big franco from the coast

when the park ranger, who looked like a very experienced girl scout, came tromping bruskly up to our picnic spot, i was certain she was going to tell me to clean up all my potato chips. i began to think of endangerments to local animals such as the tassle eared squirrel and i glanced up at the looming trees wondering if the rangers somehow had cameras in the park. as she strided quickly up to us i tried to block her view of the cascade of cherry tomatoes and avocados i had missed putting on my sandwich. fortunately, it was just a flash flood warning. no worries!

i wasn't alone in my phobia. my mom thought the same thing, but hilary thought we were big dorks as usual. franco came for a long weekend on the fourth of july and it was so wonderful to see our favorite gal. hils and i took her to bandelier national monument to see the anasazi ruins of frijoles canyon rediscovered in the 19th century by the swiss banker turned passionate anthropologist, adolf bandelier. meag and i had gone there last summer. it's incredible and full of stories and storied apartments carved into the tuff, which is whitish, pinkish, yellowy volcanic ash. long ago when there was mucho volcanic activitiy gasses got trapped in the tuff and made crazy holes which were easy to expand into comfy dwellings.

there is a beyond groovey feeling there.

after being warned about an impending monsoon hils insisted franco and i climb the 140 feet of ladders to go up to see an old kiva. of course hils couldn't do it herself, but kept telling us to hurry up so she didn't get washed away at the canyon bottom. no pressure. when we finally descended after scurrying up and down cliff faces on age-old, smooth ladders, franco declared that she did not like the experience at all. sorry, franc.

were proud of you, though. be all that you can be.

there are some amazing petroglyphs there. franco and cho walked right past this guy! can you believe it? what is he? a parrot or an ardvark? i vote for parrot. the pueblonians traded many goods with mexico some of which were parrots. there are lots of parrot bones and feathers excavated at many sites in the southwest. they worshipped them, but they usually died in this climate. sad.

i highlihted some stuff here for ya. click on picture for better viewing and helpful interpretations of ancient grafitti. the roadrunner is the state bird, mind you, but i'm not sure about the robot.

ah, bandelier. the more i see you, the more i like you. ya'll need to take a visit!

but more than day hikes and ancient settings, i love my franc. it was a short, but sweet weekend. she got to do hours of crossies with her favorite guy, and n has her totally hooked. they call each other almost everyday with clues as she now has her own crossword puzzle books, too. so cute and such a blessing for n to have a buddy who doesn't get frustrated with questions like: okay, babe, what's a 5 letter word for "to sling mud" the 3rd letter is "e"and the 4th is "a"?

...um, i have to go now.

superfriends.

supefreak!