Week 3 has been quite eventful so far. We started by having a missing member at the evening meal on Saturday. She had gone for a long wak in the hills/mountains and had not returned and it was almost dark. She is Australian and I went outside and started sending out Cooees. She answered, but from a long way off - over the hill and faraway! Others arrived and continued calling. The staff set off for a road that went near a path she might be on. The rest of us paced around uselessly as it became dark. (The routes through the mountains are marked with ribbons on trees so are almost impossible to see after dark!) Meanwhile, our missing person kept pushing on, helped by all the voices shouting encouragement; the staff contacted the Search and Rescue Team for the area and they lined up to be there in an hour and a half . It was pitch dark and freezing cold. Obo, the dog, has no rescue skills at all so did little forays into interesting places while we urged him to go searching. Our lost companion's voice came a little closer, then further away, then out of earshot. This went on. It was 8 pm. Two staff went up a nearby ridge with torches. Another sister and I kept the driveway lights going and pointing up into the bush. I heard the missing one's voice quite clearly up another ridge so headed up there with my little torch, which fortunately had new batteries. It wasn't too bad. I found her, not too far up, down a side gully where she had skidded in a bit of a landslide. With the aid of the torchlight and the help of Obo who innocently pointed out steep bits by avoiding them, she managed to drag herself to the side and out, and so we descended from there to the waiting arms of all the others where she was quickly rushed into the kitchen for refreshments and talk, then to a bath then to bed. She slept all day yesterday and has various sore areas today. We were lucky it was not a bad outcome and we were able to cancel the Search and Rescue.Yesterday 15 of the party headed off to do some culture! Santa Fe has a good symphony orchestra and there was a 4 pm performance including Brahms 2nd Symphony (in D major, I think?) Beforehand, the conductor gave a half hour talk on the three pieces. The first was a Hebrides Opus by Mendelssohn and the second was a choir piece by a current American composer (b.1943) whose name escapes me. It was all very interesting and the music was lovely - especially the Brahms. The choir piece was very pure sound but I kept drifting off a little and was in danger of falling asleep.
The audience could have been a Brisbane audience - not much evidence of Hispanic, Mexican and Indians there, as also in the orchestra. They were also dressed very much like a Brisbane audience! After Easter the Australian Chamber Orchestra is coming to town, so I'll try to get to see that.
On Ash Wednesday we had a 'desert day' so I went out for a LONG walk - longer than I planned. I climbed up what are called the 'Needles' - 1000 feet above the height of Sangre, ploughed through lots of snow, got temporarily lost when the coloured ribbons disappeared, and arrived back at 4.20 pm having left at 9 am. Needless to say, I didn't need to be rocked to sleep last night. I will treat you to a couple of photos:
1. Looking up a creek-bed trail with plenty of snow still lying about - note the orange ribbons on the trees for the Orange Trail; 
2) A view over the area from one of the Needles
3) Looking back at a slope I climbed (I was impressed!):
Today I went into Santa Fe again and made a bee-line for the Railway Station, specially in honour of Neil! I don't know if this is what he was talking about on his blog comment, but there are three pictures that might be of interest:1) a Caboose - the place where the train conductor lived; his task was to wash down the train and stop any fires starting up from the coal sparks flying out of the engine up the front. These are not used nowdays.
2) Santa Fe Railway Station - doesn't look much used now. Probaby quite historic;
3) A Santa Fe Southern Railway engine just hooked up to a couple of carriages.
The Ch'i Kung (spelling???) classes are on again at 6 .15 am!!!! An early rise will be called for again. One must pay the price 
of improving oneself.
Bye for this week. It is all going well. Rita
5 comments:
Rita
You certainly had a thrilling adventure with the missing person. Thank God she turned up before the need for search an rescue or anything bad happened.
Going to the symphony orchestra sounds good. Not really my thing, but interesting to compare the experience to how it might have been in Australia. I am going to see Les Miserables in a couple of weeks in London. I was disppointed with the Brisbane show when I saw it, but I didn't follow the story well. I know the story better now, and I like the music. Les Miserables has been going for 22 years in London. It is supposed to be the world's most popular musical. I can't wait to see it.
Your long walk to the Needles sounds great. You must have covered a lot of kilometres. How was it walking through the snow? I think it would make the walk all the more interesting and challenging. After such a long walk, I'm impressed that you were still able to go out to the railway the next day.
Keep the posts coming. It's really interesting to keep up-to-date with what you are doing.
From Colin
It's taken until today for me to check your blog Rita. It must be a pretty laid back course if you can fit in so much - walks, visits to Santa Fe, concerts... What a change from your normal routine! You mention climbing to 1000 feet above Sangre. What altitude is Sangre? And what sort of trees make up the forest? As some are green I assume they are conifers... Last weekend of the doorknock, then another week and we go to Tassie. Your card has arrived for John's birthday but he will open it on the day. Thanks. Love from us both, Kath
What can I say but thanks :-) :-)
Neil
Hi Rita,
You're going to come back here all trim, taut and terrific after all this walking, adventure and relaxation. I think that we will have to start going to the gym to try to get fit. The hills are a bit far to visit all the time. Hope you have a good trip in Tassie, Kath and John and hope to hear all the details. Denise
(Hi Rita - Talking about being trim, taut and terrific Denise could have joined Insports today except you had to sign up for 18 months, even if you only wanted to go once in a while - not to mention that there was a $500 fee if you cancelled. Denise thinks that The Goodlife at the Hyperdome is better value as you can attend casually at $15 a time. I'm glad you're enjoying the Culture and Adventure over there even if you could do with a little less drama.
Gavin)
Hi Rita,
I'm just sending a quick not to let you know I am reading your blog and enjoying it very much. Mun has already filled you in on what's been happening. Sarah's b'day is on Monday 5/03 and I am frantically trying to organise a kid's party, a family gathering and buy presents for Sarah, who really only wants real live animals and this is proving a very unrealistic want. I'll let you know what I finally come up with and how the parties go (yes you get more than one party when you are a child these days. Continue to keep us informed, between your blog and colin's blog I feel like another holiday, a long weekend just didn't quite satisfy me. Can't complain, everybody is well, Josh and Sarah are both doing great at School, I absolutely love Donna McSweeney and a lot of the other mums are impressed with her as well. Joshua spoke one line on assembly today which was run by the year fives "now please stand for the national anthem", and he sounded clear and confident. I am so proud of him. We will miss you at Sarah's b'day, becasue you are normally there, take care, Love Helen, Mark, Joshua, and Sarah
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