We followed this funny painted tractor/trailer rig on I-40 and then Coors Road until in turned off onto Ouray. I ran soaker hoses on the iris this afternoon and couldn’t resist photographing water droplets. The run-of-the-mill, purple and yellow irises have been blooming for a couple of days, but now our fancy irises are getting ready to bloom.

 

 

Austrian Copper bloomed all at once. It’s an old world rose that dates back to the 16th century. It only blooms once, but it’s beautiful while it blooms.

 

 

Our first bloom this year is Betty Boop, which is quite a surprise. Usually Austrian Copper blooms well before any of the other roses. This is not one of Betty’s finest, but I feel like I always need to post the first bloom.

We got a new lamb for the kitties, and it became enamored with Serge Gainsbourg, a popular and controversial French entertainer who died in 1991 at the age of 62. Last night we watched the new movie about his life entitled “Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life”. I really enjoyed the movie and recommend it to anyone who enjoys French movies. The music was especially good.

Dr. Scott Altenbach, professor emeritus in biology at UNM, gave a wonderful talk on bats and abandoned mines at the Men’s Breakfast this morning. He goes into abandoned mines to see if there are bats before the owners close access to the mines. He also has done wonderful photographs of bats over the years. I had Dr. Altenbach for a biology class when I was an undergraduate.  During one class he brought in a trash can and dumped a couple of large rattlesnakes on the front desk of the lecture hall. I think everyone in the front row but me jumped a few rows back when those snakes slid out onto the table in front of us.

Dr. Altenbach talking about exploring abandoned mines reminded me of when I 12 years old — a friend lived in Placitas, NM, a small community at the north end of the Sandias, whom I used to visit quite often. There was a man who called himself Ulysses S. Grant who spent a lot of time with us kids, and took us into some of the old mines in Placitas to explore them. The old mines were a lot of fun and fascinating for 12 year-olds. In 1970, Ulysses had a run in with a couple of men in one of the hippie communes in Placitas. He borrowed a 30-30 rifle from my friend’s dad, and when the men were coming to get him (as I heard the story) he shot and killed them. He left the rifle on my friend’s doorstep and disappeared. We were all surprised, of course, because having spent a lot of time with Ulysses, none of us kids would have thought him capable of murder. Officials believe they found his body in a burned out cabin in Utah in 1988. The following link to a story on KRQE has a pretty good account of the life of Ulysses: http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/on_assignment/hippie-leader-turned-killer-fugitive.

These tiny moths or they may be gnats are probably not Japanese, but they seem very adept at making Japanese-like characters. A few apple blossoms are still hanging on, and lots of bugs were out in the 80 degree temps this afternoon. One bug was sunning itself on a dandelion this evening, its wings glistening in the strong light.

 

Guildenstern was contemplating some of the books that were discussed in this year’s Medieval Spring Lecture series. Actually “1066 and all that” was not discussed, but it’s the closest thing we have to the Bayeux Tapestry; plus Laurie is going to suggest “1066…” for the next book to her book group on Sunday. All the lectures were fantastic, and I thank Timothy Graham, Director of the Institute of Medieval Studies at UNM, for all his hard work organizing the lecture series and bringing in such great speakers. If you didn’t make it to any of the lectures this year, pencil “Medieval Lecture Series” for the middle April onto your 2013 calendar.

 

 

The lectures on Beowulf and bestiaries were fantastic tonight. There is a medieval music concert at 5:15 pm tomorrow in Keller Hall, and the final lecture by Linda Seidel on “The Mysterious Maker of a Medieval Masterpiece: Gislebertus of Autun — Doer or Donor?” is at 7:30 pm in Woodward Hall.

Real and figurative night birds were out tonight as we made our way off campus. A young woman was writing messages on the sidewalk outside Woodward Hall. Another group of young people were fighting with light sabers on Johnson Field, and I got the photo of the little bird hopping around on the wall under the light of the physical plant building while I was waiting for Laurie to retrieve stuff from her office.

 

Both lectures at the Medieval Conference tonight were excellent. The problem is there was a bigger event being held at UNM this afternoon, so I had to park out by Central and Girard. It was a long walk both ways, but at least it offered nice photo ops on the walk back to the car tonight.

 

 

 

Call me old fashioned, but I still call them steps.  I was photographing another set of steps by the parking garage when a couple of young men stepped into the picture and posed. They were great models. The Alumni Chapel is always beautiful, but it’s especially lovely at night.

