The best 270º panorama I could come up with from the left L to the right L of sheet rocked inside of the darkroom.
I sheet rocked in the darkroom Sunday. I turned out to quite frustrating and painful at times, mostly because the heads of the sheet rock screws strip easily. I couldn’t find a bit that seated well into the screw head, which made the bit want to slip off the screw head, so I ended up unintentionally driving the bit into my fingers and palms of my hands more than once. Over the past several weekends, I got water into the darkroom, ran electrical, and put in a light. Laurie came up with the title, because she said all the noise from screw heads striping and me yelling about a resulting injury, unintended hole in the wall or broken piece of sheet rock, sounded like the wall was winning. I took Laurie into the dark-side of the newly sheet rocked darkroom to check it out, and as I swung the portal door around she said “I can’t see a damn thing!” It is dark inside, so I think I’ll go “soccer” on it and call it a tie!
180º panorama of the left L, portal in center and right L.Outside of the darkroom, all sheet rocked except around the top of the top.
Another garden on the Corrales Garden Tour had adobe sculpture in various states of dissolution. Adobe sculpture is a little like longer lasting sand paintings, but instead of erasing them at sundown, the adobe sculptures slowly erode back into the earth.
“This integral arrangement — minimalist home of rammed earth walls, plus native grasses — works perfectly as a unit.” reads the introduction to the writeup on the Roger and Mary Downey Garden for the Corrales Garden Tour we went on last weekend. The house sits in the center of the property surrounded by native grasses. Since this is only late spring, the grasses are just starting to grow. The grasses are best seen in the fall when they have reached their full heights and display their varied colors — colors that are reflected in the rammed earth construction of the house.
South face of the house. The interior shots below show the rooms from left to right in this photo.Artists were painting various scenes.Stand alone bedroom with its one bathroom.Entry and long hall on the north side of the house.Livingroom and kitchenKitchenMaster bedroomMaster bathLong hall leading to the last room on the east end of the house.The last room on the right (east end of the house) has a display of figurines, a throw rug and a frosted glass table.Interesting ceiling in the last room on the right.Looking down the hallway back toward the entrance from the last room on the right.
After a lot of banging, bending, and creative work, I got the swivel portal-door for the darkroom I’m building repaired and working after the shippers had trashed it as best they could. Now I have the rest of the framing done, the exhaust fan installed, and the sink roughed in.
Our stay at Desert Harbor Resort was a Christmas gift from Laurie’s parents, and we scheduled our stay for our 32nd wedding anniversary. Desert Harbor Resort is run by Raymond and his wife Wesley. Guests stay in a small house up the hill from the main house nestled below undulating cliffs among the juniper and piñon trees. The nightly rate includes breakfast, and guest have the option of ordering dinners as well. Guests can also get life counseling, time in a hot tub, and schedule messages for additional fees. There is a labyrinth guests can walk in and then sit in the center and meditate. On the other side of the cliffs the porch faces is a covered lookout, with a chair and a hammock, overlooking a canyon where one can relax, read or meditate. There are also trails for hiking in the canyon and beyond.
Guesthouse
Laurie drawing a selfie
hot tub
Laurie drawing the cliffs from the porch swing
View of the cliffs from the porch
Interior of the guest houseLaurie modeling her new dressInterior view looking towards kitchen and bath areaLaurie modeling her new pants and sweater
The labyrinth
view of the east side of the Sandias from the guest houseRaymond set chairs on top of a cliff for us to watch the sunsetThe sunset from the chair on the edge of a cliffLaurie sketching the sunsetCliffs after sunsetView looking west from the cliff after the sun had set
I bid on this Canon F-1 on ebay, it was cheap, and I was expecting to be outbid because Canon F-1s are popular cameras on ebay. I forgot about it until I got an email that I won the bid seven days later. The camera looks rough with a lot of brassing, a few dents and a few dings, but it works great and the light meter is right on accurate. It has a motor drive, which is really cool — “chunka, chunka, chunka…” at five frames per second when I hold down the shutter release. Interestingly enough, the F-1 will not trip my studio flashes or modern flashes, but it has no trouble tripping my old Metz CT-60 flashes. I included four photos that are scans of negatives taken with the F-1.
I was downright domestic and quite handy all weekend. I made a double batch of pork roast with potatoes, carrots and celery to get some food stocked up in the freezer. I had a stark reminder about how busy we’ve been when I opened the door to discover I had more film than food in in the freezer — it was definitely time to do some cooking.
I also finished organizing the catio, and got the rest of the stuff out of the armory, and started preparing to build a darkroom. I ordered a walk-thru cylindrical revolving darkroom door, which should arrive in a couple of weeks, and started drawing lines on the carpet to mark out where the walls and cylindrical door will go.
The nature of remodeling projects is that I always have to deal with deferred maintenance as part of each remodeling project, so I repaired the roof on the armory, and then put re-purposed corrugated steel on the exterior, south-facing wall to cover up the deteriorating exterior wall board that’s been blasted by the sun for the past 24 years. I also covered up the window in the south wall, since I don’t need a window in the darkroom. The re-purposed corrugated steel gives the south wall of the armory a colorful, ghetto-like look between the white and silver pieces, and the rusty spots.
Attempt at studio flash with F-1. The camera would not trip the flash, but the results were interesting. Kodak MAX 400 film that expired in 2004.
Sandias with Jetis and Rio Grande in the foreground. Fuji 200 print film
Rosencrantz through the screen. Kodak MAX 400 print film that expired in 2004
Tullips Kodak MAX 400 print film that expired in 2004
Double batch of Pork Roast with potatoes, carrots and celery.
More film in the freezer than food. In truth, there is more green chile by volume than film, but that’s about it.
Started drawing out on the floor where the walls and walk thru-cylindrical revolving darkroom door will go.
I put up re-purposed corrugated steel on the outside of where the darkroom will be, covering up a window in the process. I got out the level just because that’s what one does when remodeling, but as most everything in NM the building is “not even!”
Off Center & Not Even 