Wednesday, April 5, 2017

take it.....


ONE DAY

AT A TIME....

A very good thing about living so close to Santa Fe, is that I have friends who drop by here (Albuquerque) on their way to there.....

And that makes me SO happy, because I get to show them some of my favorite places, before they go off to discover their own....

And one of my very favorite places to visit is Abiquiu, NM, about 2 hours northwest of Albuquerque, the home to Ghost Ranch, and Georgia O'Keeffe's home and studio, among other cool things to see and do out that way.

My perfect day is to head out in the morning, take the whip route (ring road around Santa Fe) and head up to Tesuque where my favorite breakfast stop is waiting for me....


The Tesuque Village Market

a cool little village market with good food, drinks, bakery, deli, coffee & local vibe


The atmosphere is great, and on this day, we stopped there two times...
for coffee and a sweet on our way in the morning
and for dinner and drinks on our way home.

We were lucky this day. First, because of the calm warm weather, and second, because even though we booked our tour of Georgia's home and studio late (the week prior), we were still able to see it at the perfect time for us.
Be sure, if you are going, to book your spot well before you plan to visit.

The tour begins at their office next to The Abiquiu Inn. The Inn is a nice place to stop before or after the tour for a bite to eat, with a well stocked gift shop. We had a lovely lunch there after our tour.

There are many rules to follow on the tour, and when I first visited almost 20 years ago now (yikes) they were very strict....
no photos, no sketching, no, no, no, nothing...
just quiet observation and respect.
Which is the very best way to be Present in such a sacred (to me) place.
On this visit we were able to photograph outside of the dwelling....




This was my third visit to Georgia's Abiquiu house.
I always see it with fresh eyes and learn something new every time.

Recently I received a gift of the book Georgia O'Keeffe and Her Houses......



and finally reading it, instead of looking at it's beautiful photographs,
gave me new and deep insight into the building history of her homes.

On this visit our docent pointed out that Georgia was a millionaire before she came to
New Mexico to live...

A sobering fact to this person, who sometimes dreams of living an even more enchanted life...

and then, after pooting out to Ghost Ranch,

we adventured out down a washboard dirt road to Plaza Blanca, Georgia's 'White Place'....


Plaza Blanca rests on private land, owned by Dar al Islam, and is accessible from the road which leads to their Mosque.


Right now, there is a TV pilot (Scalped) being shot on the premises, which was a bit disconcerting. The fact is that many movies have been shot here and at Ghost Ranch.

Movie set aside, to wander the canyon is a mystical experience.

I've posted these photos on Instagram, where I mostly hang out these days.

@marianna_overtherainbow