In case you missed the memo, spring is indeed here and it has been lovely! I feel like last year we only had a flash of spring before it was full on summer hot, so this has been really nice.
Except it actually got a bit cold at the end of this last weekend and I was quite glad I still had a sweater in the truck!
So, what is that? Where have I been?
Ha, that is a good question. Contrary to some beliefs, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. Yes, I know you are glad. I have just been very busy. How boring of an answer, I know! The truth is, I just have not had much free time to make for the blog unfortunately. Not for lack of want to, mind you. This is just where I am at right now. I even started this post over a week ago if that gives you an idea.
In fact, the other day…which actually means well over a month ago…I took a bunch of pictures of young wild flowers and budding plants as evidence of spring’s official arrival with full intentions of writing to y’all about it.
Anyway, I am here now and that is that!
We have of course been riding and enjoying the weather.
I have actually been working on getting my Cheetah girl into some semblance of riding shape just for fun. She is missing that part of our relationship I think and I absolutely have. We take it day by day and meet her where she is at with the goal of staying inside her comfort zone. She has good days where you might think she has no arthritis at all and she has some not so good days. Her brain on the other hand thinks she is about four years old all the time as opposed to almost twenty. It is a fine dance.
Close your eyes and your ears, but I ordered a new saddle for Lito. Which means, I have a saddle to sell. It has to happen, I have reached that point. If anyone is needing a saddle or knows someone that is…please send them my way!
On Good Friday, Merle and I went to meet R’s new foal and then went over to her new property to celebrate the closing and being closer to each other geographically. We had a dang good time exploring. Merle also had a very proper, good time.
Then on Easter Saturday my Grandmother came out to the farm for a visit which was really nice as she got to visit all the horses and give them treats.
Lito also turned 11! It feels like just yesterday he was born!
Then we went on our annual Spring Ride with my ladies riding group. We were blessed with spectacular weather and My Lito was very good. Especially since he apparently had the world’s largest splinter in his neck the whole time.
If you look really closely at Lito’s throat latch area behind his jaw, you can see the abscess.
…If you are squeamish, you may just want to scroll on…it is going to get a little gory…
Yes, splinter. When we arrived on late Friday afternoon, I noticed a little tiny scab and a swelling that grew up and away from the scab on his neck. He was mildly bothered by it, but I decided to watch it over the weekend. It did not do much changing, but by Monday morning it appeared to be a little more raised and possibly a little harder. Luckily, our vet was able to fit us in Monday morning so I loaded him back up to go investigate at the clinic. The ultrasound probe was barely on his neck before Dr. F swung the screen around exclaiming, “Yup, look, there it is!”
After a little sedation and a little cut, we had the world’s largest splinter thankfully out of his neck.
Naturally I took the splinter home so I could show all my horse friends!
Dr. F was quite happy with how it all went, but of course wanted daily treatment.
So, that is what we have been doing lately! Monitoring, hydroing, cleaning, and treating. All the while running up and down the highway working both in and out of the office. My phone is full of daily progress pictures and we are now almost healed up. We have just been taking it easy since then, but I had a full on proper horse girl bareback Saturday with all the ridden horses followed by a deep grooming session for My Lito Man. All the horses are looking really good and shiny. The best thing coming out of winter.
I am currently wishing I could go back to Saturday as life is about to get even more hectic.
A little Monday morning coffee break moment for you.
A reminder for you on this fine day.
Remember those life lessons you have learned over the years.
They were presented to you for a reason, for you to learn what works and does not work for you.
Stir that around in your pot of thoughts.
Sometimes those same similar situations will present themselves to you again from time to time and you will recognize a little something that will raise a flag to get your attention. Are you paying attention? It is up to you to see and feel that flag and move accordingly if you want to keep moving forward.
Well, uh ya, hi there! How are y’all this evening?
What do you know?
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I will just go ahead and throw in a Happy Valentine’s Day as well! And everything in between for good measure. Why not?! It is right around the corner. It is OK if you only just realized that point and, hey, we can always use more love, right!?
Get yourself a little libation of some kind and catch up with me. It is just that kind of evening.
Let us see. Long time no talk! I can not believe it has been since before Christmas I last wrote. What has been going on?
I suppose a lot has happened, but then again, not quite a lot actually has! Life just took over and I seemed to have no space in my little pot of thoughts for blogging or any other forms of social media. Good or bad, right or wrong, it does not matter, it is what it is. I looked up and here we are in February.
