Greetings from the Mesa
I spent a good portion of the past week migrating this website – it’s still not 100% there, but I think it’s mostly working properly. Hopefully I’ve managed to set up the newsletter correctly and seamlessly so those of you that are already subscribed receive it normally. If you are not a subscriber, see the sign up box at the bottom of the page, you’ll receive a Curiosities newsletter every Wednesday morning.
Last Thursday we took a day trip down to ABQ to do some business. It was a glorious day in the mid-60s! It’s always so weird being in the “big” city again. It was an easier trip for me than expected so I’m looking forward to getting out more in the coming weeks. I still don’t feel like I have a good feel for ABQ at all, we only seem to spend at most a couple hours there at a time.
Winter has taken a hiatus again, but is supposed to return at the end of week. I’m hoping for a couple more days of snow before we hit the beginning of gardening season. I am enjoying the return of birds though, our resident Shrike has been busy lately, and flocks of Juncos have been spotted in the garden.
Speaking of gardening. KP is paring back the 2026 garden plan to focus on basil varieties in the greenhouse, a couple pepper plants, and loading up the outdoor garden and the beds around the house with perennial flowers. We have some big projects coming this spring, so focusing on less food production in the main outdoor garden.
Curiosities of the Week
- There’s been a lot of back and forth about Substack and supporting Nazi-leaning stacks. The Guardian looked into it, and yes they are making money off of them. I’m a hard no on any platform that allows that kind of content. On the other hand there are a lot of writers/artists that I love that use the platform. So, how to encourage these creatives to stop using Substack, that is the question!
- And on the Substack creative train, I’ve just been introduced to Fionn’s Comics Newsletter. One of my favorite drawing exercises last month was doing an abstract comic. Fionn’s ‘How I learned to stop worrying and love the grid’ looks like a super fun exercise in abstract comic making that I’m eager to try next. The conundrum continues…
- Time’s 50 Most Underappreciated Movies of The 21st Century. I haven’t seen a lot of these. Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox however is one of my favorites though!
- Basic Overview of Ceramic Geology for Potters (Youtube) and Geology for Potters a couple of resources for learning more about the geology behind ceramics.
- Instax has updated their mini smartphone printer, and I think I might finally get one. When I lived in Brooklyn in the early 2000s my neighbor made a wall of ephemera, and I copied the idea, it was awesome. I’ve been thinking about making a new ephemera wall, and getting photos off the phone/computer and up and visible again. This may be the tool I need to achieve the vision! What do you do with your cellphone/digital pics?
Consuming
Currently Reading: I finally finished The Count of Monte Cristo, and it was as amazing as all the favorite book of all time lists I kept seeing say. Highly recommend! For my next classic read I’m going to tackle War and Peace, but first lots of other books! Now reading… I Saw the Sky Catch Fire, My Favorite Things is Monsters, Life of Pi, and The Dragon Republic.
TV/Movies: We finished S2 of Foundation, and started S3 directly. Hoping to catch some Olympics action in the coming days.
Music: Been too busy to listen to new music. Have to get back on the train!
What’s new on Hargie this week
Nix/86 – Days 22-24 – Graphic Novel/Zine