Today's Features

The local congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints saw record attendance at last Sunday’s worship service as members all met together for the last time while witnessing a historic day for the church in Los Alamos — a splitting of the ward.
Membership had grown to 603 members, including 110 in the children’s organization, and with approval of church leaders in Salt Lake City, Utah, it was time for a change. Starting this week, two separate congregations will meet in the same building at different times.
“We grow by dividing,” Stake President Michael Zollinger said, who presides over about a dozen LDS congregations in Northern New Mexico. “Today is a testimony of what it means to be a member of the church.”
Membership of each congregation is based on geographic location of residence. Zollinger revealed the boundaries for the two new congregations, the Los Alamos Ward and Pajarito Ward, to members for the first time Sunday morning with lines on a projected map during the service.
The Los Alamos Ward divided once before in 1978 to form the Los Alamos and White Rock wards. Including the White Rock congregation, countywide membership today is about 1,000.

The Pajarito Environmental Education Center is hosting a three-planet event.
Mercury, Venus and Jupiter will come very close together. PEEC and the Pajarito Astronomers will be there with telescopes to help viewers enjoy this event.
The telescopes will be set up for twilight sky viewing starting about 8:45 p.m., about 45 minutes after sunset. Besides these planets, there will also be some galaxies to view.
Public is invited to dress accordingly and if the viewing is good, the event will last until around midnight.
The three planets will form a tight triangle that will fit into a 2.5 degree circle above the western horizon. After they set at around 9:35 p.m., the rings of Saturn and then the galaxies can be observed.
For more information, call PEEC at 662-0460. 

The Spanish Colonial Master Show will be featuring 20 of some of the most renowned Northern New Mexican Spanish Artists.
This show will bring together the Northern New Mexican art, and cuisine in one special place. Hosted by Byron Martinez and Joseph Sisneros, owner of the Rancho Chimayó Collection Galeria, which is located inside the Rancho the Chimayó Restaurante.
Artists’ reception is 6 p.m., May 31.
The art fair is 8 p.m., June 1 and 2.
More of the award winning artists participating include: Antonio Roybal, Marco Oviedo, Lisa Trujillo, Irving Trujillo, Lee Valdez, Ray Montez, Cleo Romero, Toby Morfin, Floyd Jose Lucero, Charlie Carrillo, Matthew Duran, Gabriel Vigil, Arlene Sisnernos-Sena and Cruz Lopez.
For more information, call 351-4455.  

Kids entering grades kindergarten through three can participate in Kids’ Summer Gardening at the Pajarito Environmental Education Center.
Led by gardener, and Montessori educator Laural Hardin, the class meets every Wednesday from June 5 through August 7, with a special Harvest Day in September. Each of the 11 sessions runs from 9 to 10:30 a.m. The fee is $75 per child, or $60 for PEEC members.
Laural Hardin loves teaching kids’ gardening because “A child has a natural love of all things living, so giving them a garden is magic in the making.” She’s taught gardening to elementary-aged kids and even helped to found an outdoor farm school for ages 5 through 10.
Kids’ Summer Gardening will feature garden stories, art, science and play, along with lots of time learning how to help plants grow.
For further information and to register (registration in advance is required), call 662-0460, drop by PEEC at 3540 Orange Street, or visit PajaritoEEC.org.