A Loving Farewell To Will

For those who knew Willy the Cat, you will be saddened to hear that he took his last purr today. To make a sad story short he got extremely sick a few days ago. Midsummer 2012 did in fact feel like the longest day of the year in this house as we watched him decline all too quickly. Though the vet tried and speculated, there was really nothing we could do but put him to rest right around 10am this morning. He was 12 years, 3 months and 8 days old. 

Willy was a hellian of a cat and he kept it no secret...unless he was luring you in to swipe at you. It was a game for more than one friend of ours to do everything they could to get him to like them enough to not draw blood. Whether he chose to roll in your flip flop, rub on your handbag or head butt your feet, if he liked you he showed it. We always feel most fortunate to win the affections of the difficult critters. High as he was on the difficult scale, for Tim and I and a fortunate few he was loving and a great big crack up. Twenty-one pounds in his heyday. Our big fattie.

We buried him in our new yard next to where I want to put my vegetable garden in the spring. He didn't get to go outside for the first 12 years but he spent the last 3 months in NM rolling in the dirt, chasing lizards and loving every minute of it. I think if he had stayed he would've liked to hang out with us in the garden. And there he is.

So, great cat of many nicknames, we send you off to the next adventure with a whole lot of love. You will be missed terribly. We hope that you get to come back as a dog next time.

Phase 3: Durango Relocation

The cottonwoods are blowing soft white flakes through the air like it were a snowy December afternoon. The juniper beetles are click-tick-clicking, the locusts buzzing away. Hummingbirds keep their racket up by the feeders and in the nearby trees and a Say's Phoebe has little baby birds in a nest on the porch of the big house. The sky is overcast and the wind is still - Wendy calls this California Weather. I can literally get tan lines after 10 minutes in the sun. It's getting hotter by the day but last night we enjoyed a cool and delicious breeze....when it wasn't too windy to open the windows. The late spring is in full swing in northern NM, and I'M READY TO LEAVE AND MOVE INTO MY NEW PLACE! WOOOOO HOOOOOOO!!!!

Tim and I initially saw the rental listing at least a month ago and, for whatever reason, we didn't call. Maybe because we didn't expect to have neighbors on our property. Maybe because the photos of the place were unflattering. Maybe it was just divine timing. Either way, when Tim finally did talk to the landlord for the first time they spent quite a while on the phone together. That was a mere two weeks ago. This last Saturday evening, the two of us drove up to Durango to meet our new landlords and our new neighbors and sign a year lease on our beautiful new home. If Tim can get enough done on this big cabinetry job he's working on we will start moving carloads as soon as this weekend.

It's a two-story house on 2.5 acres of property surrounded by trees about 3 minutes drive to Home Depot and maybe 8 minutes to Main Street, Durango. We are in the downstairs unit which is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath place of about 1300 sq feet. The master bedroom has it's own attached bath and a big walk-in closet. The 2nd bathroom has a washer and dryer in it. One of the bedrooms will be used as the new Moonstar Charms official headquarters - the one on the east side so I get lots of light in there through the morning and afternoon. Tim is renting half the garage as a work space which is going to require insulation and a space heater in the next few months. The fridge is new. I'll have a functioning dishwasher for the first time in my life. The concrete covered deck is gigantic and overlooks wild lawn, then trees, then hills, then mountains. There is a ranch on the side of the far hill offering distant views of lush green pastures. There is already a small fenced area that has been used as a vegetable garden but (of course) I've already figured out where I want to plot my own - right next to an area that would be perfect for a picnic table. When I asked the landlord about putting a garden in, he said, "As a general rule you guys can do whatever you want as long as you leave the place nicer than it is now." I said that was pretty much our life motto. I'm gonna get a hammock and I'm gonna plant lavender and other smelly flowers near it and I'm gonna get patio furniture and..and...and....and I can't wait!

