A Detour to a Christmas Present (a post script)

      We celebrated Christmas in Florida with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter and gifts were exchanged. Among the gifts were this most heavy box, about 1/2 ton (I am kidding), but certainly heavy. It contained a stone making kit. So I have been waiting for a good day to make the stone.





The box containing the various "stone ingredients",
such as mud in powder form, mold,
stir sticks to mix the mud with water, pieces of stained glass and instructions.

It is obviously important to follow the instructions in order not to make a complete mess and end up with a disastrous result. Therefore the items in the box were laid out and examined, arranged in the order needed and the instructions perused carefully, because it would seem that if one missed a step or didn't have the proportions right then the end result would lack in quality, and quality is of course important.

 

 



The mold which is simply made out of really thin plastic.

The mud in powder form - really dusty when poured out.

Since dust of this type is very corrosive and damaging to the respitory

organs I was surprised the instructions didn't specify

that one should always wear a dust mask when handling it.

The plastic bag of nice pieces of cut stained / colored glass

 

 

 

 The mud is being mixed in the proper proportions.

3 cups water initially and if more is needed, one tablespoons at a time.

The manufacturer (Chinese) supplied stir stick broke.

One hopes the mud is mixed well enough.

The mud has now been poured into the mold without spilling but a few

drops on the floor of the garage. It has been shaken to level it.

 

     Now a decision must be made, should one make this a "pretty" stone and use the pieces of stained glass to decorate?

     Or should one, since this is a present for a man make it a man's stone? And if the answer is in the affirmative, what can be done to make it a man's stone? An idea surfaces, which I must say, not being in the least bit biased, is an excellent idea.

      After all, what better self-sacrifice to make than to drink copious amounts of beer in a short time, hoping one will not pass out before the bottles are empty and before the mud has set. Such a sacrifice but someone has to do it, why not me.

     The end result which is now curing - the stone - not the potential hangover - and will cure for the next 48 hours, so by Sunday morning the stone should be ready to remove from the mold.

Say where is the next kit because I may get thirsty by then.

 

     We will continue the journey out west soon.

 

     The post script - The stone completed curing and is now located in the flower bed. It looks like

the little figures are saying "How could he possibly drink so much beer?"

 

 





Go West ... (14) Taos and Taos Pueblo

      The wonderful town of Taos, New Mexico is situated in the North Central portion of the state. It is, as towns go, a relatively new town, having only been incorporated about 79 years, as of this writing. It is also "home" if you will to Taos Ski Valley, a favorite winter destination for those who like to slide down the side of mountains on ski's.
     The wikipedia link to Toas information follows; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taos,_New_Mexico
Here are a few other links to information about the town of Taos, NM.
http://taoswebb.com/
http://www.taosgov.com/
http://www.city-data.com/city/Taos-New-Mexico.html

Below is a link to images from Taos as I only shot one picture there, the reason why will be told below.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=taos+new+mexico&qpvt=taos+new+mexico&FORM=IGRE


     However, it was not the town itself we wanted to see, but the Taos Pueblo, the home of the Taos tribe from which the town takes its name. The pueblo is considered to be oldest continuously habited community in what is now the United States, considered to be 1000 or so years old. I first visited there after I came out of the US Army, and was on a camping trip to "decompress" if you will.

     Upon entering Toas we drove around just a bit and found an area marked "Parking for Pueblo Visitors". We parked, paid the $ whatever it was at 6 1/2 years ago, but I seem to remember $5.00, and started walking, following the signs that said "Taos Pueblo". After walking about 15 or so minutes we came upon a sign that clearly stated "Taos Pueblo - 2 miles". I can't state here what my utterance was but it came out something like this; "What X*!@^#!$%|:>", just use your imagination.
      Since it was late in the afternoon and we knew the "place" closed to the public at 5 PM or so, we hurried back to the car, but did stop to take just one photograph of an entrance to someones yard or patio - a very nice entrance as you can see from the photo below.


