Don’t you love the wonder of spying something magical, like a giant polyphemus moth, only to have it hop on your chest?
After your heart flutters excitedly, and you set her back on the ground, her gorgeous wings spread wide enough to reveal the full splendor of her gobsmacking beauty. Magic.
Or maybe you take a trip to your past, to the place of your greatest beginning, and all is shiny and new and only slightly recognizable? That was us this past weekend in Fort Collins. Wild and a bit jarring.
We started with cake and pie at Ginger & Baker. A nod to the maniac drummer from Cream? Or perhaps more prosaic. Regardless, our dessert before dinner was a-ok!
Fort Collins is far fancier than it was when we met thirty years ago, with flower-filled alleys, scads of fabulous murals, and a million new places to try.
Two of the old places, the Walrus and the Rio, that were new way back when are still there! Here we are with our friend Linda in 1992. We’d been dating just over a year.
Still handsome!
Early the next morning, a magical walk around Riverbend Ponds, with hawks and egrets and geese and gorgeous Black Crowned Night Herons!
Just yesterday, I found my Great Grandma Maria Donaciana’s baptismal record from this very church! She was born in Des Montes, Arroyo Hondo on June 10th 1852. Another Gemini!
Go ahead, tell me…
Lucero & Vallecitos…
Pueblo Peak
Sunrise and moon set
West from Arroyo Seco
The view from New Mexico to Colorado – the Sangre de Christos chain of the Rocky Mountains, with Little Bear, Blanca Peak and Mt. Lindsey the closest.
Rough Mountain & Mt. Mestas – the icing on top of a beautiful landscape
Rough Mountain & Mt. Mestas – getting closer
Spanish Peaks
Colorado again…
Another trip to New Mexico, and in the exact spot where we want to live, north of Taos, in Arroyo Seco, land of hippies, farmers, and vacation rentals galore. Taos Ski Resort is a quick drive from here, not that I have a single plan to ski again. But the detail is important, as it makes real estate a might expensive. We’ve been saving our hearts out and praying even harder for a cash boon, so we’ll just have to see how soon we get there!
Sadly, the pandemic kept us in quarantine from our favorite places, and we spent not one dime in the area, bringing all of our food and necessities. Never fear, the view, each other’s company, and long walks along sleepy roads kept us happy.
The Huerfano (orphan) namesake of my favorite Colorado County.
On our first road trip, twenty-eight years ago, we came to Taos, enjoying the scent of earth and sage, the look of adobe, mesas, and mountains, our newly in love eyes sharing the mutual feast of New Mexico. I love how, after all these years, it continues to inspire, delight, and restore, a mirror of our own love.
And for a bit of a change (the photos after LAFYOGI), we took a route untraveled, winding east along 64 to Cimarron. We enjoyed a good snoop and delicious lunch (fish & chips and smothered bison burger) at the St. James Hotel (a place famous for ghosts and gangsters and history) before another beautiful drive home, some of it during a massive and much needed rain fall.
Hi there! Way back in January, when the global pandemic was not even an inkling of a possibility in my mind, I laid plans for another birthday celebration in Taos. As the day grew closer, Greg and I fretted over whether or not we should go, not wanting to be at risk or put others in harm’s way with our travel. I am pleased to report all went smoothly, distances were kept, and masks were worn in all the appropriate places – by us and others. Best of all, the trip soothed like a balm.
A highlight – we made all of our meals in our rental’s kitchen, stocking up at our favorite grocer and bringing much of our own fare from home, which is a long prelude to this bit of excitement: I smoked trout! It was fabulous with salad and purple potatoes and as delightful as store bought at a fraction of the price. Toot, toot, toot the horns of glee!
Good morning, Santa Fe! The handsome hubster enjoys the little yard at our casita. We’d already walked to Dolina’s Bakery, where the service is adorable and patiently kind, and the pastry choices difficult to make. We bought croissants and a slice of amazing coffee cake.
Silly Juniper would not run through the tunnel! We tossed the ball halfway, and she darted in and backed her way out. We also forgot to bring her water to the dog park, so she made due with snow. Eeek, that dog is so stinking cute!
I am slightly embarrassed to admit that we haven’t spent much of our Santa Fe time on Museum Hill. We got to work on it, with a trip to the glorious Museum of International Folk Art. What fun that was, with every manner of joyful treasure I adore: amazing rugs, guitars made from license plates and cigar boxes, straw dolls, miniature after miniature, treasures from trash (the moose made by kids from Santa Clara Pueblo), and a memory of my time at Standing Rock. Woot!
Greg makes use of the overlook…
Apache Mountain Spirit Dancer Craig Goseyun
We spent an evening at the Rail Yard, enjoying The Gentlemen at the Violet Crown. We’d never been, and were sure glad to go. Everyone was super friendly, the snacks and drinks top notch, and the theater was pretty posh, too, with those seats that make you feel you aren’t really at the movies. The fil-um satisfied, providing laugh after laugh, in an uber-clever Guy Ritchie caper way.
The pointilist-ish sky was on the scene for hours….
Fisher’s Peak on the verge of a fresh dusting of snow.
I vacillated on my decision to show you our treasures, mostly because I feel slightly boorish saying, “Look what I got!!” The more I thought on it, however, I realized I want the people behind them to get their due. It is their bread and butter, after all. These are in pretty random order, so get our your magnifier and use your beautiful eyes!
The Anasazi beans (so delicious!), mild green chile powder, and Chimayo chile powder (only a few families in the area grow them – pretty special), as well as the barely discernible tiny spoon charm came from El Potrero Trading Post in Chimayo. They ship, should you have a hankering and not be lucky enough to go.
The other charms and strings of beads came from Glorianna’s, the oldest bead shop in Santa Fe. Chockablock with every manner of beautiful bead, I had a hard time restraining myself. The woman who runs the shop is Starr, the daughter of Glorianna, who passed in 2018, and is so kind and helpful. She was wearing a beautiful velveteen suit her mother made in the 50s – a stunner! What a treasure of a place.
The blue corn pinon pancake mix from Santa Fe Culinaria is delicious, but contains soy flour which makes my tummy scream, ruh-roh! Greg is luxuriating in a selfish pancake moment. The milagro heart and cross with pink flowers are from the Palace Hotel in Las Vegas and look fabulous among their New Mexico kin on my basement bathroom wall.
Fun and yummy red chile chocolate bar from Los Muertos. Another round of the best cola in the mundo – Zia Pinon, as well as several more bags of our favorite Casa Blanca Red Chile Jerky. The magnet with the car is from El Zocalo in Las Vegas, a very dangerous place for me. They have a stellar selection of paintings, jewelry, pottery, just about everything an art lover wants to take home.
The ornament was made by Rita Johnson, a Navajo Sandpainter we met on the plaza. She doesn’t have a website, but if you’re interested in her work, as she does more than ornaments, message me on my about page, and I’ll hook you up with her phone number.
Oops! I nearly forgot the wee Huichol bowl, purchased at the Folk Art Museum and the super cool thunderbird belt Greg bought at the Tin-Nee-Ann Trading Post in Santa Fe. It’s one of the old school places that’s been open longer than I’ve been alive. We finally made it in. A trip of firsts…
The beautiful weavings! The top right was from the Mora Valley Spining Mill, and does not indicate the name of the weaver. The remaining two were done by Victoria Verry whose work is available at Centinela Traditional Weavers, and send my heart singing, especially the one on the left, as it has yarn with plant dyes from indigo, madder root, and chamisa (a.k.a. rabbitbrush). So cool!!
And finally, a wonder of a painting by Gwen Wilemon from El Zocalo.
