To and From Silver City

The scenery to and from Silver City was fascinating. I hope you can see in the pictures what I saw in person.

This is an underground trampoline. At first I was afraid of it, as you can see, but after a few jumps I was okay.

Giant wind chimes.

This house of mud reminds me of my mud hut in the Congo. 

Except this one is more fancy because it has electricity and running water.

Well the shower is the same.

Downtown Silver City

Downtown Silver City, New Mexico is an artist’s dream. The area is full of galleries, boutiques, music stores, cafes and coffee houses. The atmosphere – very relaxed and friendly. Thanks for sending me AmeriCorps. Check out the photos below.

The Blue Dome Gallery is too cool.

 Admist the art.

I like this painting. Notice the cat mocking the parrot by wearing a beak on its nose.

My purchase at the gallery. I am trying to incorporate more orange into my wardrobe. The CD includes Native American flute-based songs that are very soothing.

The artist and gallery owner, Molly. She is originally from Berlin but has lived everywhere.

Silver foxes. I like the color of their hair.

UFOs are popular here since the incident in Roswell during the 1940s.

One of the best restaurants, hands down. The Curious Kumquat forages their menu regularly. I’ve never known a place to do that.

Silver City – Guadalupe Montessori School

I went to Silver City, New Mexico to participate in an AmeriCorps conference. I am really feelin’ this State. It has so much to offer. Stuff I never knew it would.

Silver City is a very cool town. Approximately 35,000 people reside in the village whose residents mainly are retired folks and artists. Whenever I had a break from a meeting I made friends and explored the town. I also worked on a school’s farm whacking weeds, feeding chickens and eating fresh picked fruit. Check out the farm pictures below.

A private school for young children.

I was in charge of whacking the leaves off of this Elm Tree.

What a difference. Those leaves didn’t stand a chance once I got a pair of sheers in my hands.

The deep orange cherry tomatoes taste so sweet.

Here I am feeding the chickens. Believe it or not – these chickens are very spoiled. I should have covered my hair since I was working in the sun. By the time I left the farm my curls were dry and brittle.

Other AmeriCorps figuring things out.

Trying to figure things out and working in the field.

Small harvest.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

 The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a big deal here. It is the world’s premier balloon event that attracts people from almost every country. I met two old ladies from Alabama. It was fun talking to them and listening to their thick southern accents.

Check out the photos below. The balloons were awesome.

The Fiesta.

The tallest people there.

Indian performers.

People jumping out of a plane. Can you see them?

Balloons getting ready for the evening Balloon Glow event.

The Balloon Launch the next morning outside my front door.

The Holy Dirt of El Santuario de Chimayo

I really enjoy historical sites and visiting El Santuario de Chimayo in Chimayo, New Mexico completely satisfied my thrust for ancient history.

My interest in this Church was the small pit of Holy Dirt that can be found in back of the Church. Many believe that the Holy Dirt possesses natural healing powers. I wish I had pictures of the area where the Holy Dirt sits but I was not allowed to take photos in the santuary.

Here’s the story about the Church and the Holy Dirt:

In 1810 (on Good Friday), Don Bernardo Abeyta, a member of the Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesus el Nazareno, was walking through the hills, praying and reflecting. He saw a light coming from the ground and went to investigate. When he arrived at the spot, he dug and discovered a crucifix. He told the neighbors and they gathered around to venerate it. Soon, the priest at Santa Cruz (Fr. Sebastian Alvarez) came and carried the crucifix to his Church in a procession. The next morning, the crucifix was gone. The priest hiked out to the same spot and dug again, finding the crucifix and bringing it back to the Church. The following morning, it had vanished again.

After this happened a total of three times, the priest and bishop decided that, clearly, the crucifix was meant to be in that location, so they built a shrine. That shrine is the Sanctuaries de Chimayo and is a functioning Church today.

People came to the shrine and touched the dirt that the cross was buried in and they were healed of any illness. The stories spread and pilgrims came from all over to touch the “Holy Dirt.” As the dirt was removed, caretakers refilled the hole and the healing continued. The shrine has, over the years, appeared in Newsweek, Time Magazine and major metropolitan newspapers, leading to around 300,000 visitors each year.

If you are ever in New Mexico, I recommend taking a trip to Chimayo, which is not far from Santa Fe, to visit this Sanctuary. I promise, you won’t be disappointed.

Below are some photos I took from that day. Sorry for the not-so-straight shots. My insides were busy jumping because I was so excited. It felt good being there. Really good.

The Church.

This Chapel is dedicated to children who passed away.

I was just happy to be there.

This is the Holy Dirt I took from the pit. I had more than this but I split it with my mom.

New Mexico State Fair

Celebrating its 72nd anniversary the New Mexico State Fair is a 17-day event that still attracts locals as well as visitors nationwide. The State Fair was cute. Check out the photos below.

The African American Pavilion is fairly new to the State Fair. It’s about five years old. The African American population is small in New Mexico but growing regularly. The Pavilion was nicely put together but I don’t have a lot of pictures to show because some people were shady about me taking them. Black folks. Go figure.

Indian dancers.

I hate to see wild animals in captivity. However once I see them in person I fall in love because they are so beautiful. But I still don’t like the situation and normally boycott the entire thing. These lions were born into slavery. The male lion is a rare white lion. Every white lion on this planet is in captivity. What a shame.

Smoothies. I like the colors.

They are doing MJ’s “Thriller.”

Micky Dee’s had a farm house.

Really cool Reggae Band. Look at the singer’s Locs. They are to his ankles.

