El Sanctuario de Chimayó

El Sanctuario de Chimayó

One of the most popular pilgrimage sites in North America is El Sanctuario de Chimayó in New Mexico. It’s a small, unassuming adobe church nestled in the mountains north of Santa Fe. We drove to Chimayó on a hot day and took turns visiting the church and the Stations of the Cross, since we had […]

Lately

Lately

Summer is retreating at last, and I’m very happy about that, as autumn and winter are my favorite seasons by far. (Winter equals wool and knitting, of course!) Since it’s scorching here in New Mexico, I’ve been busy with various indoor activities, including showing my quilt at the Modern Threads Exhibit in Albuquerque. “Alchemy” is […]

Conference Report: ICFA 40

Conference Report: ICFA 40

Spring has come and gone, and there have been some hard times recently, but it’s not too late to share a few photos from my favorite fantasy and science fiction convention. The International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts met as usual in Orlando during spring break, and it was a delight. The theme […]

The Cunning Little Vixen

The Cunning Little Vixen

I mentioned a recent vulpine obsession; as a result, my readers may have to endure a few fox-themed posts. We’ll begin with Leos Janáček’s masterpiece, The Cunning Little Vixen. As an opera, The Cunning Little Vixen is extremely difficult to stage. (So I’m told. I’ve never actually produced an opera.) The New York Times, for […]

2018: The Year in Reading

2018: The Year in Reading

Despite being busy designing and building a new home–not to mention packing up 5,000 lbs of books (and this is after The Great Purge)–I did manage to read a few things in 2018. There are more YA (young adult) and MG (middle grade) novels on my bookshelf than usual, because I’ve been sending subscription book […]

2018: The Year in Review

2018: The Year in Review

I’ve already promised (or threatened) to create separate posts for recent adventure and wildlife photos, since I’m still catching up from the Great Blog Silence of 2018, so let’s just decide right now that our Year in Review will exclude anything having to do with climbing mountains. 2018 was a year of endings and new […]

A Birthday in Santa Fe

A Birthday in Santa Fe

I spent my birthday hiking in the mountains outside Santa Fe, and the weather gods were absolutely there for me, serving up the kind of fluffy wet snow I’d been dreaming of all year. When we first contemplated moving to New Mexico, I felt that I could be on board as long as I had […]

Christmas of Fire and Ice

Christmas of Fire and Ice

The Christmas holiday found me in Minnesota with my family, where everything was blissful and perfect, apart from the blizzard, the bitter cold, and the neighbor’s house catching on fire. The skies were lined with silver, the low temperatures producing some of the most striking sun dogs I’ve ever seen. On Boxing Day, we experienced […]