I started to write a couple of weeks ago and it went something like this…
My dry and crispy little table top Christmas tree is still standing there, droopy limbs and all, on my table. Said table is covered in folded laundry and my hampers are full of dirty laundry waiting to go through the machines. But, hey, my machines are going, so we are making progress. My truck is a disaster, just full of living, shall we call it. It might as well be a closet. However, the barn is clean, or at least it was when I left the farm on Sunday. Who knows what kind of horsey party shenanigans have been going on in there since it has been raining since I left and will continue to until the weekend.
So, you can now scratch all of that above.
The Christmas tree has been dismantled, decorations have been put away, and the table has been cleaned and set…actually, all the surfaces have been cleaned. The laundry has not only been done but it has been put away (gasp!)…well, the hamper is full again somehow, but forget about that. My house is the cleanest it has been in a while and I even have bagged up 3 bags full of clothes to take to donation. Something happened and I went into full deep spring cleaning. I am hoping it is not premature! I had to put all that energy somewhere I guess.
The barn however, that is another story. We have had even more rain and therefore more mud. I did not leave it as clean as I normally do. I just could not do it. I needed a break. It feels like all I have done for a month is feed, muck, treat hooves, and try not to slip and fall in the mud. I even left early on Sunday…to clean my house…
ANYWAY.
Since we last spoke, Christmas was celebrated and baking was done. I could write a whole post on the life lessons learned from baking, but I will spare you. The flavors were good, but nothing really turned out as expected or played by the rules. It was all fine and everyone seemed to like the desserts, but to me this year they did not pass muster! I am not even going to share finished pictures!
New Year’s Eve was peaceful and quiet, blessedly. R and I continued our tradition of closing out the year in the right way with a ride.
The day started out like this.
Just us and our horses. We packed food and had our music. We rode for hours and then sat and talked for hours. It was the best day.
On New Year’s Day I rang in the new year from the backs of my dun duo before I had to go back to town. It was the best way to welcome the new year. For me, the only way to ensure a good year is to begin and end it with a ride. Forget the black eyed peas and all that other nonsense. Spend it doing what you love! Begin as you mean to go on! It sure has worked out for me lately, so I bet none of you are surprised I made sure to do it again. NYE and NYD are just another day like any other, but if you have the right mindset and try and keep the perspective every day…you are setting yourself up for success.
Then, Lito decided to colic. He recovered fine. I waffled on and off about whether or not to even write that as I don’t want questions or to keep that energy, but horses are going to horse and sometimes it sucks. There is no avoiding it. That is fact. That is life. So there it is. Keeping it real.
Then the winter weather came.
Now, I am fully aware that y’all up north have ‘real’ winters with much lower temperatures and much more snow and ice. I am also aware that this latest winter event was also nothing like that crazy big freeze we had a couple years ago, but we did have noisy sleet (and much more of it than they were predicting….also, can we please talk about how awful sleet and ice sound? It is gross) and temperatures at about 20 to 18 deg F with wind chills at about 7 deg F.
It is still a lot of work and stress to make sure all horses and cows have enough to eat and drink and that the barn is mucked (yay for frozen poop being easier to scoop!). That certain horses have access to wind breaks and shelter, to make a four horse barn work for six. That certain old and young cows have made it to morning. It will sure make you grateful for a barn! I was also still on hyper colic alert, so you can bet everyone was getting electrolytes and probiotics the whole time.
I will say cold mornings are really pretty and hot chocolate in your coffee makes it all easier. Take my word for it and do it. Maybe not not the best idea every day if you live in perpetual winter, maybe just when it is really bad. You do you though!
Once everything thawed out, we did discover a few broken water troughs that needed fixing after the freeze. I think their main downfall was actually age coupled with multiple freezes. It was just their time. To be honest, I am somewhat glad as it gives us the opportunity to get them set up better than they were to begin with. Life is all about perspective, I tell you!
Winter is just hard on living beings, especially the old ones. That is the hardest part above and beyond the work. Every morning I went down to cube the cows and break ice I was extra excited to see our geriatric Longhorn steer ready to get fed with everyone else. His name was Chacho. A staple in our herd as we had him for well over 20 years. He was even first in line to get fed the last cold morning. He got his own special, large pile of feed and hay as he has gotten for years. He ate well and I was surprised when later that morning Pops told me he was down and believed this was it. He seemingly laid down with a belly full of breakfast and went to sleep. That was it. It is crazy how you go for years thinking this is going to be it. He won’t make it through this winter and they prove you wrong so many times. Then when their time finally comes you are shocked. It is the end of an era, but what a blessing to have it be the way it was.
