Dan Ostermiller is the artist who brought the wild things to Santa Fe’s Botanic Gardens.
Last Wednesday Tom and I took a little field trip. Several months ago he’d surprised me with tickets to Santa Fe’s Botanical Gardens, a place we’d never been to. He picked them up for a sweet price on Groupon; I was good with that. Unfortunately, Tynan and his canine ilk are verboten at the gardens, so he had to stay home. (Not that he minded; he managed to log a lot of air conditioned snooze time on the bed with us gone.)
So, we get to the garden. It’s up on Museum Hill in Santa Fe. Friends had warned me. It’s no BioPark. The BioPark here in Albuquerque comprises both our zooand botanic garden – don’t ask me why it’s called “botanic” and not “botanical” like I’ve always heard. But I’m used to the plain BIGNESS of our botanic gardens becaue I’m there regularly; the Adobe Wool Arts Guild does demos there the first and fourth Tuesdays of each month (except June and July when they kick us out for summer camp groups).
The Santa Fe gardens are far more modest. Really, it takes very little time to cruise through it. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant place to spend a warm (read: HOT) early summer hour or so. And one thing really stood out – or really twenty-three things: the animal sculpture exhibit of Dan Ostermiller called “Gardens Gone Wild.” If you’re thinking of seeing the garden, I recommend going while the critters are there; they made the place. According to the literature we picked up, the exhibit runs from May, 2018 – May 12, 2019. In the meantime, check out some of the pics I managed to get.
This is “Bullfrog.” There were actually two of them hanging, but I spied this one when we first started down the garden path. He charmed me especially as my maiden name is “Croke,” and for decades I collected froggies.“Melba” is a whopping 69x72x41 inches. I suggest that you don’t try to take one of her eggs for your breakfast. (Even if they’re bronze like the sculptures.)
Wouldn’t this ramadain the midst of the rose garden make a perfect place to get married or to renew your vows?Meet “R.B.” He’s quite the distinguished looking bunny rabbit, no? He stands 55×50.5×42. After I put him (or perhaps one of the other two rabbits in the exhibit) up on Instagram, there was a discussion regarding how much he looks like a chocolate rabbit. Yum!But before you eat the chocolate, you have to eat your veggies. Artichoke, anyone?Near the various herbs and the artichoke, of course, was the horno, an outdoor adobe oven that was used by Native Americans and early settlers. Drive around New Mexico and you’ll see them in backyards being used still. Good kitchen equipment never dies.
“Boys Will Be Boys” is just one of several bear sculptures in the exhibit. Together these two are 50x80x73.
This is a close-up of “Ursus.” He actually stands 98.5×46.5×39. He’s a BIG BOY.
This was the sculpture that really WOWED me. “American Gold” is huge! If I read correctly, 113 inches across the wings. Just seeing this one animal sculpture would’ve made the garden trip worth it.Meanwhile, my own wild animal clearly had a wild hair across his butt during his latest photo shoot. He decided it was face-scratching time rather than presenting “What’s on the frame.” Hm, maybe it’s a full moon… Or the almost 100 degrees today. Stay cool, people!
Snow in March: Been there, done that. This is a pic of our old house in Franklin, Massachusetts. Okay, this was in December, but you get the idea. I never took pics of March snow. By then it wasn’t welcome.
So, the whole country is watching the east coast for a second time this late winter / early spring day. I know what I’m talking about when I say that two nor’easters in one week is a big, old bitch. See, weather like that is one of the MAJOR reasons Tom and I picked up in 2015 and moved to New Mexico. From Massachusetts. Yeah, we’re both native New Englanders, but we got tired of the winters.
Cheery daffodils yelled “SPRING” and welcomed me to Heritage Farm yesterday.
Don’t get me wrong, snow’s pretty and fun to play in. I don’t even mind shoveling (now and again; we had a snow blower). BUT that self-same snow is only lovely for a day or so, then it gets all nasty and brownish-gray. Out here in Albuquerque we can drive forty minutes around the Sandia Mountains and visit snow. The dog loves it.Then we get back in our car and head home where this winter it’s been mostly in the 50s and 60s. Hey, that’s not typical, and because we’ve had very little snow in the mountains, we’re back in a drought situation. Which means that there’ll be a BAD fire season. (We won’t be affected by that, but I have friends who most definitely will be.) Don’t even start me on the juniper poison pollen that’s been out since January. It’s something we never even considered when we chose a new home.
