Tin, Alien Cattle Mutilations, and Faywood Hot Springs

Making Jewelry from Tin 

I've been making jewelry out of vintage tin containers.  Here's a necklace I'm working on:

Tin necklace in progress

I went to the CAV (Community Against Violence) Thrift Store the other day.  I had some time to kill.  I went to Taos for a doctor's appointment but I had recorded the time wrong so I was two hours early. 

I found some more tin to make things with. 

More tin for making

Alien Cattle Mutilations 

I couldn't resist buying one of their t-shirts.  It's for a worthy cause: They provide many different resources for survivors of domestic and sexual violence (note their deliberate avoidance of the term victim of domestic/sexual violence).  The image pays homage to local folklore.  Many road signs in the area (be aware of cows in the road) have been tagged with ufo stickers.  Our region of northern New Mexico and the adjacent San Luis Valley in Colorado are infamous for cattle mutilations that some attribute to experiments being conducted by aliens.  The big skies, isolation, abundance of mind-altering substances, and the oddball characters who have been drawn to this area leads to some interesting local culture.  It's as if they tilted the continent toward the Southwest and many of the nation's eccentrics rolled across the land like marbles until they came to rest here.  It's the first place that has ever felt like home to me. 

Faywood Hot Springs

Speaking of home, the travel itch has been bothering me.  So for my birthday, we're going to take the trailer down to southern New Mexico and spend a week at Faywood Hot Springs.  My body has been craving long, nude soaks in hot water under the broad expanse of the sky, and desert walks in a new area.  I'm very excited.