Crone Productions » Albuquerque

What’s New

Nina — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:01:49 +0000

I can’t believe that January is almost over. I know I’ve been derelict of my duties as a blogger, but sheesh…have things been busy!

Besides my full-time job, I’m taking a writing class and WOW! does that take time. I’ve met with people who have asked for help on their film projects…two of which I have agreed to.

The Dolls is a drag troupe in Albuquerque that have been giving us live performances for about 15 years. The plays are comedic, bawdy, and quite a bit naughty. They are making a film of one of these plays, “Malice in Wonderland.” I will be helping them with their marketing and publicity, and the film is already in production.

Poster from the original play, 2007

“Malice In Wonderland: The Dolls Movie” is their first project. I can’t wait to see the final project. Here’s a link to their website: http://www.thedollsmovie.com.

Also, I’m researching a group of women who in the 1950′s and early 60′s went thru the same training as men to become astronauts, but were never allowed to go into space. And, so, Russia beat us to that. It took almost 4 decades before Sally Ride became the first US woman in space!

So, that’s what I’ve been up to so far this month. I hope all of you are having a great new year so far.

Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

Nina — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:42:33 +0000

Well, the balloon fiesta is over. I made it one day with friends visiting from Colorado for the Special Shapes Mass Ascension (about 100 0f the them I would guess). It was a beautiful day!

After the special shapes, the other baloons (over 400 + of them) swooped down onto the balloon field for a contest. They have tall poles in the ground, and attached to the top of each pole is a major prize – from cars to a new balloon. It’s amazing to watch each balloonist maneuver their balloon down to the field, and try to get in line with a pole, all with using wind and their gas. I don’t know how they do it. Some balloons had 2 people in the gondola working to maneuver in, and others had just one.

The Albuquerque International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is just that, international. There were balloons from countries all around the world. It is said that this event is “the most photographed event in the world.” Come and join us sometime!

You can find my full gallery of pictures on my facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/home.php?ref=home

Close to the action

more balloons

getting ready to launch

almost ready to launch

One of my favorites

up, up and away!

Do you see Darth Vader?

some of the over 400 in the contest

Quarai Ruins

Nina — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:07:45 +0000

The Old Mission at the Quarai Ruins

The Quarai Ruins are part of the historical Salinas Pueblo Missions in New Mexico. Took a day trip there yesterday with my good friend, Robin. We both enjoy getting out with our cameras, and relaxing whether in the car or hiking around.

Here are some notes about Quarai from the Travel Guide: Quarai was on the southeastern fringes of the New Mexico Pueblo world, and inhabited before A.D. 1300. The Tiwa-speaking Indians farmed, hunted and gathered salt from the saline lakes in the valley; the Spanish colonials established a mission and chapel at Quarai in the 1600′s, and at that time it is estimated there were 400-600 native people living there; in the late 1600′s a serious drought struck and by 1677 Fray Parraga locked the mission’s doors for the last time and headed north with the Tiwa people to Tajique and then to Isleta.

Quarai is nestled in a beautiful spot, with old cottonwood and other types of tress and brush. The boysenberry bushes (at least we think they were boysenberry) were thick with fruit and attracting small birds in large numbers while we were there. The Butterflies were also more numerous than we have seen in a long time.

We saw what first looked like a field mouse near a picnic table, huddled down in some foliage trying to keep warm. There had been so much rain lately, it may have been flooded out of its home. Upon closer inspection, we aren’t sure it was a mouse, but not sure what it was.

I got a little turned around driving back to Albuquerque. I’m usually pretty good with directions, but I took a wrong turn and it took us awhile, with a map, to get back on the right roads.

We stopped for lunch in Estancia, a small town, where literally everyone knows your name. We had lunch in a BBQ place, but ordered the day’s special – a burger with fries and a small drink. It was delicious.

We encountered one heck of a rain storm on the way home. Found ourselves wondering if we were going to make it through a couple places where the water had pooled heavily. Robin and I made it back into Albuquerque around 4 p.m.

At 6:30 that night I met Cristen Grey at the Southwest Gay & Lesbian Film Festival kick-off party at Scalo’s in Albuquerque. Cristen is a wonderful musician/singer/songwriter that lives in Santa Fe. Her sound is contemporary rock, and she writes her own material. I’ll tell you more about her another time, as she has just launched a new CD.