He was really old even here. Curly the bull has been gone a long time. Now these two bros are reunited.
Now here we are in our rainy season (which I will take over freezing). We have gotten many inches of rain in a couple of weeks. I think last week we got eight inches or more and on Friday night alone we got close to 2 inches. It is like the water is just coming out of the ground. Everything is slick. The pond is quite large. All the terraces are full and flowing.
I am not complaining about the rain. I will never complain about the rain.
I just.
I have MAJOR rainy winter blues. I have not ridden since New Year’s Day I do not think. I am not handling this well either. I feel like I am in a major funk.
Anyone want to gift me a covered arena?
Even still, with all of this rain, we have also had sun. Blessed sun. The pastures are benefiting. I have seen it with my own eyes. THE GRASS IS GROWING.
We have also done some of this. A happy Merle makes me happy and growing grass makes me happy. JUST LOOK AT HIM.
I did take a free weekend between the rains to slip away and go fishing with my parents, so that was nice to have little mini vacation away to one of my favorite places.
Tell me what you have been up to? Anything. Good or bad. Distractions or something to look forward to. Oh! Or vacation plans!
I do know this though. Spring is coming. I know it is. We have rain and sun AND lots of hair coming off the horses. You can do it spring!
Joy, it is here! I practically yelled that at you yesterday.
I am still yelling it and feeling it today, but as we all know, life is funny. Facebook slapped me with a memory of one of my Darcy’s Christmas portraits and it just sucker punched me right in the gut.
I was almost literally stomach sick (no mincing words here!). This happens from time to time, that is how grief and memories work, but I also had a dream about her earlier this week and I just can not get her off my mind. So many memories. So many feelings. I tell you I could almost feel her in my arms in the broad light of day.
I got to thinking and I realized that in the last eight years, I have experienced eight deaths. Three of which were tragically devastating.
What a statistic. Numbers are just that, numbers, but that is kind of a lot of deaths in a short period of time for someone who had previously not really experienced any beyond the passing of a well loved pet that lived well into its golden years.
Grief is funny in that when you are in it and close to it, the loss and the myriad of emotions that constitute grief lace all your thoughts and actions. You can not escape it and it seems to shape all you do. Blessedly, time does goes on and it morphs into something a little different bit by bit, but it is always a part of you, part of your inner tapestry, shaping you in different ways and giving you life perspective.
The point of all of this is that the holidays can be a very hard and lonely time for many people for any number of reasons, but chief among them is that in this time of togetherness and in the reflectiveness of winter, one thinks of those they can not gather with.
However, this is the AHA moment. One thing that we ALL share is loss. Grief is something that, while unique to each individual, is a universal connector of us all. NOBODY is alone in their grief for the simple reason that everybody has it. Even if it feels like you are alone at times. When you are in it, you can not see much else.
Here is what I want to tell you. What I have come to live for myself.
Through all the grief and loss there is another side to discover. Somewhat removed, but in a bird’s eye view kind of way. Not just a light at the end of the tunnel as they say.
Good morning, dear readers! Or, whatever time of day it happens to be for you wherever you are!
I just wanted to tell you that joy abounds this very day.
It may begin with you or it may begin with a stranger.
Let it grow, dear readers. Choose to believe it and choose to see it. Let it spread.
It is there!
I was blessed by strangers today and I pray that I blessed others in return.
I had to go downtown this morning to the County Clerk’s office to record a deed. Yes, I realize you can do this by mail, but we needed it done in a timely manner and I had never done this before so I wanted to learn about it by doing it in person. I find it humorous that I never go downtown and I will be there twice by the end of the day.
Anyway, I got up early and finished my eggnog cake for Friday this morning and then got dressed and in the truck before 7:15 to make my way downtown well before 8. I had to find parking, pay for said parking, and get to the door ideally before anyone else. I got there in a round about way because I missed a turn of course (we will not talk about how I made a big goof yesterday by making the wrong turn, so much for GPS), but I was able to find a spot a block down.
While I was in the process of gathering my things, I was approached by a man on the street. I will admit to wanting to ignore him and send him on his way while I thought about how to protect my purse. He babbled on about this and that and all I heard was cancer and tacos pondering what to do. At some point I realized that he was offering to help me use the parking meter correctly to avoid extra fees if I needed it…in exchange for tacos. Still being somewhat confused, I accepted his offer while he told me about his cancer and how how he was about to go in for another chemo treatment. He was very nice and respectful and wanted to show me the taco stand around the corner, presumably so I knew that it was tacos he wanted and not something else.
