Colorado National Monument

Just a few picture Michael took when we went up to the Colorado National Monument on Thursday...

2 More Trip Photos...

Unfortunately I have been hit a string of migraines. It started lightly on Sunday evening when we were out of town. And has gotten progressively worse. So today hasn't been very productive.

But here are a few more photos of our trip...


I love this shot that Michael got of the picnic table. I bet it would look lovely in black and white too.


This photo has an effect on it too - similar to the one in the last post. I have been wanting to play with those kind of things but often feel I shouldn't with Michael's photos. This one and the other one with the effect were shots I took while he was driving.

Escape to Ouray

Back from our overnighter. It was great! So beautiful! I packed sandwiches and such so we didn't have to spend money on food. And our night in the hotel was free too. So we just paid for gas. Oh we did stop and have breakfast on Monday in Montrose so that was the only meal we spent money on. So not too bad. And more importantly we had a lovely time.

So much snow that sparkled in the sun. It was so pretty. As I mentioned last time we had our overnight and went through there was no snow. And for some reason I just think of Ouray with snow. It looks good with snow.

When we got back in town we ran a few errands and then went to pick up a calendar. We got one with the art of Daniel Merriam. Surrealist that kind of reminds me of Michael Parkes in some ways but not at the same time.

A couple photos of our trip - and I will post more later...
(click on the photos to get a bigger view of them)
I did a texture on top of this photo to create lines in it.


This photo Michael took and it is beautiful hotel in Ouray.

Gratitude Friday

I am thankful for...
1. Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzard we had yesterday for the Childrens Miracle Network at DQ. We only had 1 DQ participating and from what I heard they were giving not just profits from Blizzards but all profits that day to Children Miracle Network. And it was packed so I am believe they probably raised quite a bit for Children Miracle Network. Plus the girls in there were handling how packed they were -- very well.
2. A Very clean kitchen. I deep cleaned the kitchen today and it looks all sparkly. It felt good to get it done. Been so busy lately things just bare minuim so it was nice to get some real good cleaning done.
3. Impactful Paulo Coehlo book. It was really instersting and impactful.
4. Chatting with a good friend. We hadn't spoke in a while so it was good to chatch up with her.
5. Summer storms - although it was loud and made the lights flicker -- it was a really good rain. And we can always use that kind of moisture. But crossing fingers it doesn't interfer with our plans tomorrow.


(photo Michael took in a storm in 2003 - let me tell you how fun it is to sit in the car while he is standing outside with his camera - we are far away that there is no rain because water and camera not a good mix but you still have the crackling ligtening going off all around. Not fun!)

Santa Fe

I do 100 Things about me over on my other blog. And today I did a post on Santa Fe that I thought I would share over here because it was very inspiring too me.

I feel very connected to Santa Fe/Taos area.

For years before I visited Santa Fe I had these dreams where I would wake up and know I was dreaming of Santa Fe. I had never been. I really hadn't see many pictures of it. I just knew it was Santa Fe. So I shared the dream with Michael shortly after we were together. A year after living with him, he made my dream of visiting come true by taking me to Santa Fe.

It was truly amazing experience.

Art - We could have spent all the days we were there seeing art and not covered it all. Michael and I both love art, so it was very nice to go in and out of galleries seeing art with him. There are over 300 galleries and museums. The Georgia O'Keefe Museum was closed but we went to 2 others and then many many galleries. The art is not just southwest art either - it has classical, modern, folk - paintings, sculptures and photographs. Just everything you desire in art is in Santa Fe. It was very inspiring looking at all the different types of art. We looked at art everyday and never got through even 1/3 of the art available there. One of the places I really enjoyed was The Awakening. It is a monumental work of art...very powerful The ceiling and walls are covered with 8000 sq. feet of carved and painted wood. The pictures on the website and in the brochures do not do it justice. They allowed you to touch the works, take all sorts of pictures, lay on the floor or benches to look at the ceiling and have paper and pencils in the space in case you are inspired. It was inspiring. I did not sketch, but Michael took lots of pictures. Jean Claude Gaugy is the artist that created The Awakening. His work with color and line expresses emotion and movement. I really enjoyed witnessing his works.

