Sunday

Last Sunday I spent some time at the Tijeras open-air arts market. That was the first time I had been there, even though I know it has been going on since at least last summer and runs May-Oct.

Tijeras is a village east of where I live in Carnuel, a bit further up in the mountains, but only about 5 minutes away by car.

It was a fun time, especially for a free event so close to home. There was some really great live music and some wonderful art. I am not sure of the artist name, but the cute Goddess statue at the top was one of the things I really liked. It is just a really joyous piece of art.

After the Storm

Just a couple photos I took from my yard after one of the big storms the other day.

Mike Smith

A Temporary Hiatus - The Daily Strange - My Strange New Mexico

I see in the daily strange that Mike Smith is busy writing a book called Sandia Mountain Settlements.

Woohoo! I am hoping that includes my area. Mike's Towns of the Sandia Mountains was really great, but mostly only photos and I am hoping for some historic tales. Am I never satisfied? Probably not. However, I did once hear from a neighbor that this particular area was once an Indian camp that the natives used to raid the Spanish in Albuquerque. I would like someone to confirm that because my search for native battle implements has come up dry.

I think everyone probably knows that I love New Mexico, but I especially love where I live. I live in what is often called just "the canyon," rather than what is considered the actual mountains by most. Personally I think the canyon is a great place, it is only a couple minutes of driving to get to Albuquerque and doesn't get nearly as much snow as "the mountains." You can also drive to "the mountains" in just a few minutes.

Did I mention that the canyon has an esoteric vortex? No, I didn't. I will save that for some other day.

Carnuel

There really aren't many pages about the area I live in, except for real estate related ones. The only page that actually had some history on it was Holy Child Parish. This is what is says -

Although 24 families had settled at Carnuel in 1819 (originally formed as the village of San Miguel de Laredo in 1763), by 1880 there were only 10 families remaining. Apache Indian raids and a lack of water forced most of the population to gravitate to Albuquerque or San Antonio. Two chapels were built in Carnuel in the 1890s. A private chapel was built by Domingo Garcia to house the statue of San Miguel de Laredo, the village’s patron saint. It was torn down in the 1960s. Carnuel’s community church, Santo Niño, was built in 1898 at the west end of Carnuel, on land donated by Roman and Petra Herrera. The original stone church was enlarged with stone and adobe, then in the 1960s it was torn down and a larger church was built. In 1932 Father Libertine erected the large white cross on the hill across the freeway from the church. Father’s idea was to encourage travelers through the canyon to stop and meditate. Prior to construction of the Interstate, a religious procession walked from the church to the cross on the hill. Carnuel celebrates a San Miguel fiesta in September, and on May 3, a Triumph of the Cross fiesta together with the fiesta of Santo Niño.
Carnuel

They forget to mention that the processions were stopped after the interstate was built only after a couple people were hit by cars and killed.