A letter from my grandfather to his mother, France1918.

Aujourd'hui j'ai vu l'aube dis donc 
un anneau de feu emplissait le ciel 
les jaunes poussaient les rouges 
pourpres vers le gris
la lumière du soleil se battait
mais les nuages refusaient de se rendre

Aujourd'hui j'ai vu les corbeaux voler 
vers le nord
les vents du sud les portaient
sur les berges j'ai écouté sans succès 
Rien
Silence des grues

Aujourd'hui j'ai vu des canards dis donc 
Couleur cannelle, derrière les roseaux 
les abattis des castors gisaient sur les rives
la digue rompue, forcée par l'homme

Aujourd'hui j'ai vu la première fleur 
s'épanouir
ouverte alors que le soleil se glissait à 
travers le gris
le jaune poussait à travers les feuilles 
sèches et brunes
fermée tôt
avant que le soleil se couche

Aujourd'hui j'ai vu le crépuscule dis donc 
l'est rose se glissait à travers le gris 
nuageux
le vent tombé, l'obscurité tout autour
les hiboux hululant appellent 
la nuit à la vie

Paris, France, 2013.

Notre Dame. Paris, France 2013.

Crow near the Louvre. Paris, France, 2013.

Ducks near the Louvre. Paris, France, 2013.

The Beaver. Book of Beasts, circa 1230 CE

Yellow flower. Paris, France, 2013.

Dusk. Paris, France, 2013

Night Owls. Book of Beasts, circa 1230 CE

Anne, somewhere in France, February, 2017, graciously offered to translate the poem I wrote for the "Saturday in a Life" post into French. She did a beautiful translation that Marina used in her translating class at UNM. She had her students translate the French back to English and then compare it to the original. I asked Anne if there was anything she wanted me to say about her in this post she wrote: "when I was young, I wanted to be a translator or an interpreter. I was and I'm very found of literature and above all, English literature: that's why, when I first read your poem, so perfect in its simplicity (and matching so well with your pictures), it pleased me so much that I wanted to translate it."

I thought about what photos I wanted to use for "Another Saturday in a Life". The beavers had built a new dam on the clear ditch, but a week later the Conservancy had not torn it out yet and the cinnamon ducks had moved on. Jerri dropped by this afternoon and told us she was getting reading for a trip to Provence, France. We were showing her photos of the villages we visited in Provence in 2013, and I got the idea to see what I had from Paris in 2013 and use photos from Paris to illustrate the poem.  Since there are no beavers in Paris that I know of, and I didn't happen to photograph any owls, either, I photographed the pages on the beaver and the night owls from my facsimile of the Book of Beasts, circa 1230 CE.

On our way out to lunch this afternoon, a Sheriff's Deputy was putting money in the parking meter before he went into the Model Shoe Shine Parlor to get his shoes shined. I asked him if he really had to put money in the meter, and he told me probably not, but he does it since everyone else has to feed the meters. There's a model officer and citizen for you — a lot of people who park along Gold don't bother to pay the meters and then get mad when they get a $20 parking ticket. I asked him if the Camaro he had parked there was the latest design for the Sheriff's Department. He told me it's the only car like it in the department. He said it's painted like a Hot Wheels car to appeal to the kids he works with as part of his duties in the anti-gang unit. Pretty clever of the Sheriff's Department to put one of their deputies in a Hot Wheels-like Camaro for the kids to drool over.

Chase behind the ladder with framing for a new chase to cover the new sewer pipe near the ceiling.

The Dictionary of Construction defines an architectural chase as "a continuous enclosure in a structure that acts as a housing for pipe, wiring conduits, ducts, etc. A chase is usually located in or adjacent to a column, which provides some physical protection."  The chase in this office is used to cover an iron support column, water pipes, sewer pipes, and electrical conduit between the second story and the ground floor. Since we bypassed 75 feet of sewer line from the top of the chase to the library where we installed a double clean out and installed a new sewer line to the south end of the building, we had the sewer pipes in the chase removed, and capped. To seal the porous brick wall exposed inside the chase, we had the chase filled with foam as an alternative to opening the chase from floor to ceiling and plastering the wall behind the pipes. The foam will make a much better seal than plaster would have, because it expands behind the pipes, conduit and support, and completely fills all the spaces between the bricks.

Pipes, wiring conduit, and an iron support column inside the chase.

Chase with sewer pipes removed exposing porous brick in the wall behind.

Construction workers spraying foam inside the chase.

