More quotes

From Georgia O'Keeffe, on the Cerro Pedernal in the Jemez Mountains near her home in Abiquiu:

"It's my private mountain. It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a letter to her husband Arthur Steiglitz in New York, O'Keeffe wrote in 1937 from Abiquiu:

"I've been up on the roof watching the moon come up--the sky very dark--the moon large and lopsided--and very soft--a strange white light creeping across the far away to the dark sky--the cliffs all black--it beautiful."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

O'Keeffe's friend, writer D.H. Lawrence wrote this about Taos, New Mexico:

"Never is the light more pure and overweening than there, arching with a royalty almost cruel over the hollow, uptilted world. It is so easy to understand that the Aztecs gave hearts of man to the sun...it is of a brilliant and unchallengeable purity and haughty serenity which would make one sacrifice the heart to it."

Georgia's opinion of New Mexico

Georgia O'Keeffe was enchanted with New Mexico from her very first visits, and kept returning for many years until she moved here permanently in the 1940s.

On one of her early visits, she commented on her painting in the state:

"Half your work is done for you in New Mexico. Well. Well. Well. This is wonderful. No-one told me it was like this!"

Problems with my blog

What in the world is going on with Google?

I have been trying to post pictures of spring flowers around my house for several weeks now, and finally have given up because the pictures will not post.

So instead I made a post about the Georgia O'Keefe book I am reading, and though I typed the post in paragraphs it is all jumbled together and I cannot edit successfully.

They apparently have switched the posting system, and it is nearly impossible to figure out, and when I thought I did, the post still does not look the way I typed it.

Bear with me....I am not giving up.

I will try another post soon and hope things go better.

(I am almost afraid to hit "publish" on this post and find that all the paragraphs I typed are jammed together into one paragraph.)

On Edit: I find that if I type in the paragraphs in HTML code it works. Is anyone else having this problem?,

Georgia O'Keeffe: Portrait of an Artist

I have been reading "Georgia O'Keeffe: Portrait of an Artist by Laurie Lisle.

To me, O'Keeffe is one of the most fascinating individuals to call New Mexico home.

After a long and successful career in New York City, she moved to New Mexico permanently at the age of 62, and lived here for the remainder of her life. She bought a ranch near Abiquiu, NM in the northern part of the state, and lived out the rest of her life there, painting landscapes and flowers and cattle skulls.

She was a fascinating woman, coming of age in a time where women were not always allowed to perform successfully as men. She was one of the first famous female painters in the United States.

My favorite part of the book was the second half, in which biographer Laurie Lisle chronicles O'Keeffe's years in New Mexico.

I recommend the book.

Cerro Pedernal, the mountain George O'Keefe loved, and where her ashes are scattered:

"Poor New Mexico...."

The following quote was attributed to Manuel Armijo (c. 1793 - 1853), a New Mexican soldier and statesman who served three times as governor of New Mexico:

"Poor New Mexico! So far from heaven and so close to Texas."

Sorry, Texans, no offense intended - just thought it was a funny quote. LOL

It's Crazy Time in Santa Fe.

January every year brings around the crazy season in Santa Fe as the state legislature is back in session.

Big news this session is that longtime Speaker of the House Ben Lujan will not see re-election in the fall because he is battling lung cancer.

Second biggest news seems to be the complete impasse between the Democrats who control the legislature, and Governor Susana Martinez who governs the state from the executive branch. The impasse hurts all of us, as nothing is being accomplished in getting good legislation passed.

A side story during this session was that a group of Republican legislators who were attending a private dinner at the Eldorado Hotel were surrounded by an unruly crowd of Occupy Santa Fe protestors who draped yellow crime tape over the diners, and injured a guest of State Rep. Bill Rehm, hitting her with a menu and injuring her eye.

On the opening day of the session on Jan. 17, tea party groups from all over the state assembled for a rally at the west entrance of the Roundhouse, and Occupy protestors had their own rally on the east steps.

Here are some pictures I took of the tea party rally:

Yep. Crazy days in Santa Fe.



Dax Contreras of Los Hispanos Unidos:



Santa Fe TEA Party table:


Santa Fe TEA Party activists Orlando Baca and Sherry Morrison:


Lt. Gov. John Sanchez:


State Representative Jim Smith:


Energy guru Marita Noon:


Honoring our military vets:

Happy Birthday New Mexico! 100 years of Statehood..

New Mexico was admitted to the union 100 years ago today, on January 6, 1912, as the 47th state.

When John and I moved here in 1970, New Mexico had already been a state for 58 years. We fell in love with this land of enchantment, and dreamed for 38 more years of returning here to live. In 2008, we made our dream come true, and New Mexico became our adopted home by choice. I have never been disappointed one single time about our decision to move to this state - it turned out to be far better than we even dreamed it would be.























HAPPY STATEHOOD, NEW MEXICO!

Great blessings and much happiness to all my blogger friends in the New Year!

May 2012 be a good year for all of us!