Whoo-ee! That was fun...

The mighty Rio Grande

Monday morning, and I'm wading through piles of post-travel debris once again. Thankfully I think I'm home now for a few weeks, and it feels good to know I have a chance to settle in to a bit of a groove.

Not that traveling isn't wonderful... it is! This last jaunt could even be considered spectacular, given the setting, the company, the purpose, and the unfolding. But one thing at a time, eh?

Last Wednesday I kissed the Darling Man goodbye and headed south to Albuquerque. Multi-layered trepidation was enthusiastically crossing swords with happy anticipation, but I kept going and arrived ready to relax at the Spiritual Renewal Center (SRC) with sketchbook and comrades.

Tucked away behind a housing development and a ginormous church, the SRC faces the Rio Grande Bosque, a five-minute walk through which lands you at the edge of the Rio Grande. Perfect. It was quiet, private, and a perfect facility to house the almost 30 of us who gathered for the annual meeting of journal-keepers AND for the opening of "Drawing on Nature," our exhibit at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.


And here we are! Thursday night our excited cadre arrived at the museum. There were MANY photos taken of the group... hopefully some of them will start making the rounds soon and I'll be able to share them.

Entering the exhibit. More photos.

Wow! Look at that! Look at that! Hey, that's mine! Hey, that's yours!

But wait! There's more!

My contribution is in the case on the right!

The funny thing is, when I got home and looked at my photos, I realized that I took no close-ups of work in cases. It comes from the respect that we all show to each other's work when we share journals amongst ourselves, I think. I didn't want to take photos of anything private. Funny when you think that this is a public exhibition, though. It's not like a zillion strangers aren't going to look at these things, too!

Many thanks to David Baccadutre and the rest of the exhibit staff (whose names all elude me at the moment, but I'll get them!). The show looked GREAT, and everyone was delighted with the respect and care taken with every aspect of it. There are even some murmurs that perhaps it will become a traveling exhibition... keep your fingers crossed! Most especial thanks, of COURSE, to Margy O'Brien, one of our "littermates" and the inspired (and inspiring) woman who thought of the entire thing in the first place. (I can't BELIEVE that Margy doesn't have a website I can send you to. Her work is amazing.)


After the high that was the exhibition opening, we settled in to the business of journal-keeping. Friday morning the group scattered in all directions... some headed to the Sandia Crest, others to the Jemez Mountains, Petroglyphs National Monument, Old Town Albuquerque, and some to Santa Fe. For me, the fact that Santa Fe and Albuquerque are only 4 and 5 1/2 hours away meant I was less inclined to try to cram in sightseeing and more inclined to hang around the "neighborhood." The lovely Albuquerque Open Space Visitors Center was a short walk from the SRC, the Rio Grande Nature Center just a short drive, and the bosque and river were out our back door. For me, it was enough.

Cottonwood in the Bosque, remnants of a fire. From my journal.

The traditions garden at the Open Space Visitors Center. From my journal.

Some of the gathered throng putting finishing touches on the day's journal entries.

Time for me to get back to work, but I'll feel sustained by the energy and friendship of this past week for a long, long time. (And just WAIT until you see the yarn that Beki spun for me!)

Mystery countdown: Seven