Hakuna Ma Tatas

Last Saturday we had the Curves/Avon 5K Walk for Breast Cancer Awareness.  I'm unable to walk across the yard without hurting myself, so I couldn't join the gals. But I took my camera with me and became their unofficial photographer. We had so much fun for a good cause.

New Painting - "Lake Watch"

"Lake Watch" (Ring-Billed Gull, Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior)

Here's my latest painting.  It's from the "Postcards from the Heartland" series. It's called "Lake Watch." It comes from photos I took while on a road trip to Lake Superior in 2007.  I started painting it last year, but had to put it away because I was having problems with it.  Now that I'm working on my "Two Weeks in Taos" series (Hey! I'm painting again!  Yea!), I decided to dig it out of storage and finish it.

The Dusty Trail Home

Early Sunday morning, April 27th, I left Taos the way I arrived, with snow. Charles, at the B&B, was kind enough to send me on my way with a brown-bag-it breakfast of two bran muffins and a banana.

I dreaded trying to get down out of the mountains in the snow, but the roads weren't bad at all. And I was, after two weeks, an old pro at mountain travel. So no problems there.  Once I was down on the plain, I kept looking back sadly at the mountains receding in the distance--- how I wish we could live there!

Coming across the emptiness of the Oklahoma panhandle, I found this windmill.  I saw so many windmills on my trip to Taos, and I love having windmill pix in my photo source files --- so I wanted at least one picture of a windmill on my way home.

Most of my trip out of New Mexico and across Oklahoma and Kansas, I was driving in a blinding dust storm! That really slowed me down and made for tense driving. I stayed at the Swedish Country Inn B&B in Lindsborg, Kansas again, that night. Nibbled at the complementary Swedish breakfast (just didn't care for the food) the next morning, before the last leg of my trip home. Before I left town, I saw this wild and crazy "art car". Wonder what the owner looked like!

I only stopped at one place in Missouri to sightsee. Have no idea where this was, but I saw a sign for "Pony Express Way Station, 3 miles.  So I went to check it out.  A lonesome place if I ever saw one!

And finally, it was home sweet home at last. When I left it was still winter grays and browns.  When I got home, spring was busting out all over. 

Beary was so happy to see me! Little did I know that exactly one month later he would have to be euthanized.  This was one of the last pictures I took of my Beary Boy.

And so wraps up my TWO WEEKS IN TAOS. It was an amazing adventure, and I hope someday to return.

Goodbye, Good Friends

On Sat. April 26th, I just hung around the casita, packing and resting. I dreaded that two day drive home so much.  And I just hated leaving the magical place that is Taos. Most of all, I hated saying goodbye to my new friends, the Jordans.

On Thursday evening the four of us had gone to see another movie.  This time it was "God's Not Dead." It's the story of a college student who takes on his atheist professor (Kevin Sorbo) in a debate about the existence of God. Very moving and thought-provoking film, produced by Willie & Korie Robertson. I hope the Duck Dynasty people will continue to produce good family films like this one.

Saturday evening, the Jordans took me out to dinner at one of their favorite restaurants, the very rustic and delicious Ranchos Plaza Grill, next door to San Francisco de Asis Church in Rancho de Taos. 

We'll continue to keep in touch, I'm sure. (Why didn't I think to take a picture of them? I took enough pix of everything else!) Jerry and Marilyn and Harwede are the most welcoming and genuine people I think I've ever met. It's been many decades since anyone made me feel as special as they did.

My Chimayo

The actual purpose of this trip, that I made to northern New Mexico in April 2014, was to visit this holy place of spiritual renewal and healing: El Santuario de Chimayo.

I was very near Chimayo during Holy Week, but I was warned by several long-time locals to avoid going during that particular time. This tiny mountain village in Northern New Mexico is known as "the Lourdes of the United States," and thousands of pilgrims overwhelm the sacred place on Good Friday every year. I don't do well with crowds.

There were still plenty of visitors the afternoon I was there, but I was in no hurry and was happy to work around them for a couple hours. Above is a very long covered walkway with a very long prayer wall full of pictures.  There was still room on the ends to add more pictures, so I left a photo of someone dear to me to be prayed for.

My photography was one long prayer that afternoon --- that's how stunned I was at the beauty of this place. The only time I wasn't snapping pictures was when I put my camera away in my bag and went into the little 200-year-old chapel to gaze at its simple splendor and to pray (no photos allowed).  I scooped up a small tin full of "tierra bendita," the holy dirt from the spot where a crucifix was once found buried, dirt which is supposed to have healing properties.  Many, many crutches and canes have been left behind by those who claim to have received miracle cures of their infirmities.

When I was ready to leave, I stopped for one last prayer at this outdoor shrine to Our Lady of Sorrows, one of many such prayer sites scattered about the beautiful grounds of the chapel.  I experienced the deepest peace imaginable as I finished my prayer and started the long walk back to my truck. 

Suddenly, looking about, I was utterly amazed!  I was the only person to be seen on the entire grounds of the sanctuary (except for a few people at the far end near the entrance gate). The parking lot only had a few cars left scattered about.

I walked back along the Santa Cruz River, taking one last look at the bucolic communal pasture on my left and the seven huge stone crosses that commemorate the Seven Days of Creation on my right.

So I made my visit, I completed my pilgrimage, on the last "free" day of my two weeks in Taos, Friday, April 25th.  The following day I planned to rest a lot in my casita, to prepare (mentally & physically, for the long drive home) and pack my truck for an early departure, Sunday morning, the 27th.

I'm filled with joy even now, a whole month later, at the spiritual peace and renewal that I received at Chimayo, and that I was somehow able to capture and bring home with me. I'm glad I waited til the last possible day to see El Santuario de Chimayo. 

May its blessings and beauty forever remain close to my heart.

Time Marches On

...and 

time 

waits 

for 

no 

one.











And it's high time for me 
to finish my story of "Two Weeks in Taos" 
before it's gone completely from my mind
... like a puff of cloud in the wind.