Golden, New Mexico

Church at Golden

Golden's  history goes back to 1839, the gold miners had called it El Real de San Francisco de Paola but when the US post office came some years later they changed it to Golden saying there were too many San Franciscos.

Truchas, New Mexico

Truchas on the high road to Taos has a number of gallerys and artist workshops. Bill G Loyd makes interesting sculptures from industrial castoffs including bells made from old tanks used for compressed gasses. We have a couple of them at home and in the wind they sound great.

Coke

Hand painted sign at the cafe

The old cooler

Last month in Syria there were several small towns were you couldn't get a Coke, all they had was Pepsi.*  In this small village of Chimayo it was no problem.

*Come on Coke get with it. Syria really needs a Coke and a smile.

Rio Grand Gorge

Looking across the Rio Grand Gorge west of Taos you can see new snow falling on the mountains to the east. When we got back to Santa Fe the local mountains also had a new dusting of snow.

Aspen

Further up the mountain we start to get snowed on and with the cold weather the Aspen are just starting to get buds in the second half of May.

Crosses in Chimayo

Holy Chile

Hand Painted Sign at Market

Chimayo Trading Post

The trading post next to the church in Chimayo sells a variety of red and green chilies grown in  local farms in the valley.

Santuario de Chimayo

One day we skipped out of the studio to take a break and do some photography. The first stop on the high road to Taos was at the  the famous church in Chimayo with the healing dirt. Many pilgrims walk from all over the state on Easter week seeking healing for themselves and others. 

Santa Fe

I'm in Santa Fe, New Mexico, was going to be here for a week but it's warming up at home so will spend a month here giving time for photography and to visit all the art gallerys in the area not to mention a chance to eat at the many great restaurants in the area. I can think of no place that has so many great restaurants. At home we have some good Mexican restaurants but here they take it to a whole new level. Not only is the taste so different but it is so much better, its hard to believe that only a few hundred miles there can be such a difference.
Don Messec has a printmaking studio in Santa Fe and I had an opportunity to spent some time in the studio this week as he is working with Jon Cone who is here from Vermont.  Jon Cone who has developed ink sets for digital printing was working with Don on inks for printing positives to be used to make polygravure plates. This is a process I have been working with for years and Don is a master printer that has done a lot to developed the process and continues to improve it.

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon was the last stop and Sue and the Australians headed for Carmel and I'm off to Santa Fe and another project.

Another mandatory hike was Antelope Canyon just a short drive from Page. I think everyone agreed that this was a spectacular hike and  the views of the Grand Canyon the next day couldn't match up. We even had a flute concert by two Indian flute players in the canyon.

Horse Shoe Bend

The next stop was Page, Arizona and Lake Powell. One of the mandatory hikes* was to the Horse Shoe Bend of the Colorado River. We also drove through Big Water to the north side of the lake through the Bentenite hills.

*Our friend Sue who is related to the Australian gang has traveled with us before always has called me the "tour guide from hell" so I put in mandatory hikes for her and the gang every day.

Dealing with Australians

Or as they say in Australia " How to speak wild west".

Gun Smoke Set

The ruins of the Gun Smoke TV series set is in a canyon in southern Utah. Yea, I know the show was set in Kansas but a lot of the filming was done right here carefully avoiding the surrounding mountains which don't look like the flat land of Kansas.

Kanab Police

Several of the small towns in Utah would have what appeared to be speed traps as you entered town. On closer look they were fake cops. This one in Kanab, Utah had an appropriate bumper sticker.

Kodachrome Basin State Park

Leaving Brice we headed for a slot canyon on the back side of the park but the road became slippery with wet snow and to get into the canyon we were headed for involved a long steep climb on a dirt road which would be impassible when wet so went to plan B, Kodachrome Basin State Park.

Snowing at Brice National Park

After Zion we headed to Brice National Park and as we got higher the rain we had in Zion turned to snow.

Water fall in Zion

Zion when it rains

Spent last week traveling through our backyard with some Australian friends. When I was traveling in Australia in 2004-2005 they were very helpful to me and we finely got them to come here. Our first stop was at Zion National Park. It rained most of the day, well sometime it hailed, but made for some good photo opportunities and many waterfalls. Sven is a photography instructor and always seemed to at least have three cameras hanging off him. He and his son even climbed to the top of Angels Landing in the rain and hail.

Istanbul Park

Walk in the park

Pools

Art in the park

Istanbul Reflections

On our last day in Istanbul we walked over to the Palace grounds but the Palace was closed. On our way to the Spice Market we found this park that I have never seen before just down from the Palace.

Istanbul

Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

Aya Sophia

Three views from the hotel roof in Istanbul of the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sophia which was built in 537 by Emperor Justinian and was converted to a mosque after conquest of Istanbul in 1453 and is now a museum. The book "1453" is a very interesting history of that conquest.

Artist in Old Town, Damascus

Mahmoud Shahin is a artist and writer born in Jerusalem and grew up in the countryside where his father was a farmer until his land was confiscated. He has lived in Jordan but has made Damascus his home for many years. He doesn't write much as he could not get his ideas past the censors. He says authorities are afraid of words but not of pictures. For example, he could not write about the devil but could could paint pictures with the devil in them.
He is holding a painting I bought from him which shows a woman in a robe on the left side and a series of woman's faces on the right side. The top face is wrapped in a scarf, the next face is all covered but the eyes, the third face has only one eye showing, and the bottom image is a woman's head completely covered in black. He calls this the evolution of the Muslim woman. Indeed, you see woman walking in the city heat covered completely in black, there entire face covered and even black gloves, with no skin showing.

Roman Arch on the Straight Street

This old Roman Arch is on the Straight Street in Damascus and right in front of our favorite cafe. The little grocery shop on the other side of the arch also has great ice cream bars including the hard to find double chocolate bar

Catholic Church on the Straight Street

To get chicks go for the Bedouin look

This Bedouin man found the coffee shop a great place to pick up chicks. I got to know him a little as he posed for me. A couple days later we met him again 150 miles away in Palmyra in our hotel restaurant with another pretty lady. He did seem to know everybody in town.

Recommended Restaurant

This is our favorite restaurant in Damascus. It is set in a large garden park and has good food with a limited menu. It is on the North East side of the Citadel.

A River runs through it

The Barada River runs through Damascus and along the north wall of the old town. In the city it runs in a man made channel and is diverted into other canals.

Shop across the Canal

These guys ran their shop behind the Citadel of Damascus from across the canal. They would send items across in a basket on a rope for your inspection and after if you bought something you sent your money back the same way.