Albuquerque snow!

I finally got back to ABQ on Thursday afternoon, just beating the huge snow storm that is still ravaging the Rockies. It started snowing on Thursday afternoon and didn't stop until Saturday about 3pm. On Friday, apparently, Albuquerque had it's snowiest day since they started keeping records. There is some discrepancy on exactly how much we got, but somewhere between 11 and 15 inches. On my wall at home, some had melted, but this is what I measured on Saturday morning:

These are my very "scientific methods" for measuring snowfall. This is my "yard" covered with snow. The weight of the snow definitely did the trick of killing all the horrible weeds.

One of the streets in my neighborhood. Very pretty! We almost didn't make it back to ABQ because of all the snow on Raton Pass between Colorado and New Mexico. I am glad we braved it though, because otherwise we would still be stuck in Trinidad, CO. These are some views from the truck:

I have a lot more pictures of Denver snow and adventures when I get more time to post. :)

Christmas a day late

After all the aniticipation of Christmas with the tree and all the knit presents and the huge snowstorm in Denver, we are having Christmas a day late. My aunt's flight got delayed and she will not be able to come until Christmas night, so we will just delay it. It's not like Jesus was actually born on Dec. 25 anyway. It's the thought that counts.

I made vegetarian daal yesterday. I don't actually like daal very much, but it was requested and apparently it's not very hard to make. I think maybe I ought to force myself to like it since it's nutritious and cheap.

Last night we went to downtown Denver and looked at the lights at the 16th street mall and Larimer Square. From there, we went to Trios Enoteca, a wine and jazz bar. There was a great band and we listened to the music for a while and talked. I guess it's one of the few places in Denver where you can smoke (no idea why) and I didn't really like that. I just love that there is no smoking in Colorado bars and restaurants. It's not like I am morally opposed to smoking - I just hate the smell! Anyway, apart from the smell, it was a cool place.

After that, we went a couple doors down to the Wynkoop Brewing Company. It had a fun atmosphere, but most of the people there were a bit too trendy or preppy for me. Who cares! Nate and I beat Talal at pool both games. I was not having a good pool night, but that's okay. It's still fun to play.

Other than that, there has been a lot of knitting and shoveling of snow recently. Pictures of knitting to come once gifts are given. Zarek and I tried to drive yesterday but actually got stuck in the turn lane of a busy intersection and I had to get out and push. HOW EMBARRASSING! My truck provides daily lessons in humility.

In other words, life is blissfully uneventful. Nice.
And on the other hand, as Thoreau said, " Most men lead lives of quiet desperation."

Snow!

From Denver:
It's only 2pm and we already have 8 inches of snow. It began snowing about 5am (I know because Lucky wanted "out" at 5am) and it started to accumulate about 6:30am. By the time we tried to go to Hollywood video at 9:30am, we were sliding all over the parking lot and had to get a push. So much for the supposed 4WD in the truck. IT'S NOT WORKING! It should keep snowing, and so we might just take Lucky out to play this afternoon. I am pretty sure that we are going to have a White Christmas! Yay!

Photo update

Check out the sweet almost-fractals in this winter tree. I believe it's a cottonwood. I took the picture at sunset, so the colors are an added bonus. While we are on the subject of sunsets, here is another I-live-in-New-Mexico-and-you-don't-ha-ha picture.

Last night, I went to the annual Ladies' Christmas Tea at church. We learned about the significance of the 12 days of Christmas song and the symbolism of the candy cane, as well as the Christmas customs of cultures from around the world. Excellent food and fun was had by all. I brought Rasmalai, which I slaved over all afternoon. It tasted good, but all the little dough balls fell apart. SAD. Here is a picture of the Rasmalai in progress.

They had a Mexican folk dance group from UNM there to perform for us. It was spectacular. My favorite part was when the guys were dancing and slashing their swords against each other. The girls' dresses were beautiful and they swished them to great effect. I could have watched them all night.

