Sunset in Alamogordo, New Mexico 

A long hair washing technique

I was wasting time on my computer (again) today and found a page that described how to wash long hair so it doesn't tangle so much. I have to start doing this:

For washing, bring your hair to the front before you wet it and leave it there hanging down and keep it there during shampooing. During the washing, try not to move your hair. This keeps the hair strands in position so they won't move upwards and wrap themselves around other strands, resulting in tangles.

I found this on http://www.skinbiology.com/hairbiology,care&loss.html

In my late 20s I had almost classic length hair but I did diddly squat to take care of it. It just grew all by itself and I didn't appreciate it. I washed it daily, hair sprayed it, and really bossed it around. Heh. Well, now that the glow has faded from the rose I have to work a little harder.

Mrs. G. dropped me a line last week and made me feel much better about my hair when I was feeling at a loss, and feeling better about my hair makes me feel better overall. I have to seriously take good care of it now. No messing around if I want it to be long and to look good. What's the use of long if it's not looking good. No point in that. Oh yeah, and I have to stop thinking about my hair so much.

Starting, uhhh, TOMORROW.

Tarantula

A handsome one 

Desert Tarantula Aphonopelma chalcodes

He stopped and posed for this pic. For reals. Then when I stood up he sped off. If he'd run like that when my face was next to his, I'd have freaked out for sure. I didn't know tarantulas could move so FAST.

Tarantulas are the largest spider in the world. They're not insects because they don't have six legs and three body parts. They have eight legs and two body parts. They are arachnids (so are scorpions, mites, and ticks). Tarantulas don't spin a web, they chase their prey. They have eight eyes but don't see so well. Females may live up to 25 or 30 years! The males, not so long. They tend to die some months or a year after mating, or, they are eaten right after they mate. It's not easy being male! Their venom is not lethal to humans - none in the U.S. are considered dangerous to humans. Their bite can hurt (some say like a bee sting) but clears up unless you're allergic. Then you'd have to see a doc. Here's a pretty good into page about tarantulas.

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico 

The Big Room self-guided tour. Takes about 1 1/2 hours to go through. Awesome. Seven hundred and fifty feet below the surface of the Earth. We went twice in two days. Carlsbad is the biggest cave in the Western Hemisphere. The longest is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.

Carlsad Cavern is no longer a living cave though. Kartchner Caverns in Arizona is, but is small by comparison.

At Carlsbad a parking lot was built directly over the caverns because when it was built years ago no one had any idea what the environmental impact would be. It stopped the seepage of water into the ground, into the cave. Killed the cave. I believe I heard there are plans to remove the old parking lot. No cars actually parking there now. Everyone now parks in a new lot that has been constructed away from the caverns.

A whirligig

A whirligig 

We need more plastic pink flamingos and aluminum can whirligigs in the world.

A friendly old guy came to our site and talked with my husband a bit (I was cleaning the kitchen) and gave us this whirligig made out of cans. Said he makes 'em to keep his arthritis at bay.

There was a time when I would have looked upon an aluminum can whirligig with disdain.

When I worked for the City of Redlands Planning department we used to laugh and poke fun at homeowners who planted plastic pink flamingos in their yard. We thought there should be an ordinance making them unlawful. Seriously.

Lately, I've been wanting my own set of plastic pink flamingos to shine in sun next to our synthetic green plastic AstroTurf yard. Aren't green and pink opposite on the color wheel? No, that would be green and purple. Oh well, as long as I'm wishing out loud, I wish I had a matching set of these whirligigs too. Wouldn't that be fine!

Don't stay at Roadrunner in El Paso

Don't stay at Roadrunner in El Paso 

If you see this sign, and you're looking for an RV park, Do Not Stop here.

Shower: Four stalls, four different shower heads. Best one looked so old it must have been from 1964, but lots of water comes out. The others - you'll be lucky to rinse off the soap.

Commodes: Verrry bad, not flushed. Smelly.

Counter help: Very nice, really old guy with a nice counter cat.