The upstairs unit is a two bedroom and the couple who live there just moved in this last weekend - they were moving stuff when we were introduced. They are also new to Durango from Colorado Springs and they both seem incredibly sweet, friendly and a little shy. Their master bedroom is sectioned off and that is where our landlords stay when they come to visit...which means there will only be life above our bedroom a few times a year. Tim and I had a lovely dinner with the landlords Saturday night.

Even though I really liked this place from the first time I saw it, I only wanted it to work out if it was right for us. I didn't want to will it to happen out of sheer impatience. So, in my regular chats with The Powers That Be, I asked to please make it obvious if it was right and I promised to wait patiently if it wasn't. When we walked down Main Street on a perfect Sunday morning to meet up for coffee and to sign our lease I was walking on air. It looked like a scene in a Nora Roberts romance novel: quaint shops, restaurants bustling with people, locals on bicycles, tourists with cameras around their neck looking everywhere except where they're walking....this is my town. On our way back to NM we stopped by the house to take some pictures....this is my home. It is all seeming so very right and words like excitement and gratitude are not even big enough for what I'm feeling.

Oh, I've also hosted a ladies tea for my 36th birthday, played some spades, knitted some stuff, made a whole lotta jewelry, stayed at Tim's parents' cabin in Chama, saw an eclipse, spent some time in Santa Fe with Adam and Dionne and in Albuquerque with Marisa and David, and joined a wine club. Not in that order.

Love you, miss you.

A small portion of our deck and view. The door is behind me and to my right. New morning coffee spot! And cocktail hour spot...and grilling spot....and afternoon nap spot.....

If you're standing on the deck looking out, this area is to the left. It's gonna be so preeetyyyyy.

Standing at the front door looking in. The owners want to replace the linoleum with tile (even though the linoleum is in good shape) and Tim is going to put new cabinet doors in the kitchen. They left that table for now since we don't have one yet.

Standing in the kitchen looking at the living room. The front door is to the right. That's a pellet stove - it is electric, works as a central heater and runs on pellets - each bedroom has it's own thermostat (so you can turn yours all the way up, Mom).

My soon to be office.

Enjoying a glass of wine in the shade with David and Marisa at the Wine & Balloon Fiesta.

The tents on the right were where the wineries were giving tastings. That balloon was up all of 5 minutes. Who plans a balloon fiesta during high wind season in NM? Lame.

My pretty table for my pretty tea. It was Wendy, Joanie, "Aunt" Linda, Dionne, Marisa and myself. I made 4 different types of tea sandwiches, a crab salad and a pureed vegetable soup. Marisa made a FANTASTIC cheesecake and thanks to Dionne we also had about 30 different teas to choose from.

Just after my tea, the Hassemers migrated to the gazebo to watch what I dubbed as the Solar Eclipse of the Heart. Yes, we did listen to the song while the eclipse took place.

Back-lit gazebo

What you can't see unless you have several pairs of sunglasses on.

Post-eclipse sunset.

My birthday - Tim taking photos of copulating insects in the rose garden of a local winery. (Yes, really.)

Chatterbox hummingbird

Rainy Day Un-Blues

I just sat on the little bench outside on our covered porch and let a thunderstorm engage the senses. I watched two birds fly together across the arroyo, presumably towards shelter. I watched the dirt turn to mud, spot by spot, drop by drop. I listened as the almost nonstop thunder rippled its way across the sky being chased by lightning in the distance. I watched the plants do a happy dance in the rain. The breezes blowing through were being kind - its cold enough to chill the nose but warm enough that everything else is comfortable. It smells like crisp, fresh life. Places like this are living, breathing poetry.

June marks the beginning of rainy season in Durango and I have high hopes to watch storms blow by while sitting on my own porch bench (though I'd prefer a padded swing) next month. The house hunt is still going - being that we're looking for very specific things it's not as quick as it could've been. We want 2 bathrooms, we want a garage, we don't want neighbors, we don't want to pay $1500 a month. It's all do-able - we'll just have to keep looking daily like we have been. Fingers crossed, everyone! I'm READY!

