August 2nd

The weather karma was good and provided full sun and warm tempuratures for camping. We went to the Manzano mountains south of Albuquerque. There are a few small villages back there that have been around for centuries but other than that it is not very populated.

We picked up Kathleen, said hi to her mother Lou and her brother Mark (see photo below) and headed up to Greg's cabin (which is 5 miles south of Chilili and 3 miles north of Tajique, just in case you need to know!). It is a great little cabin, a real homesteader. It is basically one room with a wood stove in the middle, flagstone floors, and is truly made of logs, Abraham Lincoln style. We hung out for a while waiting for Greg to return from town. Robby took a nap on the spacious porch and Lynne and Kathleen gabbed as only they can.

When Greg returned, we all headed up to Red Canyon Campground near Manzano. There was only one other family there so we essentially had the place to ourselves. We pitched tents, ate nature burgers and some sausages, had some beer and ouzo and watched the stars. Greg played "happy birthday" for Lynne on the Do-Bob guitar he made and we had cake and champagne that Kathleen brought. It was a great birthday. As soon as the moon set (around 1 am) the stars were really bright and we could finally see the Milky Way. Greg is really into Astronomy and showed us some constellations. It was gorgeous! With just the binoculars we were able to see 4 of the moons around Jupiter and other groovy stellar sights. Thanks, Greg!

About 2 AM we had a bief run-in with some local kids. There were about 7 of them in an extended cab pickup. We could tell that they were pretty drunk as they fell out of the truck (along with numerous beer bottles). They wanted to party and/or start something but left without much hassle because we were too mellow for them. Must be that we are all over 31 now! After they peeled out of the campground, all was quiet again and we resumed star-gazing until about 3:30 when even us old folks had to hit the hay.

August 3rd

Greg got up early and went for a hike but the rest of us slept late. When we got up we scrambled some eggs and made breakfast burritos. It was a gorgeous day, really clear and sunny. The ranger (Monica) came up and we told her about the kids the night before and she thought she knew who they were. Greg told her that he is going to be teaching high school in Estancia (13 miles away) and would try to see if he recognizes them! She said they get stuff like that happening every once and a while, sometimes parties and vandalism. Bored teenagers.

On Sunday Tuba Man made some quick arrangements for a Selsun Blue gig so we went back to Albuquerque after breakfast to get ready. The gig was an art opening at O'Neill's Pub for our friend Zim. There were quite a few people there, including a special support section of Lynne, Mama Varg and her friend Grey from work, Kathleen, Lou, Mark, and Brent and Shawn. The gig was fun and we sounded great! It was PigBoy (Robby) and Live Bob (Greg) on guitar, Tuba Man on tuba (duh) and Bee from Pawn Drive played drums. There is a new tape available of just Bee, Tuba Man and Live Bob, and they are called just "The Selsuns." It sounds great! The gig was a screaming success, and Rob O'Neill, the owner, seemed interested in getting them to play again.

After that we went to Gautsch and Dana Burgy-Gautschi's house (of the Albuquerque Burgy-Gautschis) to hang out and talk for a while. They are both artists (among other trades) and shared some of their latest work with us. Dana made a FABulous board game that goes along with a performance/installation/writing/work-in-progress piece of Gautsch and Flowers called ABIOGENESIS. It was a genius game which is oh-so-appropriate since it was formed from the minds of La Dana and Gautsch. They are also our biggest web-fans and will grow huge heads up on reading this. Hi guys!

August 4th

Today we headed up to Los Alamos. MamaVarg drove up to Chimayo with us and treated us to lunch at the Rancho de Chimayo, one of the best New Mexican restaurants in the state and indeed, the world. It is a beautiful old hacienda kind of up the hill from the Santuario (holy church of Chimayo). We had great weather again and enjoyed our chile and sopapillas on the patio under the cottonwoods. Our meals were fantastic... so good in fact that we totally forgot to take pictures! It was a nice long lunch, and good to hang out with Mama.

We got to Los Alamos around 5, chatted with Ray and Connie, and went over to the Sampson's for dinner. We had green chile and chicken enchiladas and homemade bread. Delicious! After dinner Lynne's father gave her some gifts he got for her while traveling overseas for work this Spring. Her favorite was a matrushka from Russia with 7 dolls inside. It is all handpainted and very beautiful. Keep on traveling, Dad!

More pictures to come!

	The Edwards Family: Kathleen, her mother Lou and bother Mark
	Greg's cabin near Tajique
	Greg inside his fully modern abode
	Selsun Blue Fan Club: Kathleen, Brent, and Shawn
	Robby, Bee, and Tuba Man
	L.B. Smith and P.Boy (Greg and Robby)
	Gautsch and Dana Burgy-Gautschi (of the Albuquerque Burgy-Gautschis)