People in park: Nice travelers on each side of us, but some of the people must be seasonals (that's RV lingo for folks who live full time in one RV park).

During the night four drunk men came home at 4:00am. They were loud. The following evening my husband's daughter and I were having a pleasant chat when we heard a woman's blood curdling scream. My husband was outside and walked toward her and the man approaching her walked away. I think he was going to hurt her. In any case, she was afraid. I believe my husband altered the course of events. He does that without thinking and sometimes it worries me about him. But he does what's right. I can't say don't do it.

Traffic noise: High.

Welp, it's hit and miss sometimes. If yer ever in El Paso, I don't recommend The Roadrunner!

It says "Quality"

Top of the line good stuff 

See the rivet in the top, right corner? You're looking at the sign of a real quality front yard. You see, not only is it roll-up portable, you can nail it down in the dirt so the wind won't won't blow it up and away. These are the things make trailer girls happy!

Says Patio Rug, but it's not

Says Patio Rug but it's not 

Anybody knows, it's a FRONT YARD, not a patio rug!

Stuff on trailer popping off

Swoosh comes the air 

I felt a cool breeze on my legs and looked around. Oh, there! The high quality particle board is popping apart on our trailer. Shopping list: Buy little nails

Aaaugh! No growth! #1 of 4

Aaaugh! No growth! #1 of 4 

This is El Paso, Texas hair. We drove here yesterday. And look, I need thickness, I need length. This morning I used my excellent Body Shop Honey Mud Moisturizing Conditioner and I do love it. Air dried my hair which was easy in sunny, warm El Paso. I haven't been blow-drying it at all.

But, I made the most horrifying discovery today. My hair has not grown much. I just trimmed off three inches and looking at the pic here from December of 2004. He-loooow? I see I'm at the same length. Oh my gosh. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO. My world is crashing down around me. [choke, choke]

Okay, it is in good condition. I'll give myself that. And there's two months till the end of 2005. What growing I do, I must to do it in the next 60 days. Sixty-nine days counting the rest of October.

Nuts containing biotin, jojoba oil, squeeze my eyes shut real, real tight, think positive hair growing thoughts. Here I go.

(To see other three photos from "Hair photos" category go to http://alittlegrace.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html and scroll half way down.)

Length of hair #2

Length of hair #2 

Yes, my hem is falling out. It's tacky, I know, but I wear it anyway. There are threads sticking out on the back under my hair too. But I hate to part with my old clothes.

Coffee in the morning  

Blowing in the wind hair

Blowing in the wind 

I admit. It's not blowing in the wind, it's blowing in my trailer.

Thanks to Ambrose

Moonshot improved 

This is the look I wanted. Ambrose ran it through Picasa, got just the look I wanted and sent it to me. Cool.

Photo taken at Elephant Butte Lake State Park, New Mexico

My first decent moonshot

Moonlight is reflected sunlight 

My third night trying to capture the moon. Unfortunately, it is now a waning gibbous moon, no longer the perfect full moon of three nights ago. Ah well. There's always next month. But! will I be in a place where the moonrise is so spectacular? That is the question.

This shot, I am not satisfied with. It's not remarkable, it's just okay. Maybe I can improve my settings. At least I now have a solid starting point.

Thank you to all my S2 IS peeps! I used manual mode (thanks Vincent) and amazingly, tonight I figured out how to adjust the aperture and shutter speed (thanks Menno). Oooo weee! What a rush. One small step for man, one giant leap for Liliana-kind. I took the moon at shutter speed 1/125 and aperture 7.1. I took the lake reflection at shutter speed 1/6 - really, really low - then blended moon with lake in Photoshop (thanks Ambrose!).

Actually this is what the moon really looked like, but I wanted a whiter moon. I think a whiter moon might complement the lake reflection better.

Careful where you type

My husband left his keyboard outside on the picnic table for about 1/2 an hour. When he brought it back in he started to type and he says 'What's this?' My little boy peered close up to get a better look and...it was doo-doo. A bird doo-doo. Hahaha!

