Blog Archives

covering all the (merchandising) bases

What a place! It’s like the WalMart of Chimayó, practically, with the availability of santos, woodcarvings, popsicles, t-shirts, art, books. I mean, what else could you possibly need?

Also, don’t those commas on the stucco wall look like they were added by some kind of ad hoc sign-corrector person?*

Chimayó, New Mexico
photographed 3.16.2019

*It wasn’t me. It was that way when I got there. I promise.

trailers (now deceased)

There isn’t a whole lot going on in Montoya, New Mexico, at the current time. Unless you count the abandonment of buildings and trailers, and then there is a lot happening. (But the pace at which things happen is quite slow.)

Montoya, New Mexico
photographed 5.29.2022

mayhem

One thing I know is to cut a wide berth around a guy wearing a shirt that says “mayhem” on it. Another thing I know is that the shirt and his aggressively gold watch needed to be photographed. And the last thing I know (in this context, I mean) is that it was a good thing I was shooting with a zoom lens.

Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 7.31.2022

tatters

At some point, that billboard presented crucial information to travelers. That point, however, was not the day I was there…

San Jon, New Mexico
photographed 7.30.2022

…and the walls came down, 3

I spent the hour I had to fill up walking around the collapsed church wall, taking photos and getting a little bit teary thinking of how one of the things I’d come to count on seeing in Santa Rosa was just…gone.

I presume that the thunderstorm’s winds the afternoon before had pushed those walls down, so that meant they were only standing for an hour or so after I saw them leaning away from the rest of the building.

The thing is that people drove by while I was there and no one stopped or slowed down or even (as far as I could tell) glanced over to see what had happened. It hurt my feelings, which is sort of ridiculous and also made perfect sense.

Now I am worried that by the time I get back over there, the other three walls will be down, too.

Saint Rose of Lima Cemetery
Santa Rosa, New Mexico
photographed 7.31.2022