I have also been busy getting Christmas presents ready. The other night, Krista came over and we made more yummy body scrubs for our girlfriends. The picture is intentionally fuzzy to avoid revealing who they are getting sent to. :)
While I am busy posting pictures, I might as well show the latest in the "cool vans" collection. Check out the awesome back window on this one. How amazing would it be to wake up and see the Tetons through that window. Hmmmm. I also like that the main part is directly attached to the cab of the truck. The retro bike on the back is just an added bonus. Right now, I am off to visit the CAC! Yay! I am going to go buy some Richard Rohr CDs for the long drive I've got coming up.

Hands free

No explanation is needed, especially if you have ever been to Kenya.

A new poem

I wrote a new poem last night. It's still in it's editing stages.

Flying
I drive North and up,
Your arm out the window
Fly far, far away
"Where you flyin' to?"
Strong brown arm
Dipping
On a big blue breeze.
"Where you flyin' to?
Can I come too?"
"Flying to Canada"
Straight North and up
Through those trees.
So I fly too
Never been to Canada.
We fly together -
A big blue truck
Two brown arms
Dipping
Up and up and down.
"Where you flyin' to?"
"Canada, same as you."
On we drive,
Drive North and up
Smiling.
You and me, fly
Our brown arms
All the way to Canada.

Darkness

"Don’t Name Darkness Light"
We’re not waiting for the darkness to go away, brother and sisters. I’ve certainly worked long enough in ministry to know it won’t go away. We wish it would go away, especially in some of the great social issues. We wish world hunger would be eliminated. We wish we’d stop creating all these arms and killing people. But one has to surrender at a certain point and admit that the darkness is here. How do we deal with that? We’ve got to find the freedom within our spirits and within our communities to at least recognize that darkness and learn how to live in relationship to it. In other words, don’t name darkness light! Don’t name darkness good. I think many of our people have been seduced into doing that. The way out is to simply stop calling it OK. When we refuse to name darkness, we will be trapped by it. That’s dangerous and false innocence. When we can name the darkness, we can learn how to live so that the darkness does not overcome us. The problem of the liberation of the First World countries is that the edges between darkness and light in middle-class society have become very, very vague. When nothing is forbidden, nothing is required. We are close to that today. I believe it is what Thomas Merton predicted as “organized despair.”
from Preparing for Christmas With Richard Rohr

Question for my friends and readers: How do we do this? What things that should be named darkness have we learned to live with? What things that we call "OK" should not be tolerated? How can we step out of this and live in the light, while not denying that darkness exists? How can we proclaim Christ in the darkness around us?

My own preliminary list
1. Consumerism
2. Laziness
3. Anger
4. Turning a blind eye to....
5. Busy-ness

What's yours?

Christmas tree, O Christmas tree! Part 2

Last night, I finally got the tree decorated. Krista came over and I made some macaroni and we got the lights up. I had no idea that 100 icicle lights wouldn't be enough. Thankfully I had some sweet snowflake lights from Cost Plus, so we used them too. I think it looks a little bare, so I need to find the other Christmas ornaments that are hiding somewhere at my house. The tree is so tall, that when it has the tree-topper on it, it hits the ceiling. Nice, huh? I am quite sure that my living room has never looked so nice. If the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom didn't exist, I could almost have people over. ha ha. JK.

Krista and the tree....

Shaila and the tree...Lucky the depressed dog. He's always been a bit melancholy, but something's really gotten into him in the last couple of days. He follows me around all the time that he's not sleeping or putting his head on his paws. Does anyone have ideas for canine therapy? And don't say walks - we ALWAYS do that.

And in the "almost-finished-projects" department, we have the felted sweater blanket, now twin size and awaiting some tedious finishing. I also realized that it doesn't exactly lie flat or square. It's art - I DON'T CARE! More on this to come. This is a close-up of the center section. The colors are not accurate at all.

