Freecycle, framing, and Flying Star



photos by Elaine A. Russell

One of the blessings of having remodel work done, is that it is sort of an adventure.
Right now, we have one working sink (kitchen) .. one working shower (hall bathroom)... and lots of plasterboard dust all around (framing walls). With 4 people in the house... it's going to be a testament of patience.
And right now.... we are doing well.
Another benefit is that I am slowly going thru things again. Because the workers are putting in a different doorway to the garage, we had to move all my craft/ jewelry making stuff and tables, as well as a heavy duty work bench and alot of tools. Today I hope to go thru alot of it and potentially get rid of some stuff.
Yesterday I was able to give away some buildings supplies ( lumber, cinder block , etc )...gotta love Freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org/). I have been a member for several yrs, the last 2 of which I have donated an item or more for every day of the year. I think it's an awesome program, and seems to help alot of people who are both looking to get rid of/ or get ... good used stuff.
A final benefit, is that we are getting to sample some of the great food places ABQ has to offer. The hubby and I have always enjoyed eating out and exploring ... so this is a real treat. The other day we went to Flying Star up on Coors and Alameda (http://www.flyingstarcafe.com/), and last night we went to Nothing but Noodles (http://www.nothingbutnoodles.com/). Great food.


*Pictures are from that Flying Star location.

blessings from Old Towne





photos by Elaine A. Russell



We have lived in ABQ for almost 15yrs. We were able to afford this house because the previous owners had gone thru a major domestic battle... and had trashed the place. Since then, we have done mostly structural things....removed carpet, put in tile flooring ...new roof... new stucco... re-enforced walls around the property... new water treatment system...new furnace... new swamp cooler...stuff like that.

For the past several years though.... we have had barely functioning bathrooms and kitchen. Today is the end of that. Today I have 4 guys who are seriously demolishing the main doors to our house... tearing apart the bathrooms, and soon will be tearing apart the kitchen.

Buffy and Genghis are "holed up" in my daughter's room... breathing heavily on the windows where they can see people coming and going. Sabrina is at my feet... not liking the sound of reciprocating saws much at all.
But it is all good. I think the chaos in the house is reflective of the way my life has gone for a long time now... and the change is good. Soon the house... and I... will be "up to par."

Yesterday, I spent part of the afternoon strolling around Old Towne. It was wonderful. It was a beautiful day, and there were lots of people enjoying the area. There was a mariachi band playing near the gazebo. I got a few fabulous beads at NM Bead and Fetish. I stopped at the beautiful San Felipe de Neri chuch. http://www.sanfelipedeneri.org/
And I also stopped at a small grotto-like chapel in Old Towne called The Our Lady of Guadelupe Chapel. ... with thanks and prayers said for the work ahead.

Photos for today's post are from my visit yesterday afternoon.

leaf turning time

photo by Elaine A. Russell

I was reading Robert's blog (http://robertredus.wordpress.com/) this morning ... and for me, it felt like he was talking about making decisions.... making changes... being comfortable with the way things are heading. He closes with this quote:

“The most important thing to remember is this: To be ready at any moment to give up what you are for what you might become.”
--W.E.B. Du Bois

The quote really got to me. It's as if Du Bois was saying... make the decision you are comfortable with.... but make sure you know what you are getting into... because you will be changed. There is no going back.

Reminded me of the way the fall leaves are turning right now. It's not like the maple tree can decide that if it doesn't like that particular shade of orange-red... it can go back to being green for a bit. It has already changed. No going back. It will never be quite that shade of green again... at least not in the current incarnation.

Kinda like people. The interactions we have in our lives do change us. Sometimes not necessarily for the better... that is up to us and how we choose to deal with things.
But change us they do.

patterns in the everyday





*photos by Elaine A. Russell


"Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing" --Camille Pissarro


I saw this quote on the blog of a wonderful artist, Allegra. http://beadingstars.blogspot.com/
It says so perfectly what I was trying to say about the photos for today's blogpost. I was trying to find some kind of quote or anectdote about the patterns we see in everyday life... how we tend to not really see them... because we see them all the time, and so they become invisible.

All the photos for today's blog were taken of buildings on Gold Ave in downtown ABQ.

Pueblo Montano park








photos by Elaine A. Russell

Fall is coming upon us. It is my favorite time of year. I love the chill in the air, how walks at night become a little more brisk, how the sunsets seem more vibrant, how the moon seems more full, how the leaves make that cool rustling noise when the wind blows... it all speaks to me.