The best looking patio I have ever seen, wish I could duplicate it here in Houston

      We "trotted" back to the car, and drove the distance to the Pueblo and paid, once again, to enter and park and walked around this most ancient of habited places. One of the images that come to mind is Middle Eastern towns of  millennia ago, one suddenly gains a new understanding of the "upper room", of how people protected themselves, not only from raiders, but from wild animals.


Part of the Pueblo with the mountains in the background.

Norma in front of one of the houses- notice the ladder going to the 2nd floor?

(For those of you in other parts of the world, notice the ladder going to the 1st floor?)

 

      Obviously one does forget a thing or two over the years, but somehow I seem to remember these buildings, made out of adobe (mud and straw) as having been painted, but perhaps not. I do not remember there being doors on the ground level, but again I may be wrong. Other things seemed out of place as well, there were cars parked by some of the houses and there were propane storage cylinders by some of the houses and satelite TV disc sticking out of the roof tops at a couple of places.

 

     Here are a few links to information about the Pueblo itself and  this should be of interest for those of you who may be interested in Native American Culture, and the culture of the Southwest in particular.

http://www.taospueblo.com/

http://www.indianpueblo.org/19pueblos/taos.html

http://www.taosnews.com/news/article_a454d780-60ec-11e2-96df-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.taospueblo.com/?portfolio=taos-pueblo-community

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/492

Ansel Adams even co-authored a book about the Pueblo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taos_Pueblo_(book)

Below is a link to more images from Taos.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=toas+pueblo&qpvt=toas+pueblo&FORM=IGRE

 

      We got on to a tour guided by a most capable young woman, a resident of the Pueblo, and one of the stories that fascinated me personally was the story about the cemetery.

 

 

 

      You will notice that some of the graves are marked with wooden crosses and others are marked with crosses made of stone - linking this to traditional beliefs creates a serious problem for the souls of those laid to rest under the stone crosses. I may not state this exactly correctly, but if not, please make a comment with the proper correction, when you read this post.

     The Native American believe that his / her final resting place is with the Great Spirit in the Sky, but the soul can only escape the grave if is not held or weighed down from above. In this case, the wooden crosses will eventually rot and fall over, freeing the soul to rise, but the stone crosses and markers, being heavier, are "eternal" and have thus "captured" the soul in the earth for a very long time.

 

 

Norma in front of the Toas Pueblo Church

Yours truly in front of the said same church

     

 The history of the church is actually rather violent and the church now is not the original church, which was built by natives under instructions given by Franciscan priests, in the early 1600's. Attached here are some links to more information about the history of the church.

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-church-of-taos-pueblo-a-violent-past

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/nm-taospueblo.html

 

        In the past and now for that matter, the source of water for this community is important, and was very well guarded in the "olden days", surely things have changed. A stream flows through the Pueblo, and it used to be the one and only water source.

 



That most ancient water source for the Pueblo in years past

Norma almost looks like a native

 

 

      Should you ever have the opportunity to visit New Mexico, Taos Pueblo is most certainly one the "must" stops, and allow plenty of time to research the history before arriving and allow more than adequate time to look around and ask questions.



Go West .... (13) - Chimayo and North (a post script at the end)

       It has been quite a few day since I began writing this last instalment of the journey "Go West

Young Man" but was stopped, if you will, by technical issues with blogger, it seems that the photo upload function has malfunctioned, much to the frustration of many bloggers'. Therefore the opening below may be a bit dated by the time this is posted, but the sentiments are still applicable. One will continue to check with blogger from time to time to see if the problem has been corrected. Blogger is suggesting that one continues to compose in .html mode, but when I tried to work with the photos in that manner it was a disaster.

 

     In the end, I have completed this instalment posting photos using .html which is rather tedious and fraught with hazards.

 

Now to this instalment of the blog as it was started.

