Photo of the Day - Tewa Lodge

The Pueblo Revival-style Tewa Lodge. Built in 1946, it's now on the National Register of Historic Places. 5715 Central Ave. NE/Route 66, Albuquerque, NM.

Here's a postcard of it from the late 1950s:

Albuquerque's Orphan Signs

 Albuquerque's stretch of Route 66 was once a hotspot for travelers on their way out west. My 93-year-old uncle primarily remembers his late 1930s trip through NM by the many funky motels that sat along Central Avenue. Time has taken its toll on the strip, and while many historic motels still exist, other buildings have been razed, leaving only their signs. 

But foundling signs are taken seriously here. A group called Friends of the Orphan Signs has worked to transform several of them into ojects d'art. One of the best known, at 4119 Central Avenue,was embellished by Highland High School students Hilary Weir, Ellie Martin, Gabe Thompson, and Desiree Marmon. The sign has a strikingly beautiful glow, even in daylight, and a mysticism that's quite unusual in the midst of Nob Hill.


More: http://friendsoftheorphansigns.org/

NM State Fair Ferris Wheel

Literary Graffiti - Sylvia Plath

photo: Todd Mecklem

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar, Portland, OR. Part of a literary mural at 33rd & Hawthorne Ave. SE.

“The silence drew off, baring the pebbles and shells and all the tatty wreckage of my life. Then it gathered itself, and in one sleeping tide, rushed me to sleep.”

Literary Graffiti - Kafka

"From a certain point there is no longer any return. This point must be reached." - Franz Kafka











Graf by Vincerama, Koln, Germany

Rest in Peace, David Foster Wallace

So many great quotes from one of the few people who gives me hope, just having walked the Earth.

David Foster Wallace: February 21, 1962-September 12, 2008


“It’s a very American illness, the idea of giving yourself away entirely to the idea of working in order to achieve some sort of brass ring that usually involves people feeling some way about you – I mean, people wonder why we walk around feeling alienated and lonely and stressed out.” 

“Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still.” 
― Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

“The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways, every day.” 
― This is Water

“If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don't bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who please rest assured are not dumb, and who are keenly aware that it is in their interests to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible reason to stay at home doing one-hitters and watching MTV on primary day. By all means stay home if you want, but don't bullshit yourself that you're not voting. In reality, there is no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard's vote.” 
― Up, Simba!

*The truth will set you free--but not until it's had its way with you." 

“The interesting thing is why we're so desperate for this anesthetic against loneliness.” 


“Are we not all of us fanatics? I say only what you of the U.S.A. pretend you do not know. Attachments are of great seriousness. Choose your attachments carefully. Choose your temple of fanaticism with great care. What you wish to sing of as tragic love is an attachment not carefully chosen. Die for one person? This is a craziness. Persons change, leave, die, become ill. They leave, lie, go mad, have sickness, betray you, die. Your nation outlives you. A cause outlives you.” 
― Infinite Jest

“This is so American, man: either make something your god and cosmos and then worship it, or else kill it.” 

“I'd tell you all you want and more, if the sounds I made could be what you hear” 

Giovanni Giovannetti Capri

A Little-Known Stupa in Santa Fe

High above Santa Fe, NM... at the top of Double Arrow Rd....

among white clouds...

sits a stupa built in honor of Ngakpa Yeshe Dorje (1926-1993), who was known as "The Rainmaker," weatherman for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He literally had power over the weather and used it to assist those in challenging situations, such as severe drought. 

a wood stove on the grounds

Everyone who met this extraordinarily joyful Lama apparently fell in love with him.  Here is a video of him:  http://youtu.be/-g9DrtBaszA

tashi delek!