Taos

Well, since I left my camera behind in Taos and someone else is most likely using it, I have no personal photos to show.  However, the instructor (Jill Badonsky) did send some photos to the participant.  Here are a few to show you our surroundings.

This is the main house that Mabel Dodge Luhan built.  (Photo taken by Jill Badonsky)

At the top is the solarium.  It has a fabulous view, but you need to clamber up two sets of stairs, one of which was built to accommodate people under 5'2".  The second is perilously close to being a ladder.

This is the Juniper house, an annex that's about 100 yards from the main house.  (Photo taken by Jill Badonsky)

In the center is a large room that we used as our classroom.  My room was on the first floor on the left hand side.  That made it very handy if I forgot something.

One of a couple of fun features of the main house is the pigeon 'hotel' in the front courtyard. 

 

These have been in place since about the same time the house was built as can be seen in some of the old photos.  (Photo taken by Jill Badonsky)

 

Then there's this lovely old gate.

According to some information I read while there (and I hope I'm remembering it correctly), the pigeon hotel residents got so lazy, they wouldn't fly out of the way when vehicles drove in through the gate.  Mabel put up a sign telling people not to run over the pigeons.  Finally she just locked the gate to keep the vehicles out.  (Photo taken by Jill Badonsky)

All in all, it was a very lovely setting to be in while trying to jumpstart my creativity.

Papillon

 

Taos and Back

I am a big fan of Jill Badonsky who's an author of books about creativity and the muses who can help you along the way.

I get her e-newsletter and earlier this year she said she was going to have a creativity retreat at the Mabel Dodge Luhan house in Taos, NM.  I thought to myself - I'm just a couple of hours away from there and I've got vacation time - why not?  So I signed up.

I headed to Taos on Tuesday (7/9) afternoon.  There I met up with an amazing group of women.  There were 12 of us in total and it was just the right size.  Enough people to get a variety of viewpoints but not too many that somebody ends up (accidentally) being ignored.

Over the next several days we had a combination of amazing exercises in assorted sessions plus some down time so we could explore in and around Taos.  I had fun in the town plaza looking through and buying from various stores.

The Mabel Dodge Luhan facility is a fun venue.  It's her original house plus an annex a few dozen yards away.  They've done some minor updating (plumbing & that sorts of things), but otherwise it looks pretty much as it did when she was living there.  It's in the Pueblo style with some very low doors and squeaky wood floors.

I stayed in the Nicholai Fechin room in the annex.  Fechin immigrated to the US following the Bolshevik Revolution.  He was a portrait artist.  The room was a good size, but the closet was a bit small.  It did have a nice shower that I enjoyed.

None of the rooms had televisions or phones.  At first there were a few withdrawal symptoms, but I had planned ahead and had brought along some reading material.  I also brought along my laptop since there is a limited Wifi area in the main house.  I got on long enough to check e-mail and otherwise was computer-free as well.

Another nice part of the visit was the rain.  New Mexico has been smack in the middle of a drought for a couple of years now.  This year, it looks like we may actually have rain during the rainy season.
There was enough rain on Tuesday that there was a lovely double rainbow as I headed into town.  Later in the week we had a rain shower that lasted 30 minutes or more.  It started just before we started to do some energy/breathing cleansing exercises.  It lasted through our activities and ended with the sun out as we finished.  Very cool!

All in all, a good time was had.

Papillon

Rain!

As we've been told for the past several years, New Mexico is in a drought.  Thankfully, it looks like there may actually be some rain during this year's rainy season.

I actually got sprinkled on while driving home.  It wasn't much, but it's better than nothing.

As the sun went down, there were some really nifty and pretty clouds overhead.

And some more.

Gotta love the potential for rain.

Papillon

 

An Unexpected Visitor

For no particular reason I wandered out into my front yard this evening.  I looked up and there on the roof was a large owl.  Wow!

I grabbed my digital camera and attempted to zoom in on the owl.  The camera turned itself off.  I turned it back on and it said the batteries were dying.  AARGH!!!

I then grabbed my trusty 35mm camera.  It refused to turn on at all - the battery had died.  AARGH!!!

I took both cameras and ran inside.  I replaced the batteries in both and sprinted back outside.  The owl had disappeared.  AARGH!!!

Then I noticed the adult son of the next door neighbors was staring up into the top of a tree down the street.  Sure enough, there was owl WAY up in the top of the tree.  The son and I took several photos of the owl.

Here's one of mine.  Sorry if it's a bit blurry.

I THINK it's a great horned owl.  It was a pretty good-sized owl.

The local rabbit population was huddled under anything that would make it difficult for the owl to get to them.

Surprisingly, the local bird population didn't seem upset.  Lots of birds flying around and others chirping with no regard to attracting the owl's attention.

It was fun to see in spite of the problems with my camera.  (AARRGH!!!)

Papillon

The Aftermath

So, as I said in my last post, on Memorial Day a house in my neighborhood blew up and burned down. 

Here's what the final result looks like.

And yet another shot.

 

This is what happens when you store propane tanks inside of your house and then they blow up.

Papillon

Weird and Scary Memorial Day Morning

I normally sleep in on weekends and holidays.  Today is Memorial Day here in the USA so, not surprisingly, I slept in.

I did briefly wake up around 7:00 AM due to an odd and loud noise.  At first I thought it might be a sonic boom or perhaps someone playing with a large firework.  It was not crisp enough to be a sonic boom so I decided to go back to sleep.

Later, I got up and headed out to run errands.  Imagine my surprise to see a LARGE number of emergency streets on the next street over in my subdivision.  Later on I found out that the loud noise I heard was a house blowing UP.  WTH?

Here's a link to a local newscast:
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/local/central/none-hurt-in-rio-rancho-home-explosion

It's good to know the house was not occupied so nobody was injured.  It's also good that none of the neighbors' houses were damaged.

As of about 2:00 PM, there were still fire department folks hanging around making sure the fire was completely out and also doing some research on how the fire started.

In the picture below, you can see some of the remains of the house just to the right of the fire engine.

The news reports said the fire involved some propane tanks inside the house.  They don't know what ignited them. 

This all has me wondering.  The house was allegedly not occupied and all utilities had been turned off.  So why would anyone have propane tanks INSIDE of their house?  I'm just saying - it makes you say HMMMM.

Papillon

Big Decision

I've been thinking about this for a long time. 

When I bought my house 21 years ago (moved in 21 years ago this first weekend in May), I had plenty of room.  However, after all these years, I've acquired a bunch more stuff.  Granted, I could get rid of some of it, but most of it I want to keep.

That said, I've decided to buy a bigger house.  No, not a McMansion.  If you buy a big house, you also have to clean all that extra space.  Instead of 2 bedrooms/1 bath, which is what I've got now, I want 3 bedrooms/2 baths and about half again as much space. 

I want to be like Goldilocks.  It can't be too big or too small.  It needs to be just right.

This morning I went by the credit union and was pre-approved.  This afternoon I met with my real estate agent.  (She's the same one I used 21 years ago.)  We spent a bunch of time getting caught up on what's happened since then.  We've got an appointment set to look at houses on my next Friday off.

I'm feeling happy - a new house!  I'm feeling scared - I'm getting a new mortgage!

Papillon