Last weekend we spent 2 days with Adam and Dionne in Santa Fe. Adam helped Tim with Marisa's kitchen so Tim paid him back by helping Adam with some fix-ups including cutting down an unruly tree. Dionne and I helped by drinking beer and knitting little animals to donate to kids in Equador. Details on that to come but first I'll say we had a great time with them and are already looking forward to next time.

We followed up those 2 days with 2 days at the parents' little cabin in the woods in Chama, NM. It was an excellent location for my imagination's horror film sequel. The rabid dogs were taken care of in the first mental movie but I'm still not done uncovering the types of madness that can happen at a place like that creepy little cabin. It was just creepy enough to be fun and not so creepy that I lost sleep. Tim and I had a great time - Tim built a log bench in front of the cabin and we did lots of loafing, guitar playing, cribbage playing and more knitting of small things.

On to that - Marisa is traveling to Equador in September on a hospital mission trip. They are performing surgery on 40+ kids over the course of one week and being that hospitals across the globe are all cold, I've campaigned for my creative friends and family to make hats, little blankets, booties, etc. for the kids. If we end up with lots more than we need (which would be amazing) there is a nursery at the hospital and there is also a girl who will be volunteering at a local orphanage. Whether you sew, knit, crochet or...whatever else....if you want to donate something that would be awesome. If you want to send me yarn that would also be a great and appreciated contribution.

I'm hosting a little birthday tea party here with some ladies on the 20th if anyone wants to surprise me and show up. 2pm. I'll make extra sandwiches. ;)

Till next time, love you, miss you.

Are you tired of sunset photos yet? I'm not.

Sadie is Marisa's dog. She wants to meet my cats. Zena declined the invitation.

I call this one Cinco de Liono. Last Saturday evening at Adam and Dionne's.

The bench that Tim made at the creepy cabin.

NOW are you tired of sunset pics? Me neither.

So here's one more for ya.

One Month and 6 Days in NM

Go on, scroll to the end. I know you just want to see pictures. :)

We arrived yesterday from another 3-day venture to Durango. As we approached our destination there were dark clouds that looked threatening but didn't shed any rain. Breaks in the clouds displayed bright white fluffy linings with a perfect deep blue sky behind. Everything there right now is the vibrant yellow-green of spring. Google "spring", people of Los Angeles. It is a real season that exists in certain US locations and it is spectacular where we are headed. Lush green pastures with horses and/or cows stretch off into the hills of the nearer distance and the mountains further off. Lakes, rivers, streams, creeks - some different body of water seems to lie around every bend. I felt like a broken record for the 3 hour drive, oohing and aahing about how beautiful it was up there. I still can't believe it.

Things are looking good all around. We made friendly conversation with a couple who owns a nice vineyard and have a lovely wine tasting room in town (Brian and Michelle will be proud of our priorities). They just opened their Durango location in December so they offered lots of helpful advice on house and storefront hunting and Tim immediately went on his phone to see what craigslist had to offer. One 6 year old housing community consists of 30 green-built energy efficient houses in two sections of a 250 acre working organic farm. We drove up a dirt road past horses, llamas and incredible scenery. The 3 bedroom, 2 bath 1300 sq foot house was renting for $1395. The 1 bedroom apartment was $600. I actually just took a break and got totally distracted on craigslist again. We aren't going to have ANY trouble finding an awesome place to live. We also have some phone calls in to different commercial listings on Main St, one in particular that seemed to be a good size for us.

Turns out there are a lot of college students in Durango. Which kind of annoys me. Which I'm pretty sure means I'm getting old.

But, onward and upward...literally. Have I mentioned that the town of Durango is just over 6500 feet? Yeah. The good news is you can get a cardio workout just getting out of bed to pee in the middle of the night. I'm thankful for my 5800 foot Medanales interim time. It seems I needed the training of just standing up and sitting down in higher altitude. I think I'm pretty much used to it now until I work out. My stamina is getting better but I'm huffing and puffing like a 90 year old smoker after about 5 minutes of labor. Hey, at least I'm burning calories.

