La Pájaro: Puts the Bird in Birdie

Prolifica

I can think of worse places to work...

My new job begins a week from Monday. I will be team-teaching the 7th and 8th grade (a combined class) at an Expeditionary Learning charter school in my little New Mexican heaven. I'll teach full-time, along with Mr. J. Another teacher, Mrs. G, will join us four afternoons a week.

My class consists of 28 wild and crazy New Mexicans. One of these rugrats is my own boy, Louis, age 12. I can't beat the setting - the incredible castle of the United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico. We have two sizable rooms on the bottom floor with our own courtyard. My students will eat lunches with the World College Students. I know there are stories hiding in the old stair banister, in the carved wood living room where Jesse James once hid for months. We'll have access to the hot springs, to the pool and gym and Dawn Light Sanctuary.

I'm trying to think up something poetic, something beautiful to say about the change of season, the way my boys and I will walk to school together next week, how this new job means I'll spend more time with them than last year when I worked from home. But I'm scared. The change frightens me, and I worry that I won't measure up, that I won't have time to write. That's the biggie, you know. That I won't have time to write.

A trip to my local cemetery

A windmill marks the grave of a rancher.

I mentioned the local cemetery in my last story, but plan to write a full article about the place in the near future after interviewing some of my neighbors.

I uploaded a little photo album you may enjoy.

And a couple more, because you NEED some New Mexican Goodness!

Both photos taken at Capulin Volcano.

A Case of Mysterious Identity

I posted my next installment in my BlogHer Words in a Row series. This story is called A Case of Mysterious Identity, and it tells the tale of one of my neighbors (name and physical description changed to protect the innocent). After the story is my wee little writing lesson.

BlogHer has undergone a site revamp over the last week! The new look is beautiful, and the site has much more functionality for users. Some kinks are still being worked on, so have patience if things seem a bit wonky.

Enjoy!

More photos of my ladybug jamboree

Click on the photos to see BIG ladybugs!

The ladybugs arrive from aphid-infested wheat fields in Texas and Oklahoma, fat, happy, engorged on farmers' pests. They congregate in the high-lying areas of my town, in the places high above the Great Plains. They visit for the summer, roll in the deep leaves of my agave, the spines of my western grass. They hibernate here, find warm holes in the ground, dark corners of my garden shed.

Then, in the wild winds of spring, they lift their wings, let the breeze carry them back to the calling aphid wheat fields. Ladybugs don't navigate well. They can fly short distances, jump from one branch to another. They need the winds of Northeast New Mexico to carry them home to their breeding grounds.

I love my ladybugs.

Ladybug Picnic!

It's ladybug mating season in Northeast New Mexico! Check out my backyard buddies:

Local lambs

A rancher herded sheep through the San Augustine valley this morning.

A hike up Hermit's Peak

I posted a new photo album of our hike up Hermit's Peak. If you ever visit Las Vegas, or if you live here, you must make this hike at least once and experience the solitude and beauty the mountain offers.

Happy Mom's Day!

I wish everyone - every Mom, every Child - a wondrous Mom's Evening. Today I:

ate breakfast at La Risa and ordered a breakfast burrito stuffed with spinach and mushrooms and garlic and smothered in red AND green,

took a drive to Ojitos Frios,

and attended the Mother's Day Mariachi concert.

I have so many more photos to upload and many stories to tell, starting with a story about my favorite Pirate. But now 10 and 12 want to watch a movie with me!

Stonefridge fell.

My beloved Stonefridge fell last Sunday. The harsh spring winds pushed it over, pushed it into pieces, into the muddy ground. It was the big news in the paper this week, and I plan on scooting out there this Sunday to take photos of the remains before they are hauled to the dump. The city refuses to allow anyone to rebuild. It ends up I was the very last journalist to visit the place before the fall.

I made some t-shirts and other paraphenalia from my Stonefridge photographs, check out the sidebar if you need a new look.