Nomad Dreaming: April 2017

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Horned moon

Waning moon stealing in as day dawns (no filter).

The crescent horned gift that comes to the early riser

While others marched for science

Spotted on the side of the road in south western Colorado.

I thought the creaks and rustles were just the spirits of the old apartment talking. I thought the noises were just building materials shifting with the arc of daily temperatures that comes with desert living.

Turns out I have been sharing living quarters with diminutive housemate.

The could explain why neighborhood cats have been so attentive.

A garden path to lead me up

Another bit of the path laid down first weekend in April. Looking a bit like a giant worm from a certain angle.

Perfect shade of pink

Two and a half months after I should have made it, I finally got this project done on a quick little two day retreat at the desert casita, early April.

My brown wool Pendleton stetson served me well in the snow on January 21, (see here ) but I felt I had to make myself a pussy hat. Especially after I found a skein of the perfect shade of pussy (hat) pink, in what looks like organic dyed, hand spun wool, in a thrift store in Durango, CO.

How many seas must a white dove sail

Looked up and there was a vision of a 1969 El Camino just sitting there on the side of the road begging me to come closer.

Dream rides in the desert don't come classier.

How many roads: Las Vegas, New Mexico

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman)

Respecting guests since 1882

Don't look now but there's a mountain goat behind you. What's not to love about this beastie who hangs out at the reception desk, Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas, New Mexico?

Angles and stairwells

Fine dining

Before embarking on this journey, I did an internet search for vegetarian options in Las Vegas, New Mexico. I discovered that the breakfast menu at the Plaza Hotel included a tofu scramble. Oh! joy! What a gracious setting. I was there as soon as the doors opened.

Unfortunately that online information turned out to be dated (never believe everything you read on the internet).

The current incarnation of Plaza Hotel breakfast menu is very New Mexican meat and eggs style cuisine.

Thus the breakfast dish had to be tweaked: no chorizo, no bacon, no eggs...It left me with this delicious plate. I also learned that house potatoes are called "papitas" in New Mexico. And take the place of hash browns. And they are delicious with green chile. Of course.

Where's Walt? Putting the fact in fiction.

An early morning walkabout shows the Absaroka County sheriff's office in fine light.

Imma just gonna hang here in my hat 'n boots. MaybeWalt Longmire comes by and asks me for coffee.

Over a hundered years of hospitality.

My bivouac for a few nights in early April: the historic Plaza Hotel, from a time when Las Vegas NM was bigger than Albuquerque.

The Plaza Hotel is adjacent to the Absaroka County Sheriff's Office.

Amongst other famous people, Michelle Obama stayed at the Plaza Hotel in October 2008, on the campaign trail for her husband.

The bed is too soft and poufy for my liking, but was fit for a soon-to-be First Lady.

The rooms are uniquely decorated in a combination of vintage period and Santa Fe style, imparting a definite sense of place.

Cigar smoke swirls up from the saloon at the front. Said saloon can get noisy if one has the room above it.

Monday, April 17, 2017

Walking with the dead

When my dear dear friend, Mary Louise, aka Dottie Mae, once heard I was going to be in the vicinity of Santa Fe, she said: "Oh you have to see Tent Rocks and Las Vegas, New Mexico."

It has taken me a few years, and we have had to say goodbye to ML in the interregnum, but I did get to keep my promise made to her.

I finally got to spend a few hours hiking in Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument en route to a conference in Las Vegas, New Mexico.

I was not disappointed. The spirit of ML was was me every step in this place of magic.

Hundreds of photographs later, these are just a random scattering. Really the place defies words or images. The real power in the experience is beingness: a true landscape of utter presence. Quirky. Monumental. Mysterious. Alien. Ringing silence. Familiarity. Homecoming.

If wishes were horses

Street name in Pena Blanca, en route to Kasha Katuwe National Monument

Pink moon rising

Pink petal confetti walk

Still pink

And then she was full.

Feasting

Lunch in Annapurna's World Vegetarian Cafe, Santa Fe, where the manager recognizes my KZN/Durban accent ( a first in 17 years) says he is the cousin of Jay Naidoo, THE Jay Naidoo of COSATU.