Foam coming out of the top of the chase

A great blue heron flew up out of the ditch in front of me and landed in a cottonwood tree along the levee a few hundred feet away. I walked slowly along the lower bank, and photographed it holding dead still trying its best to look like a tree branch. The great blue herons are surprisingly well camouflaged when they are perched on cottonwood branches. I climbed the levee and it let me get to the top of the levee, closer to it than I have ever gotten to a great blue heron, before it took off, maneuvering through the cottonwoods, and flying over the river, where it disappeared into the bosque on the east bank of the Rio Grande.

Dawn Sunday morning looked much like the first photo from our property, but we couldn't see the mountains because of low clouds and fog. Yet Susan, who lives only ten miles to the southeast of us, and much closer to the mountains, posted a beautiful red dawn on Sunday morning — Sunrise with Crepuscular Rays.  I commented on her blog that while she had a colorful dawn, we had all gray, overcast skies, and if there was even a hint of color, the trees on the south side of our property blocked the view.  

I was out well before sunrise this morning and with the clouds moving by rather quickly, I figured we would have a nice fiery sky around 6:30 AM. I walked out shortly after 6:30, and red skies were forming to the north and to the south, with gray clouds in the middle fanning up and out from the top of the Sandias. The three photos for the panorama below were taken at 6:36 AM and the last photo was taken at 6:38 AM.

This morning's dawn was a perfect example of how we can end up with a gray morning, while Susan just ten miles away can have a brilliant red sky at morning.

On the bottom of the Rio Grande Valley, we can easily end up stuck in the middle with gray.

There's a distinct line that separates the gray and red where the clouds cover the crest of the Sandias. The red sky gave the cottonwoods a nice, red background that outlined the trees.

Bruski and I went out and made joy over Shia LaBeouf shutting down his camera. The JOY art project on Civic Plaza is much more fun and positive, and, as you can see, Bruski was overjoyed being a human "Y". Since orange is the new black, imagine Bruski's black being orange.

Since WCW retired, we don't have a reliable source for cigarettes when we go out on our photo shoots these days, so Bruski first asked a group of guys wearing Safway T-shirts for a cigarette — they told him they didn't smoke. I asked them what Safway was, and they explained that it's a scaffolding company. They were working on a project at the AT&T building and were out getting coffee after lunch. 

We noticed a couple smoking by the fountain, walked over to them and Bruski asked if he could borrow a cigarette. He said he didn't smoke, and they said "We don't either!" as the beautiful young woman put her cigarette between her bright red lips before she searched through her purse and pulled out a pack of Marlboros.  "We're from Russia..." the man said in an unmistakeable Russian accent. He explained that they don't smoke, but since they had been up for the past 22 hours making their way to Albuquerque for the International Camp Managers Convention, hosted by the American Camp Association at the Albuquerque Convention Center, they were smoking to help them stay awake. I asked if they were from Moscow, and commented that it's a long trip to Albuquerque. He said "Not a bad trip. Only 4 hours from Moscow to New York and few more hours to Albuquerque." I think it's a few more hours all the way around — but once in Albuquerque,  apparently coffee, cigarettes and New Mexico sunshine is enough to keep sleep deprived travelers alert at a camp convention.

While I was photographing Bruski making joy in my sunglasses while smoking the cigarette he got from the beautiful Russian woman, I noticed a guy was standing beside me with a cigarette in his hand watching us. I asked him if he wanted to make joy with his cigarette, and he said "No! I noticed you guys had a cigarette and assumed you would have a light?" We told him we were sorry that we didn't have a light because we didn't smoke, but pointed out another guy sitting by the fountain smoking and suggested he ask him for a light.

You can see the complete poem by Hakim Bellamy of Albuquerque at Cycles & Sights on Route 66 fourth photo down.

Stuck

Civic Plaza off an Airstream

Sometimes 
Wait
You  
Wait
Just have to
Wait
sit and
Wait
For
Wait
A light
Wait
To come on
Wait
For
Wait
An idea
Wait
To form
Wait

Shia LaBeouf installed a live feed video on the west side of the El Rey Theater at Central Ave (Old Route 66) and 7th Street in Downtown Albuquerque as part of his anti-Trump campaign. Bruce and I walked down to see what was happening around 3:00 PM. Eleven young people where hanging around on the sidewalk and curb talking, messing with cameras and devices, while a young man held two signs in front of the camera that he changed every 30 seconds or so. I walked up and asked him what the signs had on them, he silently turned the signs toward me so I could read the first one. He then swapped the front sign with the back sign so I could read the second one. I thanked him and went around to the back of the building a photographed the latest street art on the backside on the El Rey Theater building. Since you are probably wondering what the signs were all about, they were protesting police and security. If you want more information on LaBeouf's installation, the Albuquerque Journal posted Actor Shia LaBeouf brings anti-Trump protest piece to Duke City by Ryan Boetel, Journal Staff Writer on Saturday, February 18th.