Thursday's Two-fer

I've been a little slow to "produce" this week. Seems I've got too many things going on to stay focused. This morning I dropped off Gertie at the veterinarian to have her teeth cleaned. I always worry so much about having anything remotely surgical done to her, but I know having it done is better for her than not doing it.

Today I thought I'd do a "two-fer". The first is about a recent wine purchase and the second is about my visit to the Cedar Park Farmers Market last weekend.

I am not much of a wine connoisseur, but I do enjoy a glass of red wine a couple of times a week. Usually I buy a local (Hill Country) wine or something from Chile or Argentina, but the other day I was in a new-ish grocery store (chain) in Austin called "Sprouts" and decided to check out their wines. This time I decided to just go on the look of the label. I tried the two below just for fun.

Visiting the Wine Section of Sprouts Farmers Market
http://sprouts.com/home.php

Obviously the Drink & Eat Boire & Manger
with the cows on the label had to go home with me.
Gerald knew I would not be able to resist
buying these two even if they ended up
tasting like vinegar (which they did not).

My favorite is Broke Ass Red Wine from Argentina.
Don't you just love the band-aid on the "ass"?
The label says, "No Frills Great Table Wine".
Oh yeah, I'm buying it again!


Visiting the Cedar Park Farmers' Market

David Pitre & daughter Claire
My good friends David Pitre & Katie Kramer Pitre are owners of
Tecolote Farms ~ Certified Organic ~ Webberville, TX
Katie & I taught school together in the mid-1990's,
then we were neighbors just east of Austin,
and we were always friends.
David is a well-known organic farmer.
It is always nice to see them at the Farmers' Market;
they have wonderful produce.

Also, Happy Birthday Tecolote Farm... seventeen years old today!

Visit Tecolote Farm on FaceBook

"Oldest CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the Austin area. Members pick up their shares at their doorsteps or neighborhood hubs currently. We deliver to the Central Austin area (roughly: north of 71, east of 360, south of 183, and most points east). Thank you for your interest in our produce, and we hope to meet you soon! Come see us at the farmers' markets in the meantime to pick out exactly what you want of the same great produce that we deliver in our CSA. We were chosen by the Austin Chronicle's Best of Austin awards in the Critics' Pick category for Food and Drink as the "Best Organic Veggie Delivery Service". Superb quality, freshness, and an amazing value~ all for just-picked tender and delicious viddles! A true CSA is a relationship between a household and a farmer- you experience what can be grown on one farm in one growing season, with all the wonderful surprises, weather hardships, and culinary delights that the farmer's household is also experiencing. This is the true farm to table experience, and we love bringing our produce right to the people who eat it!"

Fruit & Vegetable Vender

Olive Oil
Texas Hill Country Olive Company
Produced in Dripping Springs, TX
Wonderful flavors of olive oil & it's fresh!
www.texashillcountryoliveco.com

Tasty - Refreshing - Drinks

Texas Lavender!!
Grown in nearby Webberville
about 15 miles from Bastrop
I bought a lotion & spray.
Smells so good!
www.texaslavender.com

Jewelry for Sale
pretty typical jewelry products
for sale at a market

Hot Dog
poor pitiful puppy
It was pretty warm although there was a
nice breeze and not too hot as long
as one could find some shade.

I just could not bring Gertie with me this weekend.
The temperature is just too hot;
so she is staying at Best Friends Boarding Too.
She has her own little doggie condo
with a yard & there is even a
swimming pool in the shape of a dog bone.
Way cool!

And just the other evening...

Turkeys on the Roof
Two Young Toms

I may have to rename my blog to "Turkeys on the Roof". These little guys and some of their pals are coming around during the day & early evening. One day I found a turkey feather in the yard. At first I thought it was a hawk's tail feather, but the G-man identified it as a turkey feather.

D-guy, my sculptor friend and ex-husband, in Australia suggested that I have turkey windvanes made for the roof. When he first saw the photo on FaceBook he thought they were cutout sculptures. He makes windvanes in his studio which are exceptional. Wish he could do them for me, but the freight to get them here would be exorbitant.

Daniel Jenkins Sculpture & Windvanes link. Very interesting work & the sculptures are beautiful in the water garden.

"Ill Fares the Land"

An excerpt from historian, Tony Judt's book "Ill Fares the Land" is found within this link in an interview he had with Terry Gross of "Fresh Air" on NPR.

Right from the get-go I am hooked when I read these words:

"Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For thirty years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth. We no longer ask of a judicial ruling or a legislative act: is it good? Is it fair? Is it just? Is it right? Will it help bring about a better society or a better world? Those used to be the political questions, even if they invited no easy answers. We must learn once again to pose them."

The one question above that most stands out to me is: "Will it help bring about a better society or a better world?" Perhaps this is the rebellious child of the 1960s coming out. I think in the '60s and '70s many of us were fixated on making this country & the world a better place. Certainly, I wanted to see an end to the Viet Nam War and an end to apartheid in America.

In my mind the War was purely political; it was about saving face of the United States. It really didn't have anything to do with national security, but about winning a conflict because we always won in war. However, this was a different war. We did not know who were the enemies... we could not tell the good guys from the bad because we were fighting a guerrilla war. There were no front lines; no clear definition of who to trust. For me and most who objected to the war it was not about hating our soldiers or wishing them ill... it was about getting them out of a no-win situation; getting them out of harm's way.

And then there was the problem of race at home. It was time... PAST TIME... for black people to share in the same rights and privileges as whites. This revolution was for all people of color. Today we are still fighting for the rights of individuals whether they be immigrants, people of color, of various religious persuasions, or sexual persuasion.

I have passed the point of wanting to be part of demonstrations or to confront people who think differently from me. However, I have not stopped writing about the things I think are wrong with our society... and I have not stopped VOTING. When I look back on that last sentence it seems I write about what is wrong... time I looked for what is right.

For me tolerance is the issue. Perhaps tolerance is not quite the right word. Perhaps embrace is a better one. We should EMBRACE the rights of ALL; not just tolerate them. We have Civil Rights and Religious Rights and Human Rights in our wonderful country. For all it's faults this is a great country, but we do not have to alienate our neighbors just because they look differently from us, think differently, have a different life style, or religion.

It should not make us less Christian, less Muslim, less Jewish, less Human to accept people as they are. Violence and hatred are our enemies. Open-mindedness, inclusiveness, and acceptance are our allies.

I hope you will consider looking at the book which I am recommending: "Ill Fares the Land". It is a wake-up call for us, for the old ones like me and for the middle and young generations. Here is another excerpt:

"For thirty years students have been complaining to me that 'it was easy for you': your generation had ideals and ideas, you believed in something, you were able to change things. 'We' (the children of the '80s, the '90s, the 'aughts') have nothing. In many respects my students are right. It was easy for us — just as it was easy, at least in this sense, for the generations who came before us. The last time a cohort of young people expressed comparable frustration at the emptiness of their lives and the dispiriting pur­poselessness of their world was in the 1920s: it is not by chance that historians speak of a 'lost generation'. "

Tony Judt died Friday of complications from ALS. He was 62.

El Sanctuario de Chimayo

Just south of Taos is the small community of Chimayo at the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. El Santaurio de Chimayo is located there and dates back to the 17th century. It was established by some of the first Spaniards in what is now New Mexico. Chimayo is about 30 miles north of Sante Fe. It is a few miles east of Espanola.

We took the scenic High Road from Taos to Espanola and arrived at Chimayo. I have heard of this community, but did not know much about it. The two chapels there are lovely, but the taking of photographs is not allowed inside either chapel.

There are little chapel gift shops located beside each chapel along with the Vigil Store and Peregrino Cafe which sell postcards, religious symbols, candles, and art made by local artisans. It is a quiet place and even though most people are tourists it does not feel touristy.

