Catch Up

Without internet at my apartment I'm not around here much, but will be more soon.  Spending a lot  (time/money) to get this tiny apartment cozy.  So being tiny it doesn't take much.

Living in Santa Fe is sensory overload.  Where I was before was the fringe of the city and about the only noise were coyotes.  Now it's the bar at 2AM downstairs.  But you adapt and I'm starting to sleep through it.

The wall are about 18 inches thick so it is real quiet inside...except for the music.  Then walk downstairs and you are in a Party of Tourists.  Disorienting.

Went to Feast Day at Santa Domingo Pueblo.  I'll write later about that.
http://www.santodomingotribe.com/feastday-3/

777

777

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.

My Backyard

Hanging Out in Santa Fe

Wife Swap

One of the TV shows I'll watch is "Wife Swap" where a wife trades places with another family across country that is way different from themselves.  So I was not disappointed when I answered Rose and Desi's Craigslist add for a roommate.  Rose is my age and Desi's Auntie.  A week before I moved in Rose's Sister/Desi's Mom had died.  That wasn't in the ad.  I'd  been having dreams of this family so I knew I needed to be here.  Now I'm leaving after three years.

Rose and her sister had been illegally adopted by 50 year old Mormon's from their Navajo mother so she rides a bi-cultural fence.  Things like that were done then on the Reservations.  Her story is in the book she wrote.  We talked often about how her life would have been different if she hadn't been adopted where she would have been raised in a Hogan without water.  In this life she lived the society life in Washington, DC.  So what makes a Real Person?  There are parts of Rose that are Navajo even though she wasn't raised there.  When I visualize the Rose I know and the Rose who would have stayed there would be a great difference.  

It's been a very interesting stay being a guest in their home and it's been like having my files rebooted.  At the end of "Wife Swap" they always hug and then it shows how their lives changed a few weeks later.  My life changed a lot.  A small example is how a big part of my identity had been  as a cook and I've only had a small portion of kitchen space for 5 years.  This is a silly example when there have been some kick-ass examples of how my Slate has been wiped clean.

So this is also part of the Experiment.  What is true Identity? 
What is even True? 

I know that I am a different person.  Before I came to live with Rose I was not a true person.   I think that the split in my face from the Bells Palsy was a symptom of that split.  Rose gave me the space to clean out the closets.  Time to sew a new wardrobe.

Experiment

While sitting in the sun with my coffee I was thinking about Why this is an experiment.  On several levels cause I do things Just Because.
I don't plan to put deep roots here, and after a year will move closer to my family up north.   In the mean time I put myself in the middle of some great art.  One Friday night a month is the art crawl going from gallery to gallery to see the latest artist.  I've given myself a year to just hang out and see what I can create.  There are just some questions you have to ask yourself.  Is there anything I would regret not doing?  And this is it for me.  What sort of art would I do if I hung out in this place?
Working for an art store I've gathered the supplies that I need.  I want to explore that creative process.

The other aspect of this is allowing synchronicity.  That stuff is building up and I want to see how far I can ride this out.  What kind of bridle do I need to point this Energy in the direction I want to go?
And it's about silly stuff.  I had someone ask for a particular box of tea candles which I had no clue about and no time to check it out or help and I felt bad.  Then ALL afternoon people were bringing up boxes of the candles I needed.  A silly amount.  And that is just a silly example.
So part of the Experiment is too see how far I can allow Magic in my life.

And the third part is this Cocktail Party idea.  I always liked that party game where you choose who you would want to spend a dinner party with.  Any one from history.  We can't do that but there are plenty of cool people here.

Movin' On Down the Road

I'm sitting with my coffee watching the sun come up.  The weather is luscious.  I have to get going in a bit to pick up my key for the new apartment and then be moved in a week from now.  Everything is packed.  This Experiment is supposed to be Transient so I didn't gather a lot of stuff.  A big chunk are plants and art supplies.  My Pine is as tall as me.  I got it for Christmas when I first came here and just let it keep growing. 

This move will be radical and it's put me in a weird state.  With everything packed I'm not "here" anymore but not "there" either.  LOL    It's also the first time in my life I am not "beholden" to anyone.  Life is good.  Everyone is fine and Mom can do what she wants.  LOL  I don't know how much I hold astrology, but everyone in my family is a Leo and a Taurus leader.  I'm a Fish.  I didn't stand a chance.  Everyone has an opinion on my life and for the peace of the family I have always tried to balance their wishes. 
That no longer holds with this move.  This shifts the Rules.

And because I see living downtown more as an Experiment for a year and it's more of a studio than a home, things can be playful.  And a lot of people are looking forward to the Cocktail Parties.  There are going to be some great chats.  I love doing catering so making snacks for gathering is my idea of bliss.  Everyone in my family cooks.  Food is love.  I grew up on my Grandparents farm that was surrounded by an orchard.  Getting groceries for dinner meant walking down the path to the garden.  I think that's why I'm pretty healthy and I worry for the kids being raised on fast food.

Well, Here Comes the Sun.  I'm going to sit out with my coffee and Greet the Day