Remember Alpine?

How about a change of scenery?

I was just looking through some old pictures and got inspired and happy remembering people and times past. So, while I'm sharing, (and organizing photos) let me show you our place in Alpine.

As some of you know better than others, Mark and I lived in Alpine, TX for 6 months from September to March 2004-05. I had just gotten my massage therapist license for Texas, and Mark had just gotten a writing fellowship. We were both living in my small apartment in Austin with two dogs and two cats and it was a little tight. We thought of going someplace really beautiful for Mark to write and me to practice massage. I don't remember ever discussing any place but Alpine. Both of us were drawn to the scenery and the solitude. So we took a trip there to scout out a house, and we met Eddie and Karen. They had a real-estate agency and a really cool son who was a senior at the local high school. Eddie showed us this doublewide just a few miles out of town. It was on ten acres and had gorgeous views in all directions. We drew up a six month lease and moved in a week later. Here is our rock and roll living room and Hounddog. This is Mark singing at the kitchen table. That little stereo behind him was our link to the outside world. We listened to the Houston Astros' playoff games. We listened to all the presidential and vice-presidential debates between Bush-Cheney and Kerry-Edwards. We listened to the local high school sporting events. Basically whatever the local radio station played.

Here's our kitty Nut-nut curled up for a nap. She is kindly cared for by Dave, Marty, Amelia, Zuzu, and dare I say, Hero, this year.

And here is sweet Lucy on her chair, her favorite spot to chill.

We had no electricity our first two weeks in the house. Since the pump was electric, we also had no water from the well. So we used bottled water for all our needs and spent a good deal of time on the back porch. Alpine is in a little valley with mountains all around. From our back porch we could see the little town in the distance. One of our first nights there we watched this stunning moon climb up in the sky. It was enormous. We could literally see it (the earth, actually) moving.

Imagine our excitement when a few days later we woke up to hot air balloons taking off just north of town! We made coffee and took up our usual spot outside. The balloon race lasted a couple of hours and came right over the top of our house.



Here is Mark having his morning brew. Hello, sleepyhead.





This balloon cleared our neighbors house, and sailed off southwest. These neighbors were a couple of hard-working cowboys. They had several beautiful horses that grazed our land and theirs. I remember I shared an apple with one pretty mare out by our mesquite tree early on my birthday morning that year.

And this one landed across the railroad tracks.

I know it looks like a sea of scrub and wild grasses, but let me offer a closer look. I was amazed with the diversity. I thought some plant people might enjoy seeing some examples of the plants in our back yard. Anything sizable had to be tough, like these guys.


But mostly there were teeny flowers close to the ground. The fields shone in a blanket of yellow, but you had to get up close to see an individual flower.

Here are some sunflowers and some spent thistles.

And I'd hate to guess how many different species of grasses there were out there waving with the wind. In the early mornings we would see peccary or mule-deer. We would also find where whole herds had made their beds in the grasses the night before.


















While I was out taking pictures of plants Mark adjusted to the country life by cleaning his gun with his sweet old hound lying by.





Our best friends in Alpine were John and Beverly. They were metal sculptors and were so self-sufficient it isn't funny. This is a picture of us outside of their workshop. I spent a lot of time there polishing metal or using pliers to make metal fringe, bending and twisting each individual wire into shape. One of John and Beverly's hobbies is making art cars, and I got pictures of two of them. They are all in great working order and are street legal, registered and inspected. John and Beverly pile in their friends and go to enjoy the natural and cultural events in their awesome cars regularly. We were invited on many of these excursions, and we had a great time howling at the moon, dancing, conversing, and making art with these two and their friends. You have just seen Geronimo's Cadillac.

Check out the three rows of seats, each higher than the one in front. That's real cow hide, too, and so soft.
This is riding in style. This thing was created and welded together from found objects and donated rusty bits of farm equipment.

And this is La Cucaracha. It was painted by a friend of John and Beverly's. I can't remember his name, but he's kind of famous for his western style paintings.











Here are close-ups of a couple of details from the fenders.










And thus ends this trip down memory lane, and again I say good-bye to Alpine until the next time I come to that vast, rich land. I feel far away from that arid place and its faded colors. You never know where the road will take you. Love and Blessings to you!! -Asenath