Mirror

"Love Is Like a Mirror"
The Mirror, as Zen masters say, is without ego and without mind. If a face comes in front of it, it reflects a face. If a table comes by, it reflects a table. It shows a crooked object to be crooked and a straight object to be straight. Everything is revealed as it really is. There is no discriminating mind or self-consciousness on the part of the mirror. If something comes, the mirror reflects it; if it moves on, the mirror lets it move on. The mirror is always empty of itself and therefore able to receive the other. The mirror has no preconditions for entry, no preconditions for acceptance. It receives and reflects back what is there, nothing more or nothing less. The mirror is the perfect lover and the perfect contemplative. It does not evaluate, judge or act. It takes the advice of the philosopher Wittgenstein: “Don’t think, just look.” If we are to see as God sees, we must first become mirrors. We must become no-thing so that we can receive some-thing. That is probably the only way that love is ever going to happen. To love demands a complete transformation of consciousness, a transformation that has been the goal of all religious founders, saints, mystics and gurus since we began to talk about love. And the transformation of consciousness is this: We must be liberated from ourselves. We really need to be saved from the tyranny of our own judgments, opinions and feelings about everything, the “undisciplined squads of emotions” that T.S. Eliot criticizes in his poetry. We must stop believing our false subjectivity that chooses to objectify God and our own soul. (Which is the likely reason why most Western individualist hate themselves. We treat our own souls as objects to be dissected, judged and perfected.)
- Richard Rohr, from “Image and Likeness: The Restoration of the Divine Image”

I think that, in order to truly love, and accept love, we must empty ourselves of judgement and preconceived notions. We must also be willing to accept people and then let them go without holding them down. This is one of the hardest things to do. We are so posessive that we want to hold on when we find a good thing. This is a lesson I will likely be learning every day for the rest of my life. I want to be a person who can love honestly at all times, holding on when it is needed, and also letting go when that is needed. To know the difference requires great wisdom that is very slow in coming. Furthermore, to accept the great and unconditional love of God requires that I get rid of the hindrances (mostly self-judgement and material distractions) that blind me to His love. If our lives are too full of other things, we cannot receive God. I find it sad that we are so caught up in our own little worlds that we cannot see and understand His great love. I suspect that if we could, our present lives would drop away and we would be infinitely changed. I pray that this would happen.

Crab cakes

The other day I was hungry but didn't have much time, so I whipped up some crab rice cakes. Wait! Crab rice cakes? I thought they were difficult. It turns out they are easy as pie (which is a deceptive saying, if I ever heard one). All you do is get a can of crab, a cup of cooked rice, a beaten egg, and about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese. Mix it all together and form into 4 cakes (in your hands), squeezing out the excess liquid. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter on med-low heat in a skillet. Cook the cakes about 5 minutes on each side. Yummy! Now here's what I would do differently next time: Add some yummy spices, like pepper, a little garlic and perhaps some cumin. Then maybe dip in marinara sauce.

Here's a pic of my crab cakes:

Here's another shameless gloating mountain picture. The moon was just rising and the picture really doesn't capture it's SIZE as it came over the Sandias. It took my breath away. In sad news, I am horribly sick and the large roll of TP is now my constant, loving companion. To make it worse, last night, Lucky was really hyper while I was trying to sleep. He had about a hundred different needs and he definitely let me know. It makes me wary about the prospect of parenthood. Not that that's a real prospect any time soon. I should just stick to crab cakes.

Christmas tree, O Christmas tree!

I got my VERY FIRST Christmas Tree of my adult life (you know, that I bought and cut and put in my own house and will be in charge of decorating etc.). I might add that this is quite possibly the nicest and fullest real tree of my whole life so far.

