Photography thoughts after taking a photo recently of shadows cast by exterior metal stairs: I'm a stickler for shadows.  Always have been ever since I got my first camera in my teens for Christmas.  It was a Polaroid Land camera.  Via a Google search, I found a photo of a Polaroid Land model 100 camera.  I don't know if that was the exact one I had but it sure looks like what I remember - bellows and all - and the era is right - early 60's.  The camera was expensive enough (or, rather, we were poor enough) that I paid for part of it with my allowance and Daddy paid the rest and bought it for me as a Christmas present.  Not sure, but it could have been the Christmas of my 15th year, after our Mom had died at age 39, three days before the previous Christmas. 

Didn't tell my father that part of the reason I wanted a Polaroid camera was to take photos of my face to instantly study what I looked like in pictures as opposed to looking in a mirror.  I felt like this would more objectively portray what I really looked like.  Being an overweight teenager and having mild acne didn't exactly bolster my self esteem but the pictures made me look worse than in real life because when I held the camera right-up-close to my face and didn't smile, it looked more like a mug shot.  Maybe I took the photos when I was home watching my younger brothers and sisters on the nights Daddy worked late?  Maybe I took the photos while Daddy was in the hospital dying of cancer?  I don't know for sure because I destroyed those photos!

I didn't only use a camera for self-portraits. I branched out to shooting "artsy" black and white photos of my brothers and sisters.  Maybe this was a different camera - an Instamatic?  I'd have to do some digging in my photo albums to figure this out.  Looking at old photos of my family makes me sad, though.  

Whatever camera I used and when, two of my photos even got into Ingenue magazine, a teen magazine in the 60's, when I sent them off for their readers' photos feature.  One was a close-up of my younger sister who was sitting on top of our dog house with her hair hanging down.  Another was of my oldest younger sister.  I got down low and took a photo of her standing with her arms akimbo.  Looking at the photos, someone would have thought we were inner-city children but we actually lived on two acres out in the country near Canton, OH.

President's Day Walk

On President's Day, since I thought West Road was still under partial closure, I decided it would be pleasant to walk there.  I didn't read the notice carefully because on that holiday, the road was scheduled to be open.  It worked out all right - most ski hill traffic came from West Jemez Road which kept West Road fairly empty.   The road's wide shoulder had mostly dried out from the fresh snow Sunday night so I had stable footing.

Starting from the intersection of Camp May Road and West Jemez Road, I walked with the wind behind me.   For my four miles, I made two out and back trips, going as far as the razor wire topped fence that blocks vehicles from West Jemez Road.  On each return trip,  I unhappily walked uphill into a fiercely cold, hat-flapping wind. 

Ventured off pavement yesterday on Kwage Mesa dirt road.  It's dried out some but there are still far too many scabs of snow and ice and mud, the kind that clumps to your shoe soles and gives makes your feet heavy!  But, I wanted to jog.  I haven't been doing that much this winter because its been impossible to get on terra firma since December.  If I jog on pavement, it's not good for my knees.  Well, true, I jogged a few times on the sewer plant road but not consistently enough.  I have to go back to consistency.  Tried jogging a little on asphalt this weekend and my right knee felt painful like it was going to lock.  It's all better now.

Today, walked bottom 2 miles of Camp May Road.  Española Valley a swath of pink with blue layer of distant Sangres rising above.  High peaks of Truchas and Las Trampas are snow covered.

Wasn't completely clear overhead but dark clouds to northwest blew further north and were replaced by mix of dark bottomed clouds, blue skies and sunlight.  Alongside Camp May Road, ice rind on snow reflected a fiery gleam.

Haven't had many brilliant thoughts ever since I bought tape recorder to which I'd hoped to impart them.  Really, I don't think I ever think my own thoughts because I'm usually force feeding someone else's thoughts into my mind - radio, CDs, DVDs, TV, books, magazines, newspapers, all the stuff on the Internet.

I did have a wry thought this morning while looking at the sunlight highlighting the dust on my car's dashboard:  "I don't like to dust - might need it some day for forensic evidence."  (Same applies to our house!)  We gave one of the senior center hikers a ride recently.  I forget how the subject came up  - maybe we joked about our car's dusty interior and then he confessed that our car was dustier than his!

Wow - how innovative can I be?  (I'm making fun of myself!)   Instead of walking the bottom two miles of Camp May Road yesterday,  I drove two miles up and walked the top two miles to the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area and all the way around the Camp May Community Park loop.  Whee!!  The upper half of Camp May Road seems less steep than the bottom half.  Camp May Road dry except past Oxbow Road parking and then there was some tamped down snow and ice on the sides of the road.  In the few shady parts, road surface was thinly snow-covered but not bad.

