Am I Just a "Housewife" Now?

I had quit my job this summer and so have not been working lately. It was a part time job at the elementary school that I had held for 3 years and I found was not fulfilling my life anymore. It was a great job to have because it allowed me to work part time while earning a bit of extra income for the family, and also had the same school schedule as the kids. The problem with quitting my job, though, has been the fact that I am now a "housewife." Not a "stay-at-home mom" like I was when I chose to be home with my pre-school aged kids for 10 years. There is a difference and it is difficult to come to terms with how to define myself when I'm not working.

Anyway, as a result of not working, I've had to discover new little ways to be more frugal. One way has been to get a library card and to not buy books anymore, just borrow them. Those who know me know that I love to buy books--that feeling of owning my books is an addiction in itself. But for the good of the finances, I'm making regular trips to the library instead of the Amazon.com Book page.

One book that caught my eye the other day that I checked out was "To Hell with All That--Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife" by Caitlin Flanagan (2006). I'm halfway through it and have really enjoyed it so far. It is a sarcastic, yet well-researched book on how women's roles have changed in the last 3 decades (post WW-2) and how many women have gone from housewives to career women to stay-at-home mothers. The author discusses the high price that women pay for giving up their careers to devote themselves to home and family, the rewards that come from that choice, and the repercussions that comes from such a sacrifice.

In the town I live in, there are so many highly skilled and educated women who have chosen to be an at-home mother while their husbands have careers at the Lab. In the circle of friends that I have who are not working (or work part time at a job unrelated to their field) I know an Industrial Engineer, Mechanical Engineer, Construction Engineer, Dietician, Geologist, Mathematician, Computer Scientist, Veterinarian.....the list goes on. The point is that we're all unemployed.

In the book "To Hell with That" the author writes,

"The at-home mother has a lot on her mind; to a significant extent, she has herself on her mind. She must not allow herself to shrivel up with boredom....She must go to lunch with like-minded friends, and to the movies. She needs to feed herself intellectually and emotionally; she needs to be on guard against exhaustion. She must find a way to combine the traditional women's work of child rearing with the kind of shared housework arrangements and domestic liberation that working mothers enjoy. Most important, she must somehow draw a line in the sand between the valuable, important work she is doing and the pathetic imprisonment of the housewife of old. It's a tall order."

During a run with friends yesterday, one said, "Los Alamos is turning out a bunch of marathon-running housewives" and she's right. So many of my friends have taken up running on trails together to keep active and fit as well as to fight boredom and depression. It is also the perfect opportunity to socialize with other women who share the same situation. It's what I call my "running therapy" where I run out all my demons, worries, and stress. In addition, I have non-running friends that I go to the gym with for a strength training workout. Afterwards once a week we go to have coffee together. More therapy! Also one or two times a month, a bunch of us ladies get together to play Bunco or to go to a "Ladies Night Out" dinner.

I am lucky to have a husband who is supportive of my need to get out of the house and socialize with my friends. :-)

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Neat

Canada Bonita/Guaje Canyon Trails in Fall

A little over a month ago I went for a run along the Cañada Bonita/Guaje Canyon Trails up around Pajarito Mountain. (September 1, 2009 Blog) I went back yesterday and ran the trails again (6 miles at 9500 feet) among the beautiful trees that have now turned to their autumn colors. The aspens are shades of yellow-green, yellow, and orange, a striking contrast among the green pines. The new colors are my favorite part of fall. I definitely don't enjoy the cooler weather and shorter days so have to find pleasure in this season wherever I can find it. I recommend getting out on this trail or finding a trail yourself to enjoy the season.

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Neat

Kwange Mesa Trail

Last Saturday I went on a run from my house to the end of Kwange Mesa and back (roughly 6 miles). I like this trail a lot because it is relatively flat and I can run most of the way (my record is 70 minutes). Another reason I like this trail is because the views at the end of the mesa are spectacular. I can see all across the Rio Grande Valley and beyond to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains on the other side of Santa Fe. (left photo taken of Barranca and Otowi Mesas toward the north; right photo taken of the Main Hill Road toward the east. You can see the shadow of the Sangre de Cristos in the distance)

Kwange Mesa is an offshoot of North Mesa with the homes on North Mesa. Kwange is a stretch of mesa that extends out from the stables so there are many horse riders on the trail with runners. Luckily, I think I run early enough in the mornings that the horses aren't out yet. Plus, there are two routes down the mesa: the "road" where the horses walk, and the actual hiking/running trail that hugs the southern side of the mesa before it merges with the road near the end.

