Santa Fe and Denver Visit

Time out for a little trip east to Denver and the Land of Enchantment. 

 We drove down to New Mexico in a caravan of 3 vehicles with our dear Denver relatives and were jointed there by another family contingent. Our people. It was insanely fun.

Went to the Farmer's Market where every kind of produce was on hand after the harvest. Chilis roasting and gorgeous big vegetables.

The colors were spectacular.

Seriously.

 We traipsed up and down Canyon Road and went to the bookstore on Garcia. Drank lattes and ate our weight in green chilis, carnitas and margaritas.

I got to see work by my favorite artists; too many to mention here.

A little roadside triangle pose to loosen up after hours in the car.

Some hyperventilating on seeing the work in person of my online crush, Charlotte Foust. (And Kevin Tolman, OMG!)

Antonito's tin hat church. A whole lot of whimsy on the New Mexican high desert.

I got to wear my cowgirl boots with my Alabama Chanin outfit. Felt like a kid!

Here are some of my beloveds. And that guy in front? My heart be still. William's the son of my husband's sister's daughter. Got that? He is so funny and smart; I told him he was headed to be a stand up comic. Love love love.

We made this trip to celebrate John's birthday with his sister who gave him the cooking pot in the photo above. She sat on him when he was a little kid but now they are best friends. 

Here we are at Pranzo's on the Birthday night. Gratitude for so much. 

In 2 weeks now I'll be headed to San Miguel de Allende to teach and play for 3 weeks. More good food!! Those are yerba santa leaves in the photo above. I wish you could smell them. John will take them to our friend with the Mexican restaurant in Oregon City. He has several giant bushes even though no one can believe they grow in our climate.

This is the size of our main plant. It's a doozy.

While we were in Santa Fe we got to witness a fabulous lightening storm. We don't get them in Oregon so I filmed a bit of it and will share it with you. It starts off with food - what else?

Sending love and peace as always. xo

End of Summer Update

It's been a summer of doing instead of reporting. After 7 years of teaching my need to paint for myself has grown stronger and harder to supress. This has collided with my schedule as well as a hand injury. After two demanding retreats where I was lifting etch presses, setting up classrooms, moving mountains of boxes of art supplies and so on I've found myself grounded with tendonitis. Insert a good swear word here.

Wrist brace, lots of icings, rest. I dont do that well. I was scheduled for a cortisone shot in the thumb joint but chickened out after reading about cortisone on the web.

So yesterday I did some painting and made a new journal with a canvas cover. Floppy canvas. I want this one to be as light as possible. I've experimented with wood, canvas board, acrylic panel and matboard as journal cover materials, all in an effort to get the weight down. So this one is the lightest yet.

The garden this summer was the best in years. We had perfect sunshine and dry weather. Everyone's calling it the year of the red tomato. Here's the dear one showing off some of his onion varieties.

Happiness is a productive garden around these parts.

From the left: Cippolini Bianco DiMagio, Tropeana Lunga, Noord Bloedrode, Yellow Flat Dutch.  

Here's a big one, Giant Red Pear, nearly 2 pounds for those of you not on my Instagram list.

We've been canning together. He does most of it; I'm just the person who stuffs the bottles.

These ruffled beauties are also Giant Red Pear tomatoes. (Grand Sasso or sel Franchi, they're so similar.)

I got a Spiralizer last week and used it one one of our neighbors' giant zuchinnis. The way to make the zukes really appetizing is to refrigerate the curls overnight and then use them in salads. The curls are soft at room temperature but after refrigeration they become crisp. Then I like to use salad dressing (my choice is 4 squirts of Chef Macee's Italian) and serve over greens, chopped garlic and tomatoes. Really yummy. Of course there is always the trick of serving in place of noodles in any noodle dish.

That's what's going on at our place. That and getting ready for a visit to Denver, Santa Fe, and then in October to San Miguel de Allende to teach. Hope you're being creative and eating well. xoxo

Roots & Wings Retreat

A year in the planning; a new retreat involving four friends, lots of excitement leading up to and a road trip. Many conversations about what the world needs and how we can encourage well being on every level. The dream finally materialized this past week.

Packing the goody boxes at Stephanie Lee's house.

A 13 hour drive across Nevada into Utah with stops for admiring the desert scenery.

Finally arriving at the home of Lorraine Lewis, one of our hostesses for this event.

Misty Mawn and her adorable daughter India joined us there.

And here we gathered together. 

 Left to right:  me, India Mawn, Misty Mawn, Stephanie Lee and Katie Kendrick.

Lorraine's welcoming balcony where we took our meals. 

Here's what was in Carrie's goody box. Thank you to Carrie Todd, Joanna Pierotti, Katie Kendrick, Shauna Palmer and Stephanie Lee for some of these shots of yours that I gathered from various places online to help me tell the story.

We each had the opportunity to pitch in and help with the food prep.

And one evening Stephanie Lee gave us a presentation on food preservation.

Our meals were healthy and beautifully presented.

I can't believe I didn't take more food pictures. I guess I was more interested in eating than in capturing the moment.

So many fresh fruits and veggies.

I learned how to make a balsamic reduction and fruit waters among other things.

Stephanie brings conviction and enthusiasm to the subject.

 That's Lorraine above left, Stephanie above right and all of us in the bottom photo.

Lorraine's garden was picture perfect for the event.

We each took a turn admiring the flowers and vegetables and chickens.

And one evening the soulful Sara Sample came to sing for us as the sunset glowed in the distance. Most of us were moved to tears by her performance. She was wonderful and her songs were full of stories. Lives lived fully and touchingly.

Dear, dear friends, I will carry you in my heart. (hugs, Annie Hooten.)

Our foursome collaborated on several paintings during the retreat.

Here we are, canceling out each others' work - lol.

The paintings changed many times before we called them complete.

Our hostesses with their paintings. Thank you so much dear Lorraine and Heidi Nebeker for the use of your beautiful homes for our workshops, meals, and gatherings.

My class in painting and free motion stitching.

On the last night we went out to eat as a large group.

And were joined by an old and dear friend of mine. 

On the way home we had our photo taken on the salt flats by an anonymous nice guy. 

Thank you my friends for your willingness to share your stories. For coming out to play.

Quietly we returned to our homes from coast to coast. Changed and enlivened. 

Roots & Wings. Thank you.