Now that we {finally} have Netflix, I’m watching a lot of movies rather than tv. I’d heard that The Burning Plain was partially filmed in and around Las Cruces so I added it to my queue. The movie was okay, but you should rent it just for the scenery. Seriously, half of the movie is right in my backyard and it shows the area beautifully. The Organ Mountains are in the background as the young actors bond in the desert. You can even see the rocks of La Cueva crouching near the bottom of the screen. There are a lot of views of the desert, creosote adding just a touch of color to the landscape.  It felt like home, maybe because it is!

One scene was shot in the Kmart where I get my medicine. And outside, you could see the Chinese restaurant that Mike and I eat at sometimes. The last time we ate there, I read in the paper that it was shut down for health violations later that afternoon. I didn’t even care. The crab rangoon was that good! Anyway, it was nice to see a little local locale on the screen.  Warning: this is not a kid appropriate movie. There are  some sex scenes, nudity and one instance of self-mutilation (cutting).

Well, the festival was a success. They made the three mile trip in one piece and only got stuck once. They didn’t win any prizes, but everyone was talking about their raft. They used all recycled material, except for the duct tape. It was SO much fun. Next year, we are definitely going to do one with all the kids.

Raft The Rio on flickr: set | slideshow

• I was driving downtown and passed by the old Popular Dry Goods. There was a new business there with a shiny new sign. I refuse to believe that the old one is gone. Today I’ll have to drive by and double check because it was one of my favorites.
• We have a new president. I was sitting in the parking lot of the post office when I got the text from CNN that he was officially sworn in. As soon as I got home and turned on the tv, I saw the Obamas WALKING in the parade. I don’t know why that meant so much to me. I guess I’m used to the president hiding in a car, driving past protests. It was refreshing to see the crowds of people celebrating and have him out there with them. I truly believe that Barack Obama is going to try and unite this country, working with everyone and finding a common ground. He has a tough road ahead and I wish him well.
• I finally got a planner to keep myself organized. It is an Ansel Adams calendar and I chose it because it is simple and clean with lots of white space. Plus, the awesome photography doesn’t hurt. I’ve been using my PoGo to print out the occasional photo to stick inside. I have my notebooks from the past few years and it is fun to look back through them and see photos I’ve taken. The fact that I can print stickers just makes the process easier.
• The thrift store had a display with a ton of elephants. Obviously, someone collected them. It makes me a little sad when I see a bunch of them like that. I always think that maybe whoever worked so hard collecting them died. I collect elephants but never buy them in bulk. Getting an ‘instant collection’ defeats the purpose of collecting. I did choose a plastic circus one because it was different than any I already had. When Echo and I put in the batteries, it actually worked. Score!
• Best tweet yesterday, from Michelle_V: A rheumy-eyed old peacenik Buddhist-vet looked right at me and said, “I have it on good authority that it’s OK to be happy!“

The water in the Rio Grande is running low, exposing stretches of the river bottom like giant stepping stones. As we drove over the bridge, Echo insisted that we go and ‘walk on the river without getting wet’. One big sister and a picnic later, we were walking across shallow pools of water to get to the middle. I’m so thankful that this picture turned out okay. It is worth the $5 I paid for the camera. This is exactly how I remember Echo from that afternoon, filled with joy.

“I certainly wasn’t happy. Happiness has to do with reason, and only reason earns it. What I was given was the thing you can’t earn, and can’t keep, and often don’t even recognize at the time; I mean joy.” Ursula K. LeGuin

That is what I want my kids to take away from their childhood: wonder and joy in the everyday miracles around us. I want them to appreciate the things that money can’t buy.

P.S. This isn’t the first time Echo has thrown things when I took a picture of him. Check him out with some other materials: a rock, water, sand, snow and dirt.

Saturday we took a trip downtown to visit two more of the museums on our scavenger hunt map: the Branigan Cultural Center and the Las Cruces Museum of Art.

The Cultural Center was the most fun because there were three different exhibits: one on tattoos, one on local history and one photography retrospective. I enjoyed the photographs myself. They were taken by Francois Tuefferd. Echo loved all the pictures of clowns, although he didn’t understand why some of them looked sad. Everyone knows clowns are silly and happy! The kids most enjoyed the Las Cruces history exhibit with various artifacts. Echo even found his name.

The art musum was very interesting, but we couldn’t take pictures inside. I may go back to peek through the window. When I was getting the maps stamped, the woman at the desk told me she was surprised I let the kids go look. “Most people just stop at the front desk and get the stamp without ever going in.” Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose?

Branigan Cultural Center
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: 501 N. Main St., Downtown Mall
Current exhibits: “Las Cruces: Crossroads of History,” “Francois Tuefferd: Retrospective”
How much: Free
Info: (575) 541-2155

Las Cruces Museum of Art
Where: 491 N. Main St., Downtown Mall
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday
Current exhibits: “Innovation and Change: Great Ceramics from the Ceramics Research Center, Arizona State University Art Museum Collection”
How much: Free
Info: (575) 541-2137

Museum Scavenger Hunt on flickr: set | slideshow
Part 1: The Natural History Museum

Gas prices have risen a bit in the last week or so. The Las Cruces Sun News had a front page story on the hike: “About midday Wednesday, motorists could only stand and watch as the price of gas climbed from $1.29 to $1.46 at Sav-O-Mat, on El Paseo. The station typically charges among the lowest prices in Las Cruces.” [More] I won’t pretend to understand everything behind the rise and fall of gas prices. Politics and money make my head hurt. What I do know is that I’m thankful for the gas prices, even if they are a little higher. I’ll gladly pay $1.49 [the price today] rather than the $4.00 of a few months ago!

Perspective is a funny thing. There is a gas station that is closed and the prices read around $2.00. When gas was double that amount, I would drive by and laugh, “It must be closed with that price!” Now that gas is fifty cents less, I do the same thing but for a different reason.

“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” Marcus Aurelius

Check the price of gas around New Mexico at NewMexicoGasPrices.com!
Gas on flickr: set | slideshow