On To Ruidoso, New Mexico

Organ Mountains

We left Las Cruces early Tuesday morning, so that we would have time to stop at White Sands National Monument on our way to Ruidoso.  Heading out on Hwy 70 we traveled east towards the Organ Mountains which are the eastern backdrop of Las Cruces.  While in Mesilla, the old town near Las Cruces, we met a fellow pastellist in the town's art co-op and she told us that just about every Las Cruces artist gets around to painting the Organ mountains at some point.  

Tularosa Valley

On the other side of the Organ mountains is the Tularosa Valley, which is largely uninhabited by people as a good portion of it is used by the White Sands Missile Proving Grounds where the first atomic bomb was detonated about 100 miles north, in 1945.  And 275 square miles of the valley is taken up by the White Sands National Monument.  

Here we are out in the middle of White Sands.  I had never been here before and Allan had not been there since he was a child.  What is really interesting is that these are the largest gypsum sand dunes in the world and it is located over a shallow water system which means that in the more level areas, you can see pools of water sitting on top of the gypsum.

Soaptree Yucca with Roots Exposed

 In these areas, plants have an opportunity to take root and grow, however when the winds start to blow, the sands shift and dunes form which either cover the plants or cause the plants to lengthen their roots.  Then later when the winds blow the sand away the roots are exposed and the plant dies. 

 Leaving White Sands, we continued East towards Alamogordo and then up into the mountains to Ruidoso.  The photo shows the clouds building up over Ruidoso and no sooner did we arrive at the Pine Ridge RV Park, than the clouds opened up and dropped all of their moisture in a tremendous gullywasher of a rain.  Next thing you know, we have a stream of water coming into our living area from the inside sill of the back window.  

Sculpture at the Inn Of The Gods Hotel and Casino

Nothing to do but try to staunch the flow until the rain stopped and then Allan got up on the roof and caulked all the seams along the roofline and around the back window.  Well, no one felt like cooking dinner at that point, so we went to the Inn Of The Gods Casino and had a nice buffet dinner.

 It was not as nice as the buffet we had in Las Vegas, but there was a large selection and most of what we had was fine.  Especially the bread pudding for dessert.   We could have opted for the fancy restaurant which had a view out to the Lake, but if you look out the window in the photo, you will see the lake and forest beyond.  It was a good ending to a long day.

BEACH.. BISHOP...HOME...AND BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN.

Allan and kayak at Morro Rock.

It has been quite a while since my last post in Grover Beach, California  where we became distracted over some issues from home.  Mainly a couple of letters from the management of our Park.  First to let us know that our CRV had a flat tire and had to be repaired asap or be towed.  We called one of our neighbors who went over and filled the tire with air, but then not even a week later, we heard that it was going flat again.  On top of this, we got a second letter saying that our yard had weed issues and so a different kind neighbor walked around our property while on the phone with me and found only one two-inch weed underneath our palm tree.  After a conversation with our manager, I found out that the inspection had been done over two months prior and she was just sending out the letters.... all while over 60% of the people in the park were away for the summer.  If the weed problems were not taken care of they intended to send someone to do it and charge the owners.  A scam, hmmm, maybe.  Managerial incompetence, definitely.  Either way, it was stressful and after talking it over, we decided to cut our trip short and head back towards home.

Allan starting to replace the flooring.

We couldn't go straight home because we had already purchased new flooring for the living area of the rv and we can only keep the rv for 48 hours in front of our home.  So we kept the Bishop reservation and cancelled our Mono Lake reservation.  We stayed in Bishop just long enough for Allan to rip out all the old carpeting which if everyone remembers from our trip last summer, had gotten completely soaked from a water leak.  Add also that we have two dogs and the carpet is over 12 years old.... the old carpet had to go.  We purchased bamboo flooring from Home Depot and other than a few minor issues, all went well.

New Flooring.

