Gray Skies at Night

Yesterday after work I decided to go to Old Town and see if the decorations were up. The grand tree is up but the official lighting has not happened yet. Speaking of official lighting....they literally light up all of old town with what we here in the southwest call luminarias or farolitos.




A luminaria or farolito is a light, typically displayed during the holiday season, that features a brown paper bag weighted down with sand and illuminated from within by a lit candle. These are typically arranged in rows to create large elaborate displays. Artificial luminarias, which are made of plastic and use light bulbs instead of candles are also used. Luminarias originated in New Mexico and are traditionally displayed on Christmas Eve to 'light the way of the Christ child' into your home, which is a blessing among Catholics. Like so many 'spiritual' things they have been secularized and are now used as lighting decorations from personal homes to shopping malls. Santa Fe and Old Town Albuquerque are well-known for their impressive Christmas Eve displays. Reserve your spot on the tour bus early.

On this day...the grand tree had not been lit nor had San Felipe de Niri Church been lit with luminarias. I'll try and take some pics when they do...just that traffic in that area sucks the closer we get to Christmas [Xmas for you non-believers].

It was only Monday when I took this pic and went to Old Town. It was sunny but cool 52 degrees.








Within an hour the weather changed [typical for NM] and gray skies moved in. People started sayin 'snow is coming' . I was disappointed in that Old Town had not been lit up yet...a few business were though.



I opted to go to dinner, uptown to Dagmar's, a German restaurant at San Pedro and Candelaria. I had the rolatin. Rolatin is a German pickle, German mustard and bacon rolled up in a thin slice of beef. Very very good. My dad makes it different however. He adds green chili [WHAT...YOU HAVE NOT HAD GREEN CHILI???] Green chili is a staple here in New Mexico and is even served at places like McDonalds [green chili cheeseburger]. The rolatins served at Dagmars are basically good beef n gravy meals... my dads however are better!!!!


But I digress...so here it is Wednesday and sure enough the snow clouds moved in. Our high today was 34 frickn' degrees!!!!! Windchill made it feel 23!!!!!

Dang I miss sunny SoCal.