Yesterday the hubby and I took a short walk around the Bosque near Montano bridge, and the open space park there that features wood carvings by Mark Chavez. Mark was a fireman back when the Bosque suffered a horrible fire back in 2003. Most of the cottonwood trees succumbed, and many suffered severe damage. Out of that catastrophe, Mark, who is also a wood carver/ sculptor.... made art from the remnants of tree trunks and fallen trees. It is gorgeous... and a testament to our own lives... how we can build beauty from ashes if we just try.


See this link: http://www.examiner.com/x-1972-Albuquerque-Travel-Examiner~y2009m9d10-Hidden-Albuquerque-Pueblo-Montano-park-and-the-wood-carvings-of-Mark-Chavez

lazy weekend in progress




photos by Elaine A. Russell

Yesterday I had to take in my SmartCar for a check-up. I have had it over a year now, and put about 17,000 miles on it (mostly due to the cross country trip this summer). Since getting the car last July... it has been a wild ride. I love my car.

This weekend is (hopefully) going to be a quiet one. Seems like I have been sooo busy for sooo long... and with too much emotional upset... that I feel like I just need to step off the merry-go-round for a turn or two.

Thursday would have been my sister's birthday. She would have been 56. I miss her. I know she is in a better place, and I would not wish her back to be sick and spending her days in pain. But I do miss her sweet smile, her words of encouragement, her intelligent insight into so many things.

Photos for today were taken at SmartCenter in ABQ... where I got my wonderful little car :)

Nob Hill Nights

Masks Y Mas

Nob Hill Grill

fire guys

drummer dudes

photos by Elaine A. Russell


so-- last night was pretty cool. The hubby, daughter and I went to the first-ever "Nob Hill Nights." This is a new idea proposed by the merchants of the Nob Hill area in ABQ. Essentially, they close off a bunch of the streets in Nob Hill, and only allow pedestrian traffic in the evening on the first thursday of each month. Shops and restaurants are open late to allow browsing... there are street musicians and special events. http://rwarn17588.wordpress.com/2009/09/21/just-another-nob-hill-night/

We left the house around 6pm, and ended up staying past closing of the events which was around 9pm. First stop for us was Masks Y Mas. This is a fantastic locally owned store (actually... several store spaces in one). The owners have one section of the store as a gallery space, and tonight they were featuring 2 young local artists: Rain Green and Noah Valencia.
http://www.masksymas.net/index.htm

From there we stopped in at Astro Zombies. This is a very cool shop that features a wide selection of comics, graphic novels and figurines, etc, etc. Awesome selection! http://astrozombies.com/

Then we went to the Nob Hill Grill. We got sucked in by the free green chile stew samplings... and ended up having a great meal. Our server; Maureen... was gracious and accommodating. The food was great, and affordable. ($45 for 3 entrees, drinks and an appetizer)http://www.upscalejoint.com/

We got done just in time to see the fire jugglers... doing awesome feats of fancy with fire. And we got our groove on to this awesome drumming group. ... and we also got to see a demonstration by the Tango Club of ABQ. http://www.abqtango.org/


All in all... a pretty fabulous night out.

the GO Arts Festival

on Gold Ave...


Court Lurie Fine Art

Ping Irvin

Kevin Eslinger

St. Clair Winery

*all photos by Elaine A. Russell



this past weekend there was sooooooooooo much we could have done. It was the last weekend of the State Fair, the Go Arts Festival was going on downtown, Globalquerque! was at the Hispanic Cultural Center on Saturday, and the Aki Matsuri (Japanese Fall Festival) was on Sunday.....

In the end, we decided to go to the Go Arts Festival, because we had never been before. It was in the heart of downtown... off of Gold Ave. About 150 artists from all over New Mexico... and a few from Texas, Arizona, and Colorado... set up camp and basked in all the best that is NM. The weather was perfect, the music was great... and there was wine from St. Clair !

Strolling around, I was overwhelmed with all the great art. Everything from paintings, sculptures, wood carvings, glasswork, jewelry, leather arts, metal lamps, furniture, marbles and more !

