Category: Cottonwoods

Kittens, Cranes, Kitties, Crows

Timothy Price60 Comments

Gwendolyn  gargoyling

Glenda and Gwendolyn have full run of the house, catio, and deck now. Teagan had cast them as flying monkeys in a kitty fantasy, and she was right. The kittens are like a couple of flying monkeys. They have become very difficult to photograph because they won’t hold still if they are out of the dark kitten caves they have made for themselves in the laundry room. The big kitties have finally accepted the kittens and everyone is getting along reasonably well. The big kitties have become much more playful under the influence of the kittens. Of course, the big cats are also teaching the kittens many of their bad habits.

Cranes coming in for landing with crows in the background.

Marble

Gwendolyn

We’re just dropping in the see what condition all the conditions are in.

Spunk in the fuzzy hammock I replaced the last burlap hammock with.

The murder of Crows continues.

“You didn’t include me in the title?” Nope! You’re the intermission.

Cranes cavorting

Glenda in the dark.

Cranes at sunset

Gwendolyn: “What cream?”

Glenda

Gwendolyn: “La Llorona? What were you saying about La Llorona drowning kittens?” Children. She drowns children.

Glenda: “Kittens are children too!”

EEK!

Timothy Price49 Comments

“EEK! A mouse!” “Nice jump Dude!”

“That was close.”

“I’m not impressed.”

Intermission

“Did someone say ‘Mouse’?”

“Meh!”

“False Alarm!”

The excitement in the Rio Grande and bosque this evening. Cranes and owls. Spunk and Sasha had to comment.

Lovers in Lace

Timothy Price57 Comments

Mama Owl and Daddy Owl in a lacy cottonwood tree. January 3, 2021.

Lovers in Lace
Lyrics & Music by Timothy Price
Guitars, Bass, and Percussion: Timothy Price

Lovers in Lace is another new, original song that is very different from Memories that I posted yesterday. Imagine yourself in the low light of a smokey bar gazing into your lover’s eyes with Lovers in Lace playing in the background.

Jupiter peeping through a tree. Saturn is barely peeking through where the lower branches meet the lacy edge of the Elm trees. January 3, 2021.

Spunk

Memories

Timothy Price39 Comments

Setting Moon over Teagan’s Trees at Dawn.

MEMORIES
Lyrics by Ruelha
Music by Timothy Price
Vocals, Guitars, Bass and virtual percussion by Timothy Price

Memories is a new song collaboration with Ruelha at https://ruelha.com/. She posted the poem called Memories on December 20, 2020. I commented that it would make a good song. Ruelha gave me permission to see what I could do with putting her poem to music. The first go-around I used the poem as written using the reaping stanzas as the chorus. The first version is really long at 6:05. I asked her if I could cut out all but three of the choruses, and then I reworked the song. The final version is posted above. Ruelha posted the long version with her poem at https://wp.me/sb0Mrv-memories if you would like to hear the first take in comparison to the final.

The Rio Grande and Sandias at sunset. January 2, 2021.

Colorful clouds at sunset looking north on the levee. January 2, 2021

Travel Photo Challenge Day 10 Cranes In The Mist Then & Now

Timothy Price58 Comments

Cranes In The Mist. November 2009.

Cranes In The Mist is one of Susan Brant Graham’s favorite photos that I have done. Below are some cranes in the mist from this morning, but they don’t quite have the same magic as the original taken in 2009. Susan is not only my photographer of the day for my last post in the Travel Photo Challenge, but she is also one of my favorite photographers, period.

Laurie and I have known Susan for 20 years now. It all started with the Albuquerque Rose Society where Susan, Laurie, Tristan, Susan’s mother, and I all competed in rose shows and rose arranging competitions. I believe it was the summer of 2007, Susan was taking photos of roses in our garden when her camera broke. She had a Canon point-n-shoot then. That incident inspired her to get a Canon 5D full-frame camera, and she started taking photography seriously. She upgraded to a Canon 5D Mark II soon after it became available. Susan is an OBGYN and also has a Ph.D. in Anthropology. Over the years she has won many awards for her photography. She wrote the American Rose Society guidelines for judging photographs of roses and published a book on matting photographs for rose shows.

Susan and I share the same birthdate, so we have used our birthdays to do photography day trips. Susan, Laurie, and I have also photographed various special events together. Susan retired a few years ago and has recently been working on projects that show how colorblind people see color and on genealogy. She has published books on El Dia de los Muertos parade in Albuquerque, her colorblind project, and she is currently working on a book or books based on her family genealogy. Susan’s blog is http://susanbgraham.com/blog/. She has not been active on her blog this year with all her other projects and the craziness of 2020.

