If you've spent time in New Mexico during the fall, you're probably familiar with the odd trumpeting call of sandhill cranes. Every year sandhill cranes and many other birds migrate south for the winter, and many stop in New Mexico. This past weekend Matt and I volunteered with the Albuquerque Audubon Society for the Annual Festival of the Cranes, at Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge. During the fall, the refuge floods its fields to provide important habitat and food for migrants.
While stationed on the swamp deck, we helped visitors view various types of birds. In addition to the cranes there were several interesting species hanging around the refuge, making this years festival another one to remember. We had birding scopes positioned to view a bald eagle perched on a snag, as well as a surf scoter that was an unusual sighting. Despite the weather being a little chilly and windy, there were a good number of people enjoying the wildlife of the refuge.
For pictures and the full story of our visit to the refuge, check out Matt's blog.
Also, if you decide to make the trip down to Bosque del Apache, stop in San Antonio for the green chile cheeseburger that whipped Bobby Flays butt on "Throwdown With Bobby Flay".
Showing posts with label NM Culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NM Culture. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Mom's Visit to New Mexico: Days 1 & 2
What a fantastic week! Mom got in in the late evening last Friday for her 8-day vacation in New Mexico. The visit was timed with the balloon fiesta; after seeing my pictures from last year, my mom decided immediately that she must make it here for that week, specifically.
Saturday morning we were up and on the road by 5:30am, which by Fiesta weekend standards is late. We were on our way to one of the mass ascensions, where they inflate a launch literally hundreds of hot air balloons.
Just like last year, I took dozens more photos than will actually end up on this blog. I'll need to do something with them this time around, I certainly have enough for Fiesta themed photo presents for birthday's and holidays.
On Sunday we went to the Taos Wool Festival.
I always get an interesting reaction from people when I say I'm going to a wool festival. First of all, you get to see cute/funny animals. Secondly, the drive is beautiful. Third, there are lots of pretty things to look at and buy. So don't knock the wool festival until you've tried it.
I ended up buying some very nice yarn to make knitted gifts for Matt and my Mom. They picked the yarn, but the surprise will still be there when I finish the projects. I also left with a warm and fuzzy fleece headband and a drop spindle to make my own yarn. It isn't enough that I spend money and time on knitting and crocheting and materials, I now feel the need to make yarn too. Overachiever.
On the drive back from Taos, we stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge for a view over the bridge.
Saturday morning we were up and on the road by 5:30am, which by Fiesta weekend standards is late. We were on our way to one of the mass ascensions, where they inflate a launch literally hundreds of hot air balloons.
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| Balloons being inflated before lift off. |
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| The Darth Vader balloon was back again this year from Belgium. |
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| Two new shape balloons: Spider Pig and a huge butterfly (it's left antenna was having a little trouble here). |
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| Took this one for my Mom's friend Al who, like this balloon, is from Jordan. |
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| "Stay inflated my friends" |
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| The Bees |
On Sunday we went to the Taos Wool Festival.
I always get an interesting reaction from people when I say I'm going to a wool festival. First of all, you get to see cute/funny animals. Secondly, the drive is beautiful. Third, there are lots of pretty things to look at and buy. So don't knock the wool festival until you've tried it.
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| An alpaca that is cute/silly. |
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| Disapproving Llama, disapproves of me taking its picture. |
I ended up buying some very nice yarn to make knitted gifts for Matt and my Mom. They picked the yarn, but the surprise will still be there when I finish the projects. I also left with a warm and fuzzy fleece headband and a drop spindle to make my own yarn. It isn't enough that I spend money and time on knitting and crocheting and materials, I now feel the need to make yarn too. Overachiever.
On the drive back from Taos, we stopped at the Rio Grande Gorge for a view over the bridge.
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| Rio Grande |
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| My Mom, with the wind in her hair. |
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| Taos Wool Festival Gang |
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| Me and Matteo |
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| Second tarantula I've seen in this area of NM. This guy was crawling around the ladies bathroom at the rest stop. |
Monday, October 4, 2010
Year 1 Week 6 Recap
So this post if coming a bit late, I had a very long weekend, followed by grading and my own homework.
Last week had a few highlights, the primary one being that I gave a practice talk on my research in front of my lab group. I got a lot of good feedback, Felisa seemed impressed, and now it is over and I can prepare for the real thing and concentrate on the rest of the semester. Some of the advice I got went way over my head, and may have been more than was really needed. However, I will make some changes to some figures that are confusing, and I need to seek out a statistical test, which I am getting help on tomorrow. Sweet.
Friday was not so much fun. The only way I can describe it is "stupid". Matt and I went to get NM driver's licenses, which turned into an all afternoon ordeal. Stop one: we went to a regular MVD government office, waited an hour, only to be told when we got to the desk that they couldn't do first time out of state driver's licenses because the "system was down". Great. How about telling people before they waste an hour or so of their lives sitting there like schmucks?
Stop two was an MVD Express office, which costs an additional $25 "convenience fee". My experience was convenient, but Matt's was not. The guy helping Matt got an "out of state" error message, and told Matt that he would try again in 15 minutes. Then "Dave" disappeared. About a half hour later, we stand up looking annoyed, and the woman behind the desk asks us if we're waiting for something. It turns out Dave was told to go to lunch, but failed to mention he was helping us. In the end, the error was because Matt has an ' in his last name. Seriously. Apparently if you have anything other than letters in your name, their system just can't handle it. So now Matt has a license with a last name that isn't technically his. That should make going to the airport loads of fun in the future.
This weekend was chock full of fun for me. Matt was on a birding survey all day Saturday, but I got up at 6am to go to the Taos Wool Festival with my friend Fred. I got lots of yarn, saw some really cool stuff, and petted some nice animals. Then when I got back for the evening, Fred and I went to her friends' house for an Octoberfest dinner. Then I met up with Matt and other friends at the Marble Brewery. Not a lot of sitting room, but they have good beer.
Sunday I went to the Balloon Fiesta with Matt, Mouse, and Dave. That involved waking up at 4:30am, sitting in traffic for a long time, and being in the cold dark for about an hour. I will say though, it was SO worth it. This is something I will definitely do again, and I hope when people visit us, they come when the fiesta is going on.
Last week had a few highlights, the primary one being that I gave a practice talk on my research in front of my lab group. I got a lot of good feedback, Felisa seemed impressed, and now it is over and I can prepare for the real thing and concentrate on the rest of the semester. Some of the advice I got went way over my head, and may have been more than was really needed. However, I will make some changes to some figures that are confusing, and I need to seek out a statistical test, which I am getting help on tomorrow. Sweet.
Friday was not so much fun. The only way I can describe it is "stupid". Matt and I went to get NM driver's licenses, which turned into an all afternoon ordeal. Stop one: we went to a regular MVD government office, waited an hour, only to be told when we got to the desk that they couldn't do first time out of state driver's licenses because the "system was down". Great. How about telling people before they waste an hour or so of their lives sitting there like schmucks?
Stop two was an MVD Express office, which costs an additional $25 "convenience fee". My experience was convenient, but Matt's was not. The guy helping Matt got an "out of state" error message, and told Matt that he would try again in 15 minutes. Then "Dave" disappeared. About a half hour later, we stand up looking annoyed, and the woman behind the desk asks us if we're waiting for something. It turns out Dave was told to go to lunch, but failed to mention he was helping us. In the end, the error was because Matt has an ' in his last name. Seriously. Apparently if you have anything other than letters in your name, their system just can't handle it. So now Matt has a license with a last name that isn't technically his. That should make going to the airport loads of fun in the future.