Indian Market at Santa Fe

I went to the 90th Annual Indian Market at Santa Fe last weekend. The festival was full of spectacular art made by Native Americans from various tribes. Everything there was so beautiful it was hard to make a selection. Below are a few photos from the event. Check them out.

The Chuck Jones Showroom was a pleasant surprise to see at The Plaza in Santa Fe. It was full of original drawings of the Looney Tunes by Chuck Jones as well as original art from Dr. Seuss and Charles Schultz (The Peanuts). I was not allowed to take pictures inside the gallery but I did learn that Chuck Jones loved New Mexico and incorporated his love for the state in his drawings.

For example, Bugs Bunny always said, “I should have made a left turn at Albuquerque.” I always wondered why he said that. Now I know. The road runner and coyote were popular characters in his work. I see road runners running in the street all of the time and coyotes live in the mountains but sometimes they walk around in the neighborhoods too. In addition, Chuck Jones was a big fan of Santa Fe’s Opera season which is held yearly during the Summer. Because of his love for that genre of music, Bugs Bunny often performed operatic skits. I can’t wait until next year’s Opera season. I’ll be there with bells on.

Old Western looking shops in Santa Fe.

A 10-year-old boy performing a Hola Hoop ritual.

The Plaza

Folklore performers

Dancers

Lil man was doing his thing

These peppers are always hanging someplace

Throw spreads with Native American patterns

Native ritual performer

An antique train at the Santa Fe Rail Yard. I was waiting there for a train back to the  city.

I purchased this piece because the folklore associated with the art reminded me of myself. The Navajo artist had three statues that looked the same in the front but on the back of each statue there was a different pattern that told a different story.

I selected the statue known as “The Changing Woman” because I am going through a change right now  (new city, new job, new life) and felt the folklore was similar (not the same) to my new lifestyle. The folklore in Staci’s short version goes like this:

A baby girl was born. The first day of her birth she was an infant, the second a teenager, the third a young woman, the fourth a middle age woman and on the fifth day she turned into an old woman. After the fifth day she went back to an infant and started changing all over again. Her parents wanted to enjoy her as a child so they performed a ceremony to stop her from growing so fast. The ceremony lasted two days and was complete when she was a teenager. It worked and she began to age in the normal fashion. Today Navajo teen girls everywhere go through the same ceremony as a coming of age, changing into womanhood, celebration.

Turkey and Pullet Eggs

I really enjoy shopping at local Farmers’ Markets especially since I moved to New Mexico.

While browsing around a market one  Saturday morning I noticed a farmer had  a bunch of small colorful eggs as well as large eggs with polka dots. I inquired about them because they looked interesting and I wanted to know more.

The farmer told me that the small eggs are known as Pullet eggs and are from young chickens just starting to lay. The large eggs with brown speckles were from local wild Turkeys.

I couldn’t walk away after learning that information. I had to buy them. What a great shampoo, I thought. I purchased six Pullet eggs and six Turkey eggs for $4. What a bargain for eggs coming from free range and drug free poultry.

I offered to cook a Turkey egg for my Mom but she declined. If I ate eggs I would have at least tried it but my vegan diet did not allow me the opportunity to do so.

However, I do use vegan and vegetarian haircare products, and egg shampoos are a perfect vegetarian protein source for the hair that I highly recommend. Check out one of my older posts on using eggs as a shampoo by clicking HERE.

First, I shampooed my hair using Beautiful Curls and afterwards I shampooed with the eggs. Below is what the eggs looked like.

Pullet eggs. They are really small. I like the blue one.

Turkey eggs.

The blue Pullet egg.

This is the Turkey egg. The yolk looks just like a Chicken egg to me.

Side by side. Look at the difference.

Both eggs mixed together.

The eggs in my hair. It lathered rather nicely. After I rinsed out the eggs my hair was literally squeaking clean. Seriously.

Homemade Lavender Oil

I like that New Mexico has a lot of local farms and farmer’s markets that sell a variety of organic produce and other foods within an hour or less from where I live.

One morning while driving on Rio Grande at 25 miles an hour (this is the speed limit on this strip and they are very serious about not going any faster than that for at least a mile or so) I discovered a farm that grows and sells all things Lavender.

Since Lavender is one of my favorite essential oils, (I use it in all of my home made stuff) I became excited when I saw the farm and decided to stop and take a look around.

With all of the fresh organic Lavender for sale (I missed the harvest in June) I purchased a bunch for $10 to make my own oil along with the strongest organic Lavender essential oil I’ve ever experienced. That was the best $15 I spent to date.

Below are photos of the farm and how I made my verison of Lavender oil. This was my first attempt at doing this. It’s a very simple recipe. Check it out.

Los Poblanos Farm House.

Lavender fields

My bunch of Lavender

A goat grazing.

Lavender after I pulled all of the flowers off of each stem.

I placed the flowers in a glass bottle.

I saturated the Lavender flowers with organic Safflower oil.

I added seven drops of organic Lavender essential oil to the bottle

And I was done.

I poured enough Safflower oil into the bottle of Lavender to cover the flowers only.

I plan to let the mixture sit in a dark cool place for two weeks before I strain it and use the Lavender oil on my hair and skin. 

I will post an update about the oil in about two weeks or so.

Sandia Mountain

Last weekend I spent the morning hiking throughout Sandia Mountain. New Mexico is a dry looking place, but despite the dryness, Sandia is still beautiful and I enjoyed my experience.

I have to get to the other side. It is supposed to be greener. However it’s been said that the bears and mountain lions make their home on that side as well. But all of that does not bother me. I ain’t scared. 

Check out the pictures below.

With the fam – I don’t know what my fro was doing that day but it felt soft.