Moving in took all my extra cash and saving, Then there was having to set up a whole new kitchen as cheap as Walmart will allow. PayDay was in four days and to have milk for my coffee for the rest of the week I had to drain the last ten dollars out of my savings leaving a buck and change. It seems when I make a drastic change like this I go to the edge as I'm leaving the "old". A symbolic emptying.
It was my day off today and really the first I've had since I've moved in that I didn't have something urgent to do. Before I had my coffee I got a call from Guitar Girl wanting to come over to see my new place. She's my RoadTrip partner. This was the first we had seen eachother for a few months. What a Fab Day. The first Cocktail Party! And before Noon. :-) We took a break to put change in her meter and stroll around town, showing me good spots. She's lived here for years
We walked past Seret's with their magnificent collection of wooden doors. One was especially fine with carving and paint with a Shiva. I want that door. We said a prayer in front of it. When two or . more are gathered in My Name... We imagined what was waiting for us behing that door.
http://store.serets.com/
GG had to leave when the parking meter ran out. You do not want to blow off the meter in Santa Fe. Even JayWalking I hear is a $300 fine. We hugged and made plans for the future.
The weather was too perfect to stay in so I got some bird seed and walked to the Plaza. I throw out seed in the morning to the flat roof top out my window and drink coffee while I watch the sun come up. There are pigeons at the square. Little kid's were chasing them so I gently poured seed in their hands to feed the birds and walked off. I want to be the Zorro of the Birds Seed.
Later Ms KLee is coming to listen to music on the Plaza. There is music a couple times a night at the bandshell. What an interesting gathering of people like out of a 40's movie. Perfect evening sunlight with all these people from all over dancing to the tunes while their children run with delight as they watch and listen.
Good Bye's at the Bell Tower
Got together with the Roommates for one last Goodbye. Rose is off to the Blind Center in Salt Lake City where she used to live. She gets around but is running out of time. They taught her brail there before and she's going back to brush up. I think about that when I ponder all the drawings I don't get around to. What if I waited till I couldn't? Desi is moving in with a friend of mine who has dogs. Joey, her basset will have friends.
I've been with these Navajo Girls and Joey for three years learning to balance our cultures. The break up was more traumatic than we expected, so the afternoon at the Bell Tower Bar at the top of the La Fonda Hotel was especially sweet. We had bar food and cokes with a to die for view to the distant mountains over the rooftops of Santa Fe. I'm going back for a sunset.
http://www.lafondasantafe.com/dining-and-entertainment/bell-tower-bar/
Flipping the Universe
I'll have been in this MicroApartment Downtown Santa Fe three weeks this Saturday. Things are just now sort of getting into a Groove after having had to take in so much. At the same time we've gotten a new Boss at work and The "Brake-Up" with the Navajo Gurls from the other side of town. The South Side across from the Rodeo Grounds. There is a White Bull at the entrance. Do I have to tell you how seriously symbolic a white bull is? :) And the only night time noise were the coyotes howling an occasion fire truck as the station was down the way. Now I plan my sleeping schedule is
around the Rock and Roll at the corner bar.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g60958-d606190-i22247879-Evangelo_s-Santa_Fe_New_Mexico.html
Which seems to be neutralized by by the constant hum of the industrial AC fans on the roof. My View is an ancient brick wall, AC Fans and an incredible clear blue sky with big puffy clouds. It's such a perfect sky that even the Chemtrails didnt' seem to stick. And the Fans are ALL the time.
Part of this experiment is to have no TV and no Net by default. Even though there are coffee houses on either side they are a smidge out of reach for me to hijack their Internet connection. Which is actually a good thing as I was getting sort of addicted, My only noise distraction is the fan and the evening Rock. I love to cook and I'm missing the music playing background. The Idea is to reduce the "chatter" and see what flows out of the mind. Stream of Consciousness. No expectations, but what can be experienced in a Year? What Ideas can I come up with? Raising kids by myself I could not serve two masters, though I stupidly tried at first. My three kids all became artists in their own way so this sabatical to Santa Fe is just an experiment to see what sort of "soup" I can make in a year. Then settle down closer to my kids near Durango. A Win-Win situation. Time to settle down and raise chickens. My needs are simple. LOL. I want to saturate myself with the art and then go find an out of the way studio in the mountains to see what results. Come down from the Mountain and babysit the grandkids so their folks can go on a date. I remember. I might have still been with their dad if we had dated more. Now too much time has past.
And it is not easy to be this quiet after there has been a lifetime of constant chatter. Up until I was ten lets say. I feel I was blessed to be around before there was constant, instant communication. I hung out at my Grandparents farm down the road from Lake Michigan and an hour east of Chicago. I would roam the woods all day in complete quiet. They got TV when I was about five but there was only boxing and the news for a couple hours a day. .
If I was in college, this would be Independant Work/Study. This is my routine. Have coffee. Feed the birds. Go to galleries and come back and make something. Or write this Diary. Cook. Read. Hike around town taking photos. Listen to Rock while I fall asleep. Sprinkle in about 20 hours aweek at the art supply store. I have very little Stuff and no bills so I can live pretty slim and still be lush.
