Go West Young Man .... (18) Four Corners and Shiprock.

    The Four Corners area is a National Monument and is located on the Diné Bikéyah, or on Navajo Land, the land belonging to the Navajo Nation.
http://www.fourcornersgeotourism.com/content/navajo-nation-indian-reservation/fca81F6C25FF21711E54
http://www.mesaverde.com/fcmonument.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners_Monument
http://www.arizonaguide.com/places-to-visit/arizona-parks-monuments/four-corners-monument
http://www.utah.com/playgrounds/four_corners.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners
      It is the only place in the United States and probably in the world where four state entities meet at the same point; to the NW Utah, to the NE Colorado, to the SW Arizona and to the SW New Mexico.
It is thus  possible to be in four states at the same time, although that does take a bit of dexterity if one doesn't mind looking a bit silly doing that.
      The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American Reservation in the country, (71,000 km2 / 27,425 square miles) in other words covering more square miles than a number of states in the US.
It will take the States of New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island to make up the same area. The Nation is larger than West Virginia and just a bit smaller than South Carolina. It is 1.65 times larger than my home country of Denmark, which has a population density of 336.7 per square mile / 130 per km2. The population density on the Navajo Nation land is at 2.5 per km2. In other words, if you were to live on the Navajo Nation you know you have neighbors, but you may not see them for days.
http://www.discovernavajo.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_Nation
http://www.navajo-nsn.gov/
http://www.navajonationcouncil.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_(people)
http://www.ihs.gov/Navajo/index.cfm?module=nao_navajo_nation
http://navajotimes.com/
       We arrived early in the day before it got too hot. The landscape is something you will either find serene or rather bleak. This is true SW dessert landscape. There were a lot of people present already visiting the site; so many that each group or family was only giving a little bit of time to take picture.
Considering the absolute "desolation" of the area, dry as "a bone" (see photo below) we found one particular souvenir amusing and we purchased it. (see photos below this one)

The dessert landscape of the Navajo Nation at the Four Corners area.

The side of a small stone canoe with the "Four Corners" etched into it.

The same small stone canoe sitting on our sofa while posing for a photo.



Norma at the Four Corners. She is standing with the left foot in Utah

and the right foot in Arizona.

 

Same place, different perspective.

 

      I strongly recommend using the attached links to read up on the Four Corners National Monument and on the Navajo Nation (reservation) and the Navajo People. There is some very

interesting history about the nation and people in particular.

      After buying a souvenir or two we left Four Corners and on the way back to Farmington we stopped in the small community of Teec Nos Pos. It is a small community and if one does not live on the Navajo Nation it probably does not get much business. Here we mailed a postcard to ourselves which was waiting for us when we returned home about 4 or 5 days later.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teec_Nos_Pos,_Arizona



http://teecnospos.navajochapters.org/
      The last stop was just along the highway to look at Shiprock. Back in the "good old days" when I got out of the army and bummed around in a surplus army tent I spent about 5 days camped in the shade (not much to be had) of Shiprock and I would drive or walk to the nearest trading post for canned food and several quarts of beer (decompression can  be so much fun when coupled with absolute solitude). Now there are fences and no way to get there, so we had to settle for a few pictures from the road.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiprock
http://www.lapahie.com/Shiprock_Town.cfm
http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/shiprock/index.html
http://www.bing.com/places/search?q=Shiprock%2c+New+Mexico&upgid=928135&qpvt=shiprock+&FORM=ATRCCN

The distance from the road, where the picture was taken from, is about 6.5 miles / 10.5 km.

Ship rock received its name from the Spanish explorers that came

through this area and thought that at a great distance it looked like a

Spanish Galleon  under sail.

 

      For a close up look of Shiprock go to Google Earth. It stands out in an otherwise mostly flat landscape.

 

      After a nice dinner we rode our bikes along the banks of the river that flows through town. Farming sits at the confluence of the San Juan, La Plata and the Animas river system. We saw several people paddling kayaks, and we understand that this is a great whitewater area.

http://rafting.allaboutrivers.com/New_Mexico_river_towns/Farmington_New_Mexico_rafting-tid123.html

 

     Tomorrow we leave Farmington, NM and generally head toward home, but not directly, we will go up into Colorado just to say we drove over the Continental Divide at some of the higher elevations.