Nonetheless, yesterday a few of us from the guild were doing our usual gig demo-ing rug hooking at Albuquerque’s Botanic Garden, part of the BioPark. (We’re there the 1st and 4th Tuesdays each month except June and July when they kick us out for summer kid programs.) There was a good breeze going, and temps were in the low 50s (oddly enough lower than the norm), so it was a slow day in the park. I figure folks are waiting till it hits 70 tomorrow and Friday.
A shot of the Heritage Farm farmhouse. The tulips are sucking up the sunshine. It’ll truely be spring when we go back on the 27th.
It was a good time to wander outside and look for spring.
AWAG demos at the Rio Grande Heritage Farm, a section of the Botanic Garden. The farm’s a reproduction representing a New Mexican farm circa somewhere between 1925 and 1935. We hang in the farmhouse or out on the porch in rocking chairs when it’s nice. Out back there’s an apple orchard. They’ve got a vineyard too! And then there’s the barn with its requisite farm animals. Fun times, though not with one of the sheep yesterday. 🙁
The chicks and hens are enjoying the warmth. See the green in her center?
I thought I’d share some of the signs of early spring at “our” farm. Enjoy!
Fresh chives! Now all I need is a baked potato.
One of the churro sheep(I think it’s one of the churros) is having NOTHING to do with me. She (?) posed this way. Cold!
The turkey was far more accommodating.
Goats are by far the friendliest of the farm animals.Then the goat got his (???) churro buddy to pose. Nice!
The leaves were just coming out on the lilac. (I was so happy to find lilacs out here. There’s even one in our yard. Their scent says SPRING’S ARRIVED.)
The Heritage Farm barn at Albuquerque’s BioPark. Looks like a movie set, no? If you get a chance, come visit. The Botanic Garden’s been rated one of the best in the country.
Tynan’s back! He very enthusiastically presents (given the presence of the doggie beef jerky treat) this week’s “What’s on the frame.” It’ll be a happy sunflower table runner hooked in upcycled t-shirt that’ll be available at the Albuquerque Recycled Art Fair April 14 and 15. Will we see you there?
Meanwhile back at the Salamy homestead, Tynan’s back with “What’s on the frame.”
Tynan and this week’s rug on the frame, which has been the rug on the frame for a few weeks. So close… Gotta finish it for Saturday’s Sunflower Festival.
As you can tell by the look in Tynan’s eyes, I have NOT finished the Boucherouite-esque rug yet. Yes, I am very close, but here’s the thing: I need it completely done for Friday evening when I pack the car for Saturday’s vending gig. That gig would be the Sunflower Festival in Mountainair, about an hour and a half southeast of Albuquerque.
The Sunflower Festival is supposed to be a fun time, and I’m looking forward to it. But I’d feel a hell of a lot better if the rug was done NOW! See, I have a few other things to do this week. Ironically, they’re all hooking related. Thursday, I’m hooking with friends. I considered staying home, hopefully, sewing up sed rug, but then they pressured me, told me they were making gluten-free items for lunch. Who blows off friends like that? (Or the GF food?)
Friday, Cathy Kelly is teaching some of us in the guild a yarn-dyeing method that’s done with a microwave oven. We’re dyeing yarn rather than wool fabric, so it really appeals to me. Check out the yarn she brought in to entice us into learning the technique. Yum!
Yarn dyed by Cathy Kelly. Not sure if I’ll hook with mine or use it in some crocheting project.
So, somewhere during the next two or three days, I need to finish hooking the rug, steam it, and hem it. Then price and tag it and enter it into the inventory log. Agh! Oh, and pack the mobile store into the car, adding a tent and leaving room for Tynan. Since we’ll be gone all day Saturday, he gets to go. While I love his company in the booth, he does have a habit of upstaging the merchandise. Maybe I can get him to demo the “Woof” rug while he schmoozes with potential customers.
Gotta run now, have to hook!
PS: Check out the home page; we’ve added two other shows to the vending line-up.
If you’re local or happen to be in New Mexico Saturday, come on down to Mountainair’s Sunflower Festival. Mention this blog article and get 10% off the rug of your choice!
So the muse called yesterday. Not from anywhere far from home, but right in the backyard and even in the house. Fortunately, she called while I was watering the plants and before we hit the jackpot temperatures we’ve been getting lately. Yes, we are “enjoying” that heatwave that’s the talk of the Southwest. But if you stay in the shade and don’t move around too much, it’s not bad. It really is all about the humidity. And the fact that we live in New Mexico, NOT Phoenix with its 119º. Okay, it helps that both of our AC units are back online. Last week we had to limp along with just one of them for several days.
