Monthly Archives: September 2019
Helen Valdez
I have photographed a lot of roadside crosses – for a decade, I stopped at nearly every one I drove by.
And then, I was done, and only rarely stop for them these days.
But the other weekend in New Mexico, we drove by this one, with that “unsolved murder” sign attached to it. It required some u-turns to get back to it, of course, but I wasn’t going to not stop.
Since then, I tried to find out what happened to Helen Valdez. And I learned these things:
1. She was 80 years old.
2. On the night of December 14, 2004, she disappeared from her home after trip to a nearby Walmart to pick up groceries.
3. Her family reported her missing the next day, and although there was evidence of a struggle at her house, neither she nor her body were located there.
4. In April 2005, following a confidential tip, officers found her body on a remote road in a national forest.
5. Her grandson, Joshua Garcia was arrested that same month, and charged with her murder. The lead came from a local woman, a known drug user, who stated that Garcia had confessed to the murder.
6. His trial was set to begin in November 2005, and the prosecutors sought a delay in order to receive more comprehensive forensics reports.
7. And then, in January 2006, all charges relating to Helen Valdez’s murder were dropped.
8. On a side note, the woman who implicated Garcia was herself arrested eight times between November 2004 and January 2007; she was apparently never investigated for the murder.
9. Joshua Garcia passed away unexpectedly on June 10, 2018. He was 41 years old.
10. There have been no further developments.
(Check me out, turning, temporarily, into a true-crime blogger.)(But not a very good one – I didn’t solve the crime or anything.)
Hernandez, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
Mid-Century Kitchen
On a quick weekend trip to New Mexico, we decided to visit Los Alamos and found the Los Alamos History Museum. It had a lot of exhibits related to the obvious topics – the development of the atomic bomb and the Cold war – but the parts that most interested me were the exhibits detailing what life was like living in Los Alamos during World War II and after. Talk about living in a company town, where everything was tightly controlled and no one could ever mention anything that’d happened at work that day.
Anyway, part of the museum includes the Hans Bethe House (Hans Bethe was a German-American nuclear physicist who made important contributions to astrophysics, quantum electrodynamics and solid-state physics, and won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physics), parts of which have been refurbished to replicate a mid-century dwelling. (Mr. Bethe’s Nobel prize is also on view.)
This kitchen, though. Right away I saw four things that were exactly like things in my mom’s kitchen – the mixer, the coffee pot on the stove, the glass coffee carafe on the counter, and the set of metal canisters. And then, later, I noticed that there was a knob missing from the stove. As much as I can recall, our stove had all its knobs, but I know for certain that the oven door on our stove didn’t stay closed and we had to wedge a chair under the handle to keep it shut. Reader(s) with a good memory may recall that my dad was a civil engineer, and may be surprised at his “solution.” He was sort of that way, though – a brilliant engineer who would complete cheap out on home repairs.
Los Alamos History Museum
Los Alamos, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
Bases, covered
WARNING: if you see this place late one night, and decide to return the next day for a photo, DO NOT believe the directions Google maps gives you. Google maps sends you to a vacant lot on a completely different street. What’s up with that, Google maps?
But, as you can see here, I used my sense of direction* and my memory of place to find it anyway. Take that, Google maps.
near Española, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
*Really. It’s my superpower.**
**So, why was I using Google maps in the first place? Because in spite of that strong sense of direction, Española is one of those towns where I can nearly always get myself turned around. My dad was the same way, both with having that sense of direction AND with getting lost in Española. It’s genetic, I guess?
Parking lot religion
Nope. Not one damn idea what is going on here.
But I do feel the need to point out that the tire on the base of the cross is flat. Very flat. Which I assume inhibits its use as a travel cross. If a “travel cross” is even a thing.
Española, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
Juxtaposed
I didn’t realize what I had for those few years I lived in New Mexico; mostly the Patient Spouse and I were ready to move somewhere else – anywhere else! – from the minute we arrived. I was, clearly, an idiot for thinking the state had “nothing to offer” and “nothing to see” and “nothing to do.” Seriously, this was here all along.
Admittedly, that pile of old clothes there by the fence isn’t all that gorgeous but it does add a certain depth to the image, with the way it echos the shape of the cloud. And anyway, embrace those imperfections, right?
near Española, New Mexico
photographed 9.1.2019
One Day | One Image 