Beautiful and inspiring homes

On a trip with so many highlights, it’s hard to designate Georgia OKeefe’s Abiquiu home and studio a highlight, but the tour we took with docent and artist Frank Shelton was super informational and inspiring. He explained how O’Keefe came to build her home here after her husband Alfred Stieglitz died. With the help of a friend, she spent three years renovating a ramshackle adobe on top of a mesa overlooking the Rio Chama valley. She lived there from 1949 until she moved briefly to Santa Fe at the end of her life.

The view from her property.

An interior courtyard. No color enhancement necessary.

The living room, where the artist and her two Chows listened to music every evening. 

The door that inspired many paintings including this one

All of us also have been inspired by the beautiful home in which we’re staying for our days in Espanola. Sharing some morning images below.

Doesn’t get much better than this: beauty, sunshine, peaceful days, quiet nights, blue skies, family and, oh yeah, lots of great food. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Ancients and angels

Bandelier National Park cliff dwellings inhabited by the ancient Pueblo people about 1100 AD.

These spaces inside the cliffs are the only remaining parts of these ancient apartment buildings. At one time, the cliffs were fronted by large adobe constructions. Some of the interior rooms still contain petroglyphs and blackened ceilings from campfires.

Access to some of the dwellings via ladder.

Always time for a picnic…

This is Sanctuaria Chimayo, a sacred Catholic Church where it is said that the dirt can heal, much like the waters at Lourdes. We rubbed some dirt on us and are awaiting the results. In the meantime…

We were happy to be there in such a beautiful place.

Crosses carried by pilgrims who walked to Chimayo for Good Friday. 

The connection of Anglo, Spanish and Native American cultures.

One of several statues carried on worshippers shoulders for special events. They are surrounded by photos of people who need our healing prayers.

Chimayo feels like the first step on our pilgrimage to Rome this Jubilee year. May it be a blessed journey.

 

Days 2 & 3: Santa Fe

April is the most beautiful time to visit Santa Fe, with cool crisp mornings and warm lazy afternoons. Only no one was lazy the last two days. We got in our steps visiting the sites, strolling around the adobe buildings in historic old town, and, of course, walking from restaurant to coffee shop to bar back to restaurant again.

One of my favorite sites is Loretto Chapel, erected in 1873 in the style of Saint Chapelle in Paris. It really is a calm and inspiring place to rest and contemplate how lucky we are to be alive right now.

Charlotte deep in thought in front of the double helix spiral stairs, which are said to be made with only wood and wooden pegs by an itinerant carpenter who appeared in town, took six months to build the stairs, and the immediately left without payment. 

Most of the day was much less sacred. We climbed all around Meow Wolf for hours. You can learn about it at www.meowwolf.com. Here we are enjoying sopaipillas, fried dough pillows with honey.

Spring blooms

Outside the art museum

La Conquistadora

Spanish antiques

The dining room in our hotel.

Charlotte and Sean

And the ever fashionable Hannah

Tomorrow, we head north. More to come…

Los Poblanos, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque

I have found my haven at a boutique farm outside Albuquerque in New Mexico. This is our starting point for a family reunion with Hannah, Charlotte, Sean and his family and friends who live near here. Yesterday was spent touring the grounds, swimming, relaxing in the sun and enjoying a fantastic gourmet meal at the farm to table restaurant, Campo, all amidst the call of the peacocks, tall bird filled trees, and the fresh scent of lavender and high desert air.

L to R are John, Hannah, David, me, Brody, Kelly, Charlotte, Sean, Barbara and Dave. you probably can’t see the plates, but the food was so so good.

The amazingly beautiful lobby.

Classic dried chilies in front of a hacienda.

Rose Greely garden, first designed and planted in 1932. Greely was the first female graduate of Harvard’s landscape and architecture program. 

The Spanish revival style borrows elements from the Alhambra, including pebble designs inlaid in the walkways and Spanish style tiled fountains.

Hello. 

Today was alpaca shearing day. The alpacas weren’t all that happy about it.

The library in the original La Quinta Cultural Center designed John Gaw Meem. We could hang out here for hours, but the sunshine beckoned.

Finally our bedroom, with its little kitchen…

Romantic four poster bed…

And simple elegant bathroom

Morning visitor.

❤️❤️❤️❤️