Monday, June 25, 2007



Me. 'N everybody else. (Matt, Jon, Case.) We are sitting in front of a gallery on Canyon Road, Santa Fe.

Sunday, June 24, 2007


This is a Sante Fe window. I took the picture while running down Canyon Road on an early morning seven miler. It was hard to carry my camera for seven miles, but worth it in the end.

Saturday, June 23, 2007





Yesterday, we hiked up to Nambe Falls. Nambe Falls is on the Nambe Pueblo Reservation and is considered holy ground. It is a short but fairly steep climb. Along the way we were lucky to see some cactus in bloom.

Friday, June 22, 2007



Santa Fe is a door culture. Thresholds are very important here. Each house in Old Santa Fe has it's own distinctive door, sometimes old, beaten, often heavy and substantial. Occasionally, there's a door on the street that opens to a door on the house. They can be bare wood or brightly painted. They do make me wonder about what's on the other side, these doors.

Thursday, June 21, 2007




Today we drove to Sante Fe, New Mexico. Along the way we stopped at Shamrock, Texas to visit the U Drop Inn Cafe, a classic Route 66 structure that was once a gas station and cafe of the best kind. We had high hopes we could still get a burger there, but when we arrived we found only some ladies inside sewing. (I know. Sewing?) Wish they still served hamburgers and fries there. Bet it was good.

Saturday, June 09, 2007




NERDISMS: The Pencil Case.

I love my pencil case. I've had for about ten years. It's is brown leather and just a little bit longer than a newly sharpened pencil. I'm always looking for new pencil cases. But so far, I haven't found anything I like better, which is nice because how often do you purchase something that still makes you happy ten years later?

It's hard to come by a good pencil case in America. If you go to an office supply store and look for pencil cases, mostly what you find are the flat variety that are supposed to fit into a notebook or three ring binder. These are made out of plastic or heavy duty nylon with mesh or some such underinspired thing. Kids' pencil cases (which are found in the school supply section) are a little bit better. They are sometimes in the shape of a favorite cartoon character like Sponge Bob Squarepants or something. But still, where are the secret sliding compartments for erasers and lunch money like they had for pencil cases in days of old? My students from other countries often come to class with very fine pencils cases. I notice, generally speaking, that my Japanese and Korean students have especially good ones. I understand you can get a good pencil case in Paris, and I know you can get a good one in London too.

Mine is rounded like a semi circular tube. The leather is thick, and it's the kind that gets better with age and use. There are no secret compartments, but it is quite roomy and I can fit a lot in it. Here's what I have in my pencil case: an excellent 3 inch folding ruler which unfolds to a full twelve inches, a small pair of scissors, a pen light flashlight (you never know when you might need one), a honey bee eraser, two triangular pentech pencils which are designed to NOT roll off your desk when in resting position, three vintage bakelite pencil sharpeners in red, yellow and orange (more on those in a future NERDISM post), a very compact red and yellow one hole punch, two red pens (one of which telescopes) and a small all-in-one tool which includes tweezers, scissors, a screwdriver, a bottle opener, and a variety of pen knives which means it would not be permitted as a carry-on when boarding an airplane.

I do not however carry any food in my pencil case, not even a roll of Necco wafer candy (which would, nonetheless, fit very nicely.)

Friday, June 08, 2007




This spring, Habitat for Humanity had a Birdhouse Benefit Auction. The local chapter gives birdhouses out to area artists so they can embellish them in any way they like. The birdhouses are displayed in a gallery and auctioned off. The money from the auction then goes to support the current Habitat House project. It was great fun to be a part of the show, and I was fascinated to see how other artists responded to the project. The final show included a wide variety of styles and colors, but all the birdhouses were happy moments of creative expression. I was glad to contribute my time and creative energy in support of such a good cause. Since I love shadowboxes and have done several in my mixed media art, I decided to make my birdhouse a shadowbox too. The title of the piece is "A Bird's Eye View." Though I don't know who ultimately bought it, I trust it went to a good home, and I hope whoever has it enjoys the little world created within. If you'd like to see more views of "A Bird's Eye View" you can visit my Image/Text Blog. You'll find the link to it on the sidebar.