Category: Costumes

Water & Cotton

Timothy Price60 Comments

Our Majordomo texted me last night that there would be water to irrigate in the morning. I went out at dawn, but there was not much water in the irrigation ditch. There was a lot of sticks and cotton floating on top of the water. Therefore, I didn’t want to open my gate before the water was flowing over the main gate because a lot of the debris would clog up my culverts and ditches. I texted the Majordomo and asked when the water would be let in, and told him I’d be back home around 11:00 am to let in the water if it had come up by then.

I went to work, and we moved the remaining file cabinets, shelf units, tables and cabinets out of the downtown office. We put some of it in the storage room on the south end of the building, and loaded the rest of it into 4 pickup trucks and delivered shelves to a church in northeast Albuquerque, and then I delivered file cabinets and desks to our pharmacy in Corrales on my way home. At 10:30 am the Majordomo texted me that the water was up. I thought I would make it to Corrales by 11:00 am, but then an employee at the market asked if we had more desks. We did, so he got his truck and we loaded it with 3 file cabinets and two desks. I wasn’t going to make it home by 11:00 am, so I called Laurie and had her open out gate and get the water started.

Speaking of cotton, not only does it cling to plants and other things, it clogs up our swamp cooler. The above photos are the swamp cooler all clogged up again after I had cleaned it on Monday afternoon. I have to pull out the pads and brush the cotton off of them, and then I have to use a hose to spay the cotton out of the vents in the panels that hold the pads.

Around 1:00 pm, storm clouds were building up. It started raining around 3:00 pm.

This native bee was working the Shasta Daisies. The insects really love the Shasta Daisies while they are in bloom.

The rain stopped around 4:30 pm. I went out to shut down the irrigation gate at 5:00 pm and the storm clouds were breaking up.

A Pearl Crescent butterfly was also enjoying the Shasta Daisies this afternoon.

A yellow lily started blooming this afternoon.

While I was checking the progress of the irrigation water, I noticed we had one yellow Bing Cherry on our cherry tree. That’s the biggest harvest I’ve had in years. I think we had four or five cherries in 2018. The cherry was delicious.

Pre-sunset at around 8:00 pm looking southeast. Resa’s tree lighted on the left, Dale’s Peach tree in front (it has peaches), and Rebecca’s Black Bamboo patch with yellow tops in the middle right background.

Closer to sunset around 8:15 pm east/southeast. From left to right: Tiffany’s tree, Gabriela’s tree, Gigi’s tree, Teagan’s trees behind Gigi’s tree, and Susan’s tree.

Sunset looking west.

Thirty-Eight Years

Timothy Price83 Comments

We celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary today. We went for a walk in the bosque, Laurie barbequed ribs and we sat out on the deck and ate dinner while the owls serenaded us with their hooting back and forth in the bosque. After dinner, we walked out to see the owlets. They had flown about 100 yards south of the Tangle Heart Tree. They are starting to fly really well. The moon was popping in and out of the clouds, and the skies were dramatic. Click on the photos to see a larger view.

Flamenco in the Old Church

Timothy Price40 Comments

While I was looking for the video file for Bite ‘Em on the Old Shin Bone last night to make a few updates to the video before posting it, I found a video of Laurie (Laura de Corrales) and me (El Cheo) performing Alegrías with Pablo Rodarte in a show we did in the Old Church in Corrales in the mid-1990s. Pablo danced Alegrías, Laura de Corrales is the Palmera, and El Cheo accompanied on guitar. I transferred the video from VHS to m4v several years ago, so the image quality is not very good. However, the sound is not too bad, considering.

In preparing for the show, Laurie and I practiced daily, I practiced with Pablo’s other students several days each week, but when it came to Pablo’s performance our practice together consisted of 15 minutes of Pablo doing a quick run-through of each part of the Alegías a week before the show. I simply had to follow all his leads during the performance.

Laurie and I both studied flamenco dance with Pablo, and I played flamenco guitar for many of his dance classes back in the 1990s before we moved to Spain for almost four years.

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The Old San Ysidro Church in Corrales
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Laura de Corrales dancing Tanguillos. El Cheo providing guitar accompaniment.

Pink Moon… Not!

Timothy Price56 Comments

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The super pink moon appearing between clouds over the Sandias, reflecting in the river.

I waited on the banks of the Rio Grande for the super pink moon to rise over the Sandias. In an otherwise clear sky, clouds lingered over the Sandias blocking the moon rise.  The moon was able to make a brief appearance in a break between the clouds. The clouds persisted in hiding the moon long after darkness set in, and beavers splashed in the shadows of the river bank.

