It's been a rough week!

Please hop over to The Capricious Painter for an update on my absence.

A New Mexico connection....really....

Stay with me, this really is about New Mexico...

I have a job, something I do 40 hours a week to fiance my real life, and I love it.

I'm a Senior Advisor for Columbia Builds Youth which is a YouthBuild USA affiliate. YouthBuild is a fantastic program with transformation as its core principle. Transforming the lives of at risk youth and transforming neighborhoods -

What does all of this have to do with my beloved New Mexico? Well, my director sent me to a wonderful YouthBuild Conference in Redondo Beach California this week. (I just got home at 4am my time - just in time for our little earthquake!)

Some of you may be saying "Lucky Girl" but before you do, this girl doesn't fly. I was slightly traumatized by this "lucky break" but everything went fine. But here's the interesting connection.

When I got to the registration table I immediately asked if there were any YouthBuild members from New Mexico. It just so happened that there was one standing right at the table and in addition there were at least five more. The training was quick and I tried to visit with each of them and hope I didn't miss anyone.

I burrowed in like a tick. Soaking up all of the New Mexico energy that I could. Wonderful group of people and I enjoyed them very much. I made a pest out of myself making sure I got my business card out to each of them.

While I was busy passing out my card another conference attendee quipped "Looking for a job are we?" That comment caught my attention. She couldn't have been anymore off base if she tried. The cards I was passing out weren't my business card, okay I did give one of them my business card, but mostly I was handing out my cards with my blog addresses and telling them how homesick I was and that I was coming home...asking several of them to "dream me home".

It was about seeking out familiar spirits and joking around about familiar neighborhoods and landmarks. It was about being with people I love and miss..even when they are strangers. Thank you guys for making a New Mexico girl feel connected.

It was also about making a universal statement by declaring "I'm coming home." The mouth speaks the heart. I like to believe that by saying out loud to total strangers that I'm coming home it will start a cosmic domino effect that will result in me reaching my goal. so let me say it again...

"I'm coming home - New Mexico, I'm coming home"

El Santuario de Chimayo

This photograph of the adobe wall and gate that surronds the coutyard of the Santuario de Chimayo is the very essence of New Mexico.

Salman Ranch

HELP! I DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS CALLED!!!

One person told me it was mesquite and the Internet referred to the bloom as Mexican Bird of Paradise. I don't know the name but I love the flower. It was a cloudy day when I took the picture so the colors don't read well. The flower is a beautiful yellow with an exotic red "something or other" (real technical jargon) shooting out of the center. Very delicate and thread like - reminds me of a Mimosa flower. No matter what its called I love it.

Patched Roof

I love everything about this picture. Its totally New Mexico. Adobes, cactus, and tin roof.
I'm 99.9% sure I snapped this in Villanueva, NM - if I'm wrong, let me know!

Prickly Pear Cactus

I'm sure these have a "real name" but growing up we always called them Prickly Pear Cactus. My sister makes a wonderful sugar free jelly from the fruit. My hat's off to her, I have never liked these because your hands end up covered with tiny stickers that are almost too small to remove.

I used a photo manipulation effect to alter this photograph.

Nuestra Senora de Refugio Church in Puerto de Luna

This beautiful church was built in Puerta De Luna, ten miles south of Santa Rosa, around 1880. Mass is still held there.