We are officially cozy enough in the guest house to be happy when we return. It's too remote to stay but I've become really attached to the serenity that open land brings. I think I just like feeling "home", wherever home happens to be at the time.

Separating ones self from a place one has called home for 35 years makes for some interesting inner dialog. At least it does if you're me. I've considered myself to be an individual and pretty independent lady for many years. But when the family and friends who have played a role in defining you aren't there all the time to remind you of who you are, you start to really feel the whole "on your own" thing. Beyond the moments of doubt which I think are perfectly normal in my situation, I thankfully seem to still be me.

A story to close: I've had a sharp eye out for the stupid violent dogs on the corner. Haven't seen them bark at a SINGLE car. Not one. Actually I've only seen them out once - a couple of days ago - and they were lying down in the yard looking harmless. I was just thinking it was a fluke when Wendy tells us that she saw those dogs walking through our back yard a few days after the near attack. DUN DUN DUUUUUUN! This, of course, immediately turns into a Cujo-style horror movie in my mind where these dogs are stalking us and waiting for the perfect moment when I'm alone and vulnerable. Can you see it? I'm outside watering my plants, quietly humming to myself, wind chimes softly tinkling....nobody else is home....cut to rabid dog's point of view panting in the bushes, watching me....the wind picks up and I think I hear something...I turn around slowly....cut to dog's point of view racing towards me, three other dogs in tow, lunging as I scream...aaannnnd cut! Don't worry. I kick all kinds of ass in my horror movies. I save the day. You know me. I'd never kill myself off in a story. But I'd kung fu kick the crap out of a few psycho dogs and maybe some stupid owners - oops, sorry. I'll let it go now.

Till next time, love you, miss you.

I took this from the passenger seat on our way home yesterday. There's not even any filters on it - this is really how it looked.

Here's a NM storm blowing through. I posted these pics in the order they were taken over the course of about half an hour. Pointed the camera all over the place because the 360 view is so totally different.

Tim in the gazebo looking at.....

a rainbow.

And here's a little game I like to play when Tim's in the arroyo. Where's Tim?

Recent local wildlife -

Phil the bullsnake says hello by hissing loudly and shaking his rattler. He is intimidating but not venemous. Seems to be living in a hole off the walkway by the big house. The parental Hassemers tell  us they've never seen a snake up here before. Guess they were waiting for us to get here. Phil is about 5 1/2 feet long. Yes, holy shit. I agree.

This was in the kitchen of the big house. I can't believe the cat hadn't gotten to it yet and I don't know which is luckier for that - the cat or the spider. Tim was sure this was part of the tarantula family but it turns out it's a type of wolf spider, of which there are numerous species in NM. There's a penny in the upper part of the frame but Tim ended up cropping most of it out so you could get a good look at the spider. It's body was a little longer the penny. Yes, holy shit. I totally agree.

Tim eating the bunny food that Wendy puts out. No, not really. Good pic though, huh?

An Eventful Day

I had enough happen today that I thought it would be a good time to catch up. Well...I guess it was only two eventful things that happened today but one of them was an adrenaline filled self-defense experience and the other covered me in dirt. But I'll get to all that later. 

The last week and a half was as nice as the previous few weeks before it. We spent an evening in Albuquerque at Marisa's house collaborating on the GIANT job we'll all be working on this weekend: renovating her kitchen. Tim built an amazing, inventive and beautiful 5' by 5' island. Over the course of 4 days her asbestos ceiling needs to be scraped (which is a job I am going to respectfully bow out of), a wall needs to be torn down (which I'd surely injure myself doing), the island needs to be reassembled (which Tim would never let me touch), new tile needs to be put in (which I don't know the first thing about) and the garden needs to be weeded and planted which (hooray!) I am more than happy to do single-handed. I got some practice planting a tree in the front yard and potting some flowers for the front of the guest house. It's been an impossibly long time since I'd left an area of earth prettier than it was when I found it and I'd forgotten how gratifying it is for me. I'm looking forward to doing more of it in the next few days.

