News-y

Encounters with my fellow humans on the trail have helped make April thus far a delight. 

A chat with a white-haired couple, each with two sticks, ended with “Have a courteous day!” I pondered that usage for some time. A much younger couple, chortling, had drawn a heart in the sand, then erased it. Seems they try to draw hearts while traveling to underscore their happy connection. A young woman with her nose in her phone stopped to admire my terrier, then said she was at that very moment trying to secure a Labrador puppy for herself, having moved to New Mexico recently to join her boyfriend. Her dad would not be parted from their beloved dog. 

Oh—and the older dude exiting the men’s locker room at the gym, bopping to the beat of a decent tune blasting out among the machines, followed by yours truly from the ladies joint, bopping behind him. The young gym clerks at the entry desk appeared happily stunned. 

Drones Successfully Invade Corrales!

The most appealing footage has turned up on the reimagined website for the Corrales Garden Tour, corrales-gardentour.com/. The 2023 tour is coming June 4, but the drone reveals all six of the gardens from 2022, in six minutes.

 And for a revealing close look at mayhem/destruction and demolition, take a peek at the final buh-bye to the Jones House, Village of Corrales Old Jones House Demolition…. youtube.com/@villageofcorralesofficial7770.

The proposed Arts, Community, Education (ACE) multi-use building may go up on what was formerly the property of Annette and Harvey Jones, both influential residents; hence the Harvey Jones Channel, located about a half-mile south of the Trees of Corrales Wholesale Nursery site on Corrales Road. 

The Jones property history is a long one. According to a 2020 Corrales Comment report by Jeff Radford, “Since the mid-1990s, Village officials have bought the Jones property piece by piece. They purchased the front parcel of the Jones pasture in 1995 for soccer fields and the second half of the pasture a few years later after an intense and prolonged fundraising effort that included appropriations from the State Legislature. Then came the Village’s acquisition at the far western end of the Jones’ remaining property for what is now TopForm Arena. With the parcel in front of the Jones residence long-since sold to the U.S. Postal Service for what is now Corrales Post Office, that left the parcel holding the home and sheds to the west which served as a heavy equipment and construction yard for Harvey Jones’s construction business. Annette Jones had convinced the Village Council to zone part of that for professional office use before she died in 2004. 

"Finally, in 2016 the 2.54 acres of land and buildings were purchased, the Village paying $865,000 at closing. The property came with the residence of more than 5,000 square feet, two large barns or sheds, a well-landscaped yard with swimming pool and water rights." 

Best dirt deal!

Potting mix, specifically natural/organic Black Gold, my fave, which shot up in price to about $25.99 per 2 cubic feet, is available at Village Merc this month and all of May for $20.99 per. 

Corrales signage bugging you, too? 

Jane Kennedy Sawina got in touch with News-y.

“I am a Corrales resident and love this community, especially its rural heritage. I am writing specifically to ask whether you could investigate why the signs at the entrances to Corrales on Corrales Road and on Meadowlark use the technical incorporation date as a Village (1971) rather than a date when we were founded as a community (about 1750). While the signs at the entrances still have 1971 as the date, a few years ago the Village changed our Official Seal to state that we were founded "about 1750". Seems to me that this more accurately reflects our long heritage than the relatively recent and technical incorporation date. Not sure why the Village never fixed the entrance signs to better reflect our long and rich history.” 

The Gathering of Nations PowWow

Catch it at the ABQ Convention Center, and Tingley Coliseum, April 27-29. (gatheringofnations.com/)

Bravo to the Corrales Art and Studio Tour for posting its catalog online!

Easy to find, to access, to flip back and forth to view which 90+ artists are included and where. The event runs May 6-7, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Visit: corralessocietyofartists.org/studio-tour/.

Save the Rhinos talk

Corrales’ Eleanor Bravo asks you to consider attending a lecture/funding event by a “rhino saver.” Diana DeBlanc, born and raised in Gallup, is a skilled veterinarian, the owner of Performance Equine in Albuquerque. She started early.

According to her website, “Around the age of eight or nine, I expressed an interest in animals and told my father that I wanted to run a pet store. He took my curiosity to a new level by introducing me to the local veterinarian, who educated me about what his job entailed. I was enthralled from that moment on, and have never wanted to be anything else.”

Today she is described by Bravo as “the best local equine chiropractor.” But also, a large animal specialist. 

DeBlanc first visited South Africa, home of the largest world rhino population, in 2017. She has long had a deep love for the rhinoceros. During her first visit, she learned that rhino were critically endangered due to poaching for their horns. “In the past 15 years more than 90 percent of wild rhinos have been needlessly killed,” she said in a press release. DeBlanc joined the nonprofit Council of Contributors backing frontline work by veterinarians and rhino rescue, efforts in anti-poaching and animal orphanages. And she started the Rhino Veterinarian Fund which directly funds medical and veterinary needs of injured rhinos. Learn more and consider donating at a lecture by DeBlanc on May 13, 2pm, at the Corrales Community Center.

Please do get in touch with News-y, and thanks to those who have! Gossip, questions such as “Seemingly everyone does a podcast. Should I?,” upcoming events? Many thanks.