Today's Features

The Spanish Colonial Arts Society announces the largest permanent gift of art from outside of New Mexico, ever donated to the society in its 88-year history.
An exhibition of the gift items will open to the public on June 22 at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, 750 Camino Lejo on Museum Hill in Santa Fe.
Silver filigree baskets from Ayacucho, gilded frames from Cuzco, reverse-painted glass from Cajamarca, folding screens from Korea and China, porcelain tableware from France, silver-plated dessert settings from London — these were just some of the furnishings found in the elegant home of Miriam and Pedro Beltrán in Lima in the 1950s where dignitaries from around the world were entertained.
The collection amassed by the Beltráns, guided by Miriam’s artistic eye, reflects not only their international life style, but their abiding interest in and passion for Peru.
Side-by-side with European and Asian golden age furnishings are pieces emblematic of Peru and its history.
Selected to be Peru’s Ambassador to the United States, Peru’s prime minister and minister of finance and editor and publisher of Peru’s highly regarded newspaper, La Prensa, Beltrán was the quintessential Peruvian gentleman.

Students from the Los Alamos Public Schools won eleven awards at the recent statewide National History Day contest, and eight of those students are going to the national contest in the nation’s capital next month.
The state winning students are:
First Place
• Sophomores Kimberly Pestovich, Yamira Dejesus, and Kaylen Pocaterra, for their senior group exhibit on “Building the Railroad: A Vehicle to Opportunity and Success”
• Senior Emily McClenahan, with her senior individual documentary, “Dress Rehearsal For Hell: The Meridian Campaign, a Turning Point in History and Modern Warfare”
• Seventh graders Ruby Selvage and Kathryn McClenahan, in junior group performance for “Atomic Age Act II: The Russian Atomic Bomb”
Second Place
• Sophomore Anne Scripsick, with her senior individual exhibit on “Fighting The Speckled Monster” about the small pox vaccine
• Seventh grader Miriam Wallstrom, in junior individual website for her project, “The 13th Amendment: Free At Last”
The students will travel to the University of Maryland and compete against students from around the country this month at the national NHD contest.

Kayla R. Nelson, a 2006 graduate of Los Alamos High School and a 2010 graduate of New Mexico State University, graduated from the University of California — Davis Law School with a juris doctorate degree on May 17. Kayla is the daughter of Tim and Linda Nelson of Los Alamos. 

The Pajarito Environmental Education Center is sponsoring lots of fun, free activities for families this summer.
At 6 p.m. on Thursday, Gail Haggard of Plants of the Southwest will create a wildflower meadow near PEEC’s new Mud Kitchen, and participants can watch and learn.
Haggard will share tips about how to seed an area to create that beautiful effect. She’ll also discuss which seeds work best, when to plant, and how to care for the flowers.
Plants of the Southwest has been in operation in Santa Fe since 1976 and Haggard has been working there since it opened. She loves native plants, and loves to share that knowledge with others.
This event is free and open to the public, and no registration is required.
Nature Playtimes commence from 10-11 a.m. every Monday at PEEC. During Nature Playtimes, kids up to age five enjoy a short storytime and a wide variety of activities about nature. Kids and parents rotate through activity stations together, with each week bringing new activities on a different theme.
The National Wildlife Federation recommends that every kid get outside for a “Green Hour” each day.