What I Did on Your Summer Vacation.

My friend, Betty, asked if I was going to write the blog anymore. She also registered a complaint about the poor quality of the nothing she had been seeing here recently. 

Rainbow over Albuquerque.

I'm pleased to spend a lot of time with animals, but enough about my friends (RIM SHOT). 

Rosie and Little Ann.

And enjoying other people's art.

And sprucing up my cabin, with my girlfriend's help. 

I met my lovely daughter-in-law this week! She's married to my lovely son!

Nina and Phil. 

We took them into the Gila Mountains...

Guess where?

Emory Pass

... and Truth or Consequences...

A Little Slice of Heaven, Truth or Consequences, NM. It used to be Brazen Fox, which used to be Happy Belly Deli.

We did the Monticello/Winston/Chloride trail...

After being told I can't get there, I have become obsessed with Monument Park.

...and the Datil trip, of course.

I brought them so they could picture where I do nothing.

One last scenic stop...

Sunset over Rio Grande, Elephant Butte, NM.

My mysterious side.

We enjoyed Nina and Phil and their youthful energy. I once had youth, but not energy.

They're still traveling home this morning, after so many delays that it could be amusing if they weren't so tired. They are currently disillusioned with United Airlines, unless UA does something amazing to make up for this trip. Your move, United!

The "retreat" is silent - Monticello, New Mexico

There are good reasons for a retreat to be silent, and I discovered three of them for myself:

It gives you permission to be solitary.

Although we arrived singly and in clumps, and we did socialize the night before the retreat began, when we were put on silence we dispersed. There didn't seem to be a plan, and we didn't talk about it ahead of time, but it happened. 

It gives you a chance to experience just how loud your ego can be.

The first two hours on silence, the voice in my head was deafening. It didn't say anything extraordinary, like I should write it down for future generations. It just narrated. It's like the guy you sit next to on an airplane. Friendly, well-meaning, wanting to be helpful. 

"SAY, HOW ABOUT THIS SILENCE, HUH? PRETTY QUIET, ISN'T IT? IS THAT A BIRD? WHAT KIND? I WISH I HAD A BIRD BOOK! I'D LOOK UP THAT BIRD. I WONDER IF THAT PLANT WOULD GROW AT HOME?? YEP, I SURE DO WONDER ABOUT THINGS! I WONDER HOW THE JACUZZI IN MY ROOM WORKS! I WONDER HOW EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING WITH SILENCE! HEY LOOK, I'M MEDITATING! I SURE AM MEDITATING GOOD! RIGHT? HEY, RIGHT? DON'T YOU LOVE THIS SILENCE? ... "

The Voice is no stranger, but I had forgotten how noisy she can get. She did settle down, eventually, and went back to what she's best at, which is deciding how to wear my hair and remembering how to walk to dinner.

A lovely house for sale. I already licked it.

Peace Gate

It prevents personalities from clogging up the experience.

Silence keeps the words from arising. If they arise in the guy next to me, who cares as long as I don't have to hear them? So, the gregarious are enjoying the event just like the reserved are. I wasted not one moment coming out of the experience by wishing someone would keep his enlightenment to himself. They also did not have to tell me to shut the quack up.

I broke silence twice without realizing it. A dog was crying for me on the other side of a gate. I wanted him, he wanted me, and we talked about the possibilities. A bird caught himself, not once, but twice in the woodstove, and the second time I expressed my incredulity while getting up to free him again.

Monticello Elementary School

If you've experienced this kind of intentional silence, I'd love to hear your own discoveries. How did it feel? How was it different from just being alone and not talking? How did it affect your experience of your surroundings? 

A different conversation: silent retreat in Monticello, New Mexico

I turned sideways into the light this weekend and disappeared, but not for long. Since I first met Monticello, New Mexico, I have wanted to spend more time there and never knew there was lodging to be had.

"as-sāqiya" in Arabic, also "acequia" in Spanish

While we could still speak, I asked on tour "what is that word you keep saying?" It's a ditch, with a beautiful name.

