Category: Albuquerque

Top ten things I miss about Christmas in New Mexico

1) Annual shopping trip to Old Town. A mom and me tradition. Every year I’d get to pick out an ornament that was mine. I now have all those ornaments in a Thom McAnn shoebox that, yes, Sunday night I opened and hung them all on my tree. They are like a history of my life. I remember buying most of them and it gives me a good sense of continuity to have them on my tree.

2) Luminarias. I always made them at my house. My mom would drive me to an empty lot to dig up two buckets worth of dirt and I’d fold bags, place candles and light them. It was my job and I loved every second of it, every folded bag, every candle that caught the bag on fire. I miss them.

3) The Bugg House, which, sadly, is no more. My sister lived over on Prospect and we’d go for a Christmas Eve walk in the evening to take a look at the outstanding display of holiday spirit. When I would go to Winrock Mall to shop, I’d always swing by the Bugg house to take a look. I miss it.

4) Neighbors bringing a plate of fresh made tamales as your Christmas gift. When you get three generations of Hispanic women in a kitchen with some masa and some shredded pork, magic happens. Yum! I also miss that people would come to work with tamales in a cooler and sell them to coworkers. I was always good for a half dozen or more.

5) A ristra makes a good Christmas gift. I’ve given. I’ve received. I love ’em. They’d become a moldy mess here…and that makes me sad.

6) Biscochitos. My love for these is well documented.

7) Sixty-five degrees and warm on Christmas Day. I think one year there was actually snow on the ground for the 25th. But it was melted by the end of the day. Oh Fair New Mexico, how I love your weather.

8) Christmas Eve midnight Mass in Spanish with the overpowering scent of frankincense filling up the overly warm church. Pure torture for a small child, but oh how I’d belt out the carols… And when we came home we could pick one present and open it. Gah! The torture of picking just one!

9) New Mexico piñon, gappy, scrawny Christmas trees that cost $15 at the Flea Market and were cut from the top of a larger tree just that morning. Look, to my mind, it ain’t a tree unless you are using low hanging ornaments to fill the obvious gaps. These fluffy overly full trees just ain’t my bag. If you ain’t turning the ‘bad spot’ to the wall, you paid too much for your tree.

10) Green chile stew for Christmas Eve dinner and posole for New Year’s. My mouth waters. It’s weep worthy. I can taste the nice soft potatoes in the stew, the chicken broth flavored just right…ouch! And posole to bring you luck with red chile and hunks of pork. Yeah……

Which is not to say I don’t have happy holidays where I live now…but sometimes I feel melancholy. And that’s what the holidays are for, right?

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In Memorium

Heartbroke is the best way to describe how I feel at reading the news in Duke City Fix that Mr. Powdrell, truly a legendary man, passed Sunday night at the age of 86.

When I used to work at Sandia Labs, the Powdrell’s location on Central was a common lunch spot for me. With pickles!

More often than not, Mr. Powdrell was sitting out front, watching the world go by, cooling off from that hot kitchen. I always gave him a hello and a thank you.

Anyone who provides eats that good deserves heartfelt thanks.

My thoughts go out the Powdrell family and the good people of Albuquerque. Wish I could remember the man by enjoying a big plate of his barbeque today. That’s the best way to honor him that I can think of…

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Follow up and updates

So thought I’d tack on to this post from last week regarding the fuel oil spill in the Bay Area.

Over the weekend I picked up the Friday edition of the The Examiner with a headline reading “Fishermen take to Bay as ban lifted”. Below that is a smaller headline “Officials say initial location of oil slick wrong”. I bought some coffee and grabbed a seat and got caught up on the latest. This story had dropped out of the headlines so I had no idea where it stood.

Long way around the barn, the fishing ban imposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger on November 13 has been lifted. The article says “…crabs and fish were found safe to eat…” but it doesn’t give any source, who did the testing, and what was tested. Pardon me for remaining suspicious. To add to the drama, the season was opened, but high winds kept most boats off the water.

Below this main story was a smaller one about how in the time immediately following the collision, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided projections about how the oil would move which proved to be wrong. It would be easy for me to sit here and take pot shots, however, I can’t. I’ve been on that water. I’ve sat by that water. It’s notoriously unpredictable.

At the end of the day, it can be described as “a comedy of errors” which often happens in these situations. And plans are underway to figure out how to handle it better next time.

I’m hoping, now, at the end of the day, the fishermen can still make and sell their catch and we can put this environmental disaster behind us.

In other news…cue “nah nah nah, hey hey hey, goodbye”, the ABQjournal reporting today that the City Council voted to put a hold on the traffic camera program, meaning no fines issued until a decision is made in January about whether to even continue the program. Talk about a comedy of errors! Drive on good people of Oh Fair New Mexico!

photo by Karen Fayeth

Answering the mail

Ok, not mail, per se, but a comment made a couple posts back. It’s a good question, and one I’ll attempt to answer.