A Ministry of Service

     On a daily basis living ones call of ordination to the ministry of service (diakonia) goes something like this, using the previous week as an example; beginning Saturday the 13th and Sunday 14th, one preached at 4 masses. Tuesday was RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), Thursday was spent as day duty chaplain at the Houston International Seafarer Center, Thursday evening was presiding at a Funeral Vigil, Friday morning with regular daily mass and then a funeral mass. This of course does not include attending the other daily masses, presiding at a communion service on Tuesday because of the absence of a priest or visits to the sick or homebound.
       From time to time the call to live ones ordained ministry takes a bit of a different form or deviates from the ordinary; Such was the case today and the days leading up to today. The parish, Saint Christopher's Parish in Houston, Texas, http://www.stchristopherhouston.org/  began planning, about a month ago, an appreciation lunch for the more mature parishioners, i.e., those over 65 (by the way I am in that group, but since I am clergy I suppose one is disqualified).
      In a moment of what have been extreme weakness I said that I would do the cooking, if I had help, for this gathering. I had expected about 25 or so people to sign up. Surprise, surprise, was I in for a surprise.
     The total number signing up to partake in this lunch turned out to be 72. Help, HELP, suddenly I found myself in serious need of sous chefs. Several of the parish staff volunteered to help as did a number of parishioners.
     Now it was time to make the menu. Since we are a multi-cultural parish, and based on my personal estimates we break down as follows; 60-65 % of North European descend with about 50 % of that group claiming to be Hispanic, which is a misnomer, an invention of the turmoil of the 60's,  then about 30 % of Vietnamese origin or descend, and the remaining 5 or so % of West African, mostly Nigerian, descend, with a few Filipinos sprinkled in together with a few East Indians, it was decided that the menu should originate in Southern Europe, and what better place to start than Italy.
      Last night a number of parishioners got together and set up tables and chairs and decorations in our big meeting room. A great Thank You go to Paula Beyers for providing the table cloths, the vases and the flowers. We should also mention that Deacon Benito Tristan and his wife Viviana did a splendid job of steam cleaning all the upholstered chairs, chairs which were in serious need of cleaning.

The meeting room set up  and ready.

     Thus the appetizer was bruschetta with a tomato, garlic, onion, basil mix with olive oil, and a touch of lemon juice. Following the appetizer was a vegetable consomme, then the pasta, which was penne in a creamy home made lemon sauce with fresh picked parsley from my garden. Following the pasta we grilled shrimp with hint of ginger and a touch of heat in the form of crushed red pepper flakes. This was followed by a dessert of Japanese Plum puree with rum, topped with whipped cream and a bit of nutmeg.
      Yesterday afternoon Fr. Thu Le and I went shopping for all the ingredients. We made stops at Sam's and at our local HEB grocery store and got all we needed. Note that I have never had to shop on that scale before and was a bit concerned about too much of one thing and not enough of another.
     This morning at 8 AM the kitchen was opened and the preparations began with amble help from many good people.

Cutting and slicing and dicing.
On the left Amanda Lopez, Esther Aguirre, Lam Hoang,
at the end Ann Stranahan, and on the right Amelia Banda and Mary Avila.

The two pots on the right are filled with

fresh cut vegetables for the vegetable consomme.

Still slicing and dicing. See the finely sliced, on a mandolin, red onion in front.

Celia Puente, Ann Stranahan, Amelia Banda and Maria Fernandez.

The topping for the bruschetta is being prepared.

Celia Puente and Ann Stranahan.

These ladies look like they enjoy what they are doing.

The spent vegetables are being taken out of the consomme.

The sous chefs are Joe Puente and Ronald Cohoon.

The pot in front at left is for "ice" tea.

We are ahead of schedule so Ann Stranahan, Maria Fernandes, Mary Davila

and Esther Aguirre are taking a well deserved break.

Actually, it looks like they are holding a union meeting,

as if they are contemplating organizing into a union.

Twelve noon, the serving hour, is fast approaching and

the bruschetta is being plated by Amelia Banda and Maria Fernandez.

In the meantime the creamy lemon sauce for the pasta is

being prepared from scratch. The pot to right of Amanda Lopez

contains the first batch of penne pasta cooking.

Father Joseph Thu Le leading those assembled in prayer before the meal.

