Today I went hiking in the Organs again, up to a place called Dripping Springs. It is beautiful, and I am out of shape. It'll be a bit nicer to hike when the temperature finally drops into the seventies.



Apparently I'm now in one of those cooking moods, because I've just made a pitcher of Switchel (a traditional summer farm drink mentioned in Little House on the Prairie that dates back to at least the fifteenth century) and I have a batch of Baby Shortbread Bites with Mini Chocolate Chips and Toffee Bits in the oven.

Both of the recipes are new to me, so I'm excited to see how they'll come out. The cookie batter is pretty awesome, I have already discovered.

EDIT: Cookies are good.

Not photoshopped beyond lightening, cropping, and adding text.

This weekend was amazing and wonderful and awesome, and mere words cannot convey how much I wish I were still having it, instead of being back here, meeting with my thesis committee tomorrow.

This, by the way, was the view out the bathroom window of the B&B in Santa Fe:



( more images and stuff under cut )

For those interested, I'm about to leave for Chicago, where I'll be spending my break.

During the week of Christmas, I will be either near Alexandria, VA, or Cleveland, OH.

I'll be back in LC roundabout the 12th of January.

The weather here is finally chilly enough to wear sweaters and scarves (non-ironically)! Forty degrees is about perfect faux wintery weather... cold enough to bundle up and drink hot things, but not actually cold. And, of course, it's still mostly sunny, clear, and dry, which makes it feel warmer.

There may be some things I'm less than happy about out here, but the weather is not one of them.

I had my last meeting with my advisor, which finished out Printmaking for the semester. It may be saying something about how low my standards have fallen thusly, but I thought it went well. He says I need to do more work, which I agree with, and encouraged me to do more drawings over break. Best of all, he told me not to worry about notions of theme or consistency, but just to do lots of drawings and work, and themes will emerge from that body. He framed it as helping him advise/mentor me, and the lack of histrionics and Thou Shalts made it the nicest talk I've had with anyone professorial in almost two months. So it was criticism, but it was the good kind.

No idea what that means grade-wise, but it's not like my GPA matters in grad school anyway.

Tomorrow is presentations in Women's Studies. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else and their projects.

As everyone knows by now, we have a shiny new president elect. President Elect Obama. I could get used to saying that.

I spent last night at a party for/by the volunteers/supporters/staff at the local HQ, we digitally projected CNN on the side of a building and sat around, snarking about the opposition, telling stories, eating, and waiting with bated breath as each state was called.

They actually called Ohio and New Mexico at the same time, prompting a great deal of cheering. We knew it was pretty much over before nine, but there was always that fear that something was going to go wrong...

But then they called the whole west coast, and McCain conceded, and Oh, Was There Cheering. And hugging, and weeping. (I totally cried a lot last night.) I hugged people I've never met before, and likely never will again. We had people who've come in to work on the campaign from Oregon, from Texas, from all over, plus lots of locals.

And then McCain gave his speech, and I thought it was one of the best he's given. It seemed more genuine than he's given in a while. Maybe now that he's lost he can go back to being the guy a lot more people liked in 2000.

And there were deafening cheers during various parts of President Elect Obama's speech in Grant Park, including chants of Yes We Can every time he said it. And then we hung out more, and cried more, and hugged more, and they had live music, and we applauded our local office organizers... I was dead on my feet by then, but I hated to leave, because I was witnessing history with a group of amazingly nice, dedicated people, all brought together by hope.

I am so proud of my country.

Dear Republican Party of New Mexico,

First, let me congratulate you. For some reason, I have trouble getting mail. Cards from my parents are returned instead of received, and I haven't gotten issues of the magazines I subscribe to in months. But somehow, every single hate and lie filled invective from you gets through to clog up my post box.

However, in spite of my love of receiving mail, I am going to have to ask you to take me off your mailing list. The thought of trees dying so that you can suggest to me that Obama is a flighty liberal celebrity Muslim terrorist (do you think I forget the idiotic claims from day-to-day?) makes me feel physically ill, as does actually reading your diatribes.

But in the spirit of making lemonade of lemons, I have decided that for every piece of dirt that you continue to send me, I will make a donation of time and/or money to a cause that I do support. Thanks to your efforts, I have given to No to Prop 8 in Califonia, MoveOn.org, the Obama Campaign, Planned Parenthood, and a shelter in South Dakota that helps native women.

Very Sincerely Yours,
A Proud Liberal Feminist Latte-Drinking Buddhist American

In case anyone was curious, I thought I'd post some of my inspiration for the "AkaAka-A" piece I just finished.


This is Aggie ("A") Mountain, owned by New Mexico State University and visible from campus (and my apartment)

+
Daimonji in Kyoto, lit up for Obon

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Mt Fuji in a Summer Storm by Hokusai

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"A" Mountain on one of the random nights when it is lit up (last night)

=

My take on it all.

Just got interviewed by the El Paso Times for the Weird NM show!! Probably sounded like an idiot and forgot everything I wanted to say! Ah well! (I'm figuring it can't be any worse than every time I got interviewed for the Latrine.)

...also got back to NM yesterday, just in time for my evening Women's Studies: Gender, Feminism, and Pop Culture class. (We're watching Teeth later. I'm excited.)

Today I managed to make sure the gallery was set, the show cards are in, my loan check is deposited and I have a new sticker for parking on campus.

Not quite to that doing art thing yet, but I'll get there. First there's a great deal of unpacking to conquer.

Also, the International UFO Museum in Roswell, NM is much better than I'd expected.

They're going to have to rebuild the transmission from scratch. They say it'll be back Friday. I sincerely hope they are correct, as we plan to drive the car to Cincinnati for the wedding. The plan is that afterwards I'll drive teki to Columbus on Monday, he'll fly back to Chicago, and I'll meet up with my father (down from Cleve-town by Greyhound, so I told him to bring a baseball bat) who will accompany me down.

Still no word from my advisor/department head, who I've now emailed twice. Unfortunately his number is the same as the Art Department office, and no one is currently answering the phone there.

I've been texted by friends to let me know that my TA is Print Lab Tech. I think this job is basically maintaining the labs, making sure there's acid and newsprint and that the newbie printmakers in the intro class(es) don't wreck the place. I'm not sure if departmentally this is a step up, down, or sideways. I'm fine with the assignment, I tend to monitor the print lab anyway, though I will miss teaching.

I have friends down there who have agreed to keep taking care of the cats until I get back, thank goodness. I'm going to owe a lot of people dinner when I get back. I'm also close to arranging for someone else to send in my monotype for the Monotype Guild of New England's show, as they want the print next week and it's in Cruces.

So to sum, I have been fortunate in having people who can help me minimize damage in LC, but I'm still concerned about when I'll actually be able to get there.

In this part of NM, we don't really have rain, and we don't really have snow. But we do have dust. Oh, do we have dust.



That's actually a view of the mountains. Notice how you can't see the mountains.

We're also rural enough that the art store manager keeps her own chickens, which she refers to as "the girls."

I bought some today, and they're almost too pretty to eat.



So many colours....

So yes, still alive, and I come bearing images. Some of art, some of kittens.

( Warning: Lots of images, and they're huge, may take time to load.... )