Late summer-how can that be? Last I wrote, I was gearing up for the Colfax July artwalk. For all of the participating artists and Colfax businesses, the art walk took on new meaning as the "Robbers" fire was still growing near Colfax, the day of the artwalk. I had brought cookies and sparkling water originally for the art reception and attendees. Instead the sparkling water was offered to the town's residents that I met who came into Bear River Trading Company asking about each others homes, offering each other support and offering places to stay for families who were evacuated from their homes. I learned a new meaning of community spirit that night.
My husband and I shared in the spirit of Courtland's (another small community-this town is located along the Sacramento Delta) annual Pear fair, also, in late July. There was music, awesome vintage cars, artisans and bbq. Picked up pears (of course) and made my first pear pie-a new future summer tradition. Attached painting is an image of the Sacramento Delta.
I would love to hear about your summer discoveries, too.
As summer winds down and we gear up for autumn, I leave this post with a quote from a cooler summer place- this last week's Big Sur's Nepenthe restaurant facebook page, "Waking up to fog-while remembering heat waves stretching coast to coast-imbues the morning coffee with a sense of gratitude for this uniquely Big Sur kind of weather. Cool foggy mornings that ask us to dwell inward. As the day opens, like a flower to the sun, so do we. At Nepenthe this week, summertime lingers for those who have just started back to school-hovering the edge of autumn with all the changes that post-Labor Day season invites. Fog dissipates finally and sun beams down bouncing off shade umbrellas and the red terrace, while stellar jays caw and swoop, and the red tail hawk navigates the thermals below, his flight a suspension of gravity as if on one breath, not a flutter of a wing."
The idea of getting out on the road and exploring the west during the autumn season was something my husband and I looked forward to this last September/October. We started out in Albuquerque and headed north to Santa Fe one afternoon to witness the first of many spectacular sunsets during our trip. We explored Madrid, an old coal mining town-turned artist community. Not too far away, we explored an old twenty-eight room adobe trading post out in the middle of the desert run by the same family for the last 40 years. I thought who would want to live out in the middle of a dusty desert without much around and then we began to share family roots that we both had in Nebraska and then I understood. We heard about the owners hopes and dreams (new and old), and there newly obtained mining rights to a turquoise mine which will provide new hopes and dreams for them, their children and grandchildren. The flavors of New Mexico food were amazing, also. It will take awhile to really absorb all we saw-the deep green pine forests north of Taos (flecked with the golden leaves of aspen), the George O'Keefe country (Abiquiui and Ghost Ranch area) and the sunrises and sunsets of Monument Valley (This is a place where time seems to stand still, while clothed in brilliant golden oranges, vermilion, and rose magenta).
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