 

      Somewhere along the way we hit a small hick-up, and I take the blame. We served the bruschetta, then the vegetable consomme and next was supposed to have been the paste. For reasons unknown I in the heat of battle forgot about the pasta and we started serving the shrimp dish.





The shrimp plates being prepared.

The ladies are busy plating the shrimp dish.

 

     The photos below speak for themselves. Everyone is having a great time and enjoying the meal.

One parishioner commented today (Sunday April 21, 2013) that it was so good that people were "eating their fingers." A metaphor for finger licking good. I should be noted that yours truly is well past the minimum age for being a "senior" in this parish and so were a number of other helpers. Next year we may just sit and eat.

 

 

      It appears that I didn't get pictures of the soup or the pasta dish. So be it. Here is a photo of the dessert, Japanese Plum, ready to go out.



It looks delicious, and we were told that bit of rum made it "delectable".

 

      We cannot close this post without giving credit to those who worked so hard in making it a success - Thank You to each and everyone of you.

 



From left to right, beginning in the back:

Mary Avila, Maria Fernandez, Ann Stranahan, Amelia Banda, Nereida Medrano,

Diana Torres, Celia Puente, yours truly Deacon Allan J. Frederiksen, Joe Puente and Ron S. Cohoon.

In the front from left to right Manuel A. Lopez,

behind the stand Father Thu Le, kneeling Amanda Lopez and Esther Aguirre.

 

      Wait til next year. Now we know how things flow and will be much better prepared.

Go West Young Man (17) ....

     We arrived in Farmington, New Mexico without incident but definitively a bit dusty. We had a nice dinner and called it the day, but not till after we had called a couple of churches to see about Mass times for the next day was Sunday. The first one was very helpful and gave us two different masses we could attend and said we would be welcome. The just before we hung up the caller informed us that this particular church was a Pius X Society parish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_St._Pius_X
http://www.fsspx.org/en/).
      In other words, a parish not in communion with the Latin Church or the Bishop of Rome, a church founded by Archbishop Lefebvre in protest against what he considered the liberal moves of the Vatican II council.
http://www.fsspx.org/en/presentation/our-founder/archbishop-marcel-lefebvre/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Lefebvre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council
http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/index.htm
    Since at that time there existed an edict of ex-communication between the Latin Church and the followers of Lefebvre we called the other church listed as Catholic and went to Mass there Sunday morning. The ex-communication was lifted by the late Pope Benedict XIV in an effort to bring the wayward flock back into communion.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05678a.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excommunication

     Then we planned the next few days. Within reasonable distance are some areas of interest; Mesa Verde in Colorado, the Four Corners area - the only place in the US where the borders of four states meet at the same point (in the NW Utah, the SW Arizona, the NE Colorado and the SW New Mexico), not far from Farmington one can also find Shiprock. Up the road a fair bit in Utah is another area of interest; the Anasazi cave dwellings - http://www.americansouthwest.net/ancient-ruins.html
      We decided that since the dwellings at Mesa Verde were so much closer we would limit our visit to those. So on day two in Farmington we set out for Mesa Verde in SW Colorado. The driver there is interesting with a lot of SW landscapes, mesa's and small communities.
      Mesa Verde is a National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. As one approaches there is one tall mesa after the other, and the road goes up and up, way up, way way  up.

A mesa near Mesa Verde National Park in SW Colorado.

The view from the top is absolutely fantastic.

      The view from the top of the mesa is fantastic, one can see for miles. In the picture above we are looking South and Southwest. We can see into New Mexico and into Arizona. Although not visible on this picture, with the naked eye we were able to see Shiprock from this position, and the distance is about 70 miles (112.7 km).
     So what makes Mesa Verde so famous? It is obviously the ancient cave dwellings.
http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mesa+verde+national+park&qpvt=mesa+verde+national+park&FORM=VDRE
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mesa+verde+national+park&qpvt=mesa+verde+national+park&FORM=IGRE
http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/27
      Some time the year before we were there, 2006, there had been a series of wild fires, started by lightning, on the mesa and on the slopes leading up to the top, but we were rather surprised by how fast Mother Nature recovers.

Flora recovering from the wild fires the year before.

More flora recovering the hill slopes and top of the Mesa.

