Ojo Sarco

The unincorporated village of Ojo Sarco lies in a gorgeous high valley east of Dixon, south of Peñasco and west of Las Trampas. Gotta love those musical monikers. Drive east from Dixon on SR 75. Just out of town take the right fork onto SR 580 which becomes CR 69 just as it turns to dirt. A short but scenic journey through red rock country delivers you to the little church and its sagging neighbor.

Tyrrell Errata

Earthy Tyrrell coffee cups on the seconds shelf

Oops! I misspelled Al Tyrrell's name and, hence, web address. My apologies to the talented potter and to you. It would be www.altyrrellpottery.com to see more.

Al Tyrell's Cups

I have one of Al Tyrrell’s coffee cups for every day of the week. I’m a big fan of hand thrown pottery, generally, and Al’s lighter than air tazzas fit my thumb and index finger like a glove. I choose the color and shape of the morning’s cup based on a feeling, like selecting what to wear on a given day. Today's is my newest from last Sunday, a lovely granite and burnt sienna number.

The cups shown above reside on Al’s seconds shelf outside opposite his kiln. Damned if I can tell why they're seconds which is not to suggest that I buy seconds. Anyway, I‘ve used a shallow depth of field because I like the softness and how the image fades into the background.

Al says “Dishes in natural colors created to bring beauty to everyday life.” Visit his studio in Dixon, New Mexico or at www.altyrrellpottery.com.

Yeah, I know. With all this talk about colors this probably ought to be in, well, color but black and white's my thing. 

On the way in the rain

On the way from Malaga to Gaucin by the way of Ronda I passed through a rainstorm and came upon this crumbling finca just as the deluge stopped.

Leave your mark on the world

Last week’s post was a quiet little effort, almost a throwaway it seemed. But then came comments that told me that the graffiti on the walls of the church in Taiban, NM was thought provoking to some. I told my friend, the noted painter Steven Day, that I didn't know whether the sobering verse ending with "I had to kill myself" was genuinely moving or simply maudlin.

I've learned that the church was built at the cost of $250 in 1908 in the town of Taiban, NM and that it served a congregation of Presbyterians, Methodists and Baptists till 1936 when the town withered to nothingness and vanished entirely by World War Two.