Now, I am aware that this story could go in any which way and very likely in a bad direction. I just did not feel like this was that kind of situation. We talked for a little bit and I gave him some money for tacos and coffee. He was extremely grateful. I asked him his name, to which he told me was Anthony, and I gave him a hug and a prayer.
I made my way down to the courthouse passing many smiling people. Normally I find that people just look down or have a scowl on their face. I walked into the building and made my way through security…more in depth security than you will find at the airport. TSA is not accepted there, if you were wondering. I asked as I was told I had to take my shoes off. They offered a laugh at my question, possibly in pity. They more than thoroughly went through my purse after it was scanned and smiled and laughed at my ridiculous number of keys. They said I must be a busy person to which I had no response but a smile and a nod. They wished me good day and a Merry Christmas after pointing me in the direction of the County Clerk’s office.
I arrived outside the door five minutes to 8 AM and I was the only person waiting. The door was opened at 8 and I was so nicely asked what I needed. I halfway thought he asked because I looked like I needed help, but I was happy for it none the less, maybe I did look that way. I was still surprised by my morning thus far. I told him what I was there for and he said with enthusiasm, “Yes mam, right this way to the right!” I practically snapped to and said with as much enthusiasm, “THANK YOU!”
The office was joyfully decorated and everyone had a smile on. I followed the signs and stopped at the stop sign. The lady at the window smiled brightly and asked what she could do for me. Her desk was so clean and organized, but it also had very personal things on it including her devotional. The whole encounter was just so nice. She was so happy and helpful and smiley. Is that even a real word? It is now. The whole errand took less than five minutes. She told me she loved my name and that it sounded like a super hero! Color me whatever you wish, but that made me stand up taller! I said thank you about five times and we both wished each other a Merry Christmas.
As I walked back through the building, I swear it got more festive. Everyone was wearing something red and green. Even those in uniform. I complimented everyone and everyone was saying Merry Christmas! On my way back to the truck were even more smiling people! I passed someone carrying red and green cupcakes and I told her to have fun at the party, to which she beamed.
Anthony was not there when I got back to my truck. Hopefully he was filling his belly with tacos.
Joy is here, dear readers.
Love is here.
God is here.
Everyone is in different circumstances and it can be had to see it. The light, it is here.
Walk in love, dear readers!
Enjoy some of my Christmas favorites to help you get in the spirit!
See what I did there?! HA! Anyway, take it from me, do yourself a favor and go to a doc if you start to get symptoms because I would still be under it all if I had not. Thankfully, I got some steroids, Tamiflu, and some magical DM cough syrup that has really, really helped. Even still I am very tired and draggy.
Last week really just disappeared before I even knew it while I was wallowing away on the couch. Merle did not even want to play fetch if that is any indication on how very clearly poorly I felt! And now we are already half way through another week!
So, before I got sick, we were enjoying the wonderfulness of Texas in December while getting ready for Christmas.
Christmas time in the southern half of Texas can be truly spectacular!
We fit in a ride before I got sucker punched by the flu.
Merle is generally swimming hot or cold, but you get the idea!
Early mornings are always special, with or without the moon and the start to the sunrise.
Now that I am seemingly and hopefully on the other side of this, it is full on Christmas time!…and past time for me to catch up!
So…
Cue the decorations!
Thankfully for me, I got my cute little tree all dressed not long after Thanksgiving.
One of the things I like to get when I travel is Christmas ornaments. You can see my Aspen leaf from Wyoming, art globe from Hawaii, cross from Ireland, and Santa moon from Santa Fe. It is getting hard to stick with the table top tree now that I have accumulated many ornaments. You can not see it here, but I actually had to tie the tree to the blinds to keep it from falling!
Cue the music!
One of my favorite parts of Christmas!
Cue the ovens!
It is time to get baking and cooking!
I have already made Christmas lemon bars for a white elephant party this past weekend. If you look closely, you can see the Christmas tree. I colored some of the filling with pomegranate juice and red colored sugar sprinkles (because we did not have any red food coloring at the farm) and used a bottle to draw the tree. It turned out OK in looks (very good in taste!), but I think what I will likely do next time is use a tree stencil and powdered sugar to make the outline of a tree, and then just fill the tree with pomegranate seeds. I have decided pomegranate seeds are the perfect finishing tough to almost everything anyway!