     

      Since the top of the Mesa is a bit on the high side, and it is very dry, it is suggested that one takes advantage of whatever shade is available and that one will carry some water and make use of the tram that moves visitors around from site to site. We decided to use the tram when possible which meant waiting at certain stops along the way for the next tram to come along. Although this is not quite politically correct, some of the tram stops reminded me of rural bus stops in certain parts of Mexico, with those stops generally being by the tree that cast the most shade, and when I made a comment to that effect, it only elicited one chuckle from the people waiting with us, some of the others were not amused. There was not much shade to be had under that particular tree.

    

One of the "Mexican" bus stops on top of Mesa Verde.

 

     The dwellings are amazing, and in all fairness to the site, one day is certainly not enough, but that is all we had. When one considers that the people that lived there 700 or so years ago had to climb up and down to farm, to hunt, to gather produce, perhaps to gather water from a well here or there, these dwellings, which in a sense are "apartments" are amazing.

 A close up from an area of the right side of the photo below.

A view into the area of some of the dwellings. 

 The grandeur of it all.

 This photo and the one below can be put together as a panoramic to give some sense of scale..

 See how small the people at the right appear. The site is immense.

 The dwellings  under the overhanging cliff.

I should definitively get more excersize, it is a rough walk down and back up.

Norma saying no more walking today.

 

    After a most informative and interesting day we headed back to Farmington, but not before shooting a couple of pictures of a mesa well into the stage of erosion, a process that takes millions of years.

 The scale of the landscape is simply amazing.

The same mesa.

      Just after passing the mesa in the photos above it became necessary to find a rest stop, and there is absolutely nothing along the road, no gas stations, no rest stops, but off in the distance down a dirt road we saw what appeared to be a small community. Remember, all of this land is in the Navajo Nation. Off we go and sure enough, we found a small park with the doors to the facilities open.

 

    Thus another great day comes to an end. We have learned a lot, we have seen a lot, and by writing this blog we hope to share our experiences with others. Go out West, see this, it is fantastic. 









A tour to the Vegetable garden

      Birds are singing, the grass is growing, the sun is shining, the weeds are setting seeds everywhere; It must be spring time. Beginning in late February and early March I began seeding my vegetable garden and it is doing fairly well. We have already harvested three good crops of radishes, as well as some nice looking carrots and we are now working on the Mesclun mix of salad.
      Here are some views of the garden as it appears this very date. And the please pray for some rain as I need to fill up my rain water barrels again.

Up front on the left are the tops of celery from store bought celery where I just cut off the bottoms and stuck the root end into the ground and they are growing. Just to the right of celery you can see the same result from some heads of lettuce.
The net is for the cucumber plants which are beginning to grow nicely. To the right of the net are two rows of Mesclun salad mix, very tasty stuff. To the right of the foot path are garlic plants and to the right of them you see some carrots tops.

We already mentioned the garlic and carrots. Barely visible to the right of the garlic are two long rows of onions and in between the onions where the cages are are (from front to back) tomatoes, hot peppers (Jalapeno and similar 2 plants) and then again a different type of tomato. Just barely out of the ground in the front are radishes. The big green thing in front is a Cilantro plant which is about to go to seed. Behind the cilantro are two tomato cages and the far cage is for Red Bell Peppers.  Between the cages are lettuce plants. In the barrel on the walkway you will find oregano.
 

To the left we have a row of radishes followed by a row of bunching onions.
Back behind the rain gauge is 1/2 row of onions and a row of radishes.
In front of the rain gauge is a short row of Iceberg lettuce  and
just to the left of the walkway in the center is a full row of Bok Choi, an oriental lettuce.
In the barrel directly in front, which has been divided into two parts;  1/2 barrel sweet basil and 1/2 barrel chives.
To the right of the walkway is a row of turnips just planted, followed by a row of Pak Choi, another oriental
lettuce. Then two rows of Beets. The green plant in front is Italian parsley.
In the far back right corner is the rosemary and the non-producing avocado tree.

 

The plastic bottle in front is my slug catcher, it is simply an empty 2 liter coke bottle.

Directly in front of us here we have from right to left.

A row of broccoli, which looks anemic, a row of carrots which seem to be doing OK.

A row of Arugula, just peeking out of the ground, a row of red cabbage, looking anemic.

 

 

     Here are a few different views of this small plot of land that I call my "back 40", and also a look at the "water cost reducers", in other words, the rainwater catch barrels, each holds 65 gallons (almost 246 liters).

 

 

 

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