LBJ Photography Blog
This blog features travel notes and photographs.
Local Color -- Las Cruces, NM
New Mexico Local Color (aka Slot, Hatch, Mano)
Weekend of February 24, 2019
Saturday, 2/24: “I would like to take my D3s camera with my wide-angle lens back to Slot Canyon,” said Lou, and away we went on another road trip toward the town of Hatch. You would think that we had a pretty good idea of navigating the trail, but as we age, both our senses of direction are beginning to diminish.. How we ended up back in Slot Canyon going down (which was much more challenging than going up) is anyone's guess, but we managed to find our way back to the truck.
Our next stop was a return to Hatch, NM, Chile Capital of the World. Supposedly the best chile peppers in the world are grown around this area. On this trip Sparky's, a notorious restaurant for the best chile cheeseburger, was open. This restaurant has a reputation. It has accumulated many discarded statues from defunct establishments with the statues mounted atop its roof and abreast the sidewalk across the street. A walk along the sidewalks of Hatch feature a plethora of small shops displaying ristras of chile peppers and Mexican knickknacks.
Sunday, 2/25: So, after an earlier off-hand conversation about arrowheads with Tom, one of our hiking buddies who is an avid collector and sells memorabilia at card shows in CA and Vegas, we found ourselves visiting David, a long-time resident of Las Cruces who has a number of found arrowhead collections. Needless to say, after the visit we all loaded into the SUV and tooled over to the west mesa sand dunes outside Las Cruces looking for arrowheads. Spending about 2 hours and having gathered pocketfuls of anticipated rock treasures, we presented them to David. He let us know, ”They are just rocks”. However, the one treasure which was truly a treasure was found by Tom, our collector. He found an ancient mano but only half of it. If you look at the link below and pinpoint the round mano, it is exactly what Tom found cut in half--a wonderful afternoon in the desert.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mano_(stone)
Slot Canyon
SLOT CANYON
First hike of the season with our hiking buddies
February 18, 2018
Hmmm. The cars are parked by the road; people are walking on the trail, but the gate is locked with barbed wire fencing running along either side. To be baptized onto the Slot Canyon Trail, those embarking must climb the gate. All eight of us 65+ year-olds scampered over the gate without hazard. Unlike most desert hikes, this one was truly unique. Instead of normal desert landscape we encountered the cool walls of a deep canyon. Easily with a backpack you rubbed its sides. Once through the canyon, our men bushwhacked us through the desert scrub to our vehicles. First hike—a huge success!
Wood Carving Update
Mid February, 2019
WOOD CARVING 6 WEEKS IN!
Our Wednesday and Friday mornings at wood carving got a slow start mainly because many mornings were spent socializing and catching up on a year's worth of news with our carving friends. Lou is working on his “little men”. He brought three cut-outs with him, the first of which is as cute as can be, but he is not happy with the arms/hands. His second one has arms which he feels are more realistic, but he accidentally cut off the little guy's nose (oh well, what little guy doesn't get a broken nose sometime throughout his life?). Bonnie took quite some time drawing her symbols and carving out different shadow areas, but now that wood burning has begun, every spare moment is spent perfecting the art on her pedestal kachina. Next comes adding color!
New Mexico Rock Art
January 26, 2019
It's Not Santa Fe, But.........
http://www.kathymorrowstudio.com/
Click on the above link, and you will see the works of an artist in residence living in Las Cruces down the street from the home of our “hiking buddies”, Pat and Susan. This delightful couple took us for a walk last night along the levee across from their home. Kathy Morrow, who is the owner of the link above, showers the edges of that levee path with scene after scene of her rock art....created and maintained as she walks her dog daily. What a hidden gem! Unlike the works of art she has for sale on her website, this rock art is artistic talent freely given to the walkers who frequent the path! Do you see a wolf, a bear on a feather, a butterfly, and an owl face?