We then headed for home in a marathon run, leaving Bishop at 6 in the morning.  Arriving at the Oasis RV Resort at noon, where we got set up, and headed off to the best buffet we have ever had in Las Vegas at a casino called M.  Our total bill for the two of us was $34. and that include wine and/or beer.   Then back to the rv for a nap, then a swim, and then we unhooked the rv and departed about 6 pm to arrive home at 2 in the morning.  A very long day but made doable by the afternoon break.  

Good thing we got home to take care of things as the following day our water line for the irrigation shot up a geyser of water which we then discovered had been chewed by a coyote laying under our shrubs while we were gone.  So now, the tire is fixed, the water line is fixed, there is not a single weed anywhere.  So now what?  

Coas Used Bookstore

Well I called Ruidoso, NM and we could not get in to the park we wanted until August 9th, so we decided to load up all of our already read, used books to take to Coas in Las Cruces.  We packed up the rv again and headed east on hwy 60, then SE on hwy 70 and reached Las Cruces in the afternoon.  

We dropped off 6 large bags of books at Coas and ended up walking away with 3 new bags of used books.  For me, it was several mysteries, about 10 Books on Books, and a few travel essays.  For Allan, it was The War.  He loves personal accounts written by people in the War.  Coas is one of the best used bookstores in the west and they take any book you bring in.... for credit of course.  

We also went to the farmers market on Saturday, with 7 long blocks of vendors, mostly crafts, but plenty of produce, including the famous Hatch Chiles, which you see in the photo to your left.

While in Las Cruces we dropped into the Art Museum which was showing an exhibit on plastics.  The plastic bag that this woman is holding in the photo will take 450 years to completely break down.  Over 25 cities in the US have now banned plastic bags in stores.  Where we were staying in San Luis Obispo county in California, they did not allow plastic bags and everyone brought their own.  Since we had plenty of Trader Joe's bags, we had no problem and actually prefer to use our own bags to help the environment as best we can.  

We took a drive south along the Rio Grande to see the farms and orchards for photos.  Las Cruces farmers grow cotton, sunflowers, pecan trees, corn, and of course, peppers, among other things.  The pecan trees are watered by flooding and canals are everywhere... bringing the much needed water.

The brand new porcelain sink.

Since we had a number of days just to relax and hang out, Allan decided to replace the very old scratched plastic sink in our bathroom of the rv.  We headed off to Home Depot again and they had one that was the perfect size.  

Today is our last day here, so we are going back over to St.Clair Winery for lunch.  We have eaten there once already and they have really wonderful food, sometimes with a hint of Hatch Chile, and of course, some lovely wine.  Allan purchased some of their Pinot Grigio last time we were there.  For those of you in the Phoenix Area... if you want to taste their wine, it is labeled as Kokopelli in Arizona but is actually St. Clair wine.  The owners of St. Clair go back five generations, leaving Poland in the 1800's for Algeria, then moving to the Burgundy region of France, and finally ending up here in Las Cruces where the terroir is similar to the vineyards they had in Algeria.   So we will be having a great lunch on our last day here.  And tomorrow we are heading up to Ruidoso, NM where the temps are in the 70's, we hope.

Grover Beach - Week Two

This week we drove up to Paso Robles to do some wine tasting.  Actually it is Allan that does the tasting, and I take a tiny sip every so often when he thinks it is a good wine.  The first place we stopped was August Ridge to taste a Pinot Grigio that they produce.  It was excellent and we left there with only one bottle to take home, thinking that we would find more of the same quality along the way.  Not so.  Of course, Paso Robles is known for its red wines and not the whites, but still many of the wineries produce chardonnay or other whites, but we did not find any as good as the Pinot at August Ridge.  We will have to go back, just to get a few more bottles.

Some of the wineries are very small operations and have a limited tasting like the Rockin' R which is the photo to the right.

Others are larger with a tasting room adjacent to a luncheon area and in the winery to the left, it also had a large koi pond and an even larger gift shop.

