Sunday, February 1, 2015

Notes from January

Kind of hard to believe that the first month of 2015 is already over (and I'm still writing 2014 whenever I need to write the date). The first few months of any new year always make me feel impossibly ahead of schedule - like how can it be 2015 already?? And how is it possible that we just extended our lease until 2016? But since we haven't taken a ride in a DeLorean lately it seems like 2015 is really here, and we'll probably be used to it after a few more weeks.

So far 2015 is treating us pretty well; in the last month we've done a few noteworthy things.

Bosque del Apache

Eric's family had been to this wildlife reserve a few times during his childhood but I had never been, or even heard of it until we moved here. So we took advantage of the long weekend and drove south to see some birds. And did we ever! In addition to the famous sandhill cranes and snow geese that migrate there in the winter (mostly from Northern Alaska), we saw bald eagles (at least six, including some adolescents!), kestrels, a roadrunner, Canadian geese, and a coyote. And the reserve itself was beautiful. (I didn't get any good pictures of birds on my point-and-shoot camera but trust me, we saw them.)



See the black dot in the tall tree on the right? That's a bald eagle!

After bird-watching for a couple hours, we went on a nearby canyon hike that was also pretty neat.




I should also say that while in Socorro, we went to Socorro Springs Brewing Co. to try their green chile cheeseburger, which has been named the best green chile cheeseburger in the state - which is a BIG DEAL in a state that takes their green chile VERY seriously. Well, we tried it and we were underwhelmed. Absolutely does not compare to the green chile cheeseburger at Santa Fe Bite. So next time you are in New Mexico jonesin' for a green chile cheeseburger, no need to go to Socorro to have the best of the best.
 
Selma

On MLK Day, we saw the movie Selma, which is SO GOOD and everyone should see it. It is so powerful to see a movie about the civil rights movement directed by a black woman with a predominantly black cast - especially 50 years later when so many of the issues addressed are still happening in present day. We also listened to this Fresh Air interview with the director, Ava DuVernay and were really moved and inspired by it. If you haven't seen it, ignore all the dumb hype about the movie's portrayal of LBJ and go see it immediately. It is officially endorsed by Eric & I - and also Oprah, so there's that.

Ava DuVernay directing a scene in Selma
Misc.

We went snowshoeing in some very wet, cold snow - but we did not get lost and we lived to tell the tale!

We had friends over and made a bunch of pizza.
Thank you Lindsey & Dennis for the great pizza slicer!!
 My favorite band, Sleater-Kinney, released their new album which I have listened to about 100 times in the last 20 days.

We spent a LOT of time cuddling with Zeezy. No complaints.

OH! And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we met Devin, the owner of the Love Trumps Bummers car that inspired the name of this blog! He e-mailed us last fall to say that he had stumbled upon our blog, and we had chips and margaritas with him while he was in Santa Fe over winter break. It was awesome to meet the person who unintentionally named our blog - the internet works in mysterious ways! He also wrote an article about the car and the philosophy behind Love Trumps Bummers - check it out!

So with that, we're onto February: a trip to Colorado for Marie, a couple climbing trips for Eric, and celebrating our 10-year (!!) anniversary!

1 comment: