The little church at Cañoncito, NM

We saw this little church yesterday when we were out driving around. It's just off I-25, in Cañoncito, just west of Glorieta, NM. There were no signs on it, so I don't know if it is still an active church or not. There were some newer gravestones in the churchyard, so apparently parishioners are still being buried there.

I love getting pictures of cool churches, and New Mexico is full of them.

The Eldorado Wilderness

Yesterday John, the dogs and I located all four trailheads of the Eldorado Community Preserve. What a great place!



The Eldorado Community Preserve consists of 4,094 acres of wilderness land adjacent to the subdivision of Eldorado at Santa Fe, and stretching all the way down to Lamy, NM. The land was deeded in perpetuity to the Eldorado Community Improvement Association (ECIA) as long as it is used only as a nature preserve.

One of the best amenities in Eldorado is this wilderness area, which is only for the use of Eldorado residents and our guests. It is a place of natural vegetation and wildlife. There are hiking trails and horse paths. We will be going there often!




The view from Starman's perspective:

We have a buyer!

After several days of negotiations back and forth, we have agreed with a buyer on terms to sell our house in Kansas.

It was on the market for 17 days, so we feel like that was extremely good based on today's market.

I think we will still hold our breath a little bit and not celebrate too much until we close on July 24. Then we will cheer!

A season of firsts

Here in a new home in a new state, it seems like everything we are doing is a "first".

First time to go to the local grocery stores (we have Albertson's and Smith's, and so far I like them equally.) First time to see my new endocrinologist as well as my new ophthamologist. First time to pick up prescriptions at the local CVS Pharmacy. Today was my first time to buy any plants in New Mexico - getting ready to start my herb garden. We've seen our first tiny lizard, our first robin, and heard our first mourning dove.



Two days ago we went to the Vista Grande Public Library for the first time. What a good amenity this is right here in Eldorado. It's a small library, but it looks more than sufficient to meet our needs. The building is new and staffed by volunteers from the Eldorado area. It has a small community friendly feeling. I grew up in a tiny town where the library was one of the anchors holding the town together and providing a hangout for local residents. I hope the Vista Grande Public Library will turn out to be like that library of my childhood.

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(Photo from Vista Grande Public Library website)

The roads to Taos

My son and daughter in law were here to deliver my car from Kansas and spend Memorial Day weekend with us. We took a ride up to Taos to show them the scenery. We went up by way of the low road and back along the high road. They thought the scenery was just gorgeous. I never get tired of the views in this part of the state.



"Looking at this sudden, definite, precise earth form, that towered there so still, I saw something again that I had never noticed in nature.It seemed to me that the mountain was alive, awake, and breathing. That it had its own consciousness. That it knew things .... The mountain seemed to smile and breathe forth an infinitely peaceful, benevelont blessing as the light faded away from it."
~~Mabel Dodge Luhan



"My eyes, and the eyes of all Taoseños, are forever attracted to the mountain. Nobody can travel the valley without centering off to its bold presence. It is the central symbol in our lives to which the eye is always drawn. Some of us may take it for granted, yet in our subconscious it breathes heavily, an exclusively solid shape in the otherwise ever-changing, sometimes ugly, often beautiful, and too often unfortunate landscape through which we travel."
~John Nichols



"Taos is not a city. Taos is not a town. Town is not even a place. Taos is a state of mind and a power center of the universe."
~Taos Mayor Phil Lovato

Moving Day

Our moving in day was Monday, May 19. The moving van could not back up our driveway, so they had to use a UHaul shuttle to transport everything. Long day!

Our large leather reclining sofa was a big problem for the movers. After consulting and trying several things to get it into the house, they finally decided to lift it over the courtyard wall. That worked!




BOXES EVERYWHERE!





The question now is ... how long will it take us to unpack ALL THIS STUFF?

HOME SWEET HOME

I am sitting at my computer in one of our spare bedrooms in Santa Fe, New Mexico. When I look out the window, I can see the Jemez Mountains to the west.

After all this time of preparation and planning and waiting, WE ARE FINALLY HERE!

Parts of the move went smoothly, parts did not. Parts of it were the week from hell. We didn't kill each other but we came close.(LOL)

Getting finished with the repairs, remodeling, and cleaning at our house in Kansas in preparation for putting it on the market was not fun. It was hard work and very exhausting and stressful. But it got finished, and the house was officially put on the market on May 16. It looked good.

On that same day, Friday, May 16, we pulled out of our driveway for the last time ... loaded down with a U-Haul trailer packed with some of our belongings, and with our dogs in the back seat of the truck, unaware of the long journey we were all undertaking.

The move itself went very well. The teams of packers and movers from United Van Lines were just great ... efficient, quick and friendly. The packers finished their work on Monday May 12, and the movers came on Weds. May 14 and got the truck loaded.

During that packing/loading week, I had time to spend a few lunches with Kansas friends saying more goodbyes. It was not nearly as hard as I expected. My focus now was on the move, and I was ready to go. Saying goodbye to the house where we lived for 28 years was a little sad, but not heart-breaking.

The first night, we got to Wichita, Kansas, and spent the night. The next day we drove through the rest of Kansas and crossed over the border into New Mexico at Clayton at 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time. The feeling was a little overwhelming ... after all these years of dreaming, the dream was a reality ~ we were New Mexico residents! We were going home!

We got to our house here in Eldorado at Santa Fe about 6:30 p.m. HOME.

It is hard to describe how it felt. Mostly it seemed like we were on one of our usual visits of several days and would be going back "home" to Kansas in several days.

The movers arrived on Monday morning, May 19, to deliver all of our household and personal belongings. They filled the house with furniture, washer, dryer, boxes, boxes, boxes, and still more boxes. The whole rest of that first week was spent unpacking, getting things settled and put in place, running errands into town for groceries, necessary stuff at Home Depot, Lowe's or Walmart. We were still tired, but now it was a nice we're-home-and-we're-making-a-new-life-tired.

Brian and Katy arrived on Friday of this past weekend, delivering my car from Kansas. We spent such a nice weekend with them. We ate at several New Mexican restaurants, did a little shopping, drove up to Taos to show them some of the spectacular scenery in this part of the state. We had several cookouts at the house. It was fun ... and a break from the unpacking for a few days. We took them to the Albuquerque Sunport on Monday for their flight back to Missouri.

Life is falling into a comfortable wonderful routine. Morning coffee on the front portal, looking at the mountains and watching the birds in our courtyard. Watching Starman hunt for lizards. Making runs into town for errands. A visit to my new endocrinologist for the first time. Enjoying the great weather here. Puttering around in the flower gardens which need a lot of work. Watching the sunsets and the stars at night. Getting back online and getting caught up on the two websites where I am moderator, answering emails, and finally getting to write this blog entry.

At I sit here typing, we are under a tornado watch ~~ didn't I leave the tornadoes behind in Kansas? I can see the storm moving from south to north across the Jemez Mountains. Quite a show.

Each day seems more and more like we are *home* here. Most mornings when we get up we look at each other and say something like "Just another typical day in Paradise" and smile.

HOME. Such a lovely lovely word.