Family and Friends, welcome to the first ever, Family
newsletter
The 2014 year was our first full year in New Mexico
after moving to Albuquerque in the spring of 2013, so let me catch you up. We came here to experience something
different. After shedding most of what we owned, we drove cross country for the
better part of a week with just what would fit in the van and the U-Haul
trailer behind the truck. When we
arrived, we found our rental house in a state of disrepair and funkiness that made
me question our adventure’s soundness.
However, with nowhere close to run, we stuck it out and the results have
been great. It wasn’t easy to leave our friends and family back east, but rest
assured we found what we were looking for, NM is different.
With the rental house disinfected we moved into our
neighborhood. The Boys made friends with
the neighborhood kids, which allowed Lover and I to make friends with their
parents. These folks helped us greatly
and quickly gave us a lesson in western neighborliness. Shortly after our move,
we were feeding all of the neighborhood boys, or none of the boys, as the
seemingly never-ending summer sleepover sessions ensued. (1 room, 5 boys, no shoes equals…….) In the
Fall of 2013, Lover and I bought our first house, just a few blocks from where
we rented. We wanted to stay in the same neighborhood.
New Mexico is not what you think, and we are
reminded of that daily. Albuquerque is a
small city surrounded by 3 hours of nothing but nature. It’s the kind of place where we have a Loews
and a supermarket within a mile of our home, so the 20 minutes it takes to
drive across town is considered far away. However, both Phoenix and Denver which
are at least 6 hours away are considered “close by.” Here you drive 50 miles
between highway exits, and when you get to the exit, its unlikely to find any
services, in NM you travel prepared.
We bought a modest ranch home on a cul-de-sac that
was from our perception, not a “fixer upper” and I have been working on
it ever since. With a little guidance
from our friends, I have been able to successfully tackle basic carpentry,
electric and plumbing, as well as irrigation and landscaping. I measure success by how many trips to Loews
the job takes, and while I’m by no means a handy man I have learned that often
the “grip it and rip it” technique works. I have also learned that people are
excited to see you buy a home, not because of any altruistic feelings, but rather
so they can watch you suffer as they have before you. With the local fishing
options as limited as my free time, I have joined a local gun club just outside
the city and have begun to re-master the gun skills that were once second
nature to me….and along the way teach the kids how to kill milk jugs and other
recyclables.
Lover restarted her teaching career and has worked
her way from a substitute teacher to a full time faculty member at our
neighborhood school, in just the few months we have lived here. She teaches gifted level elementary kids and I
couldn’t be prouder of her. The new house provided Lover a blank and starkly
white, canvas and she has decorated it brightly. The house came with well-established rose
gardens and a vegetable garden that was purported by the neighbors to be very
successful. We tried a myriad of crops
and had good success with tomatoes and peppers, the others crops languished
under the NM sun or our attempts to be organic with the garden. Turns out, fertilizer is a must.
Monster, who now goes by Monstery, is in 6th
grade and is doing very well in school.
This is a big year for him as it was his first year in middle school and
we all remember how much middle school sucks. Monstery joined a local Boy Scout troop which
is definitely hard core. They camp at
least once a month, and are the most organized group of boys I have ever
encountered. The boys do it all, the leaders
watch to ensure safety, and laugh; it is as it should be. Monster loves it. It’s good to see him return from his
adventures dirty, grinning, and tired. Monster
started archery shooting in the school club and recently had his first
competition where he placed in the top 10 percent at the meet and the best from
his school. 6th grade is also
the first year for band here in ABQ. Monster played the trumpet in PA but after
some soul searching decided that the trombone is obviously a far better
instrument and has switched over.
Nugget continues to amaze us. He is growing and can do things on the swing and
school playground equipment that involves flips and hanging upside down. He
must burn 4000 calories a day, he is forever in motion. Nugget splits his free time between his
activities like cooking club, cub scouts, and various art projects. He has a fine eye for color and currently
favors anything neon. Nugget is usually
the first one out of the car on family adventure days into the mountains and
the first to find the cliff face to stand on.
His favorite hike is tent rocks, which is a slot canyon, where he can
run up the rock face and bounce like a squirrel from side to side. As parents, Lover and I try not to watch. The
boys and I recently left Lover home alone to join the cub scouts on a weekend
overnighter to Bandolier National monument where Nugget was in his element
surrounded by things to climb and boys to organize. He likes to be in charge. Nugget
has entered the gifted program like his big brother, but to avoid Monstery’s
shadow, has determined that he will be good at math and science. His
determination is boundless.
Our family has grown since we moved here. In the
Spring of 2014 we got “Titan” a male Flemish Giant Rabbit, and when he began to
look lonely, we found a female Flemish to keep him company, “Rhea”. They became fast “friends” and we are hoping
for a litter of little giants in the next few weeks. As members of this fine Italian family, we
must adhere to “Bigger is Better” and chose the Flemish Giants because they
will top out around 15-18 pounds.
Just after we bought the house, Monstery reminded us
that we had told him years ago that we could get a dog, after we owned a home. I believe it was two days after school ended
when we brought “Iris” home. Iris is a
yellow lab born in Socorro NM, which is a poor, dry, brown, little town, just
as you might imagine. So we have a
yellow lab who initially was afraid of the grass (she had never seen it) and
does not like to swim (baths are appreciated however). Iris is now part of the family and joined us
this fall on our Grand Canyon and Painted Desert trip. The dog took every opportunity to lay down in
even the smallest shade on the trip.
We have tried to make the most of our time here in
NM. The climate is great so it is a shame not to be outdoors. We have been to Carlsbad Caverns and along
the way drove through Roswell and we were not abducted by aliens. The Grand Canyon trip was excellent and we
found ourselves “Standin’ on the Corner in Winslow Arizona” on our way to the
Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. We
have rafted part of the Rio Grande (Rio not-so Grande as the kids would say,
since it is smaller than most PA streams) and hiked around in the Sandia
Mountains. In the summer we like to fill
the truck with a cooler, food, and a couple changes of clothes and drive into
the mountains for “adventure days.” Those days have allowed us to see more of
the state and experience our first natural hot spring, taste Navajo fruit pie,
and see the Valles Caldera Elk herd. The
native history here is vibrant and alive with Albuquerque more or less
surrounded by tribal and Pueblo lands. We have toured Bandelier where native
populations lived in caves carved into the cliffs, Petroglyph national monument
and the Pecos National Historic Park where the Indians and Spanish missionaries
lived since the 1500’s.
We love and miss you all, and hope the year has been
as good to you as it has been for us. We
also love visitors and encourage you to add Albuquerque to your bucket list, to
see something different, to unwind a bit, and enjoy some of the best views this
country has to offer.
May good fortune continue to smile in your general
direction.
Love
