I’ll stick with it until I understand.
After this Lisa and the girls went out to get their hair and nails done while I ran a lot. Perfect combination which I already talked about last time so I won’t go into it again.
Valentines Day fun!
After the run and pampering we spent the afternoon at home playing and relaxing. I had brought heart-shaped donut home from work the day before which Snookums promptly devoured. She’s something of a donut-monster.
Sad V-day Donut.
It’s cute watching her demolish the poor things. When we go the the Balloon Fiesta we always get a half-dozen Krispy Kremes and she eats about four. Then it’s still cute but a little scary.
It was my responsibility to plan the monthly date for Lisa and myself and that means I wrapped it up into Valentine’s Day. I managed to keep it a secret from everyone even the girls who hate it when they don’t know what is going on.
I’ll be honest. It’s fun to fuck with them a little bit. They would ask me what the surprise is and I’d get them to lean in close and then whisper “It’s a secret.” Oh they’d get mad.
Date night!
What was this wondrous surprise? Canvas and Coffee! It’s similar to Paint Night but no booze and it’s a local place. Instead of sending all our money to Boston a local business gets a little boost and we get to have a great time.
Sure maybe it’s a little cliché but we don’t get out too often and we don’t get out alone almost ever. This is something that we will address when we change schedules with my new job.
We drove over to the West Side in the evening and found this cute little place sitting alongside a small but busy road looking like it was exactly where it ought to be. Inside was a jumble of painting supplies and antiques, all of which could be purchased, none of which we did.
Painting things…with paint.
If you have not done a Paint Night or similar event let me break it down for you: it’s pretty much paint by numbers. The instructors lay out the materials and walk you through the colors and the steps and they even have pre-printed templates so you can trace the design onto the canvas with carbon-paper. Of course the more experienced artists can wing it and I considered it but I figured I’d better follow the rules for the first round.
Following the instructions though makes it very easy to relax into the process and just spend time with your date/partner/sucker you dragged along. Lisa and I had a nice time chatting and people watching and really just enjoyed being a couple sans kids for a few hours.
I found it interesting how our personalities came out. When painting Lisa was very organized and followed the instructions almost verbatim. Her painting looked very…clean is the word that comes to mind. Mine on the other hand was a little rougher and I pay great attention to detail. Lisa has commented before on my focus when being artistic. I guess there’s truth in that.
So what was the painting?
One of those predictably adorable couples painting where you each do your own “half” that comes together to make a whole. It’s saccharin, sappy and predictable but it is fun and relaxing and we had a great time.
A lovely finished product! I pray you all had a wonderful holiday and week in the following days.
Valentine’s Day: Sappy or Super?
What are your plans for the weekend? Any outdoor activities?
Are you and artist? What have you created that you are most proud of (besides your kids or that bowel movement that really felt good)?
We have been a busy family of late and much of it has to do with my older daughter whom I refer to as Animal on the blog. She is in 5th grade now and she is so much more accomplished than I remember being or aspiring to at that age. We are definitely different people.
She qualified for the school Spelling Bee and despite being nervous placed 5th. This was not a fluke either she studied for a few minutes most every day. I am happy to see her try something she was a bit scared to do. I got into the Spelling Bee in 7th grade and I didn’t even show up. Too scared now that I look back but then I pretended I wasn’t interested. Good for her for showing up.
Antidisestablishmentarianism?
Another Animal related activity is piano. Her fall recital was Sunday and once again she was nervous (always is prior to a performance) but still she went up and played really well. She didn’t play perfectly and she will be the first to tell you that but she did very well and she smiled at the end.
Sweetums and I enjoying the show.
Lastly, Animal had entered into this years PTA reflections contest. Let your Imagination Fly is the theme for this year. So create some sort of art piece relfecting what that means to you. Kids can do amazing stuff. Animal took this on at full steam. She got an idea for a quilt, sketched it, planned it out, including colors, amounts of fabric and how she was going to arrange it. I dunno how she does all this so precisely, sewing involves math and she rocks at math. Hours of work, of cutting , arranging, sewing, hemming, and probably more than I know this is was her final product:
Balloons!
To make a long story just a bit shorter she got 1st place! As happy as I am that she was recognized for her effort I am far more excited about the fact that she was so proud of herself. She worked hard at this, and she was happy with what she did. She felt good about it and was smiling and laughing when finished, long before awards were decided.
1st place!
I am so proud of Animal for all the work she has done (she has worked hard) but more so for all the fun she is having. She’s really been enjoying this year and she is an example to me about how it is possible to do what you love. I guess that’s why I am writing this blog/journal/thing. This is what I love to do and want to do.
itsnotintothinking 