Colonias, New Mexico

These are some photo's from our 2007 trip home.

Hornos at Taos Pueblo

These ovens are made of adobe and are used to bake the most wonderful bread you have ever tasted.
It takes a special gift to bake in a horno. First you have to collect firewood and build a fire inside the oven. Small twigs of Juniper are traditional and the scent of the Juniper add to the magic of this process. Allow the fire to burn boldly and then die down to coals. Ashes are then swept out of the front of the oven. A towel is secured to the end of a pole and dipped in water to swab down the oven floor. A rough wood or metal "door" leaning against the opening helps regulate the heat.
Now here's the real trick; toss a crumpled piece of newspaper into the oven. If the paper burns up the oven is too hot and needs to be swabbed out again with cold water. But when the paper burns slowly and turns a light brown the oven is the right temperature to bake your bread.
The dough is shaped into a round loaf and slid inside the oven with a large wooden paddle. It's common for several dozen loaves to be baked at once.
I have been told that once the bread is done the oven will have cooled to the right temperature to bake cakes and cookies. Then a brisket, pork roast or maybe a turkey can go in next and left in over night for slow roasting
If I close my eyes I can almost smell the bread...
If you enlarge the photo you can see the straw mixed into the mud (and the cemetery in the back ground). You can buy Indian Bread anytime of year but for reasons I can't explain I tend to identify them with fall.
Ah, fall in New Mexico. Golden leaves, cool days, turquoise skies, the smell of green chile roasting, bread baking and juniper smoke....these are the things of home.

Ft. Union, New Mexico with a Missouri Connection

This is really cool - check out this website for the whole story about the connection between Ft. Union and Missouri. http://www.kansasheritage.org/research/sft/ft-union.htm
Made of adobe only the brick fireplaces remain for the most part.
STOCKADE...no adobe here - all stone!
This is what remains of the hospital.

One day we left Santa Rosa and headed up to Cimmaron, Angel Fire, Eagles Nest, Red River and called it quits in Questa before heading into Taos and Santa Fe. It was a fantastic trip. We had just past Las Vegas and somewhere between there and Cimmaron I saw a sign that said we were going to be passing Ft. Union. I instantly remembered my dad taking me there when I was seven years old. Back then it was abandoned and there was no visitors center...and no one to tell you to stay on the paths. We decided to stop and visit.

Its a really neat thing to see if your in the area.

Truchas, New Mexico

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.

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.