thursday thursday. mid july 2011

miss cv and the parrots

morning here in flagstaff, arizona.  at a howard johnsons.  we have a fridge and a microwave in the room so that’s nice.  i’m just realizing i had a dream last night where i made a home cooked meal and i was really excited about it.  …!  last night for reals i made gil and i nice sandwiches and was able to make miss cv noodles and carrots (not that one really makes raw carrots, but you know) — it felt like a home meal so that must have got my subconscious wandering down that road.

bunny ears, what else?

there are a couple new mexico events i still want to share.  man, i miss it already.  i don’t miss staying in the hotel so much, although it was very nice — the la quinta inn on san mateo ne if you’re looking for a cheap place to stay, that gets the hogfarm seal of approval.   (MAN, and i am bummed i didn’t get a photo with the young cholas that managed the place and took really good care of us.  and the maintenance hombre that kept the pool and surrounding area SPARKLING like it was his own.)

i digress.

santa fe street musician

that crazy state did it to me again, tho.  completely enchanted.  i feel like i didn’t do enough sprinting through the desert.  next time.  the landscape makes me heady.  it was so good to go back and spend time here and there.  the wild fires curtailed some of our plans…and miss cv’s desire to swim and swim and swim and swim kept us close to the hotel room, too.  which was just fine.  between the sun and the sun reflecting off the pool water, i am a deep shade of deep deep bronze that i’m not sure i’ve ever seen myself in before.  miss cv, too!  and gilberto looks all vato indio.  and my hair has all the highlights and golden tips that i totally forgot about since living out east.  hola, sol.

santa fe friends and group shot. miss cv was pretty much done with us by this point.

sandwiched between two albuquerque stays, we went up to santa fe and visited good friends we hadn’t seen in many years!  it was lovely seeing them and their home and slipping into a groove without missing a step.  again, i wish i got a shot of the tequila session after dinner.  but alas, we were busy.

miss cv in her new straw hat...

mami in her new straw hat...

papi in his $2 clearance-special new straw hat

the next day we didn’t have much of a plan but ended up just sitting under a tree in the plaza ..pretty much all day.  we chatted with lots of people, read, drew pictures, hung out with parrots, listened to various street musicians, bought cheap straw hats and had an amazing lunch at tia sadies.   it was lovely, rejuvenating and so very relaxing.

a new friend watched over belgui while we spent time at el sanctuario

after visiting our friends once more we headed north.  really wanted to go to the jemez and jemez springs, but the wild fires wouldn’t allow it.  so we drove up to chimayo and to the old sanctuario there.  even got to see father roca!  got our holy dirt (puro nuevo mexico-style) and decided to press on to taos.

it took her a while to warm up to the idea, but eventually she agreed to let the parrots hang out on her a bit!

taos is complicated.  not sure how it sits with me.  the area is lovely for sure, altho i think i prefer the landscape more to the south.  we just drove through and decided to head back to placitas for one evening.  we did stop along the road just south of pilar and spend about an hour watching the river and people drifting down in rafts and just loving that spot.  if we had planned it better, it would have been dreamy to find a camping spot in the area and just enjoy the river in the desert.  next time.

brushing raja on the road back from taos

today we’re headed up the mountain a bit from flagstaff.  i think our next two nights will be in a yurt!  and we’ll go say hi to the grand canyon.  more soon.

xoxo
coco

ACK!  i forgot the baby lizard shots!!  tomorrow!  actually, no signal at the yurt, but soon!!

 

wednesday wednesday. mid july 2011

miss cv hula-hooping against a new mexico sky. dinner at a friend's home in dtown albuquerque

ok. now that i reread it, that last post didn’t make much sense. or it wasn’t very well written. i’ll try to focus more for the next one. a combination of distraction and trying to cover too much. i might just have to stick to photos and captions and you can fill in the heretothere. ? tomorrow we leave nuevo mexico for arizona. i’m ready for the travel, but it’s absolutely bittersweet to leave…

y mas y mas

xoxo
coco

tuesday tuesday. late early july 2011

near los cuates after our first big new mexico meal...

we pulled into town and made our way to los cuates where cv had her first ever sopapilla with honey.  YUM.  whatever.

sopapilla!

drove around our old neighborhood and walked around campus – miss cv fell in LOVE with the duck pond where we saw …well, ducks, but also lots of turtles and HUGE koi and a tree decorated with hummingbirds!!!

on unm campus

it took our breath away — once we focused in we realized more and more and more !  campus was empty but lovely — a few popsicle vendors…no matter what i will always have a soft spot for unm.

our first apartment!

we stayed three glorious nights with our friends of almost twenty years in placitas.  they have a dreamy setup — high desert, mountain views all around (altho, sadly, new mexico is burning and the smoke obscured the jemez and los vegas views — that’s las vegas new mexico, not nevada…)

cv and auntie lala filling up the trough for the horses

we saw wild horses, cottontailed bunnies, all kinds of lizards, and best of all – a jackrabbit!!  cv was absolutely and especially psyched to see the jackrabbit – i hope s/he got a sense of what a superstar it is!

auntie lala and oliver meeting lily

for the fourth of july, miss cv, auntie lala and i went to the placitas parade.  placitas is a small village just north of albuquerque.  the parade was so funny, mostly fire trucks and a few other floats — but what really set it apart for me was the water balloon and supersoaker battle between the spectators and the folks in the parade.

at the parade

it was well over 90 degrees, prolly over 100 in the full sun – so getting doused in water was actually welcomed…after recovering from the shock.  but kids and adults alike were heaving waterballoons into the open fire truck windows and a steady stream of watergun firing at anyone sitting on a slow moving float…!  chaos!

the casita we stayed in, up the hill from linda and steve's - built by neighbor and ceramic artist, daisy. thank you, daisy, for the wonderful accomodations!

we cooked our july 4 feast indoors as outdoor cooking had been civic-ly nixed in most places.  which brings me to the fireworks that we went to see at the albuquerque balloon fiesta grounds that evening.  i’ll tackle that story tomorrow.  right now, the hotel pool is calling miss cv and i…!

miss cv and raja walking down the hill for breakfast at auntie lala's...

xoxo
coco

monday monday. early mid july 2011

our desert angel. she was thrilled with the wing'd look of her shadow.

oh man.  we’ve had so much fun since our new mexico arrival that i am crazy behind in blogposts.  can’t seem to focus long enough to write.  i’ll start to sum up the things we’ve been up to.  stayed in placitas for the july 4th holiday…a tricky thing in the bone dry, tinderbox southwest.  which made it even cooler.    and albuquerque, oh my.  i love it.  you fancy pants town, you.  all growed up now and i’m head over heels with you all suavicito.  oh, gotta go.  gil just got back with a twelver of cold tecates.  we’re staying at a koa and cv is down the way with her new friend at the playground trading eight year old stories.  this is total bliss.

xoxo
coco