Abiquiu

Abiquiu in fall is dramatic in a different way. Very sharp light variations & all the sunflowers lining the roads have gone dry and brown, soon to collapse and return to the earth. And when the clouds obscured the sun it was really quite cold. Twist had to be on a long lead, because of his twice disappearing to hunt critters and not returning for Some Time. But Folly and Bodkin were happy adventurers. Folly goes off in one direction for a while and returns from the opposite direction. Magic. The water level is substantially higher than in the summer --- perhaps some volumes of rain since then from way upstream? The shoreline we occupied over the summer is under water now, so we pitched camp farther up the hill and tied Twisty to a log. Miraculously, he did not yip and complain. The water was tested by MCR with several strokes and two dunks under water. That was it. Even compared to SF Bay it was Way Too Cold. Welcome to the change in season. So we finished our picnic, packed up and climbed back up the hill. Really a perfect Sunday in Abiquiu.

Addendum: No Sazeracs

Plans changed, somewhat. Drinks and dinner were at Harry's Roadhouse, then a quest for a tattoo parlor ensued (not for me, truly), which was fruitless (tattoo parlor closed at 9 on a Friday night ---- good sign or bad sign?), so we regrouped and had to go to the Dragon for a manhattan, a cosmo, and the Yellow Pages. Lo, we found another tattoo parlor, which I thought I could nose our way to. Well, it's pretty dark here, especially on the fringes of town, and I didn't get actually lost, but let's just say I was misplaced for a few miles. Mind you, the friend I was "leading" has lived here for only a year, so we were pretty much living the blind parable. Eventually (with the calm telephone support of MCR who was in New York last night), I found my way back to civilization, whereupon my friend and I decided her tattoo wasn't meant to be last night, and we both took a rain check. We had fun, though. But I want to retrace my steps in the daylight and find out just where I went astray....

Is the Sun Over the Yardarm Yet?

It's Friday here in Santa Fe, too. I have plans to go to a cool watering hole, in honor of Friday afternoons in SFo. It's called the Dragon Room Lounge--- come on, what better name? And since it's an hour later here than in SFo, I'll be there, effectively, at 3 pm! Here's a photo of the Pink Adobe, wherein you'll find the Dragon. Hard to resist. Wait till you see the multiple tin and glass lanterns hanging from the ceiling inside.

I'll check tonight to see if they have Fernet. But my new drink of choice is a Sazerac, known as the father of all cocktails. Of course it's from New Orleans. Let's go there next.

Another October Red

Today I babysit the office since the others are off on busyness trips. Thank goodness for iTunes radio. I can listen to PlayClassicalUK with Mr. Lambourn while I update databases and other bits and pieces. Phone and email are quiet.
It's time now to find a ristra wreath for the car. The chiles are harvested and being roasted all over the place in various store parking lots. Big black barrels rotate over flame while people stand in line with enormous burlap bags of fresh green chiles waiting their turn for roasting. You see this all over town. The aroma is beyond belief. The ristra chiles are red, however, usually, traditionally, and when you see them hanging in quantity, some 2-3 feet in length, the effect is a magnificent experience of red.

Escape No More

The birds are eating us out of house and home in their October efforts to bulk up for the winter. They empty the feeders at least twice a day. At any given time there can be 20+ birds active around the 3 feeders. Big blue jays of various types tend to push everyone around, and the aspens are changing raiment from green to yellow. Something unfamiliar is a wonderful rusty red now. Last weekend we had to reinforce the back stretch of fence to keep Steve McQueen from escaping yet again. It was accomplished thus: we dug a trench along the base of the fence, about 5 inches deep. Then we unrolled a 2-ft. wide length of chicken wire the whole stretch of the fence, 1/2 of the wire upright along the fencing and 1/2 flat on dirt at a right angle to the fence. One of us staple-gunned the chicken wire to the fence posts, and the other hammered the chicken wire onto the dirt with large spikey things. Then we shoveled the dirt back over the chicken wire. Very very sore hands after all this. And of course McQueen found a spot on the other side of the yard to start digging a new tunnel in. It's time to call in the professionals and just line the rest of the fence with railroad ties and call it a day. Thank goodness our Steve has no motorcycle.