Friday finds in Santa Fe...

Santa Fe is filled with rich colors, culture, and curiosities.  We are here so Warren can get some continuing education hours, and I am attending a photograph workshop put on by Nevada Wier who is a photo journalist for National Geographic.

I am linking this to Kim Klassen's Friday finds.  I have found so much...

One of our favorite finds is a custom hat shop...O'Farrell's Hat Shop.  I have always liked hats, but have had a hard time finding one that fits due to my small head.  Warren has always had a hard time finding a hat because of his big head.  Together, we average out to a normal head size.  Anyway, we bit the bullet and got fitted to have custom hats made for each of us.

This contraption maps the shape of your head...Warren and I do not have round heads, but very oval ones.

Some of the hat styles...

Selection of hat bands...

This is an example of their work.  We both selected a hat made from rabbit, and beaver felt.  Mine will be black, and Warren's is a pewter gray.  I have a beaded headband, and Warren a leather.  Our hats will not be available until November.  We both can hardly wait.

Very interesting hat...

This is our home away from home.  The building is over 200 years, adobe, with nothing straight about it.  I love it.  

 Of course, the choice of restaurants is endless.  We are partial to hamburgers.  Look at the size of this one we got at Zia Diner...mine was without the bun.

Yum...

The building codes states that all buildings have to be in Pueblo, or Territorial style.  View down San Francisco Street.

Loretto Chapel

The Characters.  His hat has feathers, and pelts all over it.  I asked him about the pelts...he said they were road kill that he stuffed himself...gross.  But they look amazing on his hat.

Food cart on the Plaza

There is a train that runs from Santa Fe to Albuquerque, and back.  This is the Depot.

Indulging, and splurging...our Sangria.  We have not had one in years.  In fact, Warren is the one who introduced me to Sangria when we first got married.  I had my first one at a restaurant called La Tertulia (closed now) here in Santa Fe.

Santa Fe is one of our favorite places to visit.  There is so much to do, and see.  You can come a thousand times, and still you find new and interesting things every time.  Be blessed.

Old Adobe house...

"I live in my own world.  But its okay, they know me here." -Lauren Myracle

Yesterday, I went with my friend to take pictures of an old, crumbling, adobe house.

Isn't this a nice old, adobe house...

We were in our own little world out there, and we had a wonderful time.  

We did watch out for snakes...since it has rained... they come out more.  Sure do not want to run into one of these. The rattlesnake photo was taken by Sue Heaton at Bitter Lakes Wildlife Refuge.  Her photos can be seen here.

Photo by Sue Heaton

We took all sides, angles, and of everything around...

My friend brought this cactus along for us to add to our list of things to photograph.  

And then there was this tree.  At first, I thought the photograph was not good because of the shadows across the field from the setting sun, but after I looked at it, I think it adds dimension, and drama to the photo.  I like it a lot.

I did play around with some textures so I could link up to Kim Klassen's texture Tuesday.

Texture: kk_pumpkin, Distressed Jewel: flight in cyan.  Filter: Artistic, water color in PSE 11

Texture from Distressed FX, and the birds too.

Be blessed.

Memorial Day...

"I can't claim to know the words of all the national anthems of the world, but I don't know of any other that ends in a question and a challenge as ours does: 'Does that flag still wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.'  That is what we must all ask."-Ronald Reagan, Arlington National Cemetery, May 31, 1982

We remember...

From the web...

A salute to all our veterans...Here is mine...

Thank you all who served, and those who gave their lives for our freedom...Memorial Day, 2014

Rain...yes, rain...

"The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain." -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

We finally got some rain around here...lots of rain for us: 4 inches.  It was very much needed.  I was beginning to think we were going to have another dust bowl around here.  The wind has been awful, and I was told by a friend that it would not stop blowing until we had some rain.

Rain gauge...the water is right at the 4 inch mark.  

I donned my rain boots, and went out this morning to see what the rain did to our little town.

I actually got to wear these boots somewhere other than my garden.  I had a lot of comments on them from other people. 

One bad thing about getting so much rain at one time is the flooding that follows.  Our poor land does not know how to handle so much rain in so little time, so we have had flash flood warnings.  Water has been up over the curbs, trees and fences have been knocked down, but we have escaped anything like that around our house.

Spring River by the museum...see the walking trail to the right...it is all under water.

The debris on the fence shows how high the water actually got...  It had receded quite a bit by the time I got there.

The golf course.

Love the rain! So do the plants...

Good, good rain...

My hollyhock in the backyard.

The cat went out, then came back in...I don't think she knew how to handle all the rain either.  She climbed on her stool by the window, and looked forlornly outside...

Longing to go outside...

I bet Maggie is saying...Whahhh, I want to go outside...not really, she was just yawning.  My what big teeth you have...

On a good note, cloudy weather brings out the desire to bake things.  I thought some pancakes sounded good.  Actually, my reason for making pancakes was two-fold.  I wanted pancakes, but my online photography class's challenge theme is eggs, so I had to get a picture with eggs in it.  Like the old cliche says, "Kill two birds with one stone."  I made almond flour pancakes, since I cannot have wheat flour.

The pancakes were a little crumbly, probably because I used almond flour that I made myself, which is not as fine as store bought.  But they were nutty, and delicious.  Here's the recipe if you want to try making some of this deliciousness for yourself:

1 1/3 cup almond flour
2 eggs
2 Tbs. coconut oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2/3 cup almond milk

Delicious for sure.  We are so thankful to have the rain.
Be blessed.

Our communication guys...

"The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives."-Anthony Robbins

You know how you see the orange diamond signs that say, "Men Working," but only one or two are working, and the rest are shovel leaning.  Well that is not the case with the men here.  They only stopped long enough to let me take some individual photos.  It was barely 8:00 in the morning, and they were all wearing a layer of mud.  

Yesterday, when I was out walking around the track, there was a group of men working doing some sort of utility work.  I did not have my camera with me then, but went to ask if they would be working at the same location the next day, and if I could take pictures.  I was told, "yes" to both questions.  So I went back today.  One of my photography magazines has a contest on "morning."  Well, these guys are out very early in the morning, and I thought they would make a good photo for the contest.  They are with Cablevision Communications, Inc. from Alamogordo, and are installing fiber optics.  So we will have better communication in our fair city.  Yeah.  Anyway, here are some of the photos I took this morning.

This is very dirty work...

Micah

Mike standing...

Joe

Joe and Mike

Mike's Dad

Then I took a couple of the photos to use for my photo artistry class.  I love how these came out.

Micah

Arthur

I hope I got all their names correct.  Very nice and polite men, but also very hard working.  Thanks for the pictures.