(clicking on the images will take you to a bigger view of the photo)

Two pictures from The Awakening....
























Two other pictures - one of a sculputre in front of a gallery and then the second were part of a garden. They had dessert type plants and flowers and then these scupltures with twirly pieces on them that turned in the wind.

Architecture

- Michael and I both like adobe style buildings so of course we saw plenty in Santa Fe. The main street in town leads to a cathedral....St. Francis Cathedral. It is really one of the few buildings that is not done in the adobe architecture. Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy built a Romanesque cathedral. There were so many beautiful churches - from the St. Francis Cathedral. To Loretto which was Gothic style and has a spiral staircase that has no visible support - no dowels or nails were used in building it. To the oldest church in the USA which is San Miguel Mission. Michael took several pictures of adobe style churches. They were just so beautiful with the beams, craved doors, stucco, and iron work.

San Miguel Mission














Loretto
















St. Francis



















St. Francis













The plaza area downtown is lined in galleries, museums, and then shops that sell everything from high quality fashions to trinkets in a five and dime general store. There is a building called the Palace of the Governors on the plaza. Outside the Palace under the portal Native American women offer all sorts of goods for sale. It is called the market. For about a block women are sitting with their goods on the ground. They have blankets spread out with their good on them - LOTS of jewelry. Others have dolls, pottery, organic foods and herbal remedies. What I thought was interesting is that it is 80 degrees maybe 78 and all the women have long sleeves plus some with coats and sweaters and others under blankets....like it is cold. Some that are in the sun have umbrellas. But most are under a covered porch area.

Palace of the Governors







So many other things I could highlight because something I could not get over is how Santa Fe has everything - scenery, architecture, food....just cultural, history and art pouring out of it.

Oh I didn't mention Taos - the reason is we only spent a little time there. We wished we had been able to spend more. It is more artsy and rustic then Santa Fe but we had a nice time there too.

And just 2 more pictures even though Michael took a ton of pictures and this is just a small handful....

Bringing on the Busy...

I have felt kind of down this weekend. But today I finished up something for a friend and that actually helped me feel better knowing we will make her smile. I don't feel I accomplished much else though this weekend. I have 2 websites that I need to work on...changes to one and finishing up the other now that the client decided what template she wants. I also need to finish up an article. And then prep for Thanksgiving this week.

Michael's parents are coming for his birthday (Dec 6th) so I need to finish the autumn cleaning I started a few weeks ago (when I was steam cleaning). I would like to wash and press all the curtains and steam clean the hallway and Michael's office before they come (then all the carpet in the house would be done). I have bunches of stuff to go to Goodwill but I need to get it all together (one spot) and then typed up for taxes.

I started making our holiday card list today, got out the cards and labels so that I can try to get those out early this year. Maybe I will even get a letter done this year.

(The photo is one Michael took of our tree a couple years ago - the ornament is one his Grandmother made.)

Spiders!

Okay so I mentioned that on the way out of Colorado on our trip to Shreveport we saw spiders. Not just tiny spiders - BIG HAIRY spiders as we were going 65 - 70 mph down the road. You could see them ahead on the road. We saw 20 in about a 50 mile stretch. I wanted a picture bad but our camera was buried and it isn't really a stretch that is easy to pull over.

On the way back Michael had the camera out and the traffic wasn't busy so he pulled over when we saw them and took some photos. This time we only saw like 5 but at least we got some photos. When we got the closer look - I thought it looked like a tarantula. But we were surprised there were any in Colorado.

As I mentioned that on our way through Colorado we stopped and met up with one of Michael's friends and on the way back we saw him outside his store so stopped. Michael asked about the spiders. And his friend said that they are indeed tarantulas. And this is their migration season and the pavement holds the heat so they criss cross over it on their journey. He said scorpions do the same thing but go in groups.

I did find it odd when we got closer to populated areas - farms and ranches we didn't see the tarantulas as much. I guess that is good for the people that live out there!

Beautiful Building

On our trip to Shreveport the AT&T building has murals on 2 sides of it. Michael got pictures of one side of it. It is a mural of the plight and triumphs of the people of Shreveport. I thought it was amazing.

Here are a couple pictures of it...Click on them to get a bigger view of them. They are really awe inspiring.