An Outing to Coupland, Texas

A couple weeks ago we had some frigid weather. One morning it was 11 degrees, and for a few days it didn't get above freezing. Not only were the temperatures in the basement, but the wind was also blowing, making it pretty miserable to be outdoors. When it gets that cold here, everything just shuts down. All of our community activities are canceled. Dan and I even tried to make a bank deposit and found Bank of America closed due to weather, even though the roads were clear.

On Wednesday, seeing the sunshine, blue skies and the mercury rising to the mid-sixties, I felt an urge to go on a little photo-shoot to enjoy the great outdoors.

Coupland, Texas, is a tiny town of about 300 people, an hour south of us. I've been wanting to take my camera down there ever since Andy and Kay drove us, one evening, by the outdoor sculpture garden, where artist, Jim Huntington, works his magic on carved stone monoliths.

On the way to Coupland, I stopped several places to take some shots of the winter landscape of our area. I said something to Dan the other day about everything turning brown here, in the winter. He disagreed, and said it was actually yellow. Not to give in too easily, I said, "Okay . . . kind of a yellowish-brown," to which he replied, "No. It's brownish-yellow." It's kind of funny that we have nothing more serious to debate, in our comfortable retirement years, than what color the grass is. We finally settled on "golden."

I also stopped at another tiny town, Bartlett, on my way down, to snap a few images of its old west architecture, which harmonizes well with its worn brick streets.

This building was abandoned, but I noticed that, upstairs, "Dentist" was painted on the window. Made me wonder if Doc Holliday had ever practiced in this Texas town.

I was fascinated by the stonework incorporated into the brick architecture of this building.

I arrived in Coupland around 1:30 and found 77-year-old Jim Huntington hard at work on two different sculptures. He was embedding copper strips in some of the veins of the stone. I asked if he minded if I took pictures of his sculptures, and he said that was fine. So I roamed around on the acreage, fascinated by his works of art. Below are a few of the photos I took.

This one reminded me of the "pleats" on the throat of a humpback whale.

This is a shot, looking skyward, from inside the tube of the sculpture shown in the picture above.

This one resembled river rapids.

And I couldn't help think about the wing of an eagle when I saw this one.

Inside his studio, there were hundreds of pieces in progress, including this one. The dark gray section looked like a huge Bird of Paradise leaf.

Catching Up

NEW KNEE

I'm at six weeks post op now. Tomorrow I see the doctor and have no doubt that he will release me to drive again, and allow me to ditch the cane (which I am only using outside the house now). The healing takes a long time . . . somewhere between six months and a year . . . but the major pain is past now. I'm completely off of the pain medication and doing my therapy twice a day, on my own. Walking is not too uncomfortable. Dan has taken me to a number of large stores, where I've walked the aisles. I get tired easily, but the pain is minimal. Sitting, on the other hand, can be a real pain. I am making it through both Bible class and worship service now, though. Riding in the car for a half-hour or so is do-able, but longer still creates a bit of a problem. I'm really looking forward to being able to make longer trips . . . to Houston to see the grands is number one on my wish list.


WHAT WE'VE MISSED

So, not being able to travel to see the kids and grandkids has been a real downer. Two big occasions passed by without us being there.

Clara, who is just finishing up her third grade year, took second place in her school's science fair. She was competing against fourth and fifth graders, so we are really proud of her accomplishment.

And Robert is now an official graduate of his pre-school, and on his way to becoming a kindergartner in the fall. Sure wish we could have been at the graduation ceremony.

VISITORS

Dave and Karen, our very special friends from Alaska, are on another long motorcycle trip around the U.S. We are always grateful that they make the time and effort to come by our house for a few days, which they did this month. Sadly, we weren't able to take many outings or do any sight-seeing because of the weather (more about that next), but we did get out to eat several times. Karen and I managed a girl's day out, shopping in Harker Heights. Having them here pushed me to do a lot more walking than I might otherwise have done, and it was great exercise for my knee.

TEXAS WEATHER

I'm sure everyone has seen the recent TV news reports of flooding, lightning storms, wind damage and tornados in Texas. Although we were under a tornado warning, here in Temple, nearly all of Memorial Day, we didn't have any tornados touch down. We did have torrents of rain, flooding in some areas, lots of thunder and lightning and some fallen trees. Many homes were without power for several hours, but Dan and I are thankful that our neighborhood suffered no damage, and we had no power outages. 

Did I Mention . . .

. . . that it snowed last week? Not very common here!

Drifting Along With the Tumbling Tumbleweeds

Although Albuquerque is known for its year-round nice weather, it isn't Heaven! And a day like today is indisputable proof of that! Springtime is here, and with it come occasional sandstorms, like we are experiencing today.

Leaving church, we headed west to Corrales where we had plans to meet friends for lunch. It was an ugly trip, with huge gusts of wind; reddish brown sand, snaking across the road; and dense air, the same color as the sand, obscuring even the nearby scenery. Dan tried his best to dodge the tumbleweeds that danced across the road from south to north . I found myself humming an old song made famous by The Sons of the Pioneers (I'm showing my age, aren't I?). The beginning of the song went something like this:

I'm a roaming cowboy riding all day long,
Tumbleweeds around me sing their lonely song.
Nights underneath the prairie moon,
I ride along and sing this tune.

See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground
Lonely but free I'll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.

The Sons of the Pioneers made it sound almost romantic, but trust me, there was nothing romantic about today's storm that blew sand into Dan's eyes and beneath his contacts; turned my chewing gum into a gritty mass; and attacked my sinuses, leaving me with a headache.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, hoping for a return to the "Land of Enchantment."

[Kelsey and Gloria - don't let this post deter either of you from your planned visits to our fair city. I'll put in a special request for good weather while you're here. ]

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

For the most part, Albuquerque has mild winter temperatures, but right now we are in a cold spell that is reminding me of my years in Alaska. When I left for work this morning it was 13 degrees, and, according to the radio, the windchill brought it down to -2. I used to be okay with that kind of weather, but after 4-1/2 years here I guess I've become acclimated. It's even worse because we don't have the cold-weather clothes that we had in Alaska.

Some of you may be watching my "366 Photos for 2008" blog, and if so you've probably noticed that I've had to settle for indoor pictures the past couple days. But the weather man is predicting a gradual warming trend, so hopefully I'll be back out there snapping shots around the city pretty soon.

White Christmas

When I opened the garage door, this morning, to leave for work, I was surprised to see that it was snowing, and the ground was already white.

So, in honor of the "white stuff," here they are . . . Santa and his reindeer, singing White Christmas. This was one of my favorites last year, and they're back for a Christmas-2007-encore. Be sure to turn your sound up.

Click HERE to view. (May take a few moments to load.)