This weekend was chock full of fun for me. Matt was on a birding survey all day Saturday, but I got up at 6am to go to the Taos Wool Festival with my friend Fred. I got lots of yarn, saw some really cool stuff, and petted some nice animals. Then when I got back for the evening, Fred and I went to her friends' house for an Octoberfest dinner. Then I met up with Matt and other friends at the Marble Brewery. Not a lot of sitting room, but they have good beer.
Llama with a serious under bite.
A lovely little alpaca who just got a haircut.
Fred, posing with a knitted woolly mammoth. We bought the pattern for it, as well as a dragon.
A knitted cactus garden, guaranteed to never die. I love the little lizards.
A felted piece with actual bird bones. This is some kind of wall hanging. It gets points for creativity, in my book anyway.
Sunday I went to the Balloon Fiesta with Matt, Mouse, and Dave. That involved waking up at 4:30am, sitting in traffic for a long time, and being in the cold dark for about an hour. I will say though, it was SO worth it. This is something I will definitely do again, and I hope when people visit us, they come when the fiesta is going on.
We're here! It's fiesta time!
Dawn set up of balloons.
Laying out balloons before take-off.
A small sampling of all the pretty balloons!
Completely awesome. Breakfast burritos, hot chocolate, and Darth the balloon.
That's all folks.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
New Mexican Traditions: Zozobra
This evening I had I very interesting experience. After work, Matt and I drove about an hour to Santa Fe to see the burning of Zozobra. This event marks the beginning of the three day long Santa Fe Fiesta.
Zozobra is the worlds largest marionette. He is about 50 feet tall.
And every fall, they burn him to the ground.
In Spanish, Zozobra means anguish and misery. The other name for him is Old Man Gloom. This is the 86th year in a row they've been burning this effigy, and his burning is supposed to symbolize the destruction of all the gloom and unhappiness of the past year. Many people write down their gloom from the year and burn it in a box along with Zozobra. Frequently among these papers are unpleasant legal documents.
Prior to the burning, Zozobra is read his death sentence, outlining how he has made everyone miserable for the year, and that he deserves a fiery execution. Then he is torched. During the burning and afterward there is dancing and fireworks, so all in all, it's a pretty elaborate ritual.
One of the cool/crazy things about this whole thing is that this is a marionette, and the thing is actually moving around, arms flailing, mouth opening, head turning back and forth, bellowing and howling. And all the while everyone is shouting "Burn him! Burn him! Burn him!"
This tops the list of "bizarre" things I've been to. But I have to admit, there is something strangely gratifying about a giant, yelling, burning puppet.
If you haven't seen this, I suggest looking up a video on YouTube. I also have some of my own footage on Facebook. Also, here's a link to a video of the entire execution. It's kind of long, but it was a really crazy show.
Zozobra 2010
Zozobra is the worlds largest marionette. He is about 50 feet tall.
And every fall, they burn him to the ground.
In Spanish, Zozobra means anguish and misery. The other name for him is Old Man Gloom. This is the 86th year in a row they've been burning this effigy, and his burning is supposed to symbolize the destruction of all the gloom and unhappiness of the past year. Many people write down their gloom from the year and burn it in a box along with Zozobra. Frequently among these papers are unpleasant legal documents.
Prior to the burning, Zozobra is read his death sentence, outlining how he has made everyone miserable for the year, and that he deserves a fiery execution. Then he is torched. During the burning and afterward there is dancing and fireworks, so all in all, it's a pretty elaborate ritual.
One of the cool/crazy things about this whole thing is that this is a marionette, and the thing is actually moving around, arms flailing, mouth opening, head turning back and forth, bellowing and howling. And all the while everyone is shouting "Burn him! Burn him! Burn him!"
This tops the list of "bizarre" things I've been to. But I have to admit, there is something strangely gratifying about a giant, yelling, burning puppet.
If you haven't seen this, I suggest looking up a video on YouTube. I also have some of my own footage on Facebook. Also, here's a link to a video of the entire execution. It's kind of long, but it was a really crazy show.
Zozobra 2010
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