And some of the wineries also have other farm produce which they sell.  This winery lets the farm workers grow vegetables which they put out and you can fill up a bag and leave a donation for the workers.

Earlier this week, Allan assembled his Folbot kayak.  The whole thing comes apart and fits into a very large backpack.  The tubing is sitting on the skin that will fold up and around the frame.  Right now Allan is putting on the inflatable bags that fit onto the outside of the frame but are on the inside of the kayak.  This helps the kayak stay afloat in case he is capsized (heaven forbid). 

 We actually have two of these kayaks, but I don't use mine any longer.  I can barely bend my knees enough to get into it, and getting out of it would require a crane as I usually manage to fall into the water trying to pry myself up and out of the seat which is in an opening barely larger than your average toilet bowl.  

So I now am reduced to driving Allan to a drop off point and then reading my book or taking photos while he kayaks, then meeting him for pick up when he is ready to dock.  However, I did notice that this last time when he returned, he was having some getting out of the seat problems of his own.  

I have almost finished another painting.  This is a compilation of two photos, both taken within yards of each other, but the pink bush was just a little further up the road then the actual scene I wanted.  So taking an artist's license, I put the bush in my scene.   I am still working from my Tehachapi photos.  I have got to get something started on the Sonoran Desert, but it just does not call to me like the hillsides of California.  

GROVER BEACH... END OF WEEK ONE.

One of the fruits we purchased at the farmers market was a seedless mandarin orange.  Umm Yum.  Not too sour, not too sweet... just right.  Easy to peel, kind of like a tangerine... and no seeds.  Lovely!  Well, we had to have one for our garden at home, so we looked around through the local nurseries and finally found one at a reasonable price.  We were assured that it would do fine in Arizona... after all it did really well in all the climates of China, so we are bringing home a new citrus, and it even has fruit on it already.

Well, of course we can't just walk into a nursery and buy a specific plant and then walk out again, so the citrus is bringing along three geranium friends, none of which we have seen in our local AZ nurseries.

Every morning it is foggy here in Grover Beach, and Shell Beach, and Pismo and Morro and you get the picture.... so we usually paint until the fog starts to lift and then we head out for the day.   I just finished a painting of the Tehachapi hills a little after sunrise.  Since we were staying in Tehachapi for a couple of days, we had time to get out and explore.  It was our second morning when we found a canyon that headed back east towards Mojave.   

Allan didn't start a painting until we got to our destination in Grover Beach.  We took a drive east of Arroyo Grande and then north towards San Luis Obispo where we encountered vineyards.  There are many small wineries along the back roads to the east of Hwy 101.  We will be returning to some of these roads later on when we go wine tasting.

Today we were really tired out because Elsie had a bad night last night and Allan ended up taking her out and walking her around a bit which seemed to help.   So neither of us felt like doing much and instead we just kicked back this morning and then drove over to Morro Bay to the Bay Cafe for lunch.  Just had a sandwich, nothing special, but then we were very bad and split a piece of tres leches cake for dessert.  

When we came out of the cafe, there were some hot rods and retro cars parked here and there and this car was especially interesting, mostly because of its passenger.

Yes, it is a labradoodle, with sunglasses.  He was a really big specimen and enjoyed meeting everyone.  He could raise and lower his own doggoggles by rubbing them on the seat or dashboard.  
Then.... we headed home for a well deserved nap.

SUMMER IS HERE AND WE ARE BACK ON THE ROAD

This has been one of the hardest winters we have gone through in many ways.  The very worst part was Elsie ending up in the hospital for an esophageal obstruction (dog bone) and subsequent pneumonia.  After endoscopic surgery, she was in an oxygen cubicle for four days and she was only given a 50/50 chance of pulling through.  We drove an hour each way, every day to visit with her and finally we were able to bring her home with many prescriptions.  Although she has pulled through, she is still having coughing episodes and we are still giving her two of the prescriptions.  Her esophagus has been permanently widened at the lower end and she will have issues with food and water getting all the way to her stomach for the rest of her life.  So some days are very good and she is happy to chase Murray for a bit and take her walk with Allan.... other days are not so good and she lays around coughing and refusing to walk.  But she continues to be our wonder dog and we are very glad to have her still with us.

