Our first month in

Well, we have just completed our first month in New Mexico.

The main focus for the past month has been unpacking all of our belongings and getting the house settled. We are probably about 90% unpacked now, and have found a place for everything. The house looks good.

It’s a great house – open and airy and spacious and very southwestern. It fits our lifestyle very well – and it feels right.

John’s big focus has been adjusting to retirement, realizing that life from now on will be much different than the past 40 years. I know some days he misses his work, but he will learn new ways to fill his life. My own lifestyle has changed a lot as well – from the constant go-go-go of life in Kansas, to a much slower pace.

We are adapting to life here. Because of the high gas prices and the fact that Santa Fe is 12 miles away, it means that trips into town have to be planned out … and we try to go only a couple times a week to do all of our errands.

So far we have stuck to the restaurants which are old favorites. But soon we will branch out to try others on our long list. There is never a lack for good places to eat in Santa Fe – and the problem is deciding which one to go to next!

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the two yards, working on my flowers, and learning what I have there – identifying all the perennials and bushes and trees, watching to see what is going to bloom next. I am amazed all the time at the tenacity and resilience of xeric plants which bloom – thrive even – in this desert climate with little water. Monsoon season is coming soon, and I am anxious for our lawns and gardens to get some water.

Yesterday John hung two hummingbird feeders in trees in our lawns, and we are awaiting our first visitors.

Best parts of the day? Early morning – sitting out on the front portal, drinking my morning coffee and listening the birds chirping – and realizing that other than the birds, everything is quiet here. It is relaxing and rejuvenating.

Other best time of the day – the evening – eating supper out on the portal, then sitting outside with a good book or watching the sun set behind the Jemez Mountains to the west. And listening to the quiet.

I guess the main word for our first month here is: PEACEFUL.