But back to the muse; I’m calling her the muse of minutiae because I was looking at things close-up rather than trying to see the big picture as I often do. Really, I wanted to find something extraordinary in the hum-ho of the yard I look at each day. But who really looks closely at their backyard every day? Guess I need to practice that more, particularly at off times. It is a nice backyard, especially at the end of the day when the hummingbirds visit while you sit out with a glass of wine.
This is a close-up of a painting by my aunt Pat Croke. Talk about the muse’s energy, people!I’m a big lover of all things sun – hell, why else would I have chosen to live out here in the desert? This is part of a chiminea that the original owner of our house left. If we touch it, it’ll break. It has to stay.
Taken as I am by the sun on the chiminea, I’d never noticed this almost shadow of a kokopelli hiding down near the ground. Who isn’t inspired by the happy flute-player?
What do you see in the shadows?
What a treat to find a rose like this one blooming during this heatwave!
Then there’s texture. Who’s not excited by the muse of touch?LIke I said, the god of sunshine is always here in my Albuquerque backyard.And he brings his a-muse-d friends.
Meanwhile, someone else is not enjoying the heat one iota! Tynan barely agreed to show you “what’s on the frame” this week. He’s barely looking me in the eye to shoot the pic. Instead he insisted that he was too hot to pose, to move even. That is until I got the shot and mentioned the usual treat. He was up like a puppy – not a heat-stricken nine-year old. He’ll feel better when he gets his hair cut tomorrow.
Maybe he’s just embarrassed by the shameless commercial nature of this new rug. Even if he was its muse!
A reminder, the blog will be back in a couple of weeks. I think I mentioned that Tom and Tynan and I are off to Pagosa Springs in southern Colorado soon for a little R&R. Nothing big; it’ll be just as warm there. But nothing sounds better than morning hikes and afternoons spent lolling on the patio with books and beverages. Pics to come!
What fun are you up to now that summer’s fully set in?
“Welcome, spring!” exclaim the purple lilac and rosemary flowers in the common area behind our house.
After a rough weekend (involving the dreaded norovirus), I managed to get out to take a few pics of New Mexico springing back to life, at least around our house. Maybe it’ll give hope to those back east who’ve been smacked by those last nasty vestiges of winter. And truth be told, much like last year, spring has come early to Albuquerque by about three weeks. We’ve been spoiled since we moved here.
I love lilacs – their colors, their perfume – and was so excited to find that we had a bush in our yard here.
I laugh that I can take these photos of spring in March which, to someone from New England, seems too freaking early for flowers of any kind. That we’ve been in New Mexico for almost two years matters not at all. Sure, Deb down in the Carolinas, of A Daily Dose of Fiber, you showing daffodils in practically January I get, but it’s still amazing to me to have lilacs before Mothers’ Day.
The pear trees have been blooming for a week and a half at least! What a shame that I recently read that they’re bad for the environment. Apparently, they cross-pollinate with other ornamental pears and create a super invasive wild species. Poo!
So, you’ve got all these beautiful trees blooming like crazy. You know what blooming trees bring? Pollen! Lots of poisonous powder. And pollen brings…sinus infections. I still maintain that, much as I hate what the pollen does to my sinuses, it’s a hell of an improvement over unending cold and snow.
Spectacular, yes? As I’m not up on a lot of desert botany yet, one of my ABQ peeps will have to tell me if this is a plum or red bud. (I suspect the latter.)
Hope you enjoyed the floral show. If you were here, you’d smell them whenever you walked out the door. Then rush back in for the saline and Flonase and such.
Allergies forcing me indoors isn’t such a bad thing. I have plenty of hooking to do. Fiesta work is ramping up. The class I’m teaching at the Española Valley Fiber Arts Center starts in less than two weeks. Time to work on that. Then the selling season starts with the Recycled Art Fair the last weekend in April. And in my “spare time” there’s the novel I’ve been hired to edit. So, in most every way, we are springing back to life here at High on Hooking.
Are you springing back to life these days?
Finally, a peek at what’s on the frame these days. Mug rugs! (Sorry for those looking for the dog. Tynan was unavailable at publishing time to have his photo taken with the rugs. He will be back next week.)
