Posts by Liz

Taos in the morning

From Taos Valley RV Park and Campground…

While Taos is still high desert at about 7100 feet in elevation, the vegetation is mostly sage and juniper versus the cactus, mesquite and juniper of the southern high desert. And the mountains are part of larger ranges with foothills and rolling terrain on the approach in contrast to the southern small ranges that jutted out of the desert floor.

The sage can have a yellow flower which looks golden in the right light. The combination of sage and juniper makes for a wonderful, soft fragrance as well.

Taos in the morning.

Bosque Birdwatcher’s RV Park: San Antonio, NM

San Antonio, New Mexico is a small town, located just off I-25, south of Socorro by 10 miles, Albuquerque by 80 miles. It is home to Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge

Bosque del Apache is Spanish for “woods of the Apache,” and is rooted in the time when the Spanish observed Apaches routinely camped in the riverside forest. Since then the name has come to mean one of the most spectacular National Wildlife Refuges in North America. Here, tens of thousands of birds–including sandhill cranes, Arctic geese, and many kinds of ducks–gather each autumn and stay through the winter. Feeding snow geese erupt in explosions of wings when frightened by a stalking coyote, and at dusk, flight after flight of geese and cranes return to roost in the marshes.

In the summer Bosque del Apache lives its quiet, green life as an oasis in the arid lands that surround it. From the Bosque del Apache Wildlife website

From the main intersection in town, a small sign pointed the way to Bosque Birdwatcher’s RV Park, 3 miles south. The spot appeared to be a farm turned into RV spot with maybe 30 spaces that bordered the wildlife refuge.

This morning I saw what I think are Sandhill Cranes that live in the refuge.

Beautiful in the morning’s pink alpenglow.

Sunrise to the east was worth watching as well.

Corn muffins: Mexican style

It is no secret that Karl gets royal treatment and has since I brought him home at 7 weeks of age. But, although he has shared my tidbits from the table, he does not take from the table!

But then… I made a batch of corn muffins.

Digressing a bit, the recipe comes from this cookbook, circa 1976:

This was a church women’s project from a Silver City, NM church.

I love this recipe. I often make it as muffins. I tinkered using 1 cup frozen corn instead of canned, jalapenos instead of green chiles (the canned green chiles we get are bland) and I put 1/2 the batter in a food processor and blend it smooth so the muffins are slightly less “chunky” than the original. It takes about 5 minutes to mix and get in the oven.

Karl LOVES these corn muffins! Jalapenos and all.

Seriously, he knows when they come out of the oven and anytime I grab one he is right there. He gets more excited over jalapeno corn muffins than meat… jalapeno!! – they are “hot”!

Corn muffins: Mexican style.

Lift up your eyes on high

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things. Isaiah 40:26

Photo taken 2/4/2010: more from the evening walk. This photo is very similar to the one posted previously, but the verse from Isaiah was part of my morning reflection and it led me to look at the group of photos from that evening.

In this morning’s entry, Oswald Chambers in “My Utmost for His Highest” writes:

“If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in Nature. In every wind that blows, in every night and day of the year, in every sign of the sky, in every blossoming and in every withering of the earth, there is a real coming of God to us if we will simply use our starved imagination to realize it.”

My next reading from Andrew Murray’s “Mighty is His Hand” had a similar theme of God in everything:

Accept with gratitude everything that God allows to come into your life. I mean all things – whether from the world without, or attacks from within; whether from friend or enemy; in nature or in grace.

Hmmm

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things. Isaiah 40:26

Amen!