Desert Harbor Retreat — The Setting

June 2, 2014 Timothy Price17 Comments

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.

45CU4144 — Laurie drawing the cliffs from the porch swing

A18W1411 — View of the cliffs from the porch

A18W1446 — Laurie modeling her new dress

A18W1406 — Interior view looking towards kitchen and bath area

A18W1473 — Laurie modeling her new pants and sweater

SandiasEastSide5-31-14 — view of the east side of the Sandias from the guest house

45CU4627 — Raymond set chairs on top of a cliff for us to watch the sunset

45CU4611 — The sunset from the chair on the edge of a cliff

45CU4608 — View looking west from the cliff after the sun had set

Reflections In Muddy Water

May 27, 2014 Timothy Price8 Comments

Just south of the Alameda bridge, there are various ponds filled with muddy water from the Rio Grande, that reflect nicely on a still day.

Pink Peonies on Parade

May 24, 2014 Timothy Price16 Comments

We had several thunderstorms move through yesterday, including a heavy hailstorm. When I got home, Laurie told me the pink peony had bloomed and ask me to go out and see if the flowers survived the hailstorm. Many of the blooms were a little beaten down, but they survived the storm. I couldn’t resist photographing the wet roses while I was out, and I ended up pretty wet myself.

Broken Lens Breakdown

May 8, 2014 Timothy Price15 Comments

Along with the Canon F-1, I ended up with three lenses: a Canon EF 35-105mm (digital), a Canon EF 35-80mm with macro (digital) and a Canon FD 135mm (film). The lenses were described as “For parts or not working…” I dinked around with each lens — cleaned up contacts, loosened up things that seemed to tight, tightened up parts that seem too loose, cleaned the elements the best I could, and then I tried them out. I tested the 35-105mm and 35-80mm on a Canon 5D and a Canon 1Ds (both full frame digital bodies), and the 135mm on the Canon F-1 (35mm film body). There are two photos produced with each lens in this series. I believe I got the broken lenses working pretty well — can you guess which lens was used to produce each photo? “If you can’t be handsome, at least be handy” and produce beautiful photos!

New Blooms

April 28, 2014 Timothy Price20 Comments

Austrian Copper, Lady Banks, a yellow iris and a tulip with ram’s horns are some of our most recent blooms. Austrian Copper and Lady Banks are our first roses to bloom. Lady banks is a tiny rose.

Water My World

April 23, 2014 Timothy Price8 Comments

I went out at 3:30 in the morning to put down the gate and let the irrigation water in. A half moon peaked out between the clouds, providing just enough light to get a photo of the gate in the main canal. The ditches I dug over the weekend worked really well to efficiently distribute the water where I needed it. The water was moving very slowly when I put down the gate, so it took over two hours before it ran over the gate to provide enough pressure to really push the water through through the ditches. I had good water pressure for about an hour before someone upstream took the water, but that was enough time to get almost everything watered thanks to my new ditch system.

Open Wide and Say Spring!

April 3, 2014 Timothy Price6 Comments

Tulips basking in the full sun.

Coffee Art

March 2, 2014 Timothy Price5 Comments

After photographing the sunrise filtering through the dust and mist the other morning, I was inspired to accidentally create a work of coffee art on edge of the counter.

Manx in Mulch

February 24, 2014 Timothy Price17 Comments

I had the catio closed while I painted the floor, so Mama Manx took advantage of the sunny day to go out and have a roll in the mulch. After a few rolls, she paused to yawn, and then acted embarrassed about the yawn by putting her paw over her face. When she finished rolling in the mulch, she nestled into a dried catnip for a catnap.