The Weekend in Pictures

While much of the country suffered from freezing, wintry weather, we were graced with temps in the high 50s and copious sunshine. I managed to remember the camera for much of the weekend and took a few decent pics to give you an idea of our how we spent our days.

First, we rode out to the village of Corrales. Life seems to slow down a bit there and you have to keep an eye out for horse manure while riding along the ditch. From our house we can mostly ride on car-free paths and the ditches for the nearly 10 mile journey to the village. Our destination was Stevie's Happy Bikes, our favorite bike shop in the Albuquerque area. Stevie is a fan of bike touring and he has fond memories of touring the San Juan Islands off the Washington Coast. We'd like to return there for a tour, too. When we pulled up on our touring bikes, Stevie, an aficionado of vintage bikes,  commented on our "real" bikes, which we felt pretty good about.

Here's my touring bike: a Miata 610. The fat tires made riding the sandy trails a cinch.

We hung out at Stevie's for a little while, eating muffins from the market cafe down the road and soaking up the sunshine. The shadow of a tree in winter as it fell across Stevie's adobe building really caught my eye.

After Coralles we headed 15 miles south back into Albuquerque and the Old Town neighborhood. Admittedly, we have only been to Old Town once, and at that time we were lost. As the name suggests, this neighborhood is a historical gem and full of small alley-like streets flanked by thick-walled, low-slung adobe buildings. There are plenty of shops catering to tourists, a plaza to buy jewelry and Native American crafts, and a few restaurants tucked away here and there. We wanted to try a crepe restaurant at the end of an alley next to the Albuquerque Museum but it was closed. We ate on the patio of the Church Street Cafe instead and split a burrito smothered in delicious green chile.

A doorway in Old Town. The asymmetrical framing reminded us of our entry gate.

Needing to get home and get ready for dinner at a friend's, we sped back north to the valley on streets and ditches the 7 miles home.

I thought there was something beautiful in this bit of urban decay.

No energy is wasted with these reflectors that focus light into skylights.

We had a late night with good friends celebrating birthdays, eating South Indian food, and playing Wise...and Otherwise. Laughing with friends is such good medicine. Sunday morning we awoke to the sun streaming in and a hankering for Sophia's breakfast enchiladas. On the way there we saw this roadrunner.

We usually spot it in the same location and occasionally it will run away but not today. It fluffed up its wings and raised its crest while I snapped a few pictures. Although commonplace, I still get a kick out of seeing a roadrunner and the day I spot one with a snake or lizard hanging out of its mouth will be memorable to say the least.

I find the fleck of orange-red behind the eye stunning.

With our bellies full we cruised back home to spend the day on house projects, (another post is in the works on the recent attempts at beautification) baking, and cooking. (As I type this a second loaf of artisan bread is in the oven and a dozen blue-corn blackberry muffins are cooling on the rack.) Our neighbor joined us for a dinner of local sauerkraut (sadly not mine) and brats cooked over our little wood-fired grill.

A pleasant weekend indeed.