America's 234th Birthday

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL THE READERS OF MY BLOG!!!
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"You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."

~~President John Quincy Adams

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The continuing saga of the "high desert" hydrangea

In 2009 for Mother's Day, my daughter and her family gave me a hydrangea plant. It was delivered from a florist in Santa Fe, after my daughter requested a plant that would do well in our dry high desert climate.

What I got was a hydrangea - a plant that needs cool weather and a LOT of moisture. (Definitely not xeric!)

It was lovely:




...but as time went on the challenge became just keeping it alive. It became a mission. All the leaves fell off, but in the early spring I noticed new little leaves. Could it be saved? I put it in a "cool" place on our front portal, and I watered the thing every single day. It got more leaves - definitely not florist-shop quality, but the darn thing was alive:



This week I noticed this:


We have FLOWERS! Kind of anemic and scant, but FLOWERS! The hydrangea lives!

(Stop laughing, Raymona!)

Bloomin' cactus

Our cactus are in full bloom -- I love when our high desert is decorated with fuchsia flowers:

New Mexico lowrider

This half of a lowrider car is on exhibit at the Santa Fe State Capitol, a tribute to an Hispanic cultural custom:

Oooooooh, Pei Wei!

When we have visited our kids in Texas and when we lived in Kansas, one of our favorite places to eat was Pei Wei, the diner version of P.F. Chang's Asian Restaurant.

I've missed Pei Wei ever since we moved, so last night was a real treat. We were in Albuquerque, where there are two Pei Wei locations, so that's where we went for dinner.

Teriyaki chicken rice bowl! Mango chicken! Yum Yum Yum. I swear I think I could eat their food every single day.

What I am hoping for now is that some P.F. Chang's corporate executive has the idea to open a Pei Wei in Santa Fe. They would sure get our business ... and very often.



(The view of the Sandia's from the front of the restaurant...)

Riding the rails to debt?

It looks like the Rail Runner is going to be a huge issue in the political campaigns this year.

The Democrats who are running for office, generally support it (it is known as Bill Richardson's legacy here) and in some cases, want to expand it.

The Republicans are for the most part are opposed to it, and some want to scrap it entirely, because it is a huge money loser for the state, racking up millions of dollars in debt the longer it operates.

As for John and I, we think it is cool to see it in Santa Fe and we like to watch it. HOWEVER, when we look in the cars and try to estimate how many people we see riding it at any give time, the cars are mostly empty. I guess we are not seeing it during the rush hours in the morning and evening; perhaps it has some riders then, but I don't think they are enough to keep it in the black.


(The Rail Runner in Santa Fe June 1, 2010, Cerrillos Road and St. Francis Drive))

Up in the mountains

We went up for a drive to the top of the Sangre de Cristos a couple of weeks ago when our kids were out here visiting.

We never get tired of that trip up the mountain, and it's always fun to take visitors up there: