Taos, New Mexico

This self portrait surounds me with the Sangre de Christo mountains in the San Louis Valley, about 20 miles from the New Mexico border. It took me one hour or so to hike the largest sand dune, which was a similar sensation to the stair-master (plant foot, feel slip). The view in any direction is dramatic - westward rolling sand-tops and northeast spikey snow-caps.

From CO, we drive through the Sangre De Christo mountains over the La Veta pass on HW 160 to 150 at Ft William, on our way to Taos, New Mexico. In Taos, we stay at the El Pueblo hotel, and explore the historical plaza, settled by the Spanish in the early 1600s and where Sonnet buys a pair of cowboy boots. Dinner is newmex at Orlando's and we are buffeted by an alpine storm complete with lightening and hail balls.

Brown Eyed Susans

While hiking the dunes, I come across a perfectly cheerful family of wild-flowers. Hidden between the sand, away from wind and visitor, the colony seems to thrive and I on my belly to take this picture.

Almighty sandcastle

The walk to the dunes is about one mile, then they reach upwards to 750 feet (26/8/06). Eitan was keen to climb to the top with me, but petered out to re-join Sonnet and Madeleine who are walking at a slower pace. From mid-way, the kids roll down sand embankments of 50 feet, screaming with glee. The temperature today is a pleasant early fall-like 85 degrees - during summer's peak in July the sands reach 140 or higher. Afterwards, we visit a roadside cafe called appropriately "The Oasis" and have a late lunch including home-made cherry and coconut cream pie. Yum.

We drive back to Beecher's cabin in Cachara, and the kids fight in the back of the car, forcing me to pull off the side of the road to swipe at them. They remain "wired", and I take them through a series of yoga deep breathing excercises to calm them down. Both kids have been sleeping soundly, especially Madeleine who seems to devour it - waking up sometimes at 10AM, sleeping on average 12 hours a night.

Dunes

From the back of a post-card: "Great Sand Dunes, National Park, CO. 1920 Sand dunes towering 750 feet (214m) above the valley floor and covering over 50 square miles (130 sq. km) are swallowed by the huge scalae of the San Luis Valley and the 12,000 to 14,000 ft (3700 to 4300 m) Sangre de Cristo mountains. Prevailing southwesterly wind pile the sand at the base of three low passes in the mountains. Strong northeast winds occassionally roar through the mountain passes, reversing the usual direction of sand flow and piling the dunes back upon themselves building "chinese walls". In 2004, Congress made this area a National Park and so protected (since 1920 the dunes were a National Monument)."

Aunt Martine

Sonnet's Aunt splits her time between Denver and her ranch near La Veta. Now retired, she taught in the CO public kindergarten and secondary schools, which formed her political views from first hand experience (she is a Republican in a split state). Martine is unafraid to share her opinion with Berkeley-ites like me or her liberal sisters Silver and Robin. Martine's husband Bill is a cowboy and horse whisperer, when he is not selling insurance for State Farm or preaching episcopalian part time. Bill also had a baseball scholarship to CU and has a cracker fast ball. Together they make a cutting vision of the Southwest.

H-2-O

Sophie and Eitan at the Big Trees rec center. One thing is for sure: these kids love water. Nestled in the white pines and fir trees, the 25 meter and kiddie pools are well-used from Memorial Day to Labour Day weekend. A 15 minute "adult swim" takes place each day at 1400, which elicits an earnest groan from the younger crowd - despite 6-8 hours of aquatic activity throughout the day.

Urban cowboy

Eitan, not to be out-done by Madeleine, strikes a pose (or two). Behind Beecher's cabin is an alpine field with mountain flowers and rolling hills of pine tree and the mountains behind. Today, we will drive to the Colorado dunes, about 100 miles from La Veta. The sand dunes are some of the biggest in North America, and I plan to take some pictures. Unfortunately I am out of black & white film, and unable to find any film where we are. My cheap Olympus Camedia does a fine job for my needs, but does not match the quality or texture of the b&w. Any case, I will post what I see.

Exuberant Madeleine

Madeleine at Beecher's cabin (23/8/06). She is excited by the return of Sonnet following her trip to New Mexico, and to be alive. Madeleine's imagination runs free and often, and in this case she is a "super cow-gal". She is a joy to watch, unless her wrath directed at you - then good luck!

Spanish Mountains

This photograph taken from nearby Martine's ranch. I correct my below entry regarding the mountains and their creation. According to wise uncle Ray, the Spanish Mountain range is not volcanic, as reported. Rather, when Colorado was five miles underground "drain-pipes" formed from the surface to undergound water and mineral reservoirs. Over 26 million years of erosion uncovered the pipes. Where did the dirt go? Texas, Arizona, Nevada.... According to Ray, geologist from around the world study this unusual and unique formation, with many other "spouts" still buried hundreds of feet below.

