The vacation

We are home safe, although we didn't get here until after 1 am Monday morning. The plane from Charlotte was having mechanical troubles in Bristol, TN, and they finally combined two flights and got us to the terminal at 11:50 pm, then a long wait for luggage, which all arrived safely, and the hour drive to home.

I am having so much fun knitting. I made an entire scarf between Denver and here. And, I've made lots of fun necklaces. You won't believe the gorgeous colors and textures of yarn that I found out in Santa Fe. I went to two different shops - Oh, my. One of them looked very much like the sunset that we saw last night - deep purples shading to indigo to reds and oranges with just a touch of yellow. And, this particular yarn is mohair - thin center with much fuzz that lays together like a picture. I'm not sure that I can ever knit with it. It might just be a decoration! I also found some soy silk yarn, cotton and milk fiber, corn fiber - all so soft and such wonderful colors and variegated colors.










And, we saw a huge exhibit of pueblo pottery spanning more than a thousand years - 600 to now. Of course the more modern stuff has gotten fancier. And, one potter, Maria Martinez (a very famous one), had put together an exhibit of the materials used to make the pottery. Also in the same museum, we saw Spider Woman's Gift - a display of mostly ancient (though some modern) weaving - black, dark blue, red and white. And, the crosses that you see on native weaving are the symbol of Spider Woman - the shape of the ancient loom...not a Christian motif. My partner walked up to one case and said, "Oh, that looks just like you." A gorgeous cape of red, dark blue and white with shapes that just seemed to fit me. And, in the gift shop, we found a coral cuff bracelet that was one of the most magnificent pieces of jewelry I have ever seen. Of course, it was more than $500; so it's still there.

Then we walked over to the Folk Art Museum, where they had an exhibit of fiber art - beginning with some very ancient pieces of oriental weaving and clothing and continuing through to the native American use of corn shuck and other fibers. At the end of the exhibit, a small loom was set up with a sign asking that whoever wished should help finish the community weaving. So, I sat down and wove in my thread...a deep teal one and blended it into a dangling piece of another very light shade of green. What fun!

We had dinner with ten of the most talented women in Santa Fe - well, ten of the ones who are now in their 70s and 80s. Writers, painters, woodworker, photographer, sculptor.....what fun. And, we had a private room at the Pink Adobe where all of us were cold but we laughed so much and told wonderful stories. One woman had just returned from two weeks in Istanbul and was showing me a piece of gorgeous coral and amber jewelry. She had some surgery with anesthesia problems and couldn't always pull her sentences together in the right order, but we had a great time talking about Istanbul and Morocco, where she had spent a month. She's crazy and apparently always has been (even before the fiasco with the anesthesia); I liked her a lot and wished I could spend more time with her. Her partner is our age and a woodworker. One woman is writing and producing a musical.




Then in Denver, we had a session of "Stitch and Bitch" at our friends' house with about 10 women - both gay and straight. We sat around a did some sort of handwork - one person was a stained glass artist, and she brought her glass to edge with copper. One woman did her mending. And, one woman just came and visited. She was in the middle of a divorce and before the night was over, she had us singing a round of a song by Sweet Honey in the rock. As she got us started, she kept saying, Okay something's not right. I quit singing and kept time, then it was okay. Of course, I know I can sing, but the altitude, allergies and dryness worked their way with my nasal passages and ears. (Today I am breathing much better). I went to bed before everyone left.

We also had a smaller dinner on Saturday before we left - mostly people we knew from earlier visits. So much laughter and so many jokes. And, one woman captured my friend of almost 40 years and me singing "Spinning Wheel" from long ago. This all began because someone claimed she could make one boob rise and then another in time to a song. My partner said, "One boob up, one boob down" - that got Gin and me going with the song. So much fun. Again, we went to bed before everyone left.

I awoke early on Sunday morning and ate breakfast in the den with the wind whistling around the chimney. Then I heard distant thunder - a different sound out there than here - more like a cracking of the sky - not very loud but a tinkling punctuated crackle. A few minutes later the rain came down in a torrent. About 20 minutes later, my partner got up and came into the den and said, "It's snowing." Sure enough, by then, the ground was covered in snow! The roads were mostly clear - just a little slush when we went to the airport, but it was still snowing when we left. By the time we got on the plane, the sun was shining and the ground at the airport was drying quickly. We had a pleasant ride to Charlotte.

Then the long wait!

Here's a laughable: I asked my Denver friend to ship some things for me: my dirty clothes, so that I could bring the yarn I bought home with me. LOL Aren't I silly? But, I don't need the warm clothes here; so they might as well come in a box later. Maybe by then we'll be able to wear long pants.

It's partly cloudy here, but the ocean still sounds like the ocean, and I love it. I also saw a dolphin this morning - jumped completely out of the water!!

Oh, yeah, we also got to visit the artist who did the paintings we will hang over our mantle - both abstracts and to walk through their garden - an oasis in the middle of the desert where she has a pet squirrel who will eat out of your hand. All of us got to feed Cha Cha Ma.

I did not want to leave yesterday - the snow, the coziness of the den, the quietness of our conversations - but I am so glad to be home. The ocean does for my soul what nothing else has ever done.