Fetal almond butter

The woman who led this astounding retreat is also the author of this book that I'm enjoying, The Good Life Lab. It's going to resonate with a lot of you. 

I expected to have a lot of words to share with you today, but not so much. All is well!

Pack extra underwear when leaving home. And other good advice. (Truth or Consequences, NM)

I left the cabin in a hurry on Christmas Day 2015. I always seem to stay gone longer than I expected.

My time in T or C has seemed unusually full and bustle-y. This time, more than any other, I have begun to feel like a local in good ways and better ways.

Because I have been doing more pet-sitting, I've extended my stay here and gotten to know new people. In-between those stays, though, I'm always a bit unsettled and unsure about where I'll stay overnight. If I need a backup plan - and I rarely do - Spud remains foremost an RV, and she does a darn fine job of it, too.

I enjoyed dinner and word games with some old and new friends last night. One of the new ones asked if I had a long-term plan, or if I just sleep around. Martye, consider that line stolen.

You did see a puddy tat: Sylvester

I started with one good friend in Truth or Consequences, and now I have armloads. It seems easy to meet good people here; at least that's my experience.

Ollie

One of those good friends offered me her space while she was away. So, naturally, in the spirit of friendship and reciprocity, I was happy to break her front-door lock. Somehow, she let me stay another night.

"The water YOU gave me was too fresh."

Martye, a new friend, has also offered me space while I'm waiting for the next dog-sitting job to start on Thursday. So, they flipped a coin for me. Girls, girls! No need to fight - there's plenty of sorn to go around!

This unusual (anywhere else) offering and accepting of hospitality seems common here. This is a town like no other I've experienced, and it attracts its own. 

On the first weekend of March, I'll attend my first-ever silent retreat in beautiful Monticello, NM. I have often thought that there should be a place to stay in that tiny "ghost" town, never knowing that there is! Also, I have long wanted to attend a silent retreat, and have often pictured myself silenting. My wishes are someone's commands.

That should leave a week to retreat to my own silent retreat on the mountain, and I plan for the weather to be good then. I'll be glad to see my Datil friends, old and new.

Monticello, New Mexico

Good evening, and welcome to What Bird Is It Anyway? a game where everything's made up, and the points don't matter. Like an evening gown in Truth or Consequences.

Hi Percy. Thanks for being here tonight.

My pleasure.

So, you're a really big pigeon.

NO! I'm a hawk. Look:

Well, that is rather impressive. But, you don't really have a hawk beak. It's sort of pigeony...

I'm sorry - I was rude. Please don't pout. Tell us more about hawk life!

 Really? Don't patronize me. You think I'm a pigeon. I am ... HEY! MY EYES ARE UP HERE!

I'm sorry! Truly! It's just that ... it's, um ... your feet. They're very fluffy.

STOP THE CAMERAS. Okay, interview over. Out. Out, out, out, out. OUT! 

No, I mean your fierce talons are elegantly adorned!

Get out.

Monticello was calling me, collect, so I thought it would be cheaper to just go there.

I didn't take many shots of the town because it's all private residence. I passed a crop of lavender in bloom, and while my mouth was agape at that, I turned to see bunches of nearly-ripe black wine grapes hanging on the vine.

I was still taking that in when I saw a rose bush full of scarlet blooms, old-fashioned size. I don't mean they were the size of a drink glass. They were small roses.

Loaded fig trees peeked out from over the top of an adobe wall. Not that kind of loaded. 

National Forest Service road

I met a fellow here who told me his great-great-great-great grandfather came here from Monticello, NY. I had to admit I didn't know where that was (I do now). That's how the town got its name. 

 This stopped being a school around 1961, he said, and burned around 1966.

I would love to spend a little time in this town. That would be challenging, though, since there are no businesses and no lodging. 

I saw a sign that pointed to a campground 17 miles away, but then you've still got to drive in to be in town, and then you're back where I was today. The only person driving on the road, sticking out like a hitchhiking thumb. Sticking out like a five-year-old's tongue. Sticking out like a tourist in a Prius with New York State plates.

What I saw was charming, and I think you oughta go stick out there, too.

It was there when I left, I swear it, baby!