John DeWitt McKee

Quoted in The Spell of New Mexico, reprinted from the New Mexico Quarterly 27, no.3 (Autumn 1957):

"It is the land that holds us here. It is the unrelenting land, this great fierce, challenging, canyon-gutted, mesa-muscled land, which holds us and gives us space enough to write a life on--and leaves it to us whether we have courage enough and faith to fill the page."

~~John DeWitt McKee~~

The Spell of New Mexico

I recently discovered the coolest little book to add to my New Mexico collection. The name of it is The Spell of New Mexico. It was published in 1976 by The University of New Mexico Press. It's a collection of essays about the state, and was edited by Tony Hillerman. The essays were primarily written in the 1950s, by such writers as D.H. Lawrence, Conrad Richter, C.G. Jung, Ernie Pyle, and others.

What is striking to me about the book is that although the essays were written 60 years ago, they are as up to date and timeless as though they were written last week. Most of them are just so delightful to read, describing the New Mexico I have known and loved for many years. How wonderful to know that others in the past have felt the same way, and have recorded their thoughts to preserve the spirit of NM for those of us who have follwed. The book is full of wonderful quotes; I am going to post some of them here in the coming days.

More New Mexico dreaming

It's a cold gloomy day with sleet falling where I am ... a nice morning to think about sunny New Mexico.

These pictures were taken in October 2007 along NM Rt. 3, near Villanueva State Park. That north-south road from I-25 west of Las Vegas to I-40 east of Albuquerque is one of the most scenic drives in northern NM.

I wish I were there right now.

Soon.

The Dow Jones and me.

I haven’t been here for a long time. Just didn’t have the energy to be real positive about things.

I really know practically nothing about the stock market, but I do know my husband. And when he looks worried, I worry.

Seems like we have spent way too long now watching the stock market and where it seems to be headed. For a while things were getting so bad I was envisioning my dream home becoming a two-room abode “fixer-upper”. haha…nervous laugh…

Things are a little better now. The market seems to have stabilized some and we didn't lose our shirts. The houses in Eldorado are coming down a little in price … and there are more of them going on the market every day.

We are taking advantage of a great buyer’s market….and when we make our trip to Santa Fe later this month, looks like we are in a good position to find a house that is just what we are looking for.

IF Wall Street cooperates.

The waiting game

I started this blog five months ago to chronicle our move to New Mexico.

Now I am getting impatient; things seem to happen so slowly. I feel we are doing more waiting than actual activity.

We ARE working on our house here in the midwest to get it ready to put on the market in a couple of months. Because the real estate market is SO depressed, we feel like the best way to compete and get a somewhat quick sale is to have the house in perfect condition. It’s an almost 50-year old house and so there is a LOT to be done. We are getting there, but sometimes the progress seems so slow. And you have to spend so much money in remodeling to make money. Right now our kitchen is undergoing remodeling - it's easy to see the dollars add up!

The other activity we are able to do is downsizing our belongings and packing. I have been doing this for way over a year now, but I am still finding things to toss out or give to my favorite local charity.

We will take a trip to Santa Fe in less than two months to look at the available houses in Eldorado, and hopefully (fingers crossed) find the perfect one! It’s a buyer’s market, so we have a lot of houses to choose from and some have been on the market for a long, long time, and some have had their price reduced several times. So not only is there a pretty large inventory, but I think we can offer a little less than the asking price and possibly get it accepted.

Once the house is bought, we can actually plan the date for our move. I am hoping for May, but I think June will be more likely. Gosh, that still seems like a long way off! I am trying not to be impatient as we play the waiting game...

Hi, Bag Blog

I am adding Bag Blog to my list of favorite New Mexico blog sites. She is not in New Mexico, but grew up there, and that's good enough for me!

The new year and our new adventure

WOW. It’s the new year! It’s 2008!!!

2008 is the year that we expect to change our lives.

My husband will retire in 2008, we will put our house here in the Midwest up for sale, we will buy a house in New Mexico and we will move to Santa Fe.

What I am hoping for is not a year of stress, but a year of anticipation and excitement and fun as our adventure takes place. Our dream comes true in 2008.

Here is the status of our hunt for the perfect house for us: In October 2007, we looked at 14 houses in Eldorado at Santa Fe, New Mexico. We narrowed our search down to about 6 houses we really liked, never dreaming months later any of them would still be for sale.

As of yesterday when I checked, five of the houses are still listed for sale. One has been removed from the market. The price of four of them has been lowered. Several new listings look interesting, so it looks like we will still have a good number to choose from...all of which have the main features we are looking for.

Our house-hunting trip to New Mexico will be in just a couple of months. I’m ready! I’m so ready to get on with it!

In my kitchen on a shelf I have a small covered wagon which I bought some years ago. On its side it says “Santa Fe or Bust”, and it has been a talisman for me, the symbol of our big move west.

And now it is happening. It’s 2008 and it is finally happening!