We were at UNM because the Institute for Medieval Studies lecture series started tonight. This year’s series is entitled “Medieval Masterpieces”. Tonight’s lecture was by Christopher de Hamel from Corpus Christi, Cambridge on 12th century giant illuminated bibles. His lecture was outstanding. I encourage anyone in the Albuquerque area to attend the the rest of the lectures. Tomorrow evening the two lectures are Boethius’s “Consolation of Philosophy” by Philip Edwards, Middle Tennessee State University at 5:15, and The Bayeux Tapestry, by Martin F Foys, Drew University at 7:15. On Wednesday the lectures are on Beowulf and “Illuminated Animals and God in Medieval England.” On Thursday, there is a medieval music concert followed by a lecture on Gislebertus of Autun.  The lectures are in Woodward Hall 101 and the concert is in Keller Hall, both at UNM.

 

 

I’ve been waiting for days for this red tulip to bloom. I think it would have bloomed today if it hadn’t gotten frozen last night. The white tulips are in a protected area so they are thriving.

 

A came across a couple of articles on google news about the Dixon Apple Farm’s lease issues with the State Land Office: http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s2581329.shtml and http://www.KOB.com/article/stories/S2581497.shtml?cat=500 The first four photos are from our pilgrimage to Dixon’s with Susan and Lois in 2010. The fires and subsequent flooding wiped out the Mullane’s home and all the structures associated with the farm. Apparently 75% of the trees survived, but the farm was devastated. The last photo is of white daffodils.

The follow is a response I wrote to the articles about Dixon’s farm:

On the issue of the Dixon Apple Farm lease, there’s no arguing schools could use the $2.8 million the Mullane family is asking to help cover the damage to the farm from fire and floods last year. Yet public schools are bottomless pits when it comes to needing money, and considering the billions of dollars in deferred maintenance in New Mexico’s schools alone, $2.8 million becomes a piddling amount. To paraphrase Jesus — public schools will aways be with us. But the Dixon Apple Farm, which is such a unique part of New Mexico’s heritage, will not. Is it right to hasten the farm’s demise over $2.8 million and say “it’s for the children”?

Land Commissioner, Ray Powell, also does not believe the State should use tax payers’ money to subsidize the Dixon Apple Farm; but is it really a subsidy?  The Mullane family has made improvements to the land for decades, and the State should compensate them for those improvements. Yet if one insists on calling the $2.8 million the Mullanes are asking for “a subsidy”, subsidizing farms with tax payers’ money, if the tax payers approve or not, has been a passion of federal, state and local governments for as long as most people can remember. New Mexico’s farm subsidies have averaged $36.1 million a year over the past 15 years and totaled $38.4 million in 2009 and $20.5 million in 2010(1). In the tradition of farm subsidies, is $2.8 million really too much to help Dixon’s Apple Farm?

Since the apples that come from Dixon’s farm are unique to the area, maybe they should be considered endangered species. The State of New Mexico has no problem spending millions of dollars to protect silvery minnow and other threatened and endangered species, but from the way this lease issue is being reported, state officials don’t care to preserve one-of-a-kind endangered apple trees. Tying to preserve the Dixon Apple Farm, like protecting the silvery minnow, would be of great benefit to New Mexico.

Dixon’s apples are world famous. There is New Mexican history and heritage tied up in the Dixon Farm, and people will line up for miles to buy Dixon apples at harvest time. A trip to Dixon’s was a fun, social and entertaining event that became an annual tradition for many people in New Mexico and visitors from other states. Not only is Dixon apple orchard a farm, but it’s a destination and provides entertainment to thousands of people. New Mexico paid large sums of money to the film industry to make movies and TV series in New Mexico over the past several years. I believe one can argue that the film industry did not produce entertainment as wholesome as the Dixon Apple Farm or benefit New Mexico as much as Dixon’s.

The Dixon Apple Farm holds a unique place in New Mexico’s heritage, is endangered, historic, and not only offers world famous apples, but also tradition, entertainment and educational opportunities to anyone willing and able to travel to the farm. State officials should consider the Dixon Apple Farm a treasure that is worth trying to save.

(1) 2011 Farm Subsidy Database http://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=35000&progcode=totalfarm&regionname=NewMexico