59 and still going....

It's my birthday. I am very happy with who I am, even with so many imperfections, warts and all, I feel pretty good.

We can always try to make ourselves look prettier with strange rituals of beautification.

We need to take good care of ourselves...always!

But as we advance in age, changes in our bodies need to be carefully reviewed.

This mole turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma that I have since had removed.

A mole that seems to grow very quickly needs to be checked by a dermatologist.

One year ago it looked like this.

Love who you are, never take anything for granted, and let your loved ones know you care about them...always!

Burp! The Day After

Welcome to our Thanksgiving Celebration!

OH, no, Mary. We are having Turkey, not Pug!

Just, fooling, Jack.

(gulp)

Orphans Julio, Mark, and Cathy joined us.

They came, they saw and they conquered.

Matt and Mary.

Vicki and Ron (The Cooks!)

The Pinochle Queen - Mary!
Cathy and Ron share after dinner conversation.

Hurray for the Left-Overs!

The obligatory after-dinner rest before dessert.

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgving, too!

Giving Thanks

Everything has become brown. We've had two snow falls already.

I know it's almost Winter, but I still remember my springtime flowers and vegetable garden.

I finished the last of my sweet tomatoes and still have cold weather plants growing, brussel sprouts and leeks, waiting to be eaten. I froze roasted chiles, green beans, broccoli, and brussel sprouts for consumption this winter.

We look forward to Thanksgiving next week. We will welcome a couple of orphan neighbors and my daughters, Mary and Amanda, bringing friends, Matt and Julio. We will have Chipotle Pecan Soup, Roasted Turkey with dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, acorn squash, and my green beans from the summer. Our guests will bring desserts. Mary will bring a Cherry Berry Pie, Cathy will make an Apple Brown Betty per the request of my husband. We will relax together with a nice pinon and cedar fire and give thanks for our health, our family and friends, our warm and cozy home, and our good life.

We wish our children (Anne and Margaret and their husbands, Brent and Jeff) and grandchildren (Milla and Will) far away in Iowa and Minnesota, a wonderful Thanksgving Day filled with bountiful joy.

Life is good.

Goodbye, Charlotte.

I watched the spider build a large web on my back deck, connecting her silky threads from the roof to the rails on my deck. When I first saw the small webs here and there on my deck, I was annoyed. I have had Black Widows before and I thought the webs looked messy like a Black Widow makes a web. I took my hose and sprayed the webs to clear them whenever I had visitors who would use the deck. I hadn't seen the Orb Weaver until mid-summer. She was light yellow and BIG. She had weaved a large orb web and was now proudly in the middle, undulating in the wind. By late summer, she had captured many insects and had feasted so that she was as large as a nickel. She's wrapped numerous insects for later consumption. She'd laid her eggs in a softly woven egg sac under the eaves of my home. My husband was not impressed. "Kill it!" he said. I told him that he'd better not touch her. She was harmless and quite beautiful. Last Monday, we got a dusting of snow. She curled up into the corner of my deck roof. I took some pictures and thought she won't make it. On Wednesday, the weather turned to the teens and 5 inches of snow fell. Now she looked definitely spent. I took a final picture. I found out she was a Cat-Faced Spider from the web:http://www.spiderwebwatch.org/spiders/Araneus_gemmoides I thought of Charolotte in Charlotte's Web. I hope to see your baby spiderlings in the Spring!

Grains of Sand

We are but grains of sand on this earth -- our lives largely affected by forces beyond our control. There are times when an individual grain may find itself transformed and valued among all other grains of sand. By chance, a small speck becomes trapped within the body of an oyster and, after many years, becomes a beautiful iridescent pearl. We enjoy this pearl and admire its uniqueness and incredible beauty. Other times, a grain of sand is distinguished by its ability to irritate and cause pain as when a single grain becomes lodged within the eye and we curse its presence.

Most of us make up the vast grains of sand on the earth -- our purpose linked with purpose of the other like grains; and our significance apparent in the result of our combined presence. We become glass, useful and beautiful. We become cement, strong and permanent. We become the playground of children, a place of delight and creative imagination.

Free will is an important quality in human beings. It often influences our destiny. Still, only a few of us will have the opportunity to become the pearl. Our lack of such opportunity does not make us worth less. Our worth most often is dependent upon the combined activity of like-mined individuals facing similar conditions. Together we become transformed and valued, like the millions of grains which become the road, the playground or the ceramic vase. Strive to become the pearl. But remember, most of life’s accomplishments will be the result of the joint effort of many. Always value this as your greatest achievement.