Easter was great. Just the parents, the siblings, the significant others and Joanie. I made deviled eggs with duck eggs and decided they should never be eaten any other way. Drank Bloody Marys, ate lamb and potatoes, sat on the gazebo with Tim playing guitar and called it a really nice day. I missed my peeps (people, not marshmallows) but it was as nice an Easter as I could've hoped for.

I continue to learn new things about Espanola, NM. For instance, you may see a stray dog, stray horse, stray cows or stray human at any given time on the roads here. I have personally seen all of the above. Some instances are funnier than others. Cows were funny. Not funny is when said stray dogs come dangerously close to attacking you which is what happened to Tim and I today when we made the mistake of walking to the post office. The people who live across the street from the PO have SIX dogs, four of which ran across the street at us and got into snarling, barking, growling, hunched and ready to lunge attack mode. You're going to have to excuse my profanity a minute when I say those fucking dogs were serious and it scared the living shit out of us. I hid behind Tim the entire time. I've got 15 years of experience in what to do if someone attacks me or someone I love but I have almost no experience in what to do when insane furry creatures attack. Not that I'm opposed to kicking anything in the face. If it's violent, it's fair game far as I'm concerned. Thank god (and thank Tim) they backed off eventually. Ironically enough, it's totally safe to walk down into the wilderness of the mesa. You're only in danger if there might be stupid idiot people around cuz they might have stupid idiot animals. So...yeah. I'm going to go ahead and drive everywhere. I'm going to go to Lowe's and drive across the parking lot to the Wal-Mart. You think I'm kidding?

Here was the other excitement for the day - the dirty story, as it were. We bought 200 feet of weather-proof burial-safe ethernet cable, plugged it into the wireless hub in the Big House, dug a 6" track to bury it and put it through the window in the little house. I learned a couple things doing this. I learned (again) that I don't mind being covered in dirt. I learned that accessing the internet at your very own computer in your very own living quarters after 4 weeks without it can be embarrassingly exciting. I learned that as thankful as I am that my in-laws are extremely kind and accommodating, it's still really important to me to be as self-reliant as my situation allows.

All of it - planting trees, digging tracks for ethernet cables, even sweeping the floors - makes me excited for the day when I can do these things at my own place. We are heading to Durango again next Thursday to do some more looking, make some more phone calls, etc. Right now when I stop typing and look out the window I see 10 acres of beautiful wild land and it makes me that much more clear about what I want when I look out the windows of my future home. I'm excited for the endless possibilities of tomorrow and it's a great feeling.

Till next time, love you, miss you.

Last night's sunset....

I took this today. This is a pretty typical NM sky though I thought this one was extra awesome with the sun rays coming down.

My new potted flowers.

Phase Two: Progress

I'm sitting in the gazebo with the sun to my back, drinking a cup of coffee, enjoying the sights and sounds and expansive view and Tim's company. This has become one of my favorite new morning rituals. I've spent many a morning looking out front doors with a cup of coffee in my hand, listening to leaf blowers and loud neighbors, looking at other people's houses, daydreaming about when this moment right here could be a regular thing for me. It does good things for the brain and body - space like this, quiet like this. At least it's doing good things for mine. The curved-billed thrasher sings a particularly nice morning song. Turns out exile isn't always so bad.