You can see photos from one of our more notable birthday excursions to Abó Ruins and Quarai Ruins at https://wp.me/p1yQyy-2cH and https://wp.me/s1yQyy-quarai. El Dia de los Muertos parade and the Blacksmith World Championships were two of the more memorable events we photographed together. Photos from those two events can be seen at El Dia de los Muertos: https://wp.me/p1yQyy-Vg. Blacksmith World Championships: https://wp.me/p1yQyy-1BG.

My last set of travel photos for the challenge are of Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge along the Rio Grande about 55 miles south of Albuquerque. The photos were taken in December 2009 when Laurie and I drove down to explore the area. It was cold and wet, and we saw very little wildlife that day.

Jupiter and Saturn were in the trees tonight. December 31, 2020.

Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge

 

Travel Photo Challenge Day 8 Taos Mountains

Timothy Price47 Comments

Dawn glow

We go to Taos in northern New Mexico for Day 8 of the Travel Photo Challenge. In August 2009, Laurie and I attempted to hike to Wheeler Peak, the highest peak in New Mexico at 13,167 ft (4,013 m). We got up to around 12,500 feet and turned around because the weather was becoming cold and stormy. We still had a wonderful time with beautiful scenery.

The photographer of the day is picpholio nature photography at https://picpholio.wordpress.com/. picholio combines photography with his love for nature, walking and cycling. He mainly shoots in Belgium and the surrounding countries and does especially great macro photography.

Jupiter with moons and Saturn getting ever farther apart. December 28, 2020.

Canadian Geese echelon flying over the Rio Grande with the Sandias in the clouds.

On the way to Wheeler Peak, 13,167 ft (4,013 m)

Travel Photo Challenge Day 3 Badlands

Timothy Price54 Comments

Merry Christmas! Resa’s Tree over the casita around Christmastime in 2004.trees

My photographer for Day 3 is Randall who has Global Sojourns Photography at https://dalocollis.com/. Randall is a fantastic photographer and an excellent writer who combines philosophy with his travel photography.

Jupiter and Saturn shining through a thin layer of clouds on Christmas Eve, 2020.

Day 3 is a series of photos from the De Na Zin Wilderness area south of Farmington, New Mexico. On our way back from the Native Plant Society conference in 2008, many of the participants stopped by the badlands. While most of the group was looking at plants, I and another photographer were occupied with the landscapes. We got separated from the group several times. In this area, which is part of the Bisti Badlands, there are whole petrified trees, hoodoos (formations that were platforms for trees), fossils, and well-sculpted barren landscapes.

 

Travel Photo Challenge Day 1 Breaking the Chain

Timothy Price51 Comments

Concordia Cemetery, El Paso, Texas.

Joni at Rum and Robots nominated me to be part of a travel photo challenge. I normally do not participate in WordPress awards and challenges. However, since this is travel photo related, I thought it would be a good opportunity to post some old travel photos. What I gathered from the challenge, is to do at least one travel photo every day and nominate another blogger to participate in the challenge each day for 10 days. In other words a chain blog.

I am going to post travel photos from the past since covid cooties did not allow us to travel as planned this year. I’m am also going to post the link to a photographer I follow each day, but it’s so you can visit their sites and see what kind of travels they have been up to. Otherwise, the Chain Breaks Here. I’m not nominating or challenging anyone to participate.

The first photographer I’m giving mention to is Bruce Welton. Bruce is our main programmer at the office. He has appeared in various forms on this blog over the years. However, with the demise of downtown, and the fact that he works from home during the covid crises, we have not done any downtown photos together in a long time. But alas, Bruce has been making day trips around New Mexico and has done wonderful photos of some of the places he’s visited. You can see photos of his day trips on his Echoes of Eden blog at http://www.brucewelton.com/category/day-trips/

Day 1 includes photos of Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas. We went to a Native Plants Society convention in El Paso in 2004. Before we headed home, we stopped by the cemetery and had a look around. At the end of this post are photos a Christine’s new young cottonwood tree.

You can read about the Buffalo Soldiers on Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Soldier

Richard Ramirez slept here. I read that Richard Ramirez (serial killer) lived in a house across the street from Concordia Cemetery when he was young. He often slept in the cemetery, and one of his favorite places to sleep was said to be John Wesley Hardin’s grave.

Back to the present, Christine who has Before Sundown had laid claim to a tree in the bosque about 1/2 mile north of Beaver Point. Since the cranes have been roosting south at 4th of July Point, I haven’t walked north for quite a while, so poor Christine’s tree has been ignored. Christine, who loves sunsets, asked if she could lay claim to a young cottonwood by the levee that’s on my way to Beaver Point, therefore, I walk by it every time I go to Beaver Point. Christine’s new tree is in a great spot for sunsets, and tonight had a decent sunset.

Christine’s Tree, young cottonwood on the right, looking east with the Sandia’s in the background.

Looking west with cololful clouds at sunset.

A panorama of the wild sky radiating from Christine’s Tree.