Somewhere west of Albuquerque

Somewhere west of Albuquerque,
one star hangs defiantly
above the far horizon;
the sky turns
forty shades of blue.
A coyote mournfully howls
as I surrender to night's embrace
and gentle dreams of you.

Summer 2001
West of Albuquerque

Sunset

Behind gray green mountains
burns a brilliant golden pool;
light sabers stab the sky
then fade to wisps of brown
as day ends.

Summer 2001
West of Albuquerque

Morning, Menaul Avenue NE

As the sun climbs
the eastern side of the Sandias
illuminating the morning stillness,
cameras in hand,
they descend steel rungs
into a concrete arroyo
to photograph,
to document
shopping carts
pushed into
washed into
the arroyo bottom
left upturned, abandoned;
birds stop upon a telephone wire
to watch
and wander
and ponder dreams.

(Albuquerque 8/22/10)

Life

Life
Into the crack
between pavement slabs
tender, tenacious, green tendrils
patiently, persistently push
emerging to burst
into glorious purple and gold.

(Albuquerque, 8/22/10)

Forgot to take my camera on the walk.

A day for Saints

And the Saints win. Two weeks of waiting until they play the Colts. Looking forward to it. Note that the Saints do wear shades of black and gold.

The final day of this New Mexico trip saw me hanging out in Albuquerque. I overate again. That stops tomorrow. But I could not pass on the food here.

I got a hotel that has a fitness center. So I did 2.25 miles on the treadmill. I also went to the Coronado State Monument - not sure what I make of that name. It apparently is near the place where Coronado and his party of invaders wintered in 1540-42.

An ancient pueblo there - Kuaua is there. The pueblo was settled about 1300 CE and abandoned toward the end of the 1500s CE. It sits right along the Rio Grande. Despite the cold weather (which the wind that picked up during the early morning did not help), I did the trail along the river and the trail around the pueblo. Then I went to the Pueblo Cultural Center. Interestingly enough, it has an exhibit on the saints of the pueblos.

All that walking led to a step count of 12,807 - the highest so far!

Tomorrow - the return to the Shire.

The wins one gets

What has not gone well:
I have overeaten the last couple of days. It is easy to blame that on being in New Mexico and being overly tempted by the food that I love. There is truth to that. But the reality is that I need to be able to face food that I love and eat reasonably.

I have not walked 10,000 steps either of the last two days. I did not make 10,000 steps the last two days combined. 6740 today. I helped to lead an all day workshop each day and that just made it too easy not to get out and do the walking. Again the reality is that I need to learn to cope with that.

I did not do concentrated walking yesterday.

What has gone better:
A friend's comment on yesterday's blog inspired me to head back to the track today between the end of the workshop and dinner. I went 1.5 miles - not as long as I should have - but all the time allowed. And it is better to have missed only one day.

While the overeating included starches (chips and sopapillas), it did not include sugar based products. No flan. No fried ice cream. No chocolate chip cookies served on the breaks.

One takes the wins one gets.

Football tomorrow. And walking. Travel on Monday - but late enough in the day that I should be able to walk.

Not perfect

I helped lead a dialogue session on being a diverse, including community for representatives at Menaul School. Eric Law was the main trainer and I had the privilege of helping out. It was a good experience. Tomorrow we work with all the faculty, staff, administration, and volunteers. Saturday is an event for the larger Albuquerque community.

Eating has not gone well although it has not been high calorie foods that I have been overeating.

Stats: 2.25 miles on Menaul track; 10,084 steps

Dinner at the Range

Today's exercise time involved walking 2 miles around the track at Menaul School with the iPod going. It was good fun.

Then came the opportunity to preach at chapel. That takes place every day and lasts about 15 minutes. There were a couple of announcements. Then the brief worship service. One of the students read the scripture. Chaplain Buddy Monahan did the introduction and off we went. I think it went a bit long - but even those students who were going to lunch after the chapel hung in and listened well. A fun experience.

Eric Law got in a bit before 7:00. We had dinner at the Range Cafe - a local chain. It was pretty good. The one where we went is actually located next to a Days' Inn where I have stayed on a number of occasions when I have been in Albuquerque. But I never tried the restaurant before. We did some planning for tomorrow and agreed to meet for breakfast to continue.

11,736 steps.

Hoops, New Mexico high school style

Today was a travel day. I flew from Louisville to Albuquerque where I will be for the six days. I will be located at Menaul School where I will assist Eric Law in some training events.

This meant that I did not achieve my goal of a concentrated exercise for 30-45 minutes. And that meant that I did not achieve my stepping goal. I ended the day at 7,657 steps. I did however eat well. And that is pretty big given how I usually overeat excessively on travel days.

This evening I went to the basketball games of the Menaul Panthers. I believe the last time I was at a high school basketball game was 1984.

The Panthers came away with two wins. The women's team won handily. It was 28-4 at the end of the first quarter. The team continued to pull away and substituted frequently and slowed down the game to keep from running up score even more.

The men's team pulled out an overtime win in a game that both teams tried to give away. The officials did not have their best game either.

It was fun to watch young people play for the joy of playing and being part of the team and representing their school. The middle school pep band added to the enjoyment.

Progress!

Today I used an elliptical for the first time ever. It was for one minute, but that represents one more minute than all the time I have previously spend on an elliptical combined.

10,050 steps.

No overeating.

Hit the road tomorrow for Albuquerque. I will be gone a week. Not sure about posting during this time.