Tag: Inspiration: New Mexico

Mending my ways

~ Liz A ~ 12 Comments

I should have known better, but last October when we were on an art tour of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Ghost Ranch …

I made the mistake of trying to text and walk at the same time. My foot went off the shoulder to the right of the road and skidded out from under me. A split second later I was scrambling back to my feet whilst surveying the damage.

I ended up with my dignity wounded, my cell phone screen cracked, and the left knee of my jeans torn. At that point there was no visible bleeding, but later I discovered that my knee was barked and bruised. I counted myself lucky it wasn’t worse.

Today I finally got around to mending the holes in my jeans (and no, darn it, I didn’t take a before picture) using a couple of Instagram videos as starting points (this and that) …

I stitched the repairs with variegated Valdani #12 perle cotton and yes, I should have practiced first, but was pleased enough with the results that I’ll probably try using these techniques again. For now, though, I’ll just keep an eye on how they how they stand up to normal wear and laundering (no more road testing … ha!)

I can’t even begin to describe how incredible Ghost Ranch was (and is) … which probably explains why I’ve put off trying to write about it. So I’ll just load some of the many pictures I took and let them tell their own story …

ending with this video of a crow that called out to us after we had just heard about Georgia’s painting A Black Bird with Snow Covered Red Hills, which I later described for Mo on her blog …

And now I’m off to read a book that Don and I gifted to each other at Christmas … Georgia O’Keeffe and her houses: Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu …

Halloween happy-ness

~ Liz A ~ 16 Comments

For those of you who don’t get trick-or-treaters, here are two photo-mosaics of the 100-or-so kiddos plus parents who came our way last night …

As it got darker, the camera did better in video mode, but I’ll spare you the actual footage. Although I did especially like the clip of one child who walked away saying, “Wait, I got two by mistake!” and turned back. “Keep it!” I said, “Your honesty earned you an extra treat!”

I do have fun creating our basket of treats, which are mini-packs of M&Ms wrapped in corny bat jokes and a maze …

topped by a ghostly watchman …

standing guard beneath the taco moon …

This year we got to see our Missouri grandkiddos modeling their costumes, captured here in a screen-shot mash-up from the video I took as the aliens “battled” …

While the Austin grands stood still for a more conventional photo-sesh, along with the “vocabulary parade” at school (a genius way to get around the Halloween costume dilemma that schools always face) …

And last, but not least, Corn Maze arrived safe and sound, taking its place alongside our New Mexico gallery …

All this and we even had Halloween candy left over. ‘Twas a very good day indeed.

Penultimate post on New Mexico

~ Liz A ~ 9 Comments

I don’t think I’ve ever documented a trip so fully, but this one was indeed special. The nice thing about blogging is that readers can choose to read and/or look as much, or as little, as they please. So please do read on … or not 😉

As we headed out from the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, I took one last picture …

Then we headed to the Taos Ski Valley, just to see what it was like on the way up into the mountains …

Don got out to walk around, but I took a pass. He came back saying he felt like his feet weren’t attached. I wonder why …

Then we headed down the way we came …

Look … a Hazel tree!

Back in Taos we had a great lunch of chillies rellenos and enchiladas at La Cueva, visited a few more galleries, and spotted a good candidate for a future visit …

After which we finally headed out of Taos …

on our way to the Abiquiu Inn (already documented in real time here). And in a bit of perfect timing, I picked up a message from Barbara Clark saying that her paintings could be seen there …

The paintings were hung in the Inn cafe, where we had a trout dinners two ways: blue corn tacos and a more traditional grilled fillet. The kitchen was slammed, so our meal was somewhat extended, which ended up being a good thing as we got into a great conversation with the folks at the next table.

They were from Baltimore and were planning to paint out at Ghost Ranch. And in a wonderful coincidence, it turned out that she interned with Textile Curator Linda Baumgarten at Colonial Williamsburg around the same time as I started working there … over 40 years ago! So of course I told them about my visit to the textile vault at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

We parted after dessert and then, on impulse, I went back in and asked if there was some way to contact them. With a wry look, Kathleen Kotarba said she had a website, but her husband Michael didn’t, although he could be searched online. And search for them I did …

It was the perfect lead-in to our last art-full day.