     It is a new year, so HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL - MAY IT BE A GOOD YEAR FOR YOU - FULL OF JOY AND HEALTH AND IF NEEDED, WEALTH in reasonable measures, FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

     While we look back on memories of the past we also look forward to future adventures regardless of whether they are fishing trips, canoe trips, journeys of exploration in other places or simple camping excursions, or a combination thereof, perhaps even a simple step into the backyard to work in the vegetable garden.

     May I remind those of you that read these posts to click on the advertisers to see what they offer, it is important to them - and may I add, also to me.

     We are now going up to the town of Taos, New Mexico, particularly the Toas Pueblo which I first saw late in 1968 or early 1969 after I came out of the army, but that is an entirely different story.

     The drive North from Santa Fe is an interesting drive and one of the "must" stops along the way is the little town of Chimayo, well know for its peppers, but really well know for the Santuario de Chimayo.

          If you are interested in more information check out these links, perhaps get some seeds and grow your own, make your own salsa. Just make sure the fire department isn't too far away.

http://www.reimerseeds.com/chimayo-hot-peppers.aspx

http://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chimayo-chili-pepper.html

http://www.saveur.com/article/Kitchen/Chimayos-Chile-Culture

 

     Chimayo is certainly a "must" stop along the way, which we did, and visited the Santuario and the famous little side chapel where the dirt appears.

     As I a deacon I was invited to assist at daily Mass, to concelebrate in the truest sense of the word, by a most gracious priest, Father James Suntum, SF who presided at the liturgy on this particular day. Here are some links to information about the Santuario de Chimayo and also some photos.
    
First the links;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Santuario_de_Chimayo
http://www.elsantuariodechimayo.us/ this is the Santuario's website and the Santuario looks really pretty with snow on the ground.
http://www.holychimayo.us/ this is also a parish based website. Click on the link at the right "Enter Holy Pilgrimages Website" as it has some interesting information about other churches between Chimayo and Taos as well as some very pretty music which begins when you first go the the link. We stopped at those churches but unfortunately found them all locked. I believe we have a photo of one of them, but didn't bother shooting the others since I could not get inside.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2168,
http://americamagazine.org/node/148603,
http://www.igougo.com/review-r1373141-Oh_Blessed_Dirt.html, http://www.santafe.com/article/santuario-de-chimayo

      I am sure that if you will do a Google search on the Santuario de Chimayo you may come up with a lot more information that is of interest.

      Some of the photos on the links look an awful lot like the ones I took, but then those that developed the websites the links refer to will probably say that my photos look an awful lot like theirs, such is life.

     As a small side note I should mention that we encountered two couples from the Houston area at the Mass which we participated in on this particular day; a couple and their children, from Sugarland and the other couple from the Woodlands, both couples were on pilgrimages to the Santuario.

Here are the photos;

     

The Santuario de Chimayo - such a scenic little church.

It brings to mind God's peace and tranquility - Shalom.

 

The beautiful hand carved wooden altar piece, made in Mexico City

and brought to Chimayo by wagon many, many years ago.

The outdoor Stations of the Cross.

For those of you who are not Catholics (Western or Roman, Eastern Rite, Orthodox, etc.) the Stations of the Cross are a way for people to walk a "spiritual" journey with Jesus during his last days and hours; from the time of his arrest, condemnation, conviction, the walk with the cross to Golgotha, the crucifixion, the gambling for his garments, etc.This devotion really came into its full form during the 4th century when it was difficult for people to travel to the Holy Land and walk the very steps that Jesus walked.

 

Here are some links that will provide you with much more information on The Stations of the Cross.

http://fisheaters.com/stations.html

http://www.catholic.org/clife/prayers/station.php - on this particular link your have to click on each station and it will guide you to a prayer. Please ignore the political button on this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stations_of_the_cross

You are most certainly encouraged to peruse other sites with more information about this ancient devotion of the faithful..

 

The most gracious Father Suntum, SF, on the right, and yours truly on the left right after Mass.

 

 Here we are just outside of the Santuario by the gate.

