R.I.P. 2002 Silver Ford Taurus....

The adventures never end in this part of the world. While driving home from the Albuquerque airport on Tuesday afternoon after the San Francisco weekend the Taurus decided to behave really badly--engine light flashing, evil sputtering sounds, no acceleration, etc. So, I decided to try to make it to the nearest dealership, Capitol Ford in Santa Fe, and see what was wrong. I left the car and took a ($25!!) cab back to the casita (note to self: cabs in Santa Fe=bad idea) to await the fate of my vehicle.

I strolled around the Plaza, trying to get a better idea of where I am (and to forget that the car was broken), and had a nice dinner at Il Vicino, a local favorite pizza and salad place. I, of course, also located an amazing paper store-Papergami-which reminded me a lot of home and the Paper Source in Brookline on a much smaller scale. After watching a documentary I bought ages ago about Stieglitz (An Eloquent Eye), I fell asleep. I decided to walk to work on Wednesday morning, a lovely 10-minute stroll, and checked in at the Museum Research Center. Monica, the curatorial assistant, showed me around, and I am thrilled at the whole set-up, especially my amazing office (see below). As I was unpacking books, I got a call from Capitol Ford, letting me know that cylinder #1 in my engine was dead, equaling a $4000 new engine. Steve and I decided (seconded by Vincent the service guy) that there was no way we were putting a new engine in the p.o.s Taurus and so looked at other alternatives. Totally disheartened, I strolled around the Santa Fe car park, inquired about long term rentals at Enterprise ($700/month) and in the end, decided the solution was just to get another car.

So, me being me, I made my decision quickly (which is the antithesis of everything Steve believes in--car research would have taken him at least a month) and decided upon a 2007 Suburu Impreza Outback Sport (see below!). I knew I didn't want another Ford (sorry Dad!) and had been dreaming of Outbacks for awhile, so this little silver sporty version seemed the perfect choice for Maine. It was the last of it's kind on the lot, a standard, and drove really well. So, Robin, my hilarious salesman (Jarrett, if you are reading this, he reminded me SO much of you--same voice!), set me up, got me a reasonable deal, and I spent the better part of the afternoon (four hours) at the dealership purchasing, financing, registering and insuring my car! It's so strange to do this in another state. For instance, in NM, there are no state inspections, you just have to drive the car to the insurance agent and he looks at the odometer. Also, you need to purchase protection against uninsured drivers as more than 40% of drivers in NM are illegal and not-insured. Crazy! So, I will, in a few days, have New Mexico plates, which I think is hilarious. I am enjoying my new ride thus far. And, I would just like to reiterate to Steve that I DID NOT purposefully sabotage the Taurus engine despite earlier threats that I was going to just leave the car on the side of the road in NM before returning home. I guess the 4300 miles we put on the car coming out here was just too much for its delicate sensibilites. Ah well, RIP Taurus, and the impressive $100 trade-in value you brought to me. Honestly, I would have paid the dealership just to dispose of it.

So, back to work in my lovely office. Files are all unloaded, and so, no more excuses, it's time to start writing. Hope you all are well. Drop me an email and let me know what's going on in your parts of the world. Happy Labor Day Weekend and Good Luck to those getting ready to go back to school!


Pic 1: The New Suburu Outback "Sport"
Pic 2: The courtyard of the Research Center
Pic 3: My incredibly beautiful new office!