I still have not figured everything out, but I know I am baking an eggnog cake on Wednesday for Cousin H’s party on Friday, going to the Nutcracker on Thursday, of course the party Friday, and then Saturday making at least a chocolate gingerbread tart, maple bourbon pumpkin pie, and cranberry sauce for Christmas Day! There will likely be something in there for Christmas Eve, but I have not been able to think that far ahead yet.
The good news is, I got most of my shopping finished before I came down with the black plague, so I can just get to work! It is also going to be a rainy all weekend, so it will be a good time to hunker inside, play music, and create. I also need to wrap my presents somewhere in there, but we have time!
Walk in love, dear readers!
Let The Spirit overwhelm you and carry you. This is truly a special time. I know it is a very hard time for many people out there, but just know you are not alone. Reach out, I am always here!
OK, dear readers, I am here for you to help jumpstart your Christmas Spirit!
You heard me, I am here for YOU!
So.
I have just a whole pile of cuteness for you to get you ramped up. Long time readers know that I like to take Christmas portraits of my animals. For today, walk with me through time and our past portraits to set the stage!
You will have to wait until tomorrow for this year’s. It is one of my own traditions to do every year and this year is no different. It generally makes for great fun. I say generally as you may notice the most recent portraits look a little…bah humbug! Grinch like if you will.
ANYWAY.
To make you smile, I give you my animals who have grown tired of my antics. Enjoy a step back in time from 2022 and beyond.
Stay tuned for 2023! Will they be the grinchiest???
Walk in love, dear readers! Pass it along to one and all!
R, L, and myself took a long weekend a couple of weeks ago to visit our friend V at her new place in Santa Fe. Our mutual friend K was also there which made it all the more special. R and I had never been to Santa Fe before, but this trip was more for us all to get together again and have time together as it has been years since we have been able to do that.
Spoiler alert: a special time was had!
If you ever make it to Santa Fe, we did some things that you might enjoy.
I have been to New Mexico before while I was in college, but it was a different experience entirely as we were mapping, hiking, and camping. I will tell you, waking up in the trees at elevation with the nip in the air and an elk bugling will remain one of my favorite memories. I am a Texas gal through and through, and no skyline will beat the great state for me, but I do like a full spectrum experience!
V bought her house in the historic district of Santa Fe about a year ago and it has been under construction a work in progress ever since. She has been doing a lovely job of restoring it to its glory and it was really fun to see her in her element giving us a tour of the house and explaining all of her plans.
We arrived at the house midday on Thursday after flying into Albuquerque, renting a car, and making the short drive to Santa Fe. After we unloaded our bags and got settled, we had sandwiches for lunch at the house and made a plan for the coming days.
The first thing we did was explore Canyon Road. Canyon Road is full of art galleries and shops. We began at this art store where they make their own paints and then worked our way down.
The street views were quite pretty and there it a lot to explore. It always fascinates me how different every city and town is. No two are the same even in the same state, much less the same country.
In addition to the main Canyon Road, there are little side streets and alleys with shops nestled here and there. You could really spend quite a bit of time exploring if you wanted. There are galleries of all kinds (some with live music) and shops galore.
None of these pictures show it, but the fall colors and leaves were quite pretty. If we had come a little sooner, there would have been more yellow leaves. Many of them had already fallen. On the flip side, if we had delayed our trip a little later…we could have experienced a white Santa Fe. V just sent us some photos of Santa Fe covered in snow, and it looks nothing short of magical. While I am most drawn to more green landscapes, I think Santa Fe is probably the most pretty under a fresh, heavy snow.
Rachel and I did buy ourselves some jewelry while we were exploring.
We found a wine bar in the back of one of the galleries and enjoyed some local red wine as we explored their courtyard patio. The people were very nice everywhere we went and there are dogs everywhere! You can see one here in the wine bar. As you can imagine, I missed my Merley bob. Luckily, V’s two dogs at the house made me feel better.
I probably broke a rule by taking this picture, but I wanted want it really bad. Who does this look like to you??? Maybe only long time readers will be able to name it, but this looks like my Lito as a baby! Thank you to Gregg Albracht for taking this stunning and inspirational photo! If I was made of more money, I would have purchased it to enjoy for the rest of my life. Gregg, if you’re feeling charitable, I would love this for Christmas!
The city has a strong Spanish Catholic history and there are Saint Francis statues everywhere. I even bought myself a little Saint Francis (and a Christmas ornament) at one of the consignment antique stores we went to. Do yourself a favor and see the chapels at night and go to the store called The Raven. You will wish you had a lot of money and a house to fill. This is a common problem for me.