It's a sheltered picnic table so the bird had to fly under the shelter and stroll across the table, hop up to the F key and poop on it on purpose.

I know I shouldn't laugh, but it was kind of funny!

Sunset

Sunset 

I was running towards the lake and my husband hollered "Where are you going?"

"The light, the light!" I said.

Isn't the light beautiful? Well, you had to be there I guess!

Sky light reflected on the lake

Light on the lake 

And it got better. Now you can see what I mean! We're staying here three days, we like it so much.

Elephant Butte Lake State Park, NM

Man made lake in NM desert 

Just arrived at one of New Mexico's most beautiful state parks and snapped this outside our trailie. Its motto is "A Diamond in the Desert." It's the off season so there aren't many campers. The quiet is oh so quiet. Listen...do you hear the sound of the tiny waves lapping against the shore?

Peaceful. Peace. No traffic noise. So close to nature.

Mmmmmm...

Day 6 hair

Washed Monday. Today's Saturday. 

Well a year ago I'd have never gone six days without washing. Maybe four, maybe five, but now I've rather grown into it and am actually comfortable with it. Weird, huh. After an initial four months it stopped getting as oily, and it took longer, four days to get oily compared to one or two days. In this pic I was trying to make a bun like I saw on an Indian girl in an oil painting by Georgia O'Keeffe but unfortunately my 'do bears little resemblence to the style I was attempting. On the up side, I do have fewer crazy hairs at the nape of my neck on a day six than I do on a day one or two or three. Shoot, by day five I put shea butter near my scalp because who cares, it's already full of natural oils. So what if I add some to the underneath hairs.

I've been pleased, surprised really, that I can get my hair to lie down nicely and look neat even when it's oily. This is so cool. I feel like a such a pioneer woman. A settler. A bohemian.

Which leads me to note that I bought a new jar of shea nut butter today. I was beginning to freak out because my supply got so low and I never know if I'll come by a good store that has what I want. Sante Fe has a fabuloso natural foods grocery store. There was a plethora of items in the bath and body aisles (that's plural!) to drool over. Rose water, glycerine, Aubrey Organics, ylang-ylang essential oil. But no. I walked in for shea, and I walked out with shea. Yay me! I exercised such self-control.

A zebra finch

Peeking from his nest 

We went to the Santa Fe Children's Museum today. Son had a great time. He painted his face and ears and arms which kept him busy for almost an hour. I went to the aviary.

The Waffle House breakfast

The Waffle House breakfast 

We never ate at a Waffle House until we came to the south. My husband said the truck knew the way to the one near us and he didn't even have to steer. I'm homeschoolin' in the morning, my husband disappears for two hours, I ask where he's been. The Waffle House, he says.

This is our last meal at a Waffle House on our way out of Tennessee. It's a greasy spoon is what it is. Delicious food. Nice help. The waiter reached right across the front of me to hand my son his breakfast. He reached so close that I could have leaned forward two inches and bit his arm. I didn't though. I was bein' ladylike.

See on the left side of my plate? Thems is grits. I like grits. They sound weird. G-r-i-t-s. Sounds like something big, but they're little grains like Cream of Wheat. Real good.

Creationist or evolutionist

Creationist or evolutionist

Homeschool lesson on the fly.

So I read in the L.A. Times one morning a week ago about a youngster who came home from school and asked his mom whether creation was a fable or real. It inspired me to introduce our son to two new words that very morning: creationist and evolutionist.

I defined, outlined, and explained. I drew the rainbow so we could talk about how the evolutionist sees only science in a rainbow. The creationist sees science and also God.

Immanuel means God with us. That is to say, God is not only "up there in heaven," or only with believers, or only with a certain brand of Christian. God is with everyone, everywhere, all at once.

Imagine it if you can!

One project complete

One project complete

A photo of patience and perseverance rewarded.

Last week our eight year old put this little barbeque together. He read the instructions and did it all on his own. Neither of us asked him to do it.