Anyway, this is the journey from the first sighting of said tree until it's proud placement in the living room:

At 7 am, I picked up my friend, Erica, who wanted to be a part of this momentous occasion, and we drove up to Jemez Springs, NM, to buy the tree-cutting permit. Then we backtracked a little, and took Hwy 269 and FSR 10 up the windy, sandy road to where there are about 5 types of tree. We found several that looked nice, but when I saw this one, I knew it was the ONE. It's an 8ft, very full Pinon pine.

We took turns hacking away at it's base with my quite blunt camping axe that I found a few months ago in the Manzanos. This was the only part I felt a bit bad about - there was undue harm caused to the tree by the inaccuracy of our blows.

Finally, it came down, and Erica heated up some chai and homemade chili - the Texas kind, not the NM kind. Whoever thought of putting ranch seasoning in chili? - but it was great!
Erica found a tiny blue spruce to cut down for herself too. It was "cute". Then we headed back to the truck. The tree was not heavy at all.
On our way back to town, we stopped at the Ponderosa Winery. The owners were very friendly and hospitable, and we tasted several of their wines. I liked their sweet white wines and bought "Chamisa Gold". Finally, the tree came home.
Once again, Lucky seemed quite uncertain about my commitment to him. I think he was quite sure I had just procured a big, green replacement for him. The rest of the afternoon, he was very clingy, and very suspicious of the tree in his territory.

I just didn't have time to decorate it yet. It was all I could do to saw off the end and get it to stand up straight in the tree stand. So, more to come on decorating.

Ghee

Ghee is one of those things that totally grosses me out. When it's incorporated in a dish, it makes the food taste pretty good, but when you just see it in all it's solitary glory, it's enough to make you run to the bathroom and get rid of all the food you just ate. So why do we still use it? Are there alternatives to ghee? Can we get the good taste without the artery-coating nastiness? Ghee is not commonly sold in American grocery stores, unless it's marketed under another name that I am not aware of, so you have to go to the Asian grocery store to find it. Not that I was looking :). This is what I found:

A WHOLE FRICKIN' GALLON!!!!

and this little guy - he doesn't even know that he's in a grocery store to get bought, killed, cooked and eaten! Eeeeeww.

In other news, I spend the ENTIRE weekend steam cleaning my carpets. It was pretty rewarding. (What does that say about the lameness of my weekend, I wonder?) But seriously, check this out. You can see the line between the clean bit and the not-yet-clean bit, and the tools of the trade. The Rug Doctor is way better than the lowly vacuum. That's all I have to say about that.
Lucky was really quite bewildered by having to be corraled in the kitchen the whole weekend (so he wouldn't step on the wet carpets) and by not being able to follow me around the whole time. I think he thought we were moving. At one point, he went and sat right at the front door and WOULD NOT MOVE! I think he's a little insecure about my commitment to him.

I actually did have a good weekend, and went out for dinner on Friday to Thai Ginger and ate yummy pineapple fried rice. I also went to a Christmas cookie party on Saturday where we played a fantastic game of taboo.

Pretty mountains

Sometimes when things are not going so well, at least I can be thankful and remember that at least I don't live in Illinois anymore (sorry for those of you who do). One thing I absolutely love about Albuquerque is the time when the sun goes down and illuminates the west side of the Sandia Mountains. I never get tired of it and it's never ever the same. It is a daily reminder of God's provision for even small things in my life. These pictures were taken a few days ago a bit before the sunset, but it's still beautiful.

The north end of the mountains

The south end of the mountains.

Christmas reflection

Another great entry from Richard Rohr. This one requires several readings to begin to grasp it. The funny thing is that I was just thinking last night about how I am too small to recognize God in me and how it is so easy to get caught up in daily things and somehow miss the incredible experience of God in us - Emmanuel.

