Day One and Two
News You Can Use

HELLO my faithful readers. Welcome back to another year of “News You Can Use”. I am not sure yet as to what I am going to horn in on this trip but be assured coffee, bathroom ratings, living on the edge and double wide are things of the past. Santa Fe is a whole new world to explore.

Santa Fe appears to be a very colorful town. The scenery is breath taking. The blue sky back drop complements the earthy browns splattered throughout the town. The people who walk the streets of old Santa Fe are too ,very colorful. It seems to me, for the short time that I have been here, there is a feeling of freedom. This freedom comes in a way of expression. A “freedom” that  I have not experienced back home, of the magnitude. There is a spirit of creativity that flows. Painting, jewelry, pottery, clothing, and music all have found a home here in Santa Fe. I found myself fascinated with the old architectural structures. The wood, clay, and stucco are settling and have a calming effect on ones psyche.  It’s a whole different culture compared to back east.

I realized that I needed a crash course in Spanish. Thank God I have Cesar here to help me pronounce the names of these streets. My tongue has not yet learns how to roll the “R’s”. I truly understand the meaning of tongue tied. I have been practicing two words all day and I still can not get my tongue to work right. Mountain/Montana, and Desert / Desierto are my two new words. Now I have three. I learned agua from the kids at school. Before I leave this vast state of New Mexico I will have at least twenty new Spanish words under my belt. Imagine, I will no longer have to use language line to talk to my Hispanic parents.

Out west here in Santa Fe I have be presented with a few “first”. You know how you live life and you think you have seen it all. Well today I saw older men wearing an earring. Not just a small stud but an EARRING. Big, dangling and very southwestern. Something I don’t see everyday back home everyday. Now, I’m a baby boomer so that places me on the other side of fifty, closer to sixty, well sixty if one wants to be honest. He was older than me. As I walked through Santa Fe I was starting to notice more and more older men walking around with big earrings. It must be that freedom thing again. A freedom to express ones self without worrying about what people like me think. I like it. I can get use to this. Not that I have a problem with expressing myself or speaking my mind. I am starting to feel more liberated. It’s the energy. There is a creative spirit building in me as I continue on this southwest journey. I feel a shift coming on. I know there are readers out there that know me and are thinking….oh no here we go again. Will she be bringing home rocks, crystals, and an energy that will be no living with her? Yes I do feel a connection with my spirit. It’s bigger than me. How can I not feel was if meant to be. When in Rome do as the Romans. When in New Mexico create and connect.