Week 4: A variety of activies

Saturday 24th: Today was COLD and by lunchtime it had just about reached freezing point! However, it was sunny and the temperature rose a bit after that. When a crowd of us went into Santa Fe to do our 'touristy' thing, it wasn't too bad - especially inside the arcades and shops.

One art shop had numerous paintings of horses. The proprietor was possibly bored (it is the 'off'-season for tourists) so was very ready to engage us in conversation. She told us she was one-quarter Apache Indian and the rest Spanish - good looking woman about 40. Her favourite movie is "The Man from Snowy River"!!! She was surprised and interested when I told her it was based upon an iconic Australian poem of the same name, so she copied down all the details to follow up. She was born and raised in the Santa Fe area, of parents also born and raised in the area and was raised on a horse ranch.

We went to the famous Loretto Chapel here - dating from very early times - which contains the legendary miraculous staircase. The sisters found when the chapel was built that stairs to the choir-loft had been omitted and there was no room (and no money) to build one, so they made nine days (a novena) of prayer. On the last day an bearded carpenter arrived and set to work with basic tools, completing the staircase in 3 days (I think!) before disappearing into the distance, having asked no fee. There are no nails, no wooden pegs, no obvious supports for the staircase which is a marvel of engineering and fits into the existing space. Here is a rather poor photo (I forgot to change the camera batteries before I went out.)

This evening three of the Australians put on an 'Aussie' BBQ. Well, it was one type of Aussie BBQ. We had hamburgers, chicken and sausages plus salads and rolls. I would have the say the rolls over here are 'different' and the Beetroot doesn't taste like the Australian tinned variety which is sweeter and less acid. Obo loved the atmosphere, but I don't know if he scored! We had a trifle to complete the meal - complete with sherry (although there was also a 'dry' trifle, without the alcohol). At the finish we complimented the chefs by singing 'For they are jolly good fellows", and, would you believe it, the Americans didn't know that!!!! They keep talking about having 'supper' in the evenings, and we have to remind ourselves that that is the evening meal and not a light snack before bedtime.

I tried to walk up to the Waterfull yesterday afternoon in a bit of a break (it is only 15 minutes away) but was defeated by the snow still lying around. It was not prudent to walk near the stream - there was the sound of deep water gurgling below the snow! See the picture? I tried climbing up the side of the stream course, but it became too rocky and I wasn't suitably attired! You can see on the next photo that the upper slopes are almost clear of snow now. It is noticeably warmer - reached 50 F today (about 10+ C!) and the sun was shining brightly. Brochurs talk about the special quality of the light in the State of New Mexico, but I think it is very similar to back in Australia.

By the way, when I said I climbed up a 1000 ft the other day, I didn't mention that Sangre, where I started, is 7100 ft - about the height of Kosciusko. The Needles, where I had lunch are 8230 on top. The vegetation at our level is largely pinon (said like 'pinion') and conifer, but there has been a prolonged drought and it has killed about 90% of the pinon because a bark beetle has been able to attack them while they are vulnerable. The drought seems to be breaking this year. One of the staff here gave us a whole talk on the ecology recently which was very interesting. He took any participants who wanted to go on a 1 hour walk after lunch on Sunday around the property to point out relevant vegetation etc, but I was unable to go because my first massage was programmed right in the middle of the time offered. Anyway, the massage was good and there are books about the vegetation and I can ask others.

We've had sessions on Journalling, on working with Dreams, and now, tonight on Dealing with Grief. Today I participated in the first Water Colour Painting Session which was very profitable. Each of us ended up with six small 'masterpieces' - single colours applied correctly or double colours to show a particular mixture. I am sure we will be doing wonders after the course is finished. Brother Joe, who teaches it, makes everything very clear. We have to hold our brushes just so and stand with straight backs and dip our brushes in a particular way etc etc etc.

All the comments which have been made on my blogspot are very much appreciated. At least I know my efforts are not in vain and someone is reading them! I may add to this blog yet, but I will publish it anyway. xxxx Rita