rain = flowers at tent rocks

we had a record 2 inches of rain here during the month of may, which resulted in many happy, flowering plants. below are more images from our hike through tent rocks. enjoy!

prickly pear (i have a granuloma on my calf from being stabbed by one of these)

blue grama grass

apache plume

paperflower (?)

blue penstemmon

indian paintbrush

yucca--these start off mauve then bloom a fluffy, ivory flower--they are the state flower of new mexico

this looks like some form of miniature penstemmon

not sure--buttercup?

tent rocks/kasha-katuwe national monument

gus, rich and sophie with tent rocks

yesterday rich took a much-needed vacation day and we spent the day hiking kasha-katuwe tent rocks national monument. tent rocks is one of my favorite places on the planet--we used to go there in the mid-90s (when we lived here the first time) and hike. at that time, there weren't any signs or trail markings (it became a national monument in 2001) and my only directions were turn at the water tower in cochiti pueblo, drive 5ish miles and look for parking. and then you had to figure out where the trail was...now it is a little better marked, and there is a fee station, but it is still just as beautiful as ever. here are images of rich, gus and sophie--hopefully i will get my act together and make a digital exhibition on argusgallery.com of the rock/sand images (a digital "sand show"). enjoy!

rich and sophie

shade is a good thing

rich, sophie, and a very old ponderosa pine

gus scrambling on the rock

gus in the slot canyon

rich and sophie in the slot canyon

happy sophie--she rode like this for over 3 hours!

everyone at the top of the trail--i think it was about a 1500 foot elevation from start to finish

rich and sophie at the top

gus found a throne upon which to eat his snack

this is the picture we will be taking to rich's spine surgeon

rich's post-hike self portrait with kids (notice how gus is stealing sophie's water)

mmm, barbecue...

happy memorial day! i didn't shoot this, but i wish i had--it was done by a guy named michael lee several years ago. the grill is hot and the kids are starving, so a-grilling i will go.

the roadrunner lives!

the poor roadrunner that julia's dogs either chased or dragged into her house a couple of weeks ago was spotted recently. it seems fine--it's definitely a little bedraggled and it has a limp, but it seems otherwise healthy. just thought y'all might want to know...

summer has started!

cherries from our tree! life metaphor aside, i did feel pretty happy about finding out we had a fruit-bearing cherry tree.


summer has officially started at the allen house--yesterday was gus' last day of school, and we had the end of the year party here. only about 40-45 people total showed up--that is much better than the possible 70-80 it could have been! everything went beautifully and there were a cadre of moms who totally cleaned up the back when all was said and done. the kiddos played on the swingset, went crazy on the giant, inflatable water slide, and picked all the cherries that they could reach. even rich joined us for lunch! much fun was had by all, and i so hope we get to do this again next year.

backyard fun

sliding gus

patio fun

and more of the same

hungry kids

sunbathing kids

gus' most awesome teacher, jen

cindy and cole, who are sadly moving to new orleans soon

louise and sophie

gus' first grade class

rich came for lunch

gus, soaked and happy

sophie, just happy

and you know it was a good party when there are a pair of fancy panties hanging on the door.

gus' mad skillz

i don't really know what more to say about these images except that it's good to know i will be well-protected if the dark side ever comes to visit.











(did anyone see the episode of "arrested development" where george michael filmed himself in a garage doing this with a broom?)

pictures from sophie's party at sophia's place

me and sophie and her yummy burrito

we celebrated sophie's first birthday officially last night at a wonderful restaurant called, coincidentally, sophia's place. i think she really enjoyed it--i know we all did! she had her own cake that she got to destroy and was pretty smiley the whole night. the food and the cake were absolutely delicious--if you haven't tried sophia's place yet, i highly recommend it. their fish tacos and breakfast sandwich are particularly good...mmm...

max, gus and ella outside of sophia's place

"can i PLEASE drink this before dinner?"

tracy and monkey peyton

pete, sam, peyton, rich and sophie (with gus and max in the background)

happy birthday to sophie!

caked sophie!

another happy sophie!

"you're going to give me the rest of your cake, right?"