Why We Love Being Here

    Taos is world-renowned as a ski resort, an artists' paradise, and a spiritual mecca.  Although we expect we'll enjoy much of all of these assets while we're here, what we love about our new life here has nothing at all to do with Taos or New Mexico.  What we love is being part of moments like the ones in these photos.  

    Friends, family, and new acquaintances here (like the hairdresser yesterday) ask how we like New Mexico or living in Taos.  It's hard to answer--especially to local folk who are expecting us to comment on Taos' charm. The charm, for us, is in these faces--Esperanza's and Frankie's.  Whatever attraction Taos holds in store for us will forever be secondary to their pull on our hearts!  

Desert Delights

      In the morning and throughout the day, they bask in full sunlight and burst open like this:

 By evening, they seem to wither a bit as their energy wanes with the setting sun:

     You may already know--they are prickly pear cactus, abundant in our new environment.  We encounter them on almost every hike.  This particular patch is along the edge of our driveway.  They were just a spikey cactus when we moved in a few weeks ago.  One morning last week, I spied the yellow blossoms.  When I finally remembered in the evening that I wanted to photograph them, I discovered the change that occurs as the daylight fades.  Fascinating.

A Month Already!



(Just a youngster among these ancients!)

Can it be true?  Tomorrow, June 14, will be a month since the moving van arrived with our things!  In some ways, it seems longer than that, probably because we've been so busy--and not just with settling in, but with everyday things like grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning house, etc. as well as with spending time with Frankie and Esperanza, and getting to know our new hiking options in the mountains.  In other ways, it's hard to believe that we've already been living in New Mexico 2 full months.  I still find myself starting to write "Marquette, MI" when putting our return address on an envelope, or I reach for something in the bathroom where it would have been in Marquette.      
     We're not quite official residents of New Mexico yet, however.  We still need to get our drivers' licenses and vehicle registration changed.  That will probably make it official.  But we're getting awfully close--we not only have a NM address and phone number, we have finally also gotten our medical insurance switched.  Last Friday, Caryl received word of her acceptance with BCBSNM and today, we drove to Espanola to get Bob enrolled in the VA system in New Mexico.  (Espanola is about an hour and a beautiful drive away--much of the road travels along the route of, and sometimes parallels, the Rio Grande River.)  We stopped along the way a couple of times just for the view and were treated to the sight of some rafters in a rather calm section of their ride--which would have changed soon after we spotted them.
     Santa Fe is only another 45 minutes south of Espanola, so we decided to continue on our way and do a bit of shopping there.  Esperanza has been in Santa Fe a few times but this was our first time.  In fact, once we left Taos county, the entire trip was all new scenery for us; we enjoyed seeing more of our new state--including "camel rock," just north of Santa Fe.  On the way home, I recalled a remark Bob's sister Bette made recently--that whenever she has moved, it never quite felt like "home" until she went away and came back.  I'm not sure that's quite how I felt today--I still mostly feel like a stranger here--but it did feel good when we finally rounded a bend and recognized "Taos Mountain" ahead of us. 



Wish we could claim this was the 3 of us, but we were the onlookers!



Notice a bit of a "baby bump," almost 7 months along!




Looking north toward Taos.




Looking south toward Espanola and Santa Fe.



Surely you've guessed:  Camel Rock, north of Santa Fe.



    















 

      

    

    









The Undoing

     How delightful it is to see our pile of boxes shrinking.  We have less than 30 (of the original 90) to unpack and put away.  We have done a little "cheating," though.  Some boxes we've opened and simply stashed their contents away to deal with later.  Other boxes we've opened looking for specific items and then left the rest to unpack at another time.  That means we may actually have more than 30 boxes-worth of content to deal with--but at least the boxes are leaving the house.  Luckily, our new place comes with a small storage shed where we stash the boxes until we can get them to the recycling center in Taos.  We've already deposited about 4 carloads of boxes there.  We remember as we were packing all these up in Marquette with our dear friend and steady assistant, Pat, that she remarked how much more fun the unpacking was going to be; she definitely knew whereof she spoke!

What a Welcome!

Tonight, as Bob and I were settling in for our first night in our new home, we watched in awe from our front window as a full moon slid up through the cloud cover and over the mountaintops to the east. 

Turning Two

April 18 was Frankie's second birthday--as you can see, fun for all! 

Hiking the west rim of the Rio Grande Gorge

On a sunny day near the end of April, we went exploring along the west rim of the Rio Grande Gorge, located just 7 miles outside Taos and about 8 miles from our new abode.  Besides the Gorge itself and the magnificent views, the herd of nine big horned sheep that showed up as we were leaving was a highlight!