Thank God, I'm home in Albuquerque again. I was only gone for 18 months, and in the past nine, I've come back for week to two-week visits almost every month. But still, it's good to be home. (Especially when home is 30 degrees warmer than where I'd been living.)

And because I finally have an internet connection at home (Thanks to the Flying Star downtown for putting up with all my lingering. Thanks to the Abq library branches for the same. And thanks seriously to Y&S for their computer assistance), I just wanted to well, gush:

1. I'm so happy to be hanging out in the bosque again. Love the springtime cranes, roadrunners building nests and the anticipation of water in ditches.
2. Again: Cranes, cranes, cranes, the extraordinary sound of cranes. All the time.
3. Because I'm a creature of habit, I'm always hitting the same restaurants, grocery stores and coffee shops. I have to wonder, in what other metropolitan area can you be greeted by employees who remember you? A year and a half later? My God, I love Albuquerque and so many of its super spots, such as The Daily Grind, Taj Mahal, Los Compadres, Java Joe's, La Montanita--and even though I get pissed off about how expensive it is, I adore so many of the folks who work at the Flying Star, downtown and North Valley
4. Green chile, green chile, green chile
5. The flea market. The people-watching, the roasting green chile, the honey guy, Indian tacos, and so much more.

But Albuquerque, I do have a few things to complain about:

1. The dog crap along that first stretch of the Embudito Trail is seriously out of control. I mean, there are cleanup bags right at the trail head. Seriously? I don't want to look at all that crap, I don't want to step in it, and I'm definitely grossed out at the thought of it getting swept away into our watershed. Think I'm kidding? I'm not. I wrote about it a few years back: http://alibi.com/index.php?story=13502&scn=news
It's gross. Pick up after your dog. I do, and I'm lazy as hell. If I can pick up my dog's crap, so can you.

Okay, I guess I only have that one thing to complain about after all. (I've only been back for two weeks.)

But I do have one question: What's up with those Doug Turner billboards? Every time I pass by one, I can hear an old workmate of mine talking about her dad on vacation...When the kids in the backseat would start getting out of control, she says he'd turn around and say, "Don't make me backhand you winding..." (Really. And she'd tell that story in this southern drawl that made me believe the story was absolutely true.) Considering the guy is a PR God in NM, you'd think he would have looked at that advertisement and realized it's not the most flattering pose.

Anyway, welcome back to me. I love you, Albuquerque.