L'il Cowboy

Eitan wears his cowboy hat, bought for him by Aunt Martine in Santa Fe, New Mexico (23/8/06). Madeleine has pink. Eitan is involved in the South-Western lifestyle, and gets angry when I call h im a cow-poke ("Cowboy", he exclaims testily). We will stay in Cachara for another day, and then play to head to Taos before Denver and home.

Dude ranch

Eitan and Madeleine await Charlie, Buckwheat, Nugget, Prailine and the other horses for a riding and carrot or apple feeding. Today, we drove to Walsenburg, CO, so Eitan and I could have a haircut, and then had lunch at the local diner. Sonnet is in New Mexico with her mom and aunts Robin and Martine so Grandpa Stan and I amuse the kids for three days. Activities include play-time at the La Veta park, where friends have been made with kids from Walsenburg, Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul, as well as La Veta. We also take advantage of the trailheads from Martine's house, but this met with considerable resistence ("Rattle snakes, Dad!"). A nice break is spent in front of the televisions watching Square Bob Spongepants and other incomprehensible characters before Stan makes dinner or the Dog Paw for burgers.

The Minnis ranch

Sonnet's aunt Martine and her husband Bill Minnis own a horse ranch in the middle of the Rockies (closest town: La Veta). They are surrounded by some of the most dramatic hillside I have ever seen. The mountains are volcanic, from a time when Colorado and the US were under an ocean. Of interest is the treeline, which stops sharply at 13,000 where there is not sufficient oxygen for them to grow (this can be seen in the photo on the right). The clouds roll in quickly in the afternoon bringing explosive thunderstorms and rain. The first snows arrive late October, I'm told. I had a difficult time chosing a blog photo as the vistas and constantly changing weather offer equally dramatic selection.

Log cabin

This photograph taken at Beecher Stanfill's summer cabin in Cuchara Colorado (pop. 30, if).

The altitude is 8,600 feet and I feel the lack of oxygen immediately, especially when clowing with the kids. Cuchara is located off Route 12, the Highway of Legends, and 10 miles from La Venta or the next nearest town with a drugstore and library. Cuchara looks like something from a Clint Eastwood Western, with a saloon called the 'Dog Paw' and general store selling awful (but strong) coffee. Next to Beecher's is the Dogetown creek, which is soothing for us and tempting for Eitan and Madeleine.

The gals

Sonnet, Mary, Sloan and Katie

We left the Sierras Monday following a long hike with Katie and Mary, who took us thru a number of Boston Consulting Group case studies which I failed horribly. I met Mary at Columbia, where she was a stand-out from day one. Prior to business school, Mary was a public school teacher in NYC, which is where she met her husband Amado. From business school, she was hired at BCG as a Consultant, and is now one of 30 female partners, a number she is trying to grow - equal opportunity remains a main motivation of her work (Nb Mary was one of two Consultants to be promoted Partner from her intake year of 20, and on occasion has received ovations from grateful corporate boards).

On the drive to Berkeley, everyone was a bit sad but excited to see Gracie and Moe and their cat "Sweetie Pie" with whom Madeleine has fallen in love.

3-4

This photo taken for Katie's __ birthday, at our home in Lauderdale Mansions, Maida Vale, W9 (29/9/02). Eitan is two years old.

Mr Klein

Rob and I met thru my sister Katie, who studied with him at Columbia's international affairs program (CIPA) following his work with Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. He also obtained an MBA, which is when we got to know each other. Today, Rob runs the Crecera Finance Company, which he founded three years ago in San Francisco. Crecera provides trade finance to Latin American growth companies, and has attracted $200M of equity and debt from leading global investors. Rob has gained first hand valuable experience of a pig farm, a slaughterhouse and other similarly intriguing businesses. In addition, he is a die-hard Ohio State fan with big expectations for '06 - the Buckeyes being ranked #1 by USA Today (Cal is twelth as at today).

Repose

Madeleine taken at in the late afternoon, next to our cabin. She stands on wood bracket protecting the water meter underneath. I asked her to pose for the camera and she was unusually obliging.

S'mores

The evening is spent roasting marsh-mellows and making s'mores. Etymology from the web: "S'more appears to be a contraction of the phrase, "some more", as in "Please, give me some more of that delicious treat." The informal nature of this term reflects the environment in which s'mores are traditionally served. Some have jokingly surmised that the name originated from people who were so busy eating the tasty dessert that they did not have time to speak in complete sentences, or alternately, that their enunciation was compromised by the fact that their mouth was still full of the aforementioned s'more. Any case, the expression dates to the 1927 Girl Scouts handbook.

Converse

The Big Trees Gang

The kids also enjoy a re-union - this their third visit together in the Sierras. From left to right: Jaimes (age 2), Devon n (7), Eitan (5), Simon (4), Maya (3), Sophie (5) and Madeleine (4). Photo taken after a candy-stop and lipsticking.