Ferny
Thursday, 20 April 2023
I found this oblique golden morning light at nine, which seemed late to me…perhaps because I have no firm natural sense of the time zone I’m in (at the moment).
Musings
Oh, geeze
Wednesday, 19 April 2023
I’m still parsing an article* in the NYTimes about the pieces of the kylix that curators at the Met began collecting in the 70s. Over the years the Met obtained pieces from multiple art dealers.
A kylix is a kind of stemmed drinking cup. This one is made of terra cotta and thirteen inches in diameter. It has a nice decoration of a man and woman partying in a circular panel on the interior. The exterior has a band of multiple male figures, described as older fellows chasing younger guys.
The last fragment of the kylix arrived at the Met in 1994, and the restored vessel was on display until last fall, when the Manhattan DA’s office seized it as a looted item.
As near as I can tell, the prevailing opinion is that the vessel was intentionally broken, and the pieces essentially funneled to the Met’s purchasers and curators. This is not the only vessel in the Met’s collection that may have received this treatment.
Remember: to archaeologists pottery contributes to a complex story, while to art historians pottery has aesthetic, and, yes, monetary value—even broken, when an intact vessel would be worth more, the pieces have monetary value.
* The article is “The Kylix Marvel: Why Experts Distrust the Story of an Ancient Cup’s Rebirth,” dated today, by Graham Bowley and Tom Mashberg.
Historical moment
Tuesday, 18 April 2023
How many times have I been in Powell’s and not noticed this? Actually, there are several staircases, and this is on the landing of just one, so it can honestly and easily be missed.
I just checked their website, and the bookstore dates back to 1971. I think the first time I entered its doors was in 1979.
Our country might well be improved if we had a Department of Literature.
Phyto-filaments
Monday, 17 April 2023
Dry-tolerant yucca in Santa Fé.
Moist, juicy fennel in ATL.
Of course, you can also nurture yucca in ATL.
Hello, Atlanta
Sunday, 16 April 2023
The approaching sunset offered us an arty entrance into Our Fair City. By the time we reached our neighborhood, the light had dimmed, yet the colors remained—here highlighted by the neon at the Plaza Theatre and the Majestic Diner. Summary: home safely.
Let me add three images from our time in Santa Fé.
I can’t parse the gunshot (or imitation of a gunshot) with the Nativity scene.
Cactus as a protector for leafy greens.
I was entranced by the patterns in the blue on this door.
In which we exchange mountains for windiness
Saturday, 15 April 2023
Frosted morning.
We drove away from the mountains. We did see a herd of perhaps three dozen pronghorns about a half hour after this stop. This was the only antelope sighting on our eastbound leg.
Busy wind farm.
It’s so windy here in western Oklahoma that the rest stop garbage cans have tie-downs, and it’s that windy today. This is better than in TX, where the “rest stops” had neither garbage cans nor toilets. [Ick warning: they were toxic waste sites that reeked of urine and were festooned with trash that was small enough or heavy enough that it didn’t blow away.]
Sunshine cleanse (ish)
Friday, 14 April 2023
I began my afternoon perambulation here, as it is close to our hotel.
That’s a Rail Runner Express on the right, with the active track to the right of it. The parked train must be a backup? I don’t know what the deal is with the blue-purple train, decorated in a pseudo-graffiti style from nose to tail.
Feeling like I had “done” the depot area—now a Saturday Farmers’ Market—I proceeded into a residential area…
…and then looped to the central plaza area. This is the Loretto Chapel (privately owned)…
…and this is the active Catholic cathedral basilica.
Looking at the churches, followed by this “Settlers Monument” (2003), by sculptor Donna Quasthoff (1924–2021), I could not help but think about the arrival and “good works” of the Catholic priests and Euro-American settlers, who upended the lives and health and cultures of the people who lived in this area. Notice how the incomers are atop their beasts of burden and invasive species. Kinda creepy and definitely an ethical downer. I’m glad it was sunny and that we had leftover red-chili ribs for dinner to cheer me up.
Selected pretties
Thursday, 13 April 2023
Came across this apparently life-sized elk statue posing street-side. I “say” apparently because I’ve never been this close to an elk before. Heavy overcast made for strange lighting.
This lighting, however: fabulous. It lasted not even two minutes….
Dear friends treated us to a tasty dinner, and yummy as it was, the conversation and camaraderie was even better. These ribs were roasted with a red-chili paste just before serving; never had anything quite like this. Show-stopping. The waitron said the recipe is on the restaurant website. I looked; it’s not—their secret…I understand.
This is the way
Wednesday, 12 April 2023
We headed toward mountains, not difficult to do. Note plenty of snow.
We crossed the Río Grande. Note plenty of water aka snow melt.
We stopped at an overlook to see the canyon of the Rito de los Frijoles, aka Bandelier National Monument,
The main community on the flats is Tyuonyi, extensively excavated between 1909 and 1912, including 242 rooms. I cringe at the thought of the data that was destroyed and discarded. These walls are reconstructions.
This is Long House, which extends along the base of this wall for quite some distance. In some places the rooms were three deep. The rows of holes were the sockets for roof beams, called visas.
If you look very closely on the slope above the model, you will see walkways, stairs, and ladders that reach the big cave, aka Alcove House, just to the right of center and far above the model’s left shoulder.
This view makes the “trail” look more vertiginous than it is. If you visit, remember that ladders are easier to go up than to descend, IMHO.
The view from Alcove House. I was so lucky to be there by myself for about five minutes.
Back on the return trail along the creek, note the good flow of water and the logjam. We counted at least five big logjams, and all new foot bridges across the creek. The rangers were too busy for me to ask when the storm was that brought down the many trees and washed them downstream.
On the way back, we stopped at the Tesuque Village Market, which is indeed a market, but also a restaurant and bakery. We indulged in their key lime pie…lovely, just the right tartness.
We returned to Santa Fé on the Old Spanish Trail, which is winding and scenic. I find these fences particularly picturesque.
Hello Mountain time
Tuesday, 11 April 2023
Looking back at a high range in Arizona. Despite a quick flirtation with Mountain time when we creased Idaho, we’ve been waiting and waiting to escape Pacific time. All but one county in Arizona stays in PacTime, according to info on the web.
Aha! The lovely New Mexico Visitor’s Center architecture imitates a kiva or hogan, I’m guessing. Off in a room with several rows of spaced chairs, I listened to Robert Redford’s dulcet tones describing Chaco Canyon ritual architecture. I found it another reason to be happy to be in New Mexico!
A dramatic geological feature…. We also drove through quite a run of malpaís, or nasty angular broken old lava flows that would be terribly difficult to walk through. [Yes, that’s a Starbucks lid in reflection.]
Finally, we got a view of the Sandía ridge, which looms over Albuquerque. Temps in the 80s.
After a quick visit with friends we’ll see for a longer visit later in the week, we turned north, finally reaching the Santa Fé Mountains backing…drum roll: Santa Fé…our home for the next few days. Temps about 15° lower than in ABQ.
Someone’s carefully chosen special dessert. Yum.