Back in Santa Fe (3)

Monday, March 17, 2008

I am back in Santa Fe and doing just fine. Sunday and Monday were fairly quiet days. I made friends with some nice people from Albuquerque at breakfast. They were staying in Mable’s room, and had forgotten to bring their camera, so I went up there and took a bunch of pictures.

There is an adjacent bathroom—all glass windows painted by DH Lawrence. The door was open, so we were able to peek in and take some pictures.

I spent much of the day reading, sadly a rather unusual occurrence for me these days. Felt very decadent. Later in the afternoon when I could feel that I was stiffening up from sitting too long, I went down to the plaza and walked through some of the stores. Picked up some dinner and spent the rest of the night finishing my book (Mable’s account of Lawrence in Taos: I must say they seem like a pretty emotionally immature bunch—everyone jealous of everyone else and going into sulks, refusing to speak because they’ve been slighted in some ways. Makes me very thankful for my friends.) and refining the pictures I’d taken to give to my new friends.

I didn’t bother lugging my laptop to the main room until Monday morning, so was late finding out some sad news. My best friend in Seattle, Mona’s, mom had died the day before. I have been close to the family for over 40 years, so this was pretty upsetting to me. Her husband Jim had gone into the hospital last spring break and had died shortly thereafter. Bea was fairly fragile, had been on oxygen for years for her emphysema and had weathered breast cancer. At Christmas she had been still very sad over Jim’s death; she just kept slipping away, getting small colds, and finally a pneumonia that put her into the hospital.

I drove out of Taos, stopping at the famous (and very beautiful) Los Rancheros Church, in the shadow of whose tranquil bulk, I called Mona on my cell and got the full story on her mom. I drove back to Santa Fe on the “River Road,” with spectacular views of the Rio Grande River Gorge.

Came back to Adobe Abode to a fabulously luxurious room. They’ve got a group of families with 13-year old boys staying in the main house, so gave me a free upgrade to “Cactus”—my own little adobe cottage. It is all done in shades of aqua, and is huge and roomy, with a sofa, fireplace, and shower big enough for several people.

I kind of took the rest of the day off, but did do a lot of catching up on e-mails. The Woolf conference does want me to docent the tour to Santa Fe after the conference, and my Australian friend Suzanne is definitely coming—which will make the whole excursion a wild adventure. Suzanne would have immediately bonded with Jamaica Kincaid, for instance… Considering all the crazy karmic stuff that always happens around here, I am anticipating some real fireworks. And she will keep the bus amused on the six-hour road trip from Denver.