Settling In....

We arrived in Santa Fe late Wednesday afternoon and after a few wrong turns found our way to the 610 Paseo Corto casita, a very sweet little (and I mean little--there's a reason it's a 'casita') place that I will call home until Christmas-time. After unloading books and endless amounts of clothing from the car, we decided to consult the roadtrip book one last time for a dinner suggestion. Once again, it steered us in a very pleasant direction and we had a great southwestern dinner at the Shed. I've never seen garlic bread served with mexican food before, but it was a nice twist and we enjoyed our "last meal" together. Back at the casita, not wanting to unpack, we watched a little TV and fell asleep. On Thursday, I took Steve to the Albuquerque Sunport to fly back to Boston--truly the end of our cross-country trip and back to old and new realities for both of us! Steve's already back at work, and I check into the O'Keeffe Museum to get shown around and move into my office on Wednesday of this week.

After I dropped Steve off at the AP, I managed to miss the turn back onto Route 25 to take me back to Santa Fe (an hour's drive from ABQ) and drove around aimlessly for a bit trying to find my way. Eventually I did, hindered only by a crazy accident, and my extremely poor sense of direction. I always think that it will somehow improve or get better with age--it never does. I used to forget how to get from my house to high school back in the day. I decided to use Thursday as an unpacking and shopping day, so I found all of the local hotspots--Trader Joes, Target (on a street named Cerrillos, leading out of the city, reminding me a lot of Rt. 9 at home) and proceeded to set up my new digs. Not loving the comforter already on the bed, I found myself a more Libby choice, and stocked the pantry. I also had to get a small bookshelf at Target for all of my Maine reading materials in preparation for teaching in January, and I was lamenting the loss of Steve's presence, because I am terrible at following directions and putting things together. I managed to get it done, however, and the place is starting to look a little more homey. My neighbors, the owners of the guesthouse, are quite nice and have two very cute kids. It's just a short walk to the Plaza and to the museum--neither of which I've explored as of yet--having saved the "fun stuff" until the more practical things were done. I found a great local hangout near Trader Joes, "Cafe Santa Fe," where I will happily bring anyone who comes and visits. I found the laundrymat (I thought those days were done for me...alas)! And I found that my day passed rather quicky and I went back to the Casita and packed Kate's Bachelorette weekend in San Francisco.

The Bachelorette weekend was great fun, the highlight being a trip to Napa Valley on Saturday where we had lunch, a tasting and a tour at the Flora Springs winery. The winery, http://www.florasprings.com/, was lovely, quiet (we were the only people there) and I found that when served in such a setting, taken straight from the oak barrels, and with a good bit of explanation, that I quite like wine after all! It was so much fun to see all Kate's friends from Notre Dame, her family, get to know William's mother and sister, and to spend a weekend in San. Fran. is always a treat! I head back to Santa Fe tomorrow (Tuesday) and am excited to go exploring. From what little I've seen of the city thus far, I think I am going to love it and feel very at home there. Best of all, I'm going to get alot of work done. I am halfway through Roxana Robinson's biography of Georgia O'Keeffe (which I thought was only fitting) and will finish the rest this afternoon. It's a wonderful read and her early life was alot more complex than I imagined. It's also helping me understand a great deal more about Stieglitz and his approach to Gallery 291. It's such a treat to think only about my own work, and not about starting school, and so I'll take advantage of what I know will be a rare prospect these next few years. More later!

Pic 1: Slide Rock State Park, Sedona--so much fun!
Pic 2: Lunch at Flora Springs Winery, Napa Valley