10/13-15
10/13
A morning and afternoon in Santa Fe and then on to Albuquerque for the evening. This is the final day of the 9th week of the journey. It moves on.
Just down the street from Mary's house we came across this image in an adobe wall. This is Hokusai's famous "Great Wave" woodblock image that Danny Kerwick also used on my Acadia Poems chapbook that he published. I was surprised to see it there and later wished I had stopped in and asked the owners the reason for its being there.
We took a walk around the Plaza area of Santa Fe. I am certainly in the Southwest now, different than any of the places I've been over the last nine weeks.
Mainly jewelry.
Music in the Plaza.
A monument in the Plaza had this plaque explaining terminology of the times. On one side of the monument
you can see where the word "savage" had actually been removed. The word "rebel" in other places on the monument still remains.
Was surprised to see this in center Santa Fe. Unfortunately the shop was closed.
Historic La Fonda hotel by the Plaza in Santa Fe. Rich in history, art and expense.
In the hotel.
Part of the New Mexico Museum of Art building. I love the
flowingness of the architecture.
Mary and Ed.
Moi.
Sandia Mountains off to the east as I arrived in Albuquerque.
Sandia means "watermelon" in Spanish.
is also here and he and I are reading together tomorrow night.
10/14
Albuquerque.
One of the many Route 66 references on road signs and advertising.
Jules' house in Old Town area of Albuquerque.
Part of this building is one of the original Old Town buildings
dating back to 1785.
The Santos room, part of the original 1785 building.
One of the santos situated in the nicho.
Jessica, the hostess who gave us a wonderful short tour of the place,
even though we were only looking, not being patrons. She just started
working here again, the place where she started working when she was 15.
She quit a career that she wasn't enjoying and now wants to experience life
and people and the world is open to her.
One of the many patios in the Old Town district. Shops, restaurants,
musicians.
More of Old Town. The ristras, or hanging chiles, are everywhere
in Old Town.
A metal sculpture in someone's yard. Looks to be
Joan of Arc.
John Roche.
Wonderful reading outside at Wendy's place. About 20 people attended and it included a terrific open reading. John and I were featured readers and it was sponsored by Wendy's West of Sunset Series and Jules' Poetry Playhouse. During the gathering Sandhill Cranes flew above, calling out. These were the first returning ones that anyone had seen. This haiku came to me and I shared it at the start of the reading:
Southwestern darkness
poets' words flow out beyond
Sandhill Cranes return
Jules. (photo by John Roche)
My reading. (photo by Julie Brokken)
The night was very moving and there is so much I could write but I'm already behind in keeping up this journal so will leave it at this. More soon.
10/15
Left Jules' beautiful house in Albuquerque early in the morning for the drive to Flagstaff, AZ. Interstate driving I-40 all the way.
I had seen Thoreau on the map and was intrigued with the name so just had to stop as it was along my route. I asked a clerk in a store about the origin of the name and she said maybe it was from that writer. At the Post Office I learned it was pronounced Thu-roo and they weren't sure about the origin of the name. A brief online search was inconclusive. I found references saying it was and wasn't connected to Henry David.
Another town I was passing right by was Winslow, AZ. I was hungry so had a great Mexican lunch of enchiladas, rice, beans, taco chips and sopapillas at the Little Brown Mug Cafe. $8 and it was excellent.
After lunch I searched out "Standin' on a Corner" park, which I had noticed on a sign.
A store across the street, "Standin' on a Corner" was playing Eagles music the whole time I was there, maybe 15 minutes. In that time a half dozen couples of my generation or a little younger stopped by there to take pictures.
This is Route 66 territory and one could not travel
through this region without being made aware of that fact.
I had been looking forward to this Flagstaff visit for a long time. I was going to visit with an old friend from Acadia National Park days, Nell. We have not seen each other since 1981. We've been in touch online for a number of years now, but it's been that long since seeing each other.
I arrived an hour earlier than what we had planned and Nell wasn't home. I thought I was on time but wasn't aware hat Arizona doesn't go on Daylight Savings Time!
Nell arrived and we then went out for a hike up on a mesa at the edge of the city.
The walk took us through Ponderosa Pine forests.
At one point I saw a squirrel running through the woods. It didn't
look quite like a gray squirrel, a little whiter and it had ears that
seemed more rabbit-like. I later learned it was an Abert's Squirrel,
a resident of the western conifer woods.
Had a wonderful supper at the house, met the rest of the family
and settled comfortably in to another "home" while on the road.
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