juniper berries

The juniper trees are covered in berries all over Eldorado: starting to shrivel, a little, but still offering lots of sustenance for birds of all kinds.  I'm very partial to juniper berries - not just for flavoring gin (although that's a noble use), but in cooking: watch out for them if I serve any sort of stew.

no more "s"s?

I really want to feel supportive of our local school, which - by the usual test score metrics, and so on - has a pretty good reputation - or so I thought.  But.  What amazes me about this is not so much the error - any one can make one, especially when composing in an unfamiliar format, standing up, possibly in a hurry - is the fact that no one has seen it - no student, no staff, no parent - and effected a revision.  But maybe I'm missing the obvious: maybe there were only two esses in the box of letters?

prayer flags, winter version

The prayer flags that we hung in the summer as a deterrent to birds flying into our windows - they're doing well.  They've bleached somewhat in the sun, as one would expect, but despite Eldorado's strong winds, they are still fluttering, and were looking particularly fetching against a dark sky this morning.

a dry gourd

There's something resembling an astronomical model here: it's a dry gourd by the side of the road, here in NM.  I feel I should be gathering a basketful of them, and painting them, and hanging them as Christmas tree ornaments.  That's the kind of fantasy indulged in, but un-acted-upon, by someone who's spent another day chewed up by departmental business.  At least there was time for a walk ...

jail to the chief

The main local (if you call 70 miles away local) impeachment rally was being held down in Albuquerque this evening, at UNM - but here on a bitterly cold corner in Santa Fe there was a significant, and rapidly growing cluster of people at lunchtime.  I wasn't in a position to be able to show more of them, though, and I especially regretted not getting a picture of the man with the "Jail To the Chief" sign, even if I totally applauded his sentiments ...

winter sunset

From our front door, and then from just up the road: it doesn't get much better than this ...  and it's very very quiet (and very cold).  This doesn't stop departmental business arriving in my in-box like snowdrifts, but it does manage to put it into perspective, very well.

on our way to New Mexico!

Despite bags/computers full of grading; admin; intractable questions relating to the latter; books we'd like to read but may not have time to get round to; books that may or may not find their way onto next semester's syllabi, and various other things (amaryllis lily bulbs that are well towards flowering; a bag of interestingly lumpy Christmas presents from my father; warm coats), we and the cats are very much looking forward to the quiet of New Mexico.  We're overnighting, as ever, at La Posada, in Winslow, which is full of its usual Christmas lights and decorations ... if I sound formulaic, it's because last year this winter trip didn't happen, because of Alice's radiation (she had just one day off for Christmas), so I'm thankful beyond all measure that we're making the trip this time!