New Mex memories

Here are a few images from my trip to New Mexico. I travel west  to study writing with Natalie Goldberg and come back with my own writing practice jump started and with new inspiration for the  classes I will teach this year.  

 Morning walk towards Taos Mountain. This is a sacred mountain and only Taos Indians are allowed on it. The pueblo where people have been living continuously for 1000 years is at the base of the mountain.

The Sugar Nymphs Bistro in Penasco on the High Road to Taos. The chef in this little cafe was once a star in the culinary scene in Berkeley, California and gave it all up to run this cafe in the mountains. 

El Santuario de Chimayo is considered a healing site receiving over 300,000 visitors a year to this tiny valley town nestled in the Sangre de Christo Mountains. 

The Vigil store in Chimayo.

 Sage smudge sticks for sale. These are used to clear negative energy out of a house or to cleanse a new space before moving into it.

And Saint Barbara!  She is the patron saint of architects (you can identify her by the tower she is holding) and provides protection from lightning storms! You want this saint on your side!

Evening at 7000 feet.  Cottonwood trees in the back and sage in the foreground.

Reading. Writers are our teachers! We learn to write by examining the writer's mind.

Here I am reading Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. wow.

Eliza!

Find Eliza in the center of this crew!

August 4, 2012.  Eliza's 26th birthday on Mt. Elbert, Colorado's highest mountain.

Hi All,

Yes, where have I been you might ask!
I am just back from a writing retreat in Taos, New Mexico. Years ago I posted all kinds of great pictures and commentary about my time there on this very blog. This year I stayed away from my computer entirely, trying to really focus on the writing and meditation practice and the landscape at hand. Sorry to desert my readers! I did have a wonderful time.

It is my habit to report on family news on this blog as well as my own meanderings, so let's focus on Eliza for a moment. Eliza drove out west with Zand Martin somewhere in the middle of July. He went to work for NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School...Eliza is a trained leader also for this organization) leading a month long trek in the Wind River Range in Wyoming and Eliza headed to Leadville, Colorado, her new home. She spent a week with family, the Boulder McLeans, and was so grateful for that home base before her Rocky Mountain work began.

She is working for the High Mountain Institute in Leadville as Residential Life faculty, advisor and trip leader. She is presently in the back country for ten days with the new group of high school students who are taking an academic semester away from their own high schools (mostly on the east coast) and learning in all new ways in the mountains of Colorado. Above are some photos from the staff trip taken before students arrived. They climbed Mt. Elbert and camped for a few days. When did Eliza become this rugged? we all ask ourselves. She is fully functioning at 10,000 feet and above as if it's nothing!

She returns to Leadville from "the back country" on September 5. Please keep her in your thoughts. There are certainly dangers out there with afternoon lightning storms and other unforeseen natural events. We look forward to her safe return!

David and I are  fully at sea level at the moment living on Martha's Vineyard for two weeks. We are house sitting, taking care of dogs and cats for my friend Laura while she is away for vacation. Carrie and Tim have joined us for a few days so there has been all kinds of surfing, kayaking and  paddle boarding  going on. There is so much to explore on this island! We are also enjoying cooking, shucking oysters, going to farmer's markets and watching sunsets from the porch. We are enjoying the last gasp of summer in style. Sending warm regards to my readers!

He's Back!

Calley is a land creature and she is happiest when all her charges are on terra ferma. So when David and his cousin John rowed to the beach on the eastern "prom" of Portland, Maine after a three day sail from Provincetown, she took no time to dive right in to greet her missing family member.

I don't like spending much time on boats but I do get wrapped up in the romance. Imagine using the wind for power (though frankly, there is often no wind when "sailing" and loud, smelly diesel engines must be used.) In a boat you can traverse the waters which are  roadless areas, some call the ocean the last frontier (though actually there are so many lobster pots on the floor of  the Gulf of Maine now, attached to colorful buoys on the surface that sailors have to scan the horizon constantly to avoid getting snarled in the lines. Beware the lobster boat, it may look pretty but the drivers are working and don't like "pleasure craft") But how great is the sun, nice for awhile but you can't get away from it, not a tree in sight.

But there is still magic there. What I liked best  about David's sailboat was exploring the islands in Penobscot Bay. We have scrambled around the White Islands, Bar Island, Butter Island and Spruce, to name a few. The boat was a way to get out to the many uninhabited  (by humans) small islands. We'd drop an anchor, row ashore and explore the pink granite edges, sandy beaches, swim in the turquoise blue water and discover seals in hidden coves. I'd grab a handful of sea lavender before climbing into the dinghy to sit across from David as he rowed us back to the boat. And on his boat, David was the cook. That was pretty nice.

Now we climb mountains, way above sea level and on summiting, sit on a rock, take a sandwich out of the pack and let the wind cool us down. And Calley can come, which is a bonus.
I must be honest, though. This past weekend it was too hot for climbing. The view from the top across to the White Mountains of New Hampshire was gratifying but getting there was.... hard. Cooler weather needed for this activity!

View from Mt. Albany near Lovell, Maine.