"Recognize the Lord"

We, like Bethlehem, are too tiny to imagine the greatness within us: You Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule my people Israel. (Micah 5:1-2, NAB) Wholeness of God is to be found everywhere, but it is only apparent as every part learns to love every other part. I suspect that those who by grace can recognize the Lord within their own puny souls will be the same who will freely and intelligently affirm the Lord’s presence in the body of Jesus and the body of the universe. “But who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Elizabeth says. Perhaps if I can recognize and trust this little graciousness, this hidden wholeness, this child in the womb, then my spirit will be prepared for the greater visitation, the revelation of the Son of God. Yet I am always aware that God is not just an experience of mine. More rightly, I am an experience in the mind and heart of God. This is very difficult for us self-centered moderns to comprehend. But if we dare to trust this holy mystery, we participate in a Presence that is at once overwhelming gift and precious surprise – not really demanded or necessary, but actually not difficult to believe at all! So we Christians prepare to make festival. God goes ahead enfleshing spirit and inspiriting flesh, while for those of us who have learned, like Elizabeth, to trust these holy visitations, our life leaps within us for joy!

Richard Rohr - from Sojourners, “Baptism of Joy”

St. Francis

"St. Francis’ Prayer"
Our father St. Francis passed on to us only prayer of praise. He went simply through his life finding new things for which to praise God at every turn: the little things, nature, the creatures, the animals, situations, his brothers – for whatever is happening, he praises God. Francis is never achieving God’s love; he is celebrating it! He continually celebrates God’s love in everything he sees and experiences. Mature prayer always breaks into gratitude. Prayer is sitting in the silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful, praising God until we ourselves are an act of praise.
- Richard Rohr, from The Great Themes of Scripture

The office of Lucky will not be operating outside today

It was SOOO cold today that, even with a 2-hour delay to go to work, I couldn't get the ice dislodged from Lucky's water bowl, and he seemed miserable when he went outside, so he had to stay inside the house for the first time ever while I am at work. He looked betrayed when I left this morning and didn't follow his normal schedule. I hope he hasn't collapsed in a pool of tears by the time I get home. My poor baby puppy. In related business, do you think I should spell his name "Lakhi" instead? Oh, probably not.

Vans

There is a book that I really like. It is 101 Things to do before you die, by Richard Horne. One of the things to do is "live in a van". Somehow, that one really caught my attention, and I REALLY want to do it - just travel around with one other person (and maybe a big furry dog), live simply, meet people, see beautiful places, eat good food and live day-to-day, without a plan. Ever since this idea started brewing in my head, I am apt to notice "good" (meaning somewhat suitable) vans in which to carry out the plan. Sometimes these vehicles are not really vans, but well-accessorized trucks. (I have ideas about how to outfit my own truck for this purpose, too). Sometimes they are pull-along campers. Mostly, though, they are vans. This weekend, I got pictures of two such "dream vehicles". Neither is perfect, but I thought I might put together a bunch of pictures and eventually have the perfect one.

Zarek in front of the pull-along camper.

Talal inside the pull-along camper. It has a double bed, a small kitchen and a bathroom.

You can't see it from the pic too well, but this one looked like it was quite nicely fitted in the inside. I saw one in Custer, SD, this summer that was an old VW. It was PERFECT. small, cozy, funky, orderly. a bed, handmade blankets, a bookcase, crates of food, and a small refrigerator. what's not to love?

Release

Now that You Know
(Christine Kane)

He saw faces in the sides of mountains
Driving out in Colorado
The open spaces made him think of shelter
Made him feel like he was hollow
All the darkness that had been his lifeline
Was now just a heavy-hearted hobby
One-night romances and one-more-for-the-road
Had left and empty hole within his body

Maybe you grow
Once you see your history with open eyes
Maybe your soul
Takes hold and something dies
Where do you go
Once you have released all that was yours
Now that you know
That way won't work anymore

Then the night came like a ceremony
There had to be about a billion stars
In the high plains and unrelenting lonely
He called the future in with outstretched arms
And he cried all night

Maybe you grow
Once you see that possibly there's something more
Maybe your soul
Lets go and finds that door
Where do you go
Once you have released all that was yours
Now that you know
That way won't work anymore

Dawn's first light
Softly glows
Mountains carve their silent shadows

Maybe you grow
Once you get there's more to it than your survival
Maybe your soul is making way for its arrival
Where do you go
Once you have released all that was yours
Now that you know
That way won't work anymore

This song always pops into my head when I am in the mountains and when things are hard. It's good to think about opening yourself up and coming face to face with yourself. To release what is holding you down. To be real. To know that it is scary, but you don't have to be afraid, if that even makes sense.

