Santa Fe Livin'

A class act this cat :)

Greetings and Happy Solstice!!

Due to internet slowness at home,
I've been lagging behind on blog posts.
I hope this finds you all well 
and making your way through winter.
I miss everyone, alot~~~ I'll be home in the spring
and look forward to seeing everyone!!

These foot hills are magic! This shot I took after an intense and
unusual torrent of rain. 

A few updates as we head into the New Year~~

I've been on lots of hikes, met lots of really cool people and decided to take a job at the historic Inn and Spa at Loretto. Right on the Old Santa Fe Trail. 

Took this shot today as I went in to fill out lots of paper work.
The skies were pretty amazing today

The Inn at Loretto! 

It is a lovely spa. I wonder about me and a spa though. 

It snows every now and then. The mountains
get very quiet after it snows~~

Old truck up in the hills

I love the culture here, the people are so friendly. Everyone looks you in the eye and says hello and very often times people want to stop and have a nice chat. I am so enjoying the community feeling, the kindness, and the slower pace of life.

Every day as I drive home I stop and take photos. The beauty around me is almost surreal
Some times the earth pulses red, and the mountains seem to be glowing. This
is a photo I took right off Route 41 in Galisteo about 2 miles from my house. The foot hills of the Sangre de Cristos.

Small Herd of Horses, they've been hanging close to the fence lately
what a treat!

Sorry it's blurry! I was studying in a cafe downtown and I heard music.
I went to check it out. It was 3 young native students singing their hearts out!
Wonderful!

Can you see this little blue bird sitting right at the tip of the branch? The Galisteo

Basin Reserve is the most wonderful place to see coyotes, giant rabbits

(I mean GIANT rabbits taller than me!)
and blue birds fly around every where. 

Hangin' with the giant rabbits and bluebirds!

Santa Fe takes her light very seriously. The whole town is lit up with these little
Farolitos. Locals joke and call them "Bagolitos" little bags of sand with candles in them
a New Mexico Christmas tradition

Gas is going down and down! Thank goodness
because my car is a gas hog. Soon I will sell it
and get something more economical.

Me and my pal Shar, at an open mic in town. This is from last summer actually
we are going to the open mic again after Christmas. I am looking forward to the
New year so life can start groovin!!

Paloma hunting gophers.  Of late she has been on gopher patrol. We had a gopher who was tearing up the yard.
I think we got rid of it with a gadget from True Value Hardware that simulates the distress call
of burrowing critters.

That pile of soil there is one
of many tunnels the gopher made all over the property.
A gopher doing what gophers do! Imagine??
Not grounds for death as far as I am concerned.
It almost drove my landlord insane not to relieve this gopher of its life.
I begged him to give me a week to find another way to
get rid of him. As of this moment we are gopher-free
and the gopher gets to live. Hmph! Cowboys with guns..wanting to shoot
every thing that moves! NOT ON MY WATCH~~~

I asked him if was his practice to end a life because it was "bothering him" ~ he said "of course"
So I said okay then...if you bother me, do I have permission to put an arrow in your butt???
That shut him up... :)

Paloma fits perfectly in these windows. She is starting to settle.

This house caught my eye many times. It is on the same road as where I live.
I took a bunch of photos and finally asked around the neighborhood about it
because it looked abandoned. Turns out the local Galisteo Healer lived here
for about 30 years. He recently went into assisted living and his house is vacant.
I am thinking it might be an auspicious place to set up a healing center! I will inquire
with his daughter in the spring perhaps.

The Healers House



I had the very good fortune to re-connect with my favorite yoga teacher Tias Little for the Solstice. He offered a day long yoga immersion to usher in the light with yoga, meditation and mantra at his home studio in the hills just outside Santa Fe. SUCH A wonderful way to spend the Solstice. I am so excited to have more time to study with him!

Tias at the Prajna Yoga Temple. A beautiful place to practice yoga
in the quiet hills outside Santa Fe.

I think that's a wrap for now!

 I will close with a few images from the final Hobbit movie that opened this week. It was EXCELLENT!! I cried through most of it.

People complained that Tauriel wasn't in the books
being a Middle Earth aficionado I half agree. I loved her character
in the end. A powerful Elvish Warrior Woman!
What's not to love about a woman with a bow!
(being one myself!!)



I ordered my target and in the spring will get some hay bails to attach it to. I finally have some land, and a free enough society that I can practice archery right at home!

My landlord (who is an old cowboy) is beginning to understand I shoot only to develop physical and mental skill NOT to kill, most certainly not to kill animals. He thinks it's weird.

He sort of thinks I'm whacked~~~ Okay with me!! :)