In the midst of all of our personal and canine health trials this winter... our pastel group held its first statewide show in Sedona and I was busy taking on line entries and also taking over as president of the association.  It was a fabulous show and got many compliments from all the visitors and both of the judges.  On a personal level it was a big success as Allan sold his painting "Rowing With Rover".   

It felt good to finally bring the rv home to pack up everything we would need for the summer and Saturday we finally headed west to stay our first night in Needles.  Usually Needles is ultra hot... but it was actually just a normal kind of hot for a change.  On Sunday, we continued west to Tehachapi where we always stay up at the glider airport.  It is a valley at the top of the mountains, so the temps were in the 70's, which was perfect for us.  

The whole eastern side of the mountain is covered in windmills.  Although in the photo they look like they are stationary, they are really all moving and creating energy.  

And then finally on Wednesday, we headed over to Grover Beach where we are staying for the month of June.  Our rv park is adjacent to the scene in this photo.  We just need to walk out of our park and we are on the beach.  Right now it is foggy each morning and clears up in the afternoon.

Of course... one of the first things that we did when we got here was to go to a farmers market.  The Thursday Night farmers market in San Luis Obispo is about half produce and half food booths.  We purchased some beautiful yellow beets, purple apricots, peaches, Ranier cherries, avocados, and a big bag of mixed salad greens.  Allan had a pulled pork and I had street tacos.  We capped that off with a hand crafted ice cream cone. It really feels good to be back on the road.    

BACK HOME AND BUSY....

We arrived home in Arizona just in time to get ready for our Fall Show in the Scottsdale Artists School.  Allan got two paintings accepted....

Little Yachts

Mt. Shuksan

I also got two paintings juried into the show....

Eucalyptus Morning

Blue Iris

And I also found out that two of my paintings were juried into the New Mexico Pastel Society's National Show in Albuquerque.  Luckily I did not need to ship the paintings because another of our members also got two paintings into the show and she volunteered to take them all there, if we would then pick them up at the end of the show.  So we will be going to Albuquerque for Thanksgiving.  Then later on I found out that Cypress Gardens received an award. 

Lembert Dome

Cypress Gardens

These two paintings have been in several shows now....  As a matter of fact, we just picked up Lembert Dome from the Northwest Pastel Society International Show in Tacoma this summer.  
And just this week, I heard that I had a painting juried into the Best and Brightest Show in Scottsdale.  This painting has also been making the rounds.....

The Palms

Since we have returned home, I have been trying to start painting again..... it is always hard to do a proper studio painting when on the road and my plein air paintings leave a lot to be desired.  I now consider them to be nothing more than color studies, but even that is being generous.

However.... I did finish a painting that I started in the Spring.  It was from a photo that I took in Tecopa, CA while we were staying at Tecopa Hot Springs.  We always get up very early to go soak... and I took this photo as the sun was just coming up.

Tecopa Sunrise

Also I finished a painting that I had started in Yellowstone National Park....  no bison in this one, but I think I am going to try a bison painting this winter.

Yellowstone Evening

And I also finished another painting that was from a photo taken at dusk in Tecopa.  Tecopa is such a photogenic place in the morning or in the evening.  During the day... it just looks dry and washed out.  