On Friday, after a leisurely morning talking over coffee while it lightly snowed, we went and explored Meow Wolf. There is no photo evidence of this as it is meant to be experienced, but it was definitely an experience! An art installation experience. I was very impressed even though I was overstimulated and got a little claustrophobic. I would definitely recommend going, but maybe try and go when there might be less people? I am not sure how you accomplish this, but I think there were too many people there and it took away from the experience for me. Meow Wolf was started in Santa Fe by Santa Fe artists and there are now installations in Vegas, Denver, and Grapevine, Texas. There is one to open in Houston sometime in 2024.
V, L, and K had to retire early to go sit in the cafe while R and I continued on. When we felt we had explored enough, we met them in the cafe and sat for a little bit with coffee before we left to head to lunch. It was also snowing very large flurries at this point. None of it stuck, but it was a precursor for what was to come after we would be back in Texas.
We were able to get into La Choza for lunch and if you ever make it to Santa Fe, you MUST go here. The food is AMAZING. They have goofy hours and do not take reservations, but it is worth it. Go here.
On Saturday morning, we hit up the farmers market. This was my favorite part as you can likely imagine. When I went to France, my favorite day was when we went to the local farmers market. It is my scene and you guessed it, this is a must do!
I did wish we could have had a another day so I could have purchased some local foods to cook a fun meal, but alas, we did not. We will have to do this next time. About a third of the market is art and the rest is local produce and foods etc. I bought a few gifts here as well. The weather was really amazing as you can tell by these stunning blue skies.
I really loved all the wreaths made with the chilies and I almost bought some to bring home, but I did not want to have to carry them on the plane along with my other purchases.
After the farmers market, we grabbed a quick lunch before going to see the Loretto Chapel and the Plaza.
The Loretto Chapel is another must in Santa Fe. I am not going to share pictures of the inside because, to be honest, it felt kind of wrong to take them in the first place. Even still, I did get some very special ones to share with a friend who has a connection to the chapel. There are pictures on the internet to give you the feel, but you really should go and experience it in person. This is another one I would suggest trying to go to when there are less people. I am not sure when that would be though. I would have liked to sit and appreciate it more.
Do not hate on me, but to me the Plaza is a skip item for me. I was shopped out at this point and maybe I would feel differently at another time, but I just did not feel like it was worth it. I am also not a big shopper and especially not for big name labels. I would have rather done Canyon Road again. It looked like there was a nice place on the square with a patio to stop and sit and have a drink or a meal, but I was also very distracted and uncomfortable as a protest was going on.
After the Plaza, we went back to the house for a little rest before a very fun evening to come.
If this fits your budget and schedule, GO DO THIS.
I did not ask many questions when both V and K said this is quintessential Santa Fe. I knew I wanted to go.
The Flamenco Dinner Show was very special. Partly because it was all of us together, yes. But the food was amazing. The drinks were great. the flamenco, well, that was moving!
Drinks and a three course gourmet meal capped off by magical Santa Fe flamenco music and dancing. Now do not get me wrong, the food was fabulous and not to be missed, but this was all about the performance.
The musicians and dancers change I think from dinner to dinner according to V and K, but here is a little taste. I do not want to share too much video to take away from the experience, but I was very impressed and our whole group agreed.
I have not had very much exposure to flamenco previously. I knew it was passionate. What dancing and music and art is not? What I did not know though, was how varied flamenco dance can be. I very much enjoyed each of the ladies’ versions and feelings during their dances.
This show was more than just a few songs and some dancing. They all left their feelings out there on the stage. The performance began with each dancer dancing an introduction to a short song. Then each dancer got to tell a complete story on center stage. This is the part that really got me. I felt like I had a history lesson of flamenco in addition to a passion lesson! Each dancer’s style was as unique as their look. At this point, I thought that would be the end of the show, but there was more! The dancing was then in twos as each dancer danced with each of the others. The finale was the perfect ending of all three dancers dancing together. The audience was enthralled and completely captivated for the entire performance from start to finish and there was not an empty seat.
We were the last ones to leave the restaurant and we were sure to thank the performers on our way out. They thanked us for our attention and participation!
We were all exhausted at this point and were happy to get tucked into bed before our early departure back to Albuquerque. I myself was ready to get back to Texas and my animals.
I will be back to New Mexico one day. There is quite a bit to explore outside of Santa Fe and we all hope to have a reunion once V is finished with her house. And one day, Lito and I will go there to ride in the mountains. One day.
Walk in love, dear readers! Have you gotten your Christmas spirit on yet???