Vicki Powers

Wildflowers of the Sandia Mountains - South Crest Trail

The Sandia Mountains just east of Albuquerque, New Mexico, receive millions of visitors each year who enjoy hiking, skiing, birdwatching, mountain biking, picnics, photography, and, of course, wildflowers.

Scarlet Paintbrush

Aspen

Jacob's Ladder Polemonium foliosissimum



Western Wallflower Erysimum capitatum

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on Western Wallflower

My daughter, Amanda, hiking the 10K Trail

Wild Iris just below the Crest

I am a Volunteer with the US Forest Service (Sandia Ranger District of the Cibola National Forest here in north central New Mexico). Currently I am a Wildflower Interpreter-in-training. This summer, we've been walking the different trails in and around the Sandia Mountains near my home. I've learned to identify flowers of the native plants, shrubs and trees. Here is a Sandia Mountain trail map.  I am learning about the Sandia Mountain wildflowers from the best local expert, Pearl Burns.

Pearl Burns standing beside the sign
by the Crest Nature Trail dedicated to her

These flowers were found on the South Crest Trail south of the Crest House (about 10,600 ft. elevation) in July, 2009. Here is a website with information on the complete South Crest Trail (#130).

King's Crown Sedum integrifolium

Mountain Parsley Pseudocymopterus montana

Yarrow Achillea lanuosa (pink variety)

View from the Crest Trail towards Albuquerque

Red Columbine Aquilega triternata

Cliffs alongside the South Crest Trail

Rocky Mountain Penstemon Penstemon strictus
and  Fendler's Sandwort Arenaria fendleri



Alpine Clover Trifolium dasyphyllum



Rocky Mountain Penstemon Pentstemon strictus

Harebells Campanula rotundifolia

Snowberry Symphoricarpos oreophilus



Golden Pea Thermopsis gracilis



Meadow Rue Thalictrum fendleri (female flowers)

Meadow Rue Thalictrum fendleri (male flowers)



View west from the South Crest Trail

Twistpod Draba Draba helleriana



Coralbells Heuchera pulchella

White Pea Vine Lathyrum leucanthus

Sierra Blanca Bladderpod

Dragonhead  Dracocephalum parviflorum



Jacob's Ladder Polemonium foliosissimum



La Veta Fleabane Erigeron vetensis



Mountain Caraway Aletes acaulis

Osha Ligusticum porteri



Twistedpod Draba Draba aurea 



Red Elderberry Sambrucus racemose

Mountain Spray Holodiscus dumosa

Northern Bedstraw Galium boreale




Townsend Daisy Townsendia exima

Scarlet Paintbrush Castilleja miniata



Geyer Onion Lilium geyeri

Rocky Mountain Clematis Clematis columbiana

Lanceleaf Bluebells Mertensia lanceolota

Star Solomon Seal Maianthemum stellatum



Yellow Sky Pilot  Polemonium brandegei
growing in the cliffs facing the west on the Crest Trail

One of many Cinquefoils. The flowers look the same so you must identify them by their leaves. They are members of the Rose Family. This one is Pretty Cinquefoil:

Pretty Cinquefoil Ponteilla pulcherrima



Wooley Cinquefoil Pontilla hippiana
Notice the gray-green leaves with fine hairs covering te leaves.



James' Cliffbush Jamesii americana

Inflated Penstemon Penstemon inflatus

 



Ninebark Physocarpus monogynus

A Cliff Primose on lichen covered cliff

Cliff Primrose Primula rusbyi





Calypso, Fairy Slipper Orchid Calypso bubosa

Death Camus   Zigadenus venenosus
(Poisonous. Be careful, looks similar to wild onions)

Geyer's Wild Onion Allium geyeri (buds)

Rattlesnake Orchid Goodyera oblongifolia

Red Elderberry Sambrucus racemosa v. microbotrys

Lambert's Locoweed Oxytrophis lambertii

Locoweed flower has double keel,
Vetch does not have this keel

Update: 

 Larry Littlefield and Pearl Burns publish new wildflower field book: "Wildflowers of the Sandia and Manzano Mountains of Central New Mexico" for sale for $24.  Come to a book signing by the authors October 15 at Page One Bookstore in Albuquerque.