OH…the kick-off party was fun. Lots of people there that I haven’t seen in awhile. Scalo’s provided delicious food (buffet spread). But my favorite was their chocolate eclairs. OMG! The chocolate was light, and the cream filling fluffy and not too sweet. I wanted a second one, but stopped myself.

The film festival looks to be a great one this year! Those of you in New Mexico should try to attend.

Holiday travels

Nina — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:50:20 +0000

My sister and I took a road trip over the Labor Day weekend. The Grand Canyon of Arizone was our first destination. I have to say, the pictures that many of us have seen simply don’t do it justice. There are canyons within canyons within canyons. Deep and never-ending. In the canyon I saw more variations on the colors of brown, red and yellow than I have ever seen in one place. When you find a spot away from other tourists, all you can hear is the breeze wafting through the canyon and the juniper trees around us, and the occasional caw of a raven or chitter of a squirrel. The quiet was intoxicating.

We saw one raven who had landed on a rocky cropping, and just stood in one place for long minutes with his wings spread in all their full glory. We weren’t sure if he was showing off for us (ha!) or for a female we couldn’t spot. But one thing our picture didn’t catch, is that like the canyon, he was almost the largest bird we had ever seen.

We stayed at The Grand Hotel in Tusayan that first night. It is a small tourist-oriented town just 1 or 2 miles south of the Grand Canyon entrance. Our intention was to visit the South Rim of the Canyon, as we were coming from Albuquerque and this seemed the easiest along our route. Dinner at the hotel restaurant was very good. The BBQ ribs almost melted in your mouth and the service was good. Would have liked a small dinner salad with it, though. The breakfast menu seemed a bit pricy to us, so we caught breakfast elsewhere the next morning.

We spent about 6 hours driving and hiking along the South Rim of the Canyon, and we still didn’t get to see everything. Next time, and we promised we’d do it again, we plan to stay several days in the area as there is just so much to see besides the grandeur of the canyon itself.

As we left the Grand Canyon and continued our travels north and then west, we passed Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dam. We didn’t stop, however, as we just didn’t have the time. Again, a trip for another time. But I understand you can rent houseboats on Lake Powell and that sounded very interesting to us – big enough for all our family to join us.

The next “tourist attraction” we traveled through was the Zion National Park. Again, publicity photos in books and magazines simply don’t do it justice. From one bend in the road to another, around one curve or rise in the road to the next, there was a totally new and powerful view of nature in all her glory. There are a number of small towns pocketed in the canyon of this park. Springdale, Rockville, Virgin (honest). It was dusk as we passed through Springdale, but there was something about this small and very touristy looking town that caught both our attention – so of course I slowed down. The streets were pristine, and the green of lawns and small parks was so captivating after driving through some very rocky terrain. There appeared to be a good deal of water in this canyon, and I could smell the moisture in the air. And it smelled of pine, juniper, and air fresher than I’ve smelled in a very long time. All types of people were out walking the sidewalks of the main part of town – going from restaurants, bookstores, tourist shops, hotels, bed & breakfasts, and more. You could almost tell which ones were local residents and which were tourists – but they all melded together in a gentle sort of way.

But we were still hours from Salt Lake City, and trying to make it there for the night. So we continued on. We didn’t succeed. By 11:00 p.m. we were both tired of being in the car and so we stopped in a small town about two hours south of Salt Lake City and spent the night. We reached our final destination of Twin Falls, Idaho (where our family lives, including our parents), around 2 p.m. the final day of our trip together. I had about 4 hours to visit with my parents and then caught my flight home to Albuquerque.

It was a great trip, but a little exhausting. And here’s why. Three hours west of Albuquerque (where our road trip began) the air conditioner of the car quit working. We debated stopping, turning back, or just using the back windows for air circulation. We opted to use the back windows. We were both worried that if we stopped, some dubious service station would charge us a lot more to fix than necessary. A new air conditioner had been installed just 2 years ago, so I knew it couldn’t be that. Well, in Twin Falls, it was discovered that all it needed was a new cabin filter. But here’s the rub. I had taken the car in for servicing before the trip and had specifically asked that this filter be checked. Obviously, it hadn’t. Needless to say they got a very angry call from a very aggravated menopausal woman when I got home!

But, overall, this road trip with my sister was one of the best trips I have ever taken. We talked, gossiped, laughed, ooh’d and aah’d the entire way. We never seemed to lack for something to talk about or something new to catch our attention. GREAT fun!

The Raven Dance