Cindy | Morning Bray Farm

We had a wonderful visit from Don’s cousin Cindy this past weekend. On Saturday, we ventured out to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, which is about 50 miles north of Albuquerque.

The Cochiti Pueblo has always considered this area a significant place. “Kasha-Katuwe” means “white cliffs” in the traditional Keresan language of the pueblo.

The cone-shaped tent rock formations are the products of volcanic eruptions that occurred six to seven million years ago and left pumice, ash and tuff deposits over 1,000 feet thick.

While fairly uniform in shape, the tent rock formations vary in height from a few feet to 90 feet.

As the result of uniform layering of volcanic material, bands of grey are interspersed with beige and pink-colored rock along the monument’s cliffs.

Over time, wind and water cut into these deposits creating canyons and arroyos, scooping holes in the rock, and contouring the ends of small, inward ravines into smooth semi-circles.

We took the Canyon Trail, a 1.5-mile trek up a narrow canyon with a 630-foot climb to the mesa top for clear views of the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez, and Sandia mountains and the Rio Grande Valley.

Definitely one of my favorite places in New Mexico.

A hug from Bernard.

A goober face.

Geese. (GK, we’ll never look at them the same way again, either. ♥)

After Fergus died, I emailed our friends Stanley and Cindy at Lei Photography. Stanley and his wife Cindy last came out to visit the boys in March, just a week before Patrick’s arrival.

My email to Stanley and Cindy explained that Fergus had died, and I asked if they had taken any pictures of him that Don and I hadn’t seen.

Yesterday, we found out they had. And I smiled.