He took out the instructions and the parts and apparently got so frustrated that he set the whole caboodle aside. I told him sometimes we need to let things set in our head to simmer and stew, and night is a perfect time to let things steep for awhile. I read about a study that showed that birds dreamt about the songs they sing at night, and the next day they sing them better. Real useful study, eh? Kind of like spending a million to determine whether dogs see in color or black and white.

Anywho, I complimented him for sleeping on it and trying again the next day. People who quit never get anything done.

Arrived in Santa Fe, NM

We've driven for three days and yesterday we got here! It's morning now and it's beautiful, just beautiful. I'm hoping to go to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum today. We have to do homeschooling first (I'm writing this between math and language arts).

I am invigorated and my spirit replenished! O happy day!

We drove through Little Rock, Arkansas where the lady had her 16th baby. We drove though Oklahoma City. We saw two pronghorn antelope (unusual) out on the grasslands. We had takeout for dinner last night. We ate New Mexican cuisine which I realized is a little different than regular Mexican that I'm used to. I prefer refried beans with cheese rather than plain pinto beans. But it was still delicious! All the better when I don't have to cook it.

I took only a few photos this month, and then in the last three days my batteries went dead. Both sets! Bad, bad, bad amateur photographer. I altogether lost my desire to take pictures while in Nashville.

No update till after Oct 12

Used my Body Shop hair goodies

I used my new Honey Moisturizing Shampoo, Honey Moisturizing Conditioner, and Africa Spa Hair and Body Honey Mud yesterday.

The Hair and Body Honey Mud did make my hair smell good. At first I wasn't sure because I'm fragrance challenged. I thought to myself, does it smell good or doesn't it? My little boy likes the fragrance. My husband stuck his nose in my hair (I told him he had to), said yeah it smells good, but I thought I sensed a note of insincerity so he's IN the DOG HOUSE. Ruff.

I'm on day two and it still smells good! How do they get it to keep the fragrance for so long? I've used perfumes that didn't last this long. I didn't follow the instructions though. I read them after I applied it and saw it said 'apply to wet hair.' I applied to dry hair. Well I'm none the worse for it I guess. I would think it will last longer if I applied to wet hair though because it'll glide onto the hair more easily. It was $24.00 for 11.9 ounces which annoys me. I'm going to buy a couple more because chances are I won't find it again. Directions said leave it on for 15 minutes but I was busy and left it on for half an hour. It rinsed out easily.

The Honey Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner were just samples but my hair is softer and best of all, I noticed my hair is a bit straighter and I have fewer crazy hairs at the bottom of my bun near my neck. I didn't have those when I was younger - it's my silver. I've tried everything to smooth those darn hairs at my neck: oils, shea butter, aloe vera, silicone products. All helped to varying degrees but none to my satisfaction. (Update: Bah. Just realized both the shampoo and conditioner contain dimethecone. I haven't used cones for months.)

I've stopped blowdrying my hair, a huge alteration in my hair care regime, and have been less than thrilled with how my hair has been pokier. Poke-ee-er: as in it sticks out more, lays less smoothly and quietly, gives me a halo and looks unkempt to me. This shampoo seems to have really helped. Of course, I can't be positive whether it was the shampoo, conditioner, or deep conditioner, but I'll just roll with it and see how it goes.

I've been using Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Hair and Scalp Conditioner and it's almost gone. It's been good. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's in a tiny 4 ounce bottle and it doesn't readily mix with water. I always dilute my shampoo and conditioner, and I have to shake the dickens out of this conditioner to get it to mix with water. Still, occasionally I can see bits of unmixed conditioner on the floor of the shower on its way down the drain. This annoys me greatly since I pay good money for good conditioner.

I've been using Suave shampoo and am practically out and I really wanted something, sigh, better. What is better? I don't know. I'm looking for that magic elixir. I want to have pretty hair and I want to take care of it so I don't have to trim 1/3 of my total growth every 1.5 years. I'm glad I got the free samples of the honey shampoo and condish because I think, I hope, the honey shampoo will be better for my hair.