Interesting studying the topography from the roadway - next time, bring binoculars.  The area between Camp May Road and Los Alamos Canyon seems so spacious since all the trees burned in the Las Conchas wildfire.  Could fit in a lot of cross country ski trails and snowshoe trails and hiking trails.  Would love to explore that area when snow melts.

In this same area, and between Townsight ski run and parking for Oxbow Road, saw, just below the guardrail, one of the little house-shaped wood signs on a metal stake that the forest service uses.  Usually these appear near the beginning of forest roads off Camp May Road.  Hard to tell if there was ever a truly a forest road there because t's now a burnt, rocky area and I saw no trace of a road.  Regardless, I'll add this to my springtime explore list.

When I got to the ski hill, I was happy that the ski lodge door was unlocked.  Nice to use real bathroom!  In the dining area, I took a ski area brochure.  It shows tiny flame symbols in the burnt east and west sides of Pajarito Mountain to indicate they are closed.

Carefully made my way down all the stairs, which can be slippery, to the parking lot.  Continued past boulder barrier and up groomed hill to Camp May Community Park.  The decrepit pit toilets have been replaced with modern ones.  Saw lots of bunny tracks.  Could hear grooming machines on the mountain.

Groomed walkway ended at Mother Lift but then I followed vehicle tracks and didn't sink.  Private vehicles can't go up to Camp May Community Park until the spring melt but ski hill vehicles have obviously gone up.  Grooming started again, past uppermost parking area, for Salamander Gully, an easy ski run.  I debated going on this back down to the Mother Lift but when it got just a tad steeper, I chickened out and instead followed old snowshoe tracks at the bottom of the park road to close the loop.

I could hear whoops and hollers as I got close to the ski area parking lot.  A van load of kids from the local Y were getting ready to snowshoe the Cañada Bonita Trail.

As I walked down Camp May Road, a neighbor driving by greeted me.  He'd gone out to Cañada Bonita meadow with his dog.

It was a beautiful day.  No wind and the snow sparkled dazzlingly under a clear, blue sky.  On way down, I noticed some of the aspen trunks are turning khaki green so they probably survived the Las Conchas wildfire.

Walked on Camp May Road today.  Just past the Ocean, I followed a snow-covered dirt road back for
a comfort stop behind a tree and since I was right where the Route crosses the road, I decided to follow the Route for a short distance.  I saw shoe prints so someone else is using it.  I just hope they have a chainsaw and will remove all the trees that will surely fall on it in the coming years.

I had to test each foot step in the snow because I didn't want to wrench my right foot.  Next time, I bring ski poles with baskets.  My "hiking stick", the golf umbrella, didn't work well because it sunk up to a foot in the snow.  Also, I'll wear the Gore-Tex Brooks.

I returned to Camp May Road at Paint Ball Shell parking and.  Now I see why I always passed right by the Paint Ball Shell area - 3 big trees are uprooted and make it look so different.  Fortunately, they didn't fall on the Route!

The full name I call the Route is Camp May Road Route but the abbreviation thereof is unfortunate because it's the same as the lab's CMRR Project (Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement).  I need to dream up a new name!  I hope some day someone sees the value of having a real trail in the woods alongside Camp May Road.  Without a shoulder, the road is dangerous for walkers and biker.  It's not mandated that the hoped for trail would follow the Route as there are a variety of ways to go.  It would be nice, though, if it connects to FR2998, like the Route does, because FR2998 connects to a trail that goes all the way up to the Pajarito Ski Area.

Saw a man fiddling with his iPhone near FR2998.  He said he wanted to snowshoe the Nail Trail.  I pointed to the forest road that would get him there but he was intent on learning how to find it by using the GPS on his iPhone and a TOPO! map printout so he paid me no mind.

Boatloads of overcast floated overhead when I started walking but they blew somewhere else and it ended up with mostly blue skies and sunshine when I got back to my car.

Writing in this everyday bores me so mostly I won't.  Perhaps my life is boring?  Oh, well, it's the only one I have and I'd better be grateful for it!

Watched DVD Surfwise last night with spouse.  Enjoyed it but an unusual family, indeed.  First read about 'Doc' Dorian Paskowitz in an AARP The Magazine article about family and his strict health regimen.  The documentary was made in 2007 and he was still keeping up his regimen but using a cane to walk.  He was born in 1921 and would be 91 now.  Both he and his wife, Juliette Paskowitz, are on Facebook, alive and kicking!

Browsed The Return of the River, book in Mesa Public Library about hopes for restoration of the Santa Fe River.  Didn't read all the poems.

Wanted to shred a few receipts this morning at Los Alamos National Bank but their Shred-It truck was delayed.  Do it another time.