“grand negus said…
What do you think of the polotical (sic) situation in New Mexico. How does it look from your vantage point?”

So, despite the fact that I do comment on politics every now and again, I’m not generally one to give much authoritative insight.

A good place to check for this is Live from Silver City. The author of that blog, Avelino Maestas, has a keen political mind, and despite having recently moved to Washington DC, is still quite savvy on New Mexico politics. Heck, he’s savvy on politics in general. Another really great NM political blog is Heath Haussamen’s.

And to be honest, my views tend to lean a lot toward what former Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca has to say in his Only in New Mexico blog.

The scramble for St. Pete’s seat will be an interesting one to watch. All the termites coming out of the woodwork vaguely reminds this Californian of the Governor Gray Davis recall. I mean, ya’ll can think it’s a circus but try having a stripper, a porn king, Gary Coleman and an Austrian actor in the hunt. Good lord…that was quite a ride.

Paraphrasing Jim, I think the election is ripe for a Democrat to take over that long held Republican seat. And I think it’s time. I used to be a fan of Domenici. I worked at Sandia Labs and year over year, Pete fought the fight both for Kirtland Air Force Base and funding for the labs. So there were years I literally owed my continued existence to him. But over time, I’ve become more liberal and Pete became more conservative, and never the twain shall meet, or something like that.

But, again, borrowing from Jim here, I fear the Democrats are not organized enough to make a strong run. There is time yet, but for now, the outlook is hazy.

If Wilson gets that spot, I will punch myself in the head. All I ask is that Wilson be defeated. I know it looks like it will go that way, but I take NOTHING for granted. I thought she’d be defeated by a landslide in the last election. That it was as close as it was scares the beejebus out of me.

And as for our New Mexican Governor running for President, I am of mixed mind. I know Jim Baca is staunchly in support of Richardson, mainly for his views on the environment. I have a lot of respect for that view. But as a New Mexican, I always thought Richardson was a lot of bluster, and I think I’m tired of a blustering President.

Richardson comes to the elections with a lot of experience (both governor and Secretary of Energy). Much more than his competition. His job is to make a splash. I don’t think this is Bill’s year, but he’s got a lot of work to do this year to make a name that will carry him for 2012.

On the other hand…I do enjoy a New Mexican making headlines. It’s good press for our fair state, and I’ll take it.

So there you have it, my mainly borrowed and fairly wishy-washy assessment. Aren’t you glad you asked? Lol!!

Now…

Wanna talk about my views on that tanker scraping the Bay Bridge and spilling fuel into the water? I spent some time in Bodega Bay this weekend, a place where many families make their living on a fishing boat. This spill is devastating. More on that to come. I promise.

The times, they are a changin’

Just because it’s time, almost over due, doesn’t mean there isn’t some sense of disbelief that an era is over.

According to the ABQjournal, Senator Pete Domenici will announce his retirement later today. He has been Senator for 36 years, just a few years less than my lifetime. Growing up in New Mexico, Domenici’s name was always in the news. He went from a “who is that” to a fairly powerful guy on Capitol Hill. I was always happy for a New Mexico guy to make good, make a name, so people knew we had smart folks from New Mexico over there.

I know lately he’s fallen out of favor for a variety of misdeeds. I’m not much of a political person, honestly. I can’t talk articulately about Domenici’s career, the high points, the low points. I’ll leave more of that to my friends Avelino at his Live From Silver City blog and of course former Mayor of Albuquerque Jim Baca at his Only in New Mexico blog.

My lament today is how much things in my world seem to be changing. Today we have a lunch to see off one of my best and favorite employees. She’s moving on to a great job and we’re all really happy for her. It’s a big blow to our team. But change must happen.

There are a lot of huge changes going on in my personal life too, most changes for the better, but changes nonetheless.

My “woo woo” teachers would say that’s the hallmark of Fall. The days shorten up, the ground goes cold. Circle of life. Death and rebirth. All of that.

Give me time, I’ll be philosophical later. For today I’m just sad. Ok, not that I’m all broke up about Domenici leaving office, just the huge change it brings (just skeered as hell that Wilson might get that seat).

I remember my days working at Sandia where we called him “Saint Pete” because he was always able to finagle funds to keep Sandia rolling, despite all the protests to reduce funding to the nuclear labs. How far he’s fallen…

Anyhow, I guess it’s owing to my sign of Taurus that change is troublesome. I’ll follow my family tradition and worry myself sick about it. Then, I’ll rebound, get perspective, and be fine.

I’m always fine, eventually.

*sigh*

Well…off to the going away lunch…..