Denver!

For thanksgiving, I made the long trek up to Denver by myself. It's a beautiful drive and went pretty well, except for the stretch between Colo. Springs and Denver, which was bumper-to-bumper almost the whole way. I finished listening to "The Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. The end of the book found me crying to my steering wheel in the middle of Colorado. It was a beautiful story and I loved Pi as a narrator. He told his unrealistic story so realistically that it no longer seemed out of the ordinary at all. I was inspired.

I got some knitting done! pictures to come.

While we were there, we had to check out the local Indian shop, where Talal picked up some methi (fenugreek) and masala tea mix. We also rented Hum Tum. The guy was good-looking, but his character was almost insufferable. It drives me nuts that so many Indian movies have miscommunication as their major conflict. This one, in particular, developed the miscommunication very well and definitely made us all very mad. It ended happily, though! They rarely end sadly, I guess.

We also met up with a friend from high school in Denver, and saw the sights.

Talal, Zarek and Nate in front of some cool hotel.

The view from the end of the sixteenth street mall. Very nice.

Siblings in bad light.

Nate and Shaila at the end of the 16th st. mall

Who knew? A bagpiper in Denver!

Recycled art at its best. A model stadium made out of Coors cans and labels etc. at the ESPN zone. It was cooler in real life.

Yay for FREE public transportation. Don't they look excited?

The Capitol Building, which looks suspiciously similar to most other states' capitol buildings.

Driving west in the overlooked but awesome state of New Mexico.

"Radical Grace"

"I used to say that if I ever wrote a book, its title would be Nothing Truly Radical Happens After Age Six, Except Grace. Grace, that experience of unconditional love, breaks through the whole system and can change anything. All of Christian life could be described as an ever-deeper encounter between our wounded inner child and the wondrous world of grace. Grace can bring us back to the radix, our roots, and orient us toward the conversion Jesus called for. That’s why we say grace is radical. Radical grace empowers us to shuck off the system and become children again: children of God, brother and sister to all of humanity."
-Richard Rohr, from The Spiritual Family and the Natural Family

I have a sticker on my nalgene that says "ponder grace". This is what it means. Grace is radical. We cannot explain it. It is infinitely understandable. I learn more about grace, how to receive it and give it and recognize it and accept it, EVERY DAY. It is new every day. Unless we really need grace, it seems, we cannot truly know how radical this grace is. Jesus came for the sinners. We sinners would be dead (in so many ways) without this grace. In any case, Richard Rohr says it better than I can.

Dhaka Bazaar

This weekend, I got to go to my one of my favorite stores in ABQ:





This store is the purveyor of fine goods such as rasgullah, paya curry mix (don't worry, if you don't know what this is, you probably will think it's wierd).





and, of course, a few good Bollywood movies. This time I rented "Mistress of Spices". http://imdb.com/title/tt0407998/ Finally, Aishwarya Rai doesn't seem awkward in an english speaking role. It was aesthetically beautiful, but the dialogue was a bit lacking, and there was little chemistry between the main characters. Too bad; it was a cool concept.



I also finished some knitting projects which I can't show in their entirety since they are going to be gifts.



I also got my embossed leaves socks finished. They are for me!!And I have pictures to show of some other crafts I finished recently. A bottle swished with acrylic paints on the inside:

Handmade magnets using magazine cutouts, flat-backed marbles, glue and small magnets. I made about 50, but here are some samples:


I also made some yummy citrus and brown sugar body scrub but there's no point showing a picture of that.