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Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at 8:50 AM

Captain’s Log – Helen Mirren Makes Her Way to Sante Fe

Captain’s Log – Helen Mirren Makes Her Way to Sante Fe
Image created by Ernest Rand.

I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name. Funny how songs get stuck in your head, and they’re situational. There’s a song for every scene in life, isn’t there?

Actually, the horse has a name – it’s Helen, like the actress Helen Mirren, but she’s really a Ford pickup, and we crossed Arizona and New Mexico yesterday. What beautiful country. We live in an amazing land. 

It’s been really fun this summer to see the rural parts of New York, the valleys and rivers of Pennsylvania, and the rural parts of West Virginia, all green and lush and rich. And then the stark, vast stretches of southern Nevada, the mountains of Northern Arizona, and that enchanted wasteland that just takes your breath away across New Mexico. 

I prefer the desert. 

I think as I cross it what would it be like to find a spot in the middle of nowhere and stay there for a couple of days in the silence. What the sky would look like at night?

No matter where I am, the thought always comes of what it must have looked like 300 or 1,000 years before we got here. Naked and peopleless. The coasts of California always bring this thought – wouldn’t that have been something to see? 

Today I will be stuck in a conference room in a hotel in Sante Fe, with all that beauty outside tempting me. But, Friday I head back with no work to worry about, and the cell phones will be in the back seat. Or maybe out the window. There will be detours and stops at tacky tourist traps and undivided attention to my return adventure. 

So while I head downstairs to federal government training, flip charts and all, we’ll still be right here…

…Keeping you Posted.

Rach

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COMMENTS
Comment author: Johnathan Skinner Comment text: I have known Jorge for decades. Anyone who even heard about will tell you he was aging and createdan incredible legacy. Comment publication date: 8/17/26, 7:40 PM Comment source: Jorge Jose Guerrero Comment author: Patti Cole Comment text: Marie will be forever treasured in memories. The memories remain of a soft-spoken, seemingly unassuming but determined individual who absolutely knew what path she wanted to take in life, and followed it. Her instinctive reactions, which highlighted her steadfast level of love and caring for her family, friends and all living things found in nature, hold lessons for us all. An unexpected splash of her self-deprecating humor, coupled with uncanny timing, will always bring a smile. For me, Marie lives on in the sighting of a Black-crowned night heron in the tules, the bloom of a beautiful spring flower and, most poetically, in the struggle of wildlife photographers handling their very large camera lenses. Comment publication date: 8/15/26, 9:31 AM Comment source: Obituary-Marie Dong Ko Comment author: John Chaney Comment text: I just figured out that Betty was my 1st cousin. Her dad Ted was my dad's brother. I never knew Ted or Betty, but I wish I did. I am 73 and live in IL. I am building my family tree and see where Betty has fit in. Blessings to you Curt and family. Comment publication date: 8/14/26, 11:04 AM Comment source: Obituary - Betty Lou (Chaney) Anderson Comment author: Karen Webb Comment text: I am so sorry to hear this. I loved coming to the carwash to see John! He always made my day. Prayers for all of his family during this difficult time. Comment publication date: 8/11/26, 8:56 PM Comment source: In Memory of John Evans
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