The links provided above give a history and photography of the chapels. Chimayo is quite an interesting place to visit. Chimayo is perhaps best known for its weavers and examples of the Chimayo Weavers can be seen at the link provided. Above there are also links to the community of Chimayo and to El Santuario.

This was another unexpected find as the G-man and I traveled along the High Road: Scenic Drive from Taos to Espanola.

Entrada

Vintage

Peregrino Cafe
Chili Shop, Gallery, Cafe

Santo Nino Chapel

Hearts above the tower

The Vigil Store

Display of artisan work outside store

Just outside store - relics

El Santuario de Chimayo
Entrance

El Santuario

Santuario Garden Wall

Candles

Pilgrim Statue Welcomes All to Visit

Cool, refreshing river runs throughout the Santuario

Base Camp...

Just walking along the main street through Taos I spotted this Toyota Tundra with two bikes and the coolest little Airstream camper. Now I've always liked Airstream but this "Base Camp" model is super -cool! I don't think it would work for me & the G-man...mainly the G-man, but I could go for it... if I were single & much younger.

Airstream "Basecamp" Camper
Seen on the main street in Taos
Coolest Camper on Two Wheels

Years ago I did some camping and just loved it. I've tent camped on a horse-packing trip into the back country at Yellowstone and at Big Bend National Park, also in a small camper at Big Bend, at Terlingua, at Davis Mountains (TX) State Park and on weekends at a ranch north of Austin. Lots of my camping involved horses, but some was associated with motor-boating and skiing.

When I sailed we usually stayed on the sailboat (a 25 foot Hunter), but other times it was tent camping and sailing an 18 foot M-Scow. All my camping experiences have been good ones. Well, with the possible exception of the time my ex- was thrown off is horse & I had to pack up everything and drive him to the emergency clinic. Nothing serious just pulled muscles, but he had a hard time walking for a few days.

Mostly those camp-outs are good memories, but I wouldn't trade in the G-man to have it back again. That was another life and some of you know exactly what I mean by "another life". At this stage in my life I am thankful for two things: 1) finding the G-man when I was in my late 50s and 2) that I do have some good memories to look back on with my 20+ years with M.

Can These Be Classified as Portraits?

When it comes to portraits I enjoy something with action or that tells a story about the person. My favorite "portraits" of the G-man are when he is involved in something: golf, bird watching, traveling. He is so happy when he' s active.

The G-man's work Golf...

The G-man's hobby Bird Watching.

Bird-watcher

The G-man's family: Lizzy & Gertie

Family: A Woman and Her Dogs

The photo of the palm reader below is telling a story. She loves what she is doing and the intensity is obvious. The photograph of the man's hand shows him tapping out a tune on the chair as he watches his child at play.

A musician's hand

A Palm Reader

Young girl having her palm read

The photos of the little girls tells a story of fun, laughter, and sheer pleasure. The girl in the field of yellow flowers is having so much fun picking flowers and wading through them. The little girl with her water-wings and sunhat is shyly peeking at her new-found cousin. The young girl is intently listening to the Palm Reader as she gives her guidance for life... sweet.

Little Girls "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"... Cindi Lauper

Cheryl & the G-man in Paris

The G-man on Train in Romania

I love the photos of the women, one sleeping & one enjoying an art show. The cat napping in the sleeping woman's lap is priceless.

Woman & Cat-Napping

Artist

Then there is New Orleans and the characters who live (and visit) the town. New Orleans residents are a breed unto themselves just as the city is almost like being in a foreign one. I could wander the streets of New Orleans for days and never tire of it.

New Orleans Characters

G-man in New Orleans... another character

New Orleans: Family Waiting & Chatting

Life without animals is not life; so the last two animal photos are favorites of mine.

Gertie posing

My favorite burro photo: near Sealy, TX

Now after looking at these, can we consider them portraits or are they just snapshots with people and animals in them?