Sunset in Tecopa

So I have been pretty busy with helping with the pastel show and also helping to set up a new web site for our pastel group.... check it out at Arizona Pastel Artists Assn.   And our show chair and I have been working on the upcoming spring show in Sedona which is going to be open to all pastel artists in Arizona.  This is a new step for our group and everyone is pretty excited about it.  Allan and I will be taking the rv up to Cottonwood next week where we will be meeting with eight members who live up in that area and have volunteered to help with the Sedona Show.  
Unfortunately for Allan, he has had quite a few home projects he has been working on ..... so not so many new paintings for him, but he is almost ready to get back to the easel.  
And some of the most exciting news of all.... we read the book "Good Calories, Bad Calories".... which is a compilation of all the research done over the last 100 years on fat.... and what causes it.  It is without a doubt a process driven by eating carbohydrates, specifically sugar and floury starches.  So in the middle of September, we both stopped eating anything that falls in those categories, i.e. no pasta, bread, potatoes, soda, rice, flour, etc.  We eat meat, dairy, vegetables (including those like carrots), fruits (but no bananas).  Allan has dropped from 185 to 174.... and I have dropped from 180 to 164.  Both of us have more energy, we feel more alert, we feel 20 years younger, well ok, maybe 5 years younger.  And we don't feel like we are missing a thing.  We eat dark chocolate, we have strawberries and cream for dessert at night, we are creating some fabulous salads and sides.  And we just had a medical checkup and all of our numbers are way down.  My cholesterol dropped from 176 to 123.  And our blood test was taken when we had only been on the diet for 3 weeks.  And in spite of eating all kinds of saturated fats from meat and butter and cream, our HDL numbers are up and the LDL numbers are down. 
So Life Is Good as the T-shirts say.....   
I will keep you all posted..... and thanks for reading about our achievements.  Have a great Thanksgiving.   

TETONS AND HOME

Grand Tetons

After two weeks in Yellowstone with no cell phone and limited email, we were happy to move south to Coulter Bay where we would be within driving distance to Jackson.  Hopefully in Jackson we would be able to make some phone calls.  But again no cell service in Jackson, so off to the Verizon store where after an hour or so, our SIM card was replaced and then we were back on the grid.  

National Wildlife Art Museum

Of course we drove around every day and took plenty of photos of all the many natural features, but one of the very best places we went was to the National Wildlife Art Museum which houses over 5000 pieces of wildlife art by various artists ranging from contemporary back to about the 1600's.  

Allan giving a moose a hand.

Outside of the museum was a wildlife sculpture walk and the sculptures were not just Wyoming animals, there were other animals represented, such as penguins.

Inside was a striking lobby with a totem pole of animals along with sculptures all throughout the museum with a special room for all the small sculptures which were inside a glass case.

King of the Forest by Rosa Bonheur

One of the largest paintings was also a pastel.  Rosa Bonheur had two paintings in the exhibit and one of them was a soft pastel on linen done in 1897 from a subject outside her home in Fountainbleu.  She was a strong advocate of believing that men were not the only gender that could have artistic talents. 
This painting is about 6 feet tall. 

There were many paintings from the artists of the Hudson River Valley and of the Early American Impressionists.  This painting is by Albert Bierstadt with the wildlife taking second place to the landscape.

There was a section of the room where wildlife art was displayed to show how most artists (and photographers) choose the male of the species to portray.  This painting is of 3 female moose.  "Ladies Lunch" by Ken Carlson in 1994 is depicting a usual scene when showing female animals; they are either eating, or nursing, or protecting their young.

"Deer Among The Aspens" 1939 is by Ernest Martin Hennings of the Taos Society of Artists and shows the influence of the Japanese Woodblock prints that were so popular during that time.

There were many examples of the work by Carl Rungius who was a German artist who initially came to the West to hunt in the early 1900's.  He said that at first he hunted for 6 days and then painted for one day, and then that changed to him painting for 6 days and hunting for one day.  Most of the paintings in the Teton Lodge are by him and his paintings were commissioned by many museums and private parties.  He ended up living in New York in the winter in order to complete his studio pieces although he did do plenty of plein air as well.
This was such a great museum that although we just stopped by for a few minutes, we ended up staying for hours including having lunch at their lovely cafe looking out at the prairie and mountains to the east.  I would have stayed longer but my partner was busy being a turkey and so I thought it was time to go.