The Body Gift

I worked on the novel all weekend. And it was good. All day Saturday we sat under the grape arbor. I wrote, David worked on a project for his herb class and Isabel hunted a packrat through the grape vines. All day, she hunted this rat. At one point, it came crashing through the leaves, hit the ground and dashed…

Swarms and Sobriety

Saturday night over the weekend turned out to be so gorgeous that we scrapped our plans to eat at the delicious-but-no-ambiance Mariscos la Playa and instead drove out to Rancho de Chimayo, to enjoy their lovely patio. On the way back, they had all highway traffic funneled through a sobriety checkpoint. My mom and Dave were horrified, because they’d asked…

Blooming Right Along

The cholla are fulfilling their early promise and have burst into full bloom. Some cholla more than others, which I never quite understand. It’s the same with our desert four o’clocks out front. Ours are big and lush, but haven’t bloomed while smaller (and larger) clumps unattended out in the desert are blooming away. There’s almost certainly a reason, but…

Solstice Calendar

Yesterday was Summer Solstice. The longest day of the year, somehow both Midsummer and First Day of Summer. Thus do science and tradition collide. For the last couple of days, the setting sun has come squarely in our western bedroom window and cast long rays right on the fireplace screen on the living room kiva. Our own Solstice calendar it…

Write Fatgirl Write!

So, I might have overtrained. Yesterday I crashed a bit. I could tell when I started that I wasn’t up to par. Some days I can just feel it, that the words aren’t going to flow. I don’t want it to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, so I make myself write anyway. But I’m not sure that’s best. For some reason,…