The Joy of Conversation

I have always been considered a quiet person.  When I was little I hardly spoke at all because I was "shy". Later on I was an "introvert".  Well, when I got into my late middle age and eventually found myself alone I discovered I needed conversation. Joanne was a talker more than I was and she would tell me all about her day and generally routine stuff...we talked a lot. When she died and Jill grew up and moved out I needed to hear a human voice other than my own. I'd turn on the TV just for background voices. Finally I figured out how to make friends again and soon I was a regular chatterbox.  One of the most enjoyable things about train travel on Amtrak is meeting people and having a nice and substantial conversation.


Fast forward to 2013...I've moved away from Missouri to New Mexico so I need to make new friends. My neighbors, Rod and Terry, are friendly and like to talk so we visit over the fence a lot. Rod helped my build my bocce court and is a handyman so we play bocce and collaborate on a few projects.


Not long after moving here I discovered Kaktus Brewing Company (that's Kak-toos...a German pronunciation) in the nearby heavily-Hispanic town of Bernalillo, NM. They were just opening in October but I managed to get in for the "soft" opening in late September. This is the first micro-brewery in Bernalillo so they are feeling their way a little. I was helping as much as I could...visiting once or twice a week.


So, chatty as I am, I am not shy about talking to other customers and I have met some of the most interesting people.  Bernalillo is located on the north end of the Albuquerque metro area...on the way to Santa Fe...and borders the Santa Ana pueblo reservation to the north and Sandia pueblo to the south and is just across the highway from Placitas. Placitas is sort of an upscale desert/mountain artsy community mixed with traditional Spanish land grant villagers who are descended from the original grantees. Bernalillo itself dates to about 1690 and folks from here moved south and settled Albuquerque. You might hear more Spanish spoken in Bernalillo than English and major streets and some business are signed in Spanish. Across the river (Rio Grande) is the north extreme of Rio Rancho, a modern and (sporadically) developing suburb of Albuquerque.  I'm describing all this just to give an indication of the diversity of people who walk through the door of Kaktus Brewing.


First off, there's Bjorn, from South Africa. Bjorn works in the film industry and makes the systems needed for producing special effects and some animation. Bjorn is responsible for Tony the Tiger and some of the Shrek movies as well as Spiderman movies. Then there's Dennis, a retired mechanical engineer from Santa Fe. Dennis lived and worked in Chicago and is responsible for designing the machine that wraps your stick of Wrigley's gum in foil and paper. Tom, a former special forces guy in Viet Nam, became a medical doctor and later prison doctor. We swap a lot of prison stories. Tom was raised in various places in South America and speaks Portuguese and Spanish. Tom owns hot air balloons.  Stew and Gloria are a nice and very friendly couple. Stew is a off-road race car driver...as in Baja road racing. Gloria seems to be enjoying the racing life but doesn't get too involved. If Stew starts talking about race cars or the technical aspect of racing you will be there for a while. The same is true if Stew and Tom start comparing Viet Nam stories. Evan stopped in while on a trip from Portland...he is a vintner at an Oregon winery. I learned all about the various types of grapes and where they will or won't grow. Roberta is a recently certified real estate lady...just got her license. Kyle, yes Kyle, is a Santa Domingo Pueblo Indian who always invites people to his house for BBQ and gives out directions but I haven't gone yet. There are others that I've met early on that I can't recall their name. One was a screen writer and film maker who does independent films. Another was a professor of screen writing at a local college. There are a few local farmers who come in and speak Spanish to each other but perfect English to other folks. I've enjoyed talking to these folks and I've learned a lot.


Dana, the owner is maybe 30 and he seems to enjoy it all. This is his first venture into the brewing business and he has some good help. There is no big screen TV hanging on the wall and no karaoke. There is a dart board, a bocce court and an outdoor patio with a wood stove for cool nights. Everything seems to be geared toward conversation.

My Day at the Museum

I've been wanting to go see a museum exhibit for the last month or so and kept putting it off. I am the king of procrastinators and end up doing things at the last minute. The exhibit was "Renaissance to Goya: Prints and Drawings from Spain" at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. It is a touring exhibit but Santa Fe is the only stop in the US and it is scheduled to leave in a few days.

I only live a half hour away from Santa Fe but it usually takes me another half hour to find what I'm looking for and a reasonable place to park. This discourages me from going to Santa Fe very often but there is a commuter train that offers a great alternative to driving and I should go by train -- it's a $5.00 round trip. I drove instead. The museum is located on the plaza next to the Palace of the Governor's so parking can be difficult. I was lucky and found a spot only three blocks away.

The exhibit includes works by about a dozen or more artists from about 1600 to about 1830. Most of the art work consists of drawings or prints, mostly in black chalk or some pen and ink. The drawings and prints are small, usually less than ten inches square. Subject matter is mostly religious events but there are some facial studies and some secular subjects. Goya's pieces include some of his warfare prints and some on bull fighting.

When I entered the exhibit gallery I was right behind a grade school class on a field trip. These looked like fourth or fifth graders. The class was being escorted by a museum staff person who was explaining the various pieces of art and trying to add a little context. The students were well behaved and quiet but I'm sure that most of them didn't grasp what the  museum guide was trying to explain. The pieces were so small that it was hard to make out the image unless you were fairly close.

There are lots of fairly obscure religious stories depicted in the collection. Saint Anthony of Padua was a busy man based on some of the drawings...lots of miracles. Other saints were being butchered. Heretics were being garroted or placed on trial during the inquisition. Baby Jesus was being circumcised. There were lots of angels, saints and demons. Goya's prints had folks being gored or trampled by bulls, lunatics on the loose and war heroes doing various heroic warlike things.

I suspect that there will be some interesting questions around the dinner table tonight in some of the students' homes.