Sunday Stills ~ Awww, Nuts!

 

Well, Ed has finally flipped his lid. He’s gone cuckoo. Yep, you could say, he’s even gone nuts.

Ed’s the cool dude that started this awesome weekly photo challenge, called Sunday Stills, which encourages all of us who are interested in photography to be creative and look at life, nature, and things around us in a completely different way.

This week’s challenge theme is “Awwww, Nuts!”, and it’s not just about taking pictures, but also about creativity, which I take to mean, “adding our own unique interpretation of the idea’. (Yah, I’m sticking with that)

 

And so this is where this week’s challenge took me.

  

Typically these gorillas, at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque, New Mexico, just sit around sleeping or picking their noses. But on this day, they were acting pretty nutty.

Tonight at 9, don’t miss: “Apes Gone Wild”.

“Ouch!”

“Did you see that?!” ~ “Nah, I didn’t see nothin’” ~ ”Me, neither”

“Nope, I didn’t see anything either. But have you guys ever noticed, how much our feet look like our hands?…….I mean really, guys, check it out.”

“Um…..whatcha got in there, hmmm?”

“HEY!!!! Take it Back!” ~ “Ok…ok, so maybe I haven’t seen bananas bigger ‘n that.”

“Still Friends?”

“Yah, Sure”

Ok, and I’m sure someone is going to say this was not a clear interpretation of “Awww, Nuts!” and instead looked more like “Awww, Bananas!”

But that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it.

(You got a problem with that?)

P.S. Hey Ed, I didn’t want to disappoint your readers after you warned everyone about the possibility of being offended after visiting ranch blogs that might post photos of ‘fuzzy subjects’ with their interpretations of “Awww, Nuts!”.

Well, were my subjects fuzzy enough? *grin*

From the Tower of,

Christmas Tree Canyon

 

To follow are just a few photos of some of the interesting sights we saw while driving the route from Mora to Guadalupita, with a little visit in Christmas Tree Canyon, so Val could place a letterbox there.

 

Along the way, I pointed my camera out the window of the car, as we drove by lots of…………………

Cows………

Sheep…………………………

Horses…………………………..

Tractors……………………………..

 

Trees……………………….

And one curious lizard…………………………..

In………………………….

And just in case you might be interested………………..

I was.

From the Tower of,

Sky Watch Friday~Angel Fire, New Mexico

 

Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park is a place dear to my heart. It was the first major Vietnam memorial in the United States and is currently the only State Park dedicated exclusively to veterans of the Vietnam War, and the only free state park in New Mexico. It is located off US Highway 64 in Angel Fire in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the Enchanted Circle of northeastern New Mexico.

For more info, click HERE.

The memorial was begun by Victor and Jeanne Westphall, the parents of Marine First Lieutenant David Westphall, who was among sixteen young men in his unit killed in an ambush in 1968 in Vietnam

The Westphalls used their son’s insurance policies to begin construction of the Peace and Brotherhood Chapel in 1971. 

   

The chapel resembles a sail and perches on the hillside overlooking the Moreno Valley. The chapel is open twenty-four hours per day.

Not many people know that The Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C was inspired by The Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park  in Angel Fire, New Mexico.

SPC Lori Anne Piestewa (December 14, 1979–March 23, 2003) was a U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps soldier killed during the same Iraqi Army attack in which her friend Jessica Lynch was injured. A member of the Hopi tribe, Piestewa was the first woman in the U.S. armed forces killed in the 2003 Iraq war and is the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving with the U.S. military. These tags were placed on one of the memorial stones outside the chapel.

 

You may have heard about her story on Extreme Makeover~Home Edition during the show’s first season. There are several videos posted up on You Tube~ Lori Piestewa if you want to see them, just be sure to have a box of tissues handy. I’ve not cried so many tears during a TV show ever. This video below is the last in a series of 10. It’s my favorite because they show the reactions of Lori’s parents and her children, as well as their beautiful paint horse, Arapahoe.

 

The first time we visited The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Angel Fire, New Mexico, was in 1996 and I was 2 months pregnant with my twin sons. (These are photos from my scrapbooks)

 

We also had the extreme pleasure of meeting Dr. Victor Westphall in person, during our visit, before he passed away.

To see hundreds of amazing skies from around the world, check out Sky Watch Friday.

From the Tower of,

La Cueva, Mora, and Woolies

 

On the way to Val’s cabin in Guadalupita, we drove through the quaint and tiny, picturesque villages of La Cueva and Mora.

Val encouraged me to look for a letterbox she had placed in the village of La Cueva, where the famous Salman Ranch Farm, providing the best raspberries I have ever eaten, is located beside the old mill.

(These next two photos were taken from a previous visit last year, using my old Canon, so the quality isn’t as good)

  

I found the letterbox and the cute hand-carved stamp and then we headed east towards the village of Mora.

We stopped off to visit with the wooly ones.

 

There were hundreds of beautiful alpacas and llamas grazing in the beautiful green valley.

I could have stayed there all day just gazing at them all. The alpacas are cute, but the llamas are my favorite. They walk so elegantly as if they are royalty. Their behavior reminds of cats.

But the alpacas were adorable. And they had brand new babies, too.

Can you say “Awwww!”?

 

And I can’t leave out the lions….er….livestock guard dogs. There were several of these beautiful Great Pyrenees roaming the property.

  

And this big guy napping inside the store. (I don’t think he’s a Pyrenees, though. But maybe he’s a guarder of books?)

He didn’t mind that Val and I were trying on some of the wool hats.

 

Then it was time to say goodbye to Victory Ranch and all the woolies.

We wanted to make a letterboxing stop in Christmas Tree Canyon before finally arriving at Val’s cabin in Guadalupita (see map above).

 

To be Continued……..

From the Tower of,