 

Norma is collecting some of the  Miraculous "Dirt" from the hole in the side chapel

of El Santuario de Chimayo. This "dirt" is still in a container at the altar in our home.

 

Here we are at the entrance to the Santuario, one of the few occasions that when others take our picture, they didn't cut off our feet.

Norma in the area outside the Santuario on a little path.

One more shot of the Santuario with some wildflowers in the foreground, and my favorite flower standing by the bridge.

 

      Next to the Santuario de Chimayo is another little church, this one dedicated to the "Santa Nino de Atocha". We had to stick our heads in there as well but did not take any photos. Here are some links to that particular devotion;

http://www.holypilgrim.us/SantoNino.html

http://www.childjesus.us/atocha.html

http://www.discover-catholic-miracles.com/atocha.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santo_Ni%C3%B1o_de_Atocha

 

     Then it was time for lunch and across the street from the Santuario de Chimayo was a small, simple restaurant obviously doing some good business with the pilgrims to the Santuario. They had very good burgers and nice cold drinks. The gate at the entrance was interesting, very much Southwest (Cowboy Country for those of you in the other parts of the world) flavor, and as I have stated before, I am fascinated by interesting doors, gates, windows, walls, etc., so obviously we had to have a picture of this one.

 

 

     As an added note one should mention that in New Mexico, when one walks into a restaurant, among the first questions being asked by the staff is this "Red or Green". If one is not familiar with the custom it can be quite surprising, as in "red or green" what? The answer lies in the salsa served with the chips, red pepper salsa or green pepper salsa, both very spicy.  As a result I have attached a couple of links to information about the salsa's, but have never purchased from any advertiser of salsa's nor have I tried the recipes but encourage you to do so.

http://www.food.com/recipe/Traditional-Style-New-Mexico-Green-Chile-Sauce-28467

http://newmexicospecialtyfoods.com/index.htm

http://savornm.com/new/

http://cervantessalsa.com/

Enjoy these concoctions, but be certain to have plenty of drinking liquid on hand if  you are not accustomed to spicy stuff.

 

      While at the restaurant we did buy a bag of dried Chimayo Peppers, very tasty, and I have used these peppers until I ran out about 2 years ago, so they lasted 4 years. If you are interested here is the name and telephone number of the seller, but keep in mind this information is 6 1/2 years old; C. M. Chiles - Chimayo, New Mexico  505-351-4824. Bon Apetit.

 

     After Chimayo we headed North toward Toas, but along the way stopped at the small churches in Cordova (San Antonio) - Truchas (Nuestra Senora del Sagrado Rosario) - Las Trampas (San Jose de Gracia), but as mentioned earlier we found them locked, so only took a photo outside of one of them, and I can't remember which one, but this link, if you click on the holy pilgrimes tab will show photos of the inside of each little church on the map - http://www.holychimayo.us/

     Here is the one photo I took.

 



The church at one of the small towns between Chimayo and Taos.

The New Mexico high dessert landscape.

Getting closer to Taos, there are now trees and other green stuff.

 

 

     In the next instalment we will highlight Toas and the 90 mile circular drive.

 

     The POSTSCRIPT - The good Trappist Friars at Chimay in Belgium make a very good beer.

http://www.monasterygreetings.com/product/Chimay_red_label_11-2_and_25-4_oz_premiere/Chimay_Trappist_Ale

http://www.monasterygreetings.com/product/Trappistes_Rochefort_8_green_cap_11-2_oz/Rochefort_Trappist_Ale

http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/flanders%2Btoday/1.1036340

http://belgianbeershrimper.wordpress.com/category/trappist-beer/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist

Actually, they make more than one, as well as some very superb cheeses, and when the opportunity presents itself one should partake, in moderation of course, of their craft. What brought about the post script is the spelling - Chimay and Chimayo - probably having no connection at all, but I found it amusing.

 

     This link is a most edifying link about the work of the Trappist Friar's at Chimay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_sVVOk0njU