Month: January 2025

Out of the Cold, with a Cold

pgsteele46 Comments

And enjoying it. Not having a cold mind you, but being curled up with a book because I didn’t have energy to do anything – yes! Also because movement seemed to bring on the sneezing and blowing.

I actually read my first novel in French! With minimum help from Google Translate, I might add. I needed those too many days of having a cold to really get into it. Reading French for hours at a time helped me retain vocabulary because a lot would be repeated. Being submerged helped me make connections between words I know and uses of them in various forms.

The writing was beautifully descriptive and I believe that also contributed to my enjoyment and understanding.

Too many days though, not because I wasn’t enjoying being hunkered down, but because colds are annoying. I still have stuffed sinuses on day 8!

Today warmed up significantly though and I took a nice long walk in the Ridgecrest neighborhood, came home and filled the bird feeders, did a bit of yard work, and made a delicious chicken soup for dinner. Feelin’ better.

And! Back to French…attended a Group Français meeting last night and had multiple conversations with a variety of people and felt quite comfortable doing it. Of course, it was a lot of chit chat, getting -to-know-you talk, which I’m comfortable with and have a handle on vocabulary.

Being on Zoom meetings with people from all over the world and talking about more meaty topics is a lot more challenging. I prepare my remarks in advance, writing them out in paragraph form, then make bullet points, so that I’m not reading, but more naturally speaking. I still get way too nervous though and hope I get over it.

Which reminds me – I’ve got to get online and see what next week’s topic is and sign up for a few meetings.

Wherever you are, I hope you’re comfortable and healthy. I hope the new year is starting off well for you. It is for me. I’m happy to see our country course-correcting.

Take care, and if a cold visits, take advantage of some lazy days.

3 days of Sandias

pgsteele44 Comments

Day 1, January 4:

Last Saturday Debbie and I hiked Pino trail in Elena Gallegos. It’s about 9.5 miles RT with a 2,762 ft elevation gain. We hit some snow and ice but we’re prepared with micro-spikes. And poles. They came in handy.

Also coming in handy we’re palmiers and donuts at the trailhead. Wildlife personnel were there handing them out and informing us that it was deer hunting season – archery only.

I met some hunters afterwards by my car and was told that only 50 permits are granted for the entire west and east side of the mountain. No wonder we saw no one. Plus, I’m sure they stay well away from the trails and talky  hikers.

Rocky peaks, blue sky
Aspens at 8,000feet
These red twiggy branches are so vibrant! I’ll return in warmer weather to check them out.

We had a glorious day – only windy at the top.

Windy in the city as you can see from the west side haze.

Very comfortable hiking, as the elevation gain is pretty gradual. Sure. Tell that to my calves which hurt for the next 4 days!

Day 2, Wednesday, January 8:

Sandia Tram with my brother Tom and his partner, Donna, visiting from RI…

Views from the tram…

A light dusting of snow adds depth.
So does the orange of gamble oak leaves.

Up top Tom and I took a little hike.

Not much snow and icy underneath

Tom and I separated at one point, taking different routes. When we met up he said, “There’s a big white couch o er there.” I’m thinking he’s pulling my leg and it’s a snow covered ledge…

Dang! Someones brought a couch to this overlook!

Day 3, Saturday, January 11:

Three Gun Trail, also known as Tres Pistolas, also as Three Gun Spring Trail…to Embudito Trail. This is on the south side, just north of I40 at Carmel, which seems like a great little community.

This puppy is steep! Charlie and I could really feel it and took multiple short breaks. It’s about 8 miles (per All Trails), with 2,316 elevation gain.

You can see Carmel in the middle.

At one point I asked some folks heading down how far they’d gone. The woman replied, “Til I was about ready to cry.” The guy said, just up to the Victory Stick, which is where Embudito Trail comes in.

The Victory Stick
Beautiful sunshine, but we need precipitation!
Which provides a better sense of perspective? The top image or the bottom one?

Legs are fine today! Must hike these long and steep trails regularly so my first days hiking in France don’t hurt.

Training makes a difference!

Happy New Year!

Charlie3 Comments

Paula posted her resolution for the next year yesterday,  and today it is my turn.   I have been AWOL from our blog for a few years,  leaving it for Paula to carry the weight of publishing stories about our exploits.  She does it very well, and I appreciate her enthusiastic presentations and detailed descriptions.   I have been mostly silent on all fronts during this period.   I think it may be simply that I disagree and do not wish to dwell on my disagreement. “Disagree about what?” I hear you ask, though you probably are not asking. But just for the sake of argument, let’s say you did ask. Well, I can pretty much tell you: I have been against the current thing, a statement that is no longer in common parlance, I’m afraid, and, therefore, no longer the current thing.

I won’t phrase this as a resolution since that is so much the current thing,  but I am,  at this time and for as long as I am , back in communication.  I actually started posting my essays, though a bit more formally and less flippantly, a couple of weeks ago by reestablishing my presence as the Contrarian Conformist on Substack.   If you are interested,  you can access my ramblings here, and if you would like you can subscribe by entering your e-mail and get future posts. The topics I discuss therein are outside the scope of this blog, so I’ll merely say that I am currently examining possible answers to Don Corleone’s question to the heads of the Five Families: “how did we let things go this far?”

Today, we joined a group of fellow “pilgrims” for a New Years Day hike on the west side of the Rio Grande.  I do not mean “pilgrims” in the general sense that we are all pilgrims in life, but because we are associated with the local chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino, for which Paula is one of the coordinators. I use the term as an indication of our relationship through that organization. It was a chilly,  almost cold, almost warm, bright winter day with plenty of sun and clear skies. The parking lots at the trail head indicated that the trail was particularly popular today, though it was not hard to get a sense of isolation in the bosque, even with a group of twelve people.   

Winters on the Rio Grande are usually fairly dry,  and this year, more so than normal.  We have been in a drought, though it is not immediately apparent by the water level in the river.

The high water level is due to the release of water from upstream reservoirs so that the State can pay a portion of its water debt to Texas. Water is life, they say, and Texas has a life of its own. One of our fellow hikers asked whether Texas will share any of it with Mexico. I don’t have an answer for that question, but if one is to look at a Google Earth view of the US/Mexico border, one might have a fairly good idea.

We are having a great year for migratory birds, with many cranes, geese, and ducks feeding and nesting along the river.   Paula and I went to the Bosque del Apache preserve near Socorro a few weeks ago and there were many more crane this year than last year. This year we have not failed to see any when walking trails on the Rio Grande, passing them in small flocks as we walk up and down the river bank.

One of my favorite sights is watching cranes in flight, though since I have not been able to catch such a view on a photograph,  I can only provide a photo of them wading.

Until later……