As a bonus: I got the chance to meet Brandon Maldonado... one of my fav painters. He did the murals for Masks Y Mas on Central, and has published a book that I just adore. He has been featured on the cover of the Alibi... and several other publications. Total coolness.

break... or is it brake



photos by Elaine A. Russell

taking a break. The past few days have been loaded with stress, testing, preps for testing and doctor's appointments. I am fine. But it has surely hit home that I need to consciously take time to take care of myself. I think that I have been increasingly mindful of this over the past 12yrs or so since I had cancer surgery, and the 17yrs since being diagnosed with SLE. ....And the testing these past few days has proven that I am on the right track to better health. In fact, in many ways, I am healthier today than I was 17yrs ago.
Fatter.. surely. Older, definately. Menopausal... yah. But healthier... and certainly less stressed *excluding the past couple of days. And now for a cup of coffee......

part 3: NM State Fair








photos by Elaine A. Russell


So -- when we last left off... Jim and Elaine were foraging the NM State Fair for sweets and treats :)
And now, ladies and gentlemen... I bring you to the highlight of the fair for most people... the rides and games.
The hubby and I are not ones to usually ride the rides... or play the games... but we do look at everything. And I have had a long fascination with the carousel, so we actually spent alot of time at the 2 different carousels at the State Fair. Plus.. there were lots of shows: Winn's Thrill Show, The Marcan Tiger Preserve, Valentine's Performing Pigs, The Dock Dogs, and The Latest in Game Technology shows. And music ! (too many performers to list).

We strolled around the midway for a couple of hours... taking way too many pictures of rides in action. I was amazed to see some features/ spectacles ... of shows I remember when I was a kid. Such as: the World's smallest Horse, the tiniest woman... etc. The posters for these events seemed straight out of Guinness Book.
Then there were the usual roller coaster type rides, twisting type rides, the epic fall type rides.... you name it. And the Ferris wheel.... the old-time favorite. I love taking photos of Ferris wheels.. so we spent some time there too.

I talked at length to a couple of the "carnies".... both of whom were looking forward to the end of the fair season to go home to their families before the next fair tour in another town. When I was little.. I remember that one of my cousins actually ran away and joined the circus. He spent a couple years cleaning and taking care of the elephants... then we lost track of him. At any rate... I always had a soft spot for the workers at such carnivals.

Anyway.. so there you have it. A magical time at the NM State Fair. Hope you all had a good time... I know I did :)

part 2: The NM State Fair







photos by Elaine A. Russell

After seeing all the art exhibits, our attention turns to the critters at the McDonald's Barn....after all, who can resist baby animals ?? Besides, it's my duty to vote for the baby bunnies as being the cutest. ((bunny lovers unite))

This year, it was actually a tough call for me, because they had brought in a mommy pig and her newborn babies. Gotta say... the pigs were adoreable. They also had chicks, baby ducks, pheasants, roosters, young calves, young kid goats, miniature horses, puppies and kittens.

From there... it was all about the food. Ya gotta love going to State Fair's for the food. Corndogs, frito pies, Indian tacos, french fries, turkey legs.... and our yearly quest... Corn on the cob. I'm talking fresh picked corn on the cob... smathered in butter and sprinkled with lemon pepper seasoning.

Sated and satisfied.... we wandered about looking at the booths of junk fair food. Deep fried oreos, deep fried twinkies..... eesh. Sounds like a heart attack on a stick... and yet, I was tempted to try one. Cotton candy, pretzles, popcorn... Tom Tom mini donuts ! We got a bag and sat on the benches to enjoy their sugary goodness.

And of course, the night doesn't end until you enjoy that last bit of funnel cake.....

More tomorrow on the rides and games !

the NM State Fair





photos by Elaine A. Russell


Fairs and carnivals have always held an interesting allure for me. Aside from a deathly distaste/ distrust of clowns.... it is heaven on a stick. And even the clowns are cool in a macabre point of view.
So it was with great excitement that the hubby and I went on our yearly excursion to the NM State Fair. http://www.exponm.com/fair/

We usually have a few goals in mind:
  • see the art exhibits
  • see the baby animals (*must vote for the bunnies)
  • get fair food (especially corn on the cob and funnel cake)
  • take photos
  • come home happy and satisfied
And, not unlike in years past... we stayed from mid-afternoon til way after dark.


This year, I was taking photos with a camera that I had only had for about an hour... so I was a bit nervous as to how the photos would actually turn out. But we plunged on in anyway.

First stop was the art exhibits. Wow. I am constantly amazed at the talent here in NM. In the Fine Arts building, we saw gorgeous paintings, cool stained glass and fused glass pieces, mixed media art, and some awesomely cool metal mesh sculptures of the human form. What was so very cool about them, was not just that they were extremely well done... but because of the way they cast these fantastic shadows on the walls. Wow. Unfortunately, no pics allowed in that building.

