Tuesday, June 5

you might be wondering, part two

Sometimes I still can't believe that we really live in Santa Fe, New Mexico now. We have settled into a routine of sorts, but neither of us have regular work and so sometimes it all still feels like a dream. A *good* dream, of course. There's also been a lot passing through my mind, bits and pieces of our journey, of our life here, randomness. So instead of trying to write paragraphs about it all, I am going to make a very, very random list.

  • It took us three days to get here. I forgot to record the mileage from my odometer, but it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 1650 miles. It amounted to about 27 hours in the car.

  • I saw a lot of hawks flying around throughout the drive. I also saw two dead coyotes and lots of roadkill in general, including a lot of armadillos in Oklahoma and Texas.

  • In Texas, I stopped at a rest area that had a "watch out for snakes" sign posted and doubled as a tornado shelter.

  • Excluding the first few days that we were here, it has been sunny every single morning. Let me tell you, waking up to sunshine every single day is awesome. We do get rain, but it usually doesn't come until the afternoon, and when the storm clouds roll in, they generally do not stick around for very long.

  • There's no need for Demeter here, I smell like dirt most of the time on my own. It's been quite windy here so I guess I get covered in dust. It's not a bad thing, just different. Although today I smell like weeds because I pulled weeds for an hour and an half.

  • The Santa Fe Community College offers a class called Introduction to Roller Skating. How awesome is that?!

  • Everything takes longer to cook here. It's been so long since I lived here, I still forget to read the high-altitude directions on boxed stuff.

  • I've planted quite a few annuals since we've been here and they are doing quite well, but gardening is definitely more challenging for me in this dry climate. Things do not automatically thrive like they did in Pittsburgh.

  • One of the things I miss most about Pittsburgh - not including friends and bands - is Groceria Italiana. No Italian store here.

  • We hang out with my parents a lot. Almost daily. And I have to say that it is pretty awesome. It's been 18 years, more or less, since I lived in the same town as them and so I guess I'm making up for lost time. Will and I pick their brains all the time about Santa Fe, their childhoods, gardening...life. I'm really enjoying it and I think they are too.

  • We've been to the Cowgirl Bar four times since we've been here. They have the best frozen margs I've ever had. (We used to go to the one in NYC a lot too. After last night, I am feeling like the NYC one has better food.) Margs on the rocks are a little weak. One of the last times we were there, we sat at the bar and had a great conversation with the bartender. He and Will have similar stories; it was kind of bizarre. He's one of my favorite people we've met so far.

  • We went to Trader Joe's for the first time today. They have a lot of good stuff. I think it is slightly larger than the one in Pittsburgh? Lately we feel like all we do is shop for food.

  • We like food, yes. And living in Santa Fe, the small city with a zillion restaurants rules. Since we arrived, my dad is on a mission to try a bunch of places that he's never been before and he wants to take us along for the ride. I am not complaining. Last week we ate at Mucho Gusto and I had the shrimp enchiladas. Delicious.

  • Santa Fe real estate is ridiculously expensive. Apparently something like 40% of local Santa Feans have had to move out of the city because of unaffordable housing. This depresses me.

  • The crime rate is not great here either, being such a small city. That depresses me as well.

  • This past weekend, I ran a race for the first time since the Pittsburgh Marathon in 2000. It was just a 5K, but I hope to do some longer ones down the road. I am not particularly competitive, I just think races are fun. But I ran with my dad and he made me run fast. Here I thought I could run faster than him now, but nope, at age 67, he is still ahead of me. We came in at around 28 minutes. He places third in his age group. I placed sixth in mine which was shocking to me considering that the 30-39 age group for women is FAST. But I think this race was more about community than attracting the super speed competitors.

  • I've been taking a lot of Polaroids. Polaroid film is super cheap at Sam's Club and that makes me very, very happy. Not feeling super good about the results though. My photo skills seem askew right now.

  • We saw Spiderman 3 a week or so ago. Boo. I didn't like it much at all and it was way too long. Haven't seen the new Pirates movie yet. Summer movie that I am looking forward to the most: Harry Potter!!

  • Due to no longer having cable, we finally joined NetFlix. It rules. We watched Fur most recently and it took me awhile to digest. I love Diane Arbus - I know, who doesn't? - but this is not really about her; it is inspired by the biography by Patricia Bosworth and in many ways, has little to do with reality. But it is a beautiful film nonetheless. Worth checking out, I think.

  • We've seen quite a few folks here wearing Steelers gear and/or with Steelers stickers on their cars. Have to say, I am already looking forward to football season.

  • I've been reading some fluff since we got here. Borrowed some of my dad's Elmore Leonard books. Not bad, but I got burnt after two so we went to Border's the other day as it is just down the street from us at Sanbusco. My main goal was to see if they had a copy of Jami's book, Instant Love, in paperback. They had one copy which I promptly bought even though I already own the hardback. I'm all about supporting the art of my friends and acquaintances. Also ended up buying a book of stories by Manuel Muñoz just because it caught my eye. And I was thrilled to find that they not only have Haruki Murkami's new novel in stock; they have every single thing he has ever written in stock. This blew my mind because before we left Pittsburgh, I was trying to find a copy of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman and on one had it.

  • The cats are going outside now and they LOVE it. They roll in the dirt constantly. And Rocky wanders the perimeters smelling flowers, just like Ferdinand the Bull.

  • Our mail never arrives until after six o'clock. Not a big fan of this schedule, but I am getting used to it.

  • I had a job interview last week. It went okay, but I am thinking it is not the job for me so I must continue with the search. Job hunting stresses me out.

  • Today I took the day off from stressful activities and it felt excellent. I got so many other things done, including the pulling of the weeds that never cease growing in our parking area and yard.


See, quite a bit in my head, wanting to come out. I must stop now though because it is 6:30 and I have to go check the mail, plus, um, are you even still reading this?!

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:08 AM

    yes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous8:28 AM

    I can't believe that I read the whole thing! I still owe you an e-mail, I may have started one finishing it is trouble for me. Many uncooperative little folks these days!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous8:30 AM

    p.s. you sound happy, this is good!

    p.s.s The girls and boy say hi. We miss you dooli and weell.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's hard to believe that you are back in New Mexico. It has been such a long time; it would be nice to see you and meet your hubby... one of these days we'll have to have some drinks.

    ReplyDelete

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