New Mexico has absolutely amazing geography: deep red mesas dotted with dark green sage, cliffs with strips of color that are so perfectly placed that it challenges you to believe they’re natural. You’re not going to see photos of this, because when I view them I am generally driving.
The street scenes are walking toward the central plaza & the Cathedral of St. Francis. The Indian Museum is the interesting building on the left corner. The statue is of the first Native American to be canonized as a saint by the Catholic Church. Kateri Tekakwatha never was in New Mexico. She lived & died in New York. We all have hard times finding saints to relate to, so here she stands.
There was an art festival going on. I met an artist, Robert, who said 15 galleries have closed in Sante Fe. He’s thought of a new way to market his work. He’s planning on coming to LA. If that happens, my art friends, I’ll have a little get together.
Sante Fe is really dominated by adobe architecture & these are just some shots of houses & an apartment complex.
I went to The Georgia O’Keefe Museum & surprised myself by weeping. This happened to me once before at The Hermitage in old Soviet days. In both cases I was so familiar with the paintings through prints & books but to see the real colors & textures, it was like meeting the in person. So far that has been the greatest moment of this trip.
In the afternoon I went to Taos.
Months ago I had made a reservation to visit the Georgia O’Keefe House. My appointment was at eleven. It’s about an hour & a half from Sante Fe. No cell phones, cameras, bags are allowed on the tour only a bottle of water. Thank God I kept my cell phone with me because I had a FLAT. Weird thing is that it was the one I bought the day before I left to replace my most worn tire---go figure. I called The Georgia O’Keefe Foundation to tell them that I wasn’t going to make it. They said they’d switch someone from the twelve o’clock tour & I could go on that. Well, when I felt my tire starting to go I pulled off on an unmarked road that took AAA a long time to find. I finally went on the 2 o’clock tour.
Although I had taken a virtual tour, but to see this house that she fought the Catholic Church for 15 years to get, you understand why. I had seen photos of the interior but I didn’t realize every chair was from a famous designer. I didn’t realize she had special dirt brought in for the adobe walls if her bedroom. Every thing in the house was specially designed & then she decided that it wasn’t remote enough & spent most of her time at another house at Ghost Ranch.
I always think it is good to get a mechanical tragedy out of the way early on in a trip. Seems less likely that lightning would strike twice!
ReplyDeleteI am very impressed with how much ground you have covered already! Keep posting pictures. We are enjoying the ride!
Troy