We are settling into The Hassemer Guesthouse more and more - moving chairs around, finding extra closet space, installing a bathroom door for privacy.....I should probably explain that one. When we went to Costa Rica, Tim's dad (a.k.a. "Pops") fell in love with the open bathroom attached to the master bedroom they stayed in. No door. Perhaps they have soundless bathroom experiences - I dunno. What I do know is that because of that experience the master bedroom in the guest house has an attached bathroom without a door. HAD no door. Tim installed one yesterday. We who share the back bedroom no longer have to use the bathroom in the hallway that DOES have a door. It's beyond me how a man who thinks it's "uncivilized" to set a dinner table without a spoon at every plate thinks it's perfectly acceptable to have a bathroom without a door. Anyway, my point is that we are settling in quite nicely. It sort of feels like very luxurious camping. The "tent" is small and kinda awkward but once you step outside you're in nature's paradise.

Tim and I took our first scouting trip into Durango last Thursday through Saturday and had a great time. It's big enough that there's a lot of options when it comes to grocery stores and restaurants but small enough that locals encounter friends when walking down the main drag in town. The population is large enough that woodworking and repair will be in demand and it's definitely touristy enough to bring in plenty of business for people who want to impulse buy a smaller, packable handcrafted piece of art...perhaps a jewelry box with a new shiny pair of earrings to put in it. There are a lot of art galleries. We have several numbers to call today for commercial rental listings - one of the perfect-size spots in an incredibly good location was already taken but it was $1250 a month which is great news. We are looking for a spot well traveled but off Main St. I do know you can rent a 3 bedroom house on 2 acres of land for about $1500 a month so I don't think finding a place to live for a reasonable price will be a problem. Some of the people we encountered were so nice it was almost disorienting. A clerk in the grocery store stopped us to make sure we were finding everything ok and was so friendly telling me where the bottled water was that Tim and I actually looked at each other weird when she walked away. Jaded city folk.

Places as far off the beaten path as Medanales, NM offer some unique character traits. Driving down the "highway" (i.e. two-lane road), it looks to me like every "town" (i.e. a few houses here and there, maybe a business or two) starts with a couple of burned down and/or abandoned buildings. Apparently when you have this much space, when something is dilapidated the owners just sorta walk away. No need to rebuild...why waste all that money when you can just do something else on another giant plot of land? Espanola - the local "town" 15 minutes down the road - is difficult for me to describe. Try this: take Bakersfield, remove the white trash, leave the hispanic population and add a spattering of Native Americans and you've got something close to Espanola. A local bar/liquor store (yes, both) called "Saints and Sinners" (yes, really) made last week's front page when some guy got shot in the head in the parking lot. We stopped at a gas station/overpriced grocery store down the highway. I sat in the passenger seat and stared at the trailer home next door that looked like something straight out of Deliverance. It even had a crooked self-made wooden porch with a beat up leather recliner chair on it. One of my favorite scenes is down the "highway" where a car from the 1950s has been sitting in the mesa for so long it's half-buried in mud. I photographed it years ago but I'll have to do it again.

There is also no amount of lotion to make up for how dry it is here and there's no amount of sweeping that can keep house clean when you're completely surrounded by dirt.

On the other hand, there's a spa down the road called Ojo Caliente, framed by classically beautiful New Mexico rocks and landscape, sporting delicious sangria, that is just $18 for a day pass. When Diana was still here we met there with Heather and her friend and spent a day lounging and catching up. We are heading into Albuquerque Tuesday to hang out with Marisa and talk about some home renovating she wants Tim to do. We'll stop in Santa Fe on the way back to see Adam, Dionne and the kids who are getting really big now. It's been awesome seeing people I don't usually get to spend much time with and I'm excited for more good times and adventures to come.

Till then, love you, miss you.

Hitting golf balls into the arroyo. I'm taking this picture from.......

here! Coffee time in the gazebo.

The view I face when I make jewelry. 

A day of golf in Durango last Friday. We happened to hit the course on the first day of the season. You'll like it here, Brian.

Our fancy new bathroom door with a glass pane installed above that lets the light through from the bathroom window. I took this picture from bed and the toilet is just on the other side of the sink. Can you say awkward?

The door to the left leads to the Guest House living room, the door to the right leads to the garage a.k.a. temporary wood shop. The gazebo is directly behind me, as is The Big House.