Summer

Summer is upon us.  The cicadas are clicking away at their monotone love song.  They shake and rattle and click away loudly.  Sometimes, as I'm hiking along the trails, they scurry away when I brush past a tree near the trail.  They startle me a bit with their rattling like a hollow rattle at the end of some serpents' tail.   Mmmmmm.

The lobby of our hotel.

Last weekend Les and I went to Santa Fe.  I love Santa Fe.  We stayed at the El Dorado just off of the plaza.  Then we walked everywhere.  We strolled the plaza numerous times.  We walked to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Rio Chama. 

Santa Fe is magical.  We strolled leisurely down streets that are literally centuries old.   Felt plaster walls that had seen Spaniards and rebelling Indians and wars and now peace.  Unfortunately, there are many, many tourists.  But it still has such a feel of peace and harmony.

After dinner we were lead back to the Plaza by beautiful music.  There was a marimba band, of all things!  A group of young people playing hand-made marimbas of all sizes was rocking out to African inspired melodies.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNQgXHJ1Nek We sat and listened and watched all of the beautiful people.  We looked in the shops with all of the exquisite Southwestern Jewelry. 

We stayed Friday and Saturday nights, then headed north on Sunday.  We stopped in Taos and walked the plaza there.  Then headed east.  We considered spending an extra night out, but decided against it.  We drove through the mountains toward home, stopping in Cimmaron New Mexico on the way.  There's an old hotel there... the Saint James.  It was built in the 1800's and was host to many people passing through.  Outlaws, cowboys and lawmen stayed at the St. James.  They had pictures of some of their guests and stories.  I liked the story about the cowboy that was being obnoxious.  Some other cowboys challenged him by betting him that he couldn't ride his horse along a 6 foot wall.  He somehow got his horse up there but then someone fired his gun, spooking the horse.  Both fell off the wall and both died. 

After the undertaker went through the cowboy's pockets, he reported back to the judge.  He found a pearl handled pistol that the judge gave to the sheriff.  His clothes and boots were given to the undertaker and the $40 in his pocket the judge confiscated for himself.  (For his trouble.)  Then, he was buried at the town's expense.

Old west...

I love it here.

A storm on the road home from Cimarron.

Santuario Guadalupe - Santa Fe

Marimba Band --  "Polyphony Marimba"

Santa Fe

Dogs

So... one thing I never thought I'd hear myself say, I said this morning.

"Lucy, get down from that tree!"  She chased a squirrel up a tree.  Can you believe it????

Brutus enjoying our walk.

This morning as we were preparing for our usual morning walk, I decided to go get Brutus.  He now comes with us 3-4 times a week.  He has blossomed into this happy, frolicking kid on our walks.  He loves the girls.  And I even saw him initiating play this morning.  He still doesn't have a clue what his name is -- no matter which name I call him.  His given name from his family, "Aries," or my name for him... "Brutus."  Every once in a while he humors me by coming to me when he knows I'm calling him.  But if he's out of sight, he will usually come when I whistle.  And he's no trouble at all getting in and out of the car. 

I ran into the woman of the house at Safeway the other day.  She said to me that she wishes Ben, her hubby, would just give the dog to me.  They never had a dog before.  Then their son brought home this German Shepherd and now guess who's saddled with the dog.  I believe that they mean no harm, they just don't know any better.

I talked to Ben last week about the fact that Brutus has lost so much weight.  They had no idea that he was getting skinny.  So I suggested that they take him to the vet.  To my surprise, they actually did!  I was amazed.  So maybe my interest in this beautiful creature has piqued their interest in him, too.  I don't know what the vet said, yet, as I haven't seen Ben.

Last week my mother came to visit.  We had such a good visit.  She flew to Denver and my brother, Larry, picked her up at the airport.  The next day they stopped in Colorado Springs to see DJ, then they came down here.  She had never seen our place before. 

We visited for a few days, then we drove to Wichita, Kansas to meet my sisters, Linda and Janet.  They took Mom back to Iowa where she has another apartment.  She gave up her apartment in California and will now live in Iowa.  Her lease on her apartment is up in July and she will then move in with my sister, Linda.  Linda just bought a house and has spent much time fixing preparing it for her family.  Mom will have a room that will have enough room for a bed, a chair, her dresser and her TV.  She should be very comfortable.

Mom enjoying our sitting area

 It was really nice to see my family.





Brutus and the girls frolicking