To indicate how boring my life is, I found a slim book on the library's non-return shelves, more a pamphlet, called Eat, Drink Santa Fe: The City's 50 Best Restaurants.  I'm actually contemplating working through the book and eating at some of the more affordable ones, that we haven't already sampled, with spouse!

Friday Walkers drove over to Monte Rey Drive South and Estante Way and walked around Pajarito Acres for 2 hours.  Eight of us.  New hiker (walked with us last week) didn't show up.  Hiker with dropped 1st metatarsal will try to walk with us on a weekly basis.  Couple who vacationed in Tahiti over holidays, stopped at San Diego on way home.  They'd like to move there.

Afterward, spouse and I ate lunch at Pyramid Cafe.  I pigged out on hummous, baba ghanouj, green chile salad (so wonderfully addictive!) and tabouli!!   Just writing this and I'm hungry again!!

Another day, another hike up the first two miles of Camp May Road. Got another late afternoon start but was back to the car well before dark.  On the way up, saw the B couple.  They cross country skied Pajarito yesterday and today.  I'm always cheered by seeing them and they always stop to say hello! 

Someone has dumped a jacket, a hoodie, denim shorts and a child's car seat at the beginning of FR2998.  Wonder if the spring thaw will reveal more trash.

The snow on the ridges above Pajarito Canyon shone in the afternoon sunlight.

On the way down, maniac raced past me at high speed.  Heard squeal of brakes but saw no bodies strewn in the roadway.  Miss a turn and you'll end up in the deep freeze of Los Alamos Canyon!  I didn't think kind thoughts about the driver!

Yesterday, walked off the road onto the snow to look at snowman at intersection of West Road Bypass and Camp May Road.  Family built it - I saw tiny boot prints and snow angels.  Walking in snow back to road, my right foot suddenly sunk - that's the bum foot and I kind of wrenched it but it was OK today.  Snow is not my right foot's friend!

Looked at these topo quads today at the library:  Aqua Fria, Tetilla Peak and Santo Domingo.  Looked at a lot more but these were the relevant ones to follow the course of the Santa Fe River to the Rio Grande.

Here are my notes:  Cienega Creek is a tributary of the Santa Fe River.  Santa Fe River comes toward La Cienega from the northeast and travels between Cerro Seguro and the Las Tetillitas peaks.  Santa Fe River then runs through the Cañada de Santa Fe which skirts southern edge of Tsinat and La Bajada mesas.  Tsinat Mesa has Tsinat Ruins on it.  La Bajada Mesa seems to be the southern edge of the Caja del Rio Plateau and Tsinat Mesa is a small part of La Bajada Mesa.   On its way to the Rio Grande, it appears that the Santa Fe River crosses (over or under?) a spillway of Cochiti Dam but Cochiti Lake is well north of the Santa Fe River.  The Santa Fe River, which originates in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, goes into the Rio Grande (usually as a dry riverbed) catty-corner across from where Peralta Canyon, which originates in the Jemez Mountains, intersects the Rio Grande.

It seems the Santa Fe River would get an infusion of water from spring-fed Cienega Creek but it it's complicated.  I found online a Channel 4 KOB-TV news report about the village of La Bajada, west of La Cienega and Santa Fe.  The villagers, many who subsistence farm their land, complained last July about no water in the Santa Fe River.   According to the TV station's story, when Santa Fe tore out invasive salt cedar and Russian olive trees further upstream along the Santa Fe River and replaced them with native willows and cottonwoods, beavers toppled those trees and built dams which dried out downstream La Bajada!

Chris Isaak has two new-to-me CDs in the library - Lucky Man and Beyond the Sun.  I'm on the list for Beyond the Sun and have listened to Lucky Man.  It was good but I'd need to listen to it again to really appreciate it.  Just love that man's voice as it wraps around me!

The hiker with stage 4 lung cancer - just like state representative Ben Lujan - died Tuesday.  What a shock. She was always warm and kind when I talked with her on hikes.   The funeral home website shows a recent photo of her and one when she was younger - what a knockout beauty she was!!

Thoughts on life and death:  Going quickly would be OK if I made it all right with my life as I lived it and the people that I lived it with.  Haven't quite achieved that.  I'm often wishing for other circumstances rather than appreciating what is.  Linger and you'd want to hold on to life - too much time to ruminate and torture self.  Or, maybe time to set things right and accept death?  Thinking of death makes one appreciate the ordinary like chopping an onion or calling husband to discuss what's for dinner.  Sometimes, though, I make life a struggle.  How to make it less so?  All the things we hate about our life, dying would put in perspective but, of course, it would be too late!

I must say that yesterday, I really relished the many people I knew that I ran into at the library and senior center.  Life is meant to be lived, or something like that my friend in her late 70's once said.