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I had one opportunity to get a shot of the super pink moon as it rose through a break in the clouds.

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Clouds behind Resa’s trees lit up by the super pink moon lurking behind them.

La Llorona

Timothy Price38 Comments

I haven’t posted a parody in quite a long time. I’m sure there are many people who think it would be just fine if I never posted another parody. But life presses on, and I love making parodies, so another one has come to fruition. Besides, I could not let this opportunity for a parody pass me by.

It all started on New Years Day when Wade came over for black-eyed peas. We prepare and eat black-eyed peas every New Years Day for good luck (Laurie does most of the cooking). Wade and I went for a walk to Beaver point. Wade had never been to the river in Corrales, and he noticed the jetties along the riverbank. He commented that the river bank looked like Normandy with the large, jacks-shaped iron jetties along the edge of the river.

While I was explaining how the jetties were installed by the Conservancy for flood control, I pointed out a knot in one of the large cables that used to run through a line of jetties. I explained that La Llorona was the only one around here who had enough strength to tie a knot in a 1 1/4 steel cable. Wade asked “Who? I’ve never heard of La Llorona. Is she like ‘My Sharona?'” I said no, but realized at that moment that La Llorona was a perfect parody for “My Sharona”. You may know the song by The Knack? I was surprised I hadn’t put La Llorona and “My Sharona” together before now. It’s such an obvious fit. I wrote the lyrics and recorded the parody of The Knack’s music the next day. But it took a lot of thinking before I came up with an idea for a video.

It might have been right around Epiphany that I had an epiphany to employ Lego® figurines for La Llorona and her children. I knew we still had a lot of Legos out in the infinite shed of doom, so I plunged in and found some Lego figurines that were more than happy to play the parts. I also used photos of Muertas from Albuquerque’s annual Dia de los Muertos Marigold Parade in the video.

La Llorona

Lyrics: Timothy Price
Music: The Knack
Vocals AWB

Ooo, she lost her little ones, her little ones
When she drowned them in the ditch, la Llorona!
Ooo, then she tried to run, tried to run
Turned around and killed herself, la Llorona.

Never stops looking, gave them up, crying all the time
She can’t give them up, her wet embrace will break your spine
Cry, cry, cry, cry-cry, woo!

L-l-l-la Llorona

Come a little closer, she drown you in the ditch
Close enough to scratch your eyes, la Llorona
She is a mystery, always crying, look and see
Running down the ditch she shrieks on high, Llorona

Never stops looking, gave them up, crying all the time
She can’t give them up, her wet embrace will break your spine
Cry, cry, cry, cry-cry, woo!

L-l-l-la Llorona
L-l-l-la Llorona (Yeah!)

When’s she going to give it up, give it up
She’s just crying all the time, la Llorona
Is it just infanticide, infanticide
Or is it murder in your mind, Llorona?

Never stops looking, gave them up, crying all the time
She can’t give them up, her wet embrace will break your spine
Cry, cry, cry, cry-cry, woo!
C-c-c-c-c-c-c-cry, cry, cry, cry-cry, woo!

L-l-l-la Llorona
L-l-l-la Llorona
L-l-l-la Llorona
L-l-l-la Llorona

Aaaaah-oooh, la Llorona
Aaaaah-oooh, la Llorona
Aaaaah-oooh, la Llorona

Here’s some “My Sharona” trivia: “My Sharona”  was recorded in a single take in the studio and released on the album “Get The Knack” in June 1979. It sold over a half a million copies in record time for the 70s, and became the fastest Capital Record debut to reach gold since the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in 1964.

Spunk Watches Italian Music Videos

Timothy Price31 Comments

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Spunk has started watching Italian music videos. His current favorites are Anna Tatangelo’s “Sensi” (Feelings) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB6QA7snWqk, and Litfiba’s “Squalo” (Shark) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbcYNU71JOo.

In “Squalo” there are a couple of women painted up as skeletons who dance in the darkness for a few seconds at various times throughout the video. Spunk would start pawing at the skeleton figures every time they came on screen. I wonder how he sees the figures that makes him want to touch them.

I put on another Italian music video, but Spunk lost interest soon after it began, jumped down and started playing with his toys on the floor. When I replayed “Sensi”, he bounded across the room, slid up to the computer and intently watched the video again — he seemed to be enamored by Anna.

The lyrics to “Sensi” in Italian and English are available at http://lyricstranslate.com/en/sensi-feelings.html. I did not find an English translation for “Squalo”.

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