Enjoy the views in the photos or better yet, go out on the trail yourself. (left photo taken of Otowi Mesa toward the north; center photo taken as looking west toward the Jemez Mountains with Barranca Mesa on the right; right photo looking south towards town and the tip of North Mesa)

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Neat

Canada Bonita/Guaje Canyon Trail Run

This morning's trail run began at the Cañada Bonita trailhead (#282) off of Camp May Road near the ski hill. I hiked up the hills but ran on the flat and downhill portions. The trail was beautiful, especially since everything was so green, lush, and damp after the rains we had the last couple of days. Wildflowers lined the trails. I took the cross country trail cutoff since I like it better than the actual Cañada Bonita Trail. It meanders through the trees and is much prettier than the direct route. After about a mile or so, the trail opens up to the meadow (Babelfish said that Cañada Bonita means "pretty gorge") and the trail rims the outside edge. At the top edge of the meadow the trail goes up over the mountain, becoming the Guaje Canyon Trail. I hiked and jogged that trail until I found a spot overlooking part of the Valle Caldera, the remains of a collapsed volcano that exploded 1.2 million years ago. From there, I headed left at the fork of the Pipeline Trail and the Guaje Canyon Trail and went another half a mile or so to another overlook (at 9600 feet) with a sheer drop beneath me. I sat there and contemplated life for a bit, enjoying the beauty around me. I ran a little more along the trail and

after the GPS said I went 3 miles, I turned around and jogged back, encountering 3 squirrels and a butterfly that I almost ended up eating. Six total miles along some of the most beautiful trails in the area. I'm so glad that the Cerro Grande fire missed this area when it burned through the area 9 years ago. I can't wait to do this run again in the fall, when the aspen trees have all turned their golden fall colors. It'll be so beautiful.

P.S. I was told that the Los Alamos Pajarito Trail Runs Festival in the fall follows the same route that I went on today, just a longer distance (a half marathon as well as the 10K I just did) before the turnaround spot.

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Neat

Pueblo Canyon Tent Rocks

Today I went for a run with some friends down Pueblo Canyon here in Los Alamos. We started at the Aquatic Center at about 7200 feet and descended along the Ranch School trail until we reached the bottom of the canyon at about 6600 feet where the Pueblo Canyon trail began. The trail was lush with ponderosa pines, oaks, and wildflowers as well as that sage-like bush that grows everywhere here and that left yellow pollen stains on my socks.

This was my first time down the trail but friends had told me that there were some great rock formations that I just had to see. Of course I had to go along. As you might know, I live in an area that is covered in volcanic rocks that were laid down after the Valles Caldera volcano behind our town exploded about 1.2 million years ago. Alternating layers of pumice, tuff, and welded tuff were layered over the basalt from the Rio Grande Rift spreading center. After the layering, rainstorms carried huge chunks of lava over the surface that just sat there. Over time, water from the mountains carved out the canyons around the Pajarito Plateau. One of the really cool geologic features in the Pueblo Canyon are the tent rocks (see photo, below).

Tent rocks are formed due to the water erosion washing away the softer tuff over time. They are shaped like cones or teepees, hence the name "tent." I've heard that tent rocks are very rare and are only found in certain areas of the world such as the southwestern US and people come from all over to see ours.

Now, if there was a big chunk of that lava sitting on top of the softer tuff, it acted as a protector to the rock below it. The water washing away the sediment went around the rock and over time, a feature called a hoodoo was formed. The caprocks of lava were left balanced on the columns of tuff. Hoodoos are really neat geologic formations that always deserve a chuckle, not only for their name, but also for their various shapes. Here are a few in the canyon. Enjoy!

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Neat