From there we went to the crafts building. We saw everything from woodcarving, stained glass, dolls, quilts, homemade jams, needlework, coins, altered books and jewelry. And one of our favorite exhibits.. the LEGOS. Demonstrations were being held on woodcarving and book-making. I was able to make a little hand bound book in about 5 minutes (with expert help from LIBROS guild members).(( http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/librosnmbag/?v=1&t=directory&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=dir&slk=16 and one member's site: http://atgbooks.com/index.html ))

The photography was displayed this year in the African Arts building. Another WOW. Truly, some excellent stuff out there... and I recognised some names from local FlickR groups.

More on the fair tomorrow !!!

having fun

photo by Elaine A. Russell

Yesterday I bought a Kodak digital camera for about $150 ( camera--on sale, extra memory card, camera case ) at my local STAPLES store. I usually prefer anything NIKON, but I chose the Kodak EasyShare camera/ model Z1485 IS, because of it's many features, 14 megapixel capabilities, and the fact that I already own the printer dock to print ACEO size prints from.
It is a pretty darn cool little camera.
(new nickname *Koda -- and he's blue)

Yesterday on our "date" -- the hubby and I went to the NM State Fair. I took about 400 pictures. Yes, really. It was awesome. Now... for all I know.. most of the pictures are crap. They look OK in the LCD display on the back of the camera...but my battery died (after 6-7hours of constant use)... so I can't upload them to my laptop til I can get a new battery :(

That said however, it is an incredibly fun camera to use. It has a 5x zoom lens, with a range from 35mm-175mm....so you can get those landscape shots as well as fairly close portraits. The manual only has about 20 pages of user information... but they provide a link on-line for additional info: http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.145102200
One of the problems I found... was that the manual didn't explain all the extra SCENE modes you can have the camera program in for you... night portraits, night landscapes, etc. So... it was very lucky that I ran into a person at the fair who showed me where these features were on my camera (she has a similar camera). And off I went to try some nighttime shots of the fair.
I also ran into some friends from our local FlickR photo group... and I'm sure I raised some eyebrows and a few chuckles.. as I stood with them, chatting and taking photos... with my little point and shoot :)

Tomorrow... I will (hopefully) have shots from the fair, and more on what we did and what we saw there :)

Today's photo is from the other night, using the free Polaroid and free film. Because of the age of the film, there is a serious color cast to it. So... I scanned the original Polaroid photo into my computer, and converted it to B&W. I then added a dark purple tint, and added a little contrast. The program I used on-line is a free program called Picnik: http://www.picnik.com/

it's been a week

photo by Elaine A. Russell


It's been a very traumatic/ emotional week for me. Life's lessons sometimes come hard...but it makes us stronger.

Today the hubby took off work, and we are going to run errands and go on a date. :)

Today's photo is one I took last night around midnight. Sabrina and I always take nightly walks, and this time I took the polaroid. This photo is of the tree near my driveway, with the moon casting shadows upon the leaves. I did tweak the colors slightly in Picasa, as the old film has a strange color cast to it.
It is fun, and really challenging to take photos with cheaper *in this case, free* materials and equipment.

an experiment in progress


photo by Elaine A. Russell

So --- Using a free camera (old polaroid) and free film (with serious color cast cuz it's old)....this became the photo for today. Shot at one of the post offices in ABQ at like, 2am.

Can't buy a camera yet... spent most of the money on supplies to make jewelry yesterday for my class... flux, solder, sterling sheet, bezel, sterling wire, pliers, tweezers... But... I am learning alot. In the meantime.. I am enjoying seeing what I can come up with.

another busy day

photo taken by Elaine A. Russell at the We Art the People Show


In the past 48hrs, I have sold almost all my camera equipment. Now, before you all despair.. there is a method to my madness. It was on it's last leg... and the lenses were not good. With the proceeds from selling my stuff, I hope to get a very affordable ($100 range) digital camera. Not the best of equipment I know. Especially for professional shoots. However... if I am worth my grain as a photographer at all ... I should still be able to take reasonably good shots no matter the camera... right ?
I am viewing it as a challenge. Sort of .. a poor man's answer to the on-going debate: is it the camera or the photographer ? !!


AND -- I am finally taking the plunge and taking jewelry fabrication classes/ metal-working/ soldering... etc. I have been making jewelry for over 15yrs.. and this is the next logical step to becoming the jewelry artist that I hope to be someday.


So -- bring it on :)