Open Range

We were driving in the Chiricahua Mountains a few miles from where we've spent the past few weeks. We spotted a small herd of Shorthorn cattle grazing in the woods along the road near the tiny burg of Paradise Arizona. This bull caught my eye and my camera caught his! I painted 'Open Range' as a gift for someone dear to me; maybe I'll get to visit this macho toro once in a while . . .

Another piece from New Mexico

Recently finished this little trapezoid-shaped watercolor of 'Windmill #2', City of Rocks State Park New Mexico.  This was our view from our trailer, way down the road.  The windmill is actually down the slope behind the behemoth boulders, so there's a drop-off to the background.

Happy Turkey Day!

Wishing you well from a few miles north of Rodeo NM, literally the Middle of NoWhere! We're parked at Rusty's RV Ranch & will stay here a couple more weeks. We're having Thanksgiving dinner with other guests right here at the rv park -- Rusty's doing turkey & ham & everyone's bringing sides to share.

This place is in the desert in SW New Mexico right on the Arizona border & 40 miles north of the Mexican border. It's quiet, clean, well-sited, and sparsely occupied at the moment. We have mountains (Chiricahua, Pelloncillo, and Animas) about 300 degrees around us; Rusty (lady formerly of Denver area) powers the park with a large solar array.
 

 
While there are no malls, Walmart, Costco, etc., there's a lot of hiking & exploring to do: mountain towns, ghost towns, ancient Indian ruins including rock art, a Desert Museum & Art Gallery in Rodeo . . . and it's a birder's destination + it's a Dark Skies Community which attracts astronomers from all over the world. We've really enjoyed being somewhere with NO streetlights and city light pollution; the stars are quite amazing.  Today we'll drive a few miles into the Arizona mountains, just a few miles away, do a little exploring, then come back to the park for pot-luck dinner.

Be Thankful for what you have, and please do what you can to ease the lives of those less fortunate.

Taos Memento

Just finished this watercolor from the Taos Balloon Rally; it's titled 'Mass Ascension'. It'll fit in one of the remaining sloped-roof areas in our living room, across from our reading chairs so we can enjoy it regularly!

The big yellow balloon features the New Mexico state symbol. This is the ancient Zia Indian sun symbol; the Zia considered the sun, as well as the number four, Sacred. The four points of the symbol represent the four points of the compass, the four seasons, the four periods of each day, and the four seasons of life.

Snuggled in The Rocks!

This week we're at City of Rocks State Park north of Deming New Mexico.  This is a delightful find: incredible tufa towers (a soft volcanic rock) with RV sites nestled in among them; grand desert vegetation including some of the most awesome yucca I've ever seen; lots of wildlife, especially birds -- the Chihuahuan Raven and Rock Wren are very entertaining; an observatory which hosts special events (the night skies are reputed to be some of the darkest in the country so there's great star/galaxy viewing - camping sites are named for the constellations); spectacular sunsets; miles of hiking/biking trails; botanical garden; nice clean toilets and FREE showers; all very well-maintained and quite a bargain for $10/night.  That's New Mexico for ya!  After we got here we tried to get our site for another week, but too bad, it's booked! This place is on our 'come back' list.  If you've been here you know what I'm talking about, if not be sure to stop by when you're driving across southern New Mexico.

These pictures are of our Sundance -- note the Sundance doing a Sun Dance ;-) -- nestled in the rocks, many taken from one of the hiking trails, last night's sunset, and a raven scolding me for taking his picture!

Non-Birders, just enjoying!

Went to Bosque (pronounced Boze Khee, think 'Albuquerque') del Apache Wildlife Refuge at dawn to witness the 'mass ascension' of the snow geese and sandhill cranes this morning. The white/light colored birds are snow geese; the cranes are much larger & blue-gray. There are also many ducks. The trumpeting noise of the cranes is incredible!

Adios Taos, bienvenida Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge!

This week we're parked just south of the little hamlet of San Antonio NM & right on the northern border of this incredible riparian wildlife refuge. This is wintering grounds for thousands upon thousands of migrating birds, especially the Sandhill Crane, Snow Geese, raptors of all sorts, a myriad of ducks, and much much more! While it was sad to leave Taos, we will return; our last morning we were treated to one of those famous sunrises over Taos Mountain. And this morning we witnessed incredible rainbows to the northwest -- a storm is obviously passing by but we have sunshine here.

New trapezoidal painting

Started this painting while hanging out on our land in SE Colorado and did the final touches in Taos. I used several reference photos from our days in the Tetons this September; this scene is at Lily Lake. I believe the title is "Autumn Reflections" Other suggestions?

Migrating through Taos New Mexico

The Taos Balloon Rally was last weekend; we got up early and went downtown for the 'mass ascension'. Beautiful sunrise, then the fun began. A lovely couple was obviously getting married in a balloon; we didn't see them 'ascend', but assume they got the job done & sure hope the little ones weren't scared! The weather was perfect and they had a great turnout of balloons & spectators, and we had a blast. Got lots of fun pictures!

Slow Migration

This week we're at the Gros Ventre campground in Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone. The Teton Range always fascinates me. I've gotten tons of pictures, from various vantage points and in many dynamic light conditions. We've had rain, fog/low-hanging clouds, and sunshine! These are some of my personal favorites.