Tuesday

We're all enjoying a low key vacation here in Santa Fe.   Going to bed early, sleeping late, sitting by the near constant fire, working a bit (Jesse and Erin, that is....we don't do that anymore), checking out the Farmer's Market, doing a little cooking/baking, wandering in and out of the hundreds of galleries, sometimes buying....     At the end of these days we usually go out to sample some of this cities wonderful restaurants - Geronimo, Pink Adobe, The Compound, Swiss Bakery, Il Paitto....burp.    Someone's got to do it....

hard at work

hard at work by the fire

hard at work...zzzzzz

cold, clear and colorful

architects analyze building materials - a busman's holiday

You've probably heard about the nasty blizzard eastern New Mexico had.    We were spared its fury, but did have a decent amount of snowfall.   Just enough to give us some holiday atmosphere.

snow drifts on my hair....

One of us got an extra Christmas present from her lovely new husband....

custom hats at Santa Fe Hat Company

this is the one!

Lewis thinks they have good taste - he may wear it for New Years Eve.

Day after Christmas

Jesse and Erin arrived around 5 on Christmas Eve.   It was cold but clear evening and, after a quick soup supper,  we all enjoyed our stroll along Canyon Road.    The annual Christmas Eve Farolito Walk brought thousands of people to the gallery lined street.   Most every establishment had small paper bags filled with a bit of sand and a single lit candle, called either luminarias or farolitos, on their roof tops and along their walkways.   The effect was beautiful.   Others had bonfires (large and small) in their driveways or even on the edge of the road where we could stop, warm our hands, drink some hot apple cider or cocoa and perhaps sing familiar Christmas carols.    Some of the art galleries were open for a little last minute shopping.

I didn't take my camera so as to be "in the moment" and not tempted to document the evening.    You'll have to take my word that it was a special event for us all.

Christmas day was so sunny and nice we took another long walk into the Plaza, did a bit of window shopping and enjoyed a delicious, al fresco lunch from a fajita truck on the Plaza.

caught in an embarrassing food moment.....

Oh Dave....

tree of rosaries outside Loretto Chapel

On our way back to Casa Escondido we took a little detour to see the Canyon Road sights in the light of day.

vine of glass morning glories

Jesse communes with "Truffles" the pig

Back at our little casita we made preparations for our "traditional" meal of manicotti.

driveway entrance to Casa Escondido lined with
luminarias

one of my favorite sculptures in our courtyard

cooking with wine

concentration required

I took no pictures at dinner, sacred family time to me.    Its so lovely to have Jesse and Erin here with us.

After dinner we retired to the fire warmed living room to open our presents.

Christmas Eve

We're Here!

We made it to Santa Fe by about 2:30 and spent the next 5 or so hours unpacking, settling the dogs and then shopping for food among the million others doing the same.     The traffic was tough in town, and the parking lots were enough to drive us to drink.     I guess I should have expected it the eve of Christmas eve.    We managed to get almost everything on our list and make it back to the casita in one piece.        The only disappointment was that there isn't a real evergreen wreath to be had in the entire city.    We don't put up a tree here, it isn't our house and I'm (read - Dave) not interested in dragging all the necessary decorations along with us.   To give the casita at least the smell of pine I wanted to find a wreath........sigh. 

The third best thing (behind a real tree, and a wreath) is a flower arrangement filled with pine boughs and I did manage to find that so I'm happy.  

Jesse and Erin are on their way from Denver and, after a bowl of soup in front of the fire, we'll walk down to Canyon Road to experience the traditional Christmas Eve Farolito Walk.    Merry Christmas to you all. 

waiting for Jesse....

Birthday drive

I show you lots of beautiful sunsets, here is what mother nature gave me for my birthday yesterday - a spectacular sunRISE!

I happened to be awake at sunrise to receive this gift because we had a 7 hour drive ahead of us and wanted to get on the road.   We tried to take care of all the packing before hand, but there are always more things to do at the last minute.  I liked Laurel's comment yesterday about liking to have her big wheeled suitcase following along behind her!

To take the sting out of getting up so early, Dave stopped at Benson donuts for a mobile second cup treat.     A most excellent birthday donut!

I couldn't resist just one quick bite....

It was a rather grey, windy day but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  The cloud formations, grey on grey, were ever changing and very interesting.    We drove past groves (is that the correct word?) of pecan, walnut and pistachio trees.

lenticulars above a winter bare nut grove

We took a short cut through the tiny (almost nonexistent) town of Nutt and through Hatch, New Mexico.   Hatch is the largest producer of Hatch Chili's and we saw many shops and road side stands selling ristras made of these colorful dried peppers.    Fields of red stretched along route 26.

Jesse called and sang Happy Birthday to me, followed by a sweet call from Erin.  I'm a lucky woman.

Spits of rain accompanied the strong winds as we approached Albuquerque.  The sky was very dark and we could see snow falling heavily on the Manzano Mountains to our east.

We got into our hotel later than we'd planned and we were whipped.   We were supposed to have dinner with friends here but tentatively rescheduled our visit to the return trip.   The dogs were wonderful on the long, confining trip and we decided to stay in the room with them and we shared a sumptuous take out dinner from Applebees instead!

Today we'll continue our drive to Santa Fe.    Winter Storm Warnings there - we're dreaming of a White Christmas!

"LaQuinta" Lewis loves him a good hotel room bed