A LOVE LETTER TO SANTA FE, NM

I went gallery hopping this morning after my tea and chocolate chip cookie treat time. Well, actually I went strolling through some art galleries since I’m way past hopping. Anyway, it was a gorgeous day so I decided to do my walk on Canyon Road here in Santa where we have lots and lots of wonderful art.

Besides enjoying my hour of leisurely looking, I wondered how so many artists could turn out work worthy of being in a gallery and then I thought that it is amazing so many of the galleries can stay in business during this poor economy, but the majority of them seem to have hung in there.

I had an art gallery in Sherman Oaks, Brentwood Village and on Montana Avenue in the Los Angeles area (not all at the same time). This was in the 1980’s when Santa Fe and American Indian arts and crafts were all the rage. I sold jewelry, sculptures, wall art, pottery and many other beautiful things made by Native Americans. I had the business for twelve years and then there was a big earthquake and then my husband retired and then I sold my business, so we moved to Santa Fe.

I think it’s fun to find out how people’s lives have evolved. Sometimes you just end up doing something you had no intention of doing. When I was working at my husband’s advertising agency, he and his partner sold to a big firm. The wife was not part of the deal. I was out of work. At almost the same moment, I met someone socially who was selling real estate. She convinced me to give it a try. I ended up doing that for seven years until I was sick of it. I quit. Almost immediately, I saw story in the newspaper about Indian market in Santa Fe that is a huge fair-like event held every August in the Plaza. Off we went for a weekend that changed our lives.

In November of that year, we drove all over the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and visited trading posts. By the following January, I had a booth at an American Indian Show and Sale in Pasadena, California. That was the start of my business. It sort of built itself from there since I had no idea what I was doing. I named it Two Bears.

We made many visits to Santa Fe on buying trips, finally deciding that when we retired, we’d move here. Anyway, this is the long road we took to a life in this great little city where we have lived since 1995.

I met three women today in a gallery who were visiting here for the first time and when I told them that I live here, they were very envious. If you have never been here, you should make it a point to visit. I know of no one who has ever regretted seeing the country’s oldest continually occupied city.

By the way, Santa Fe is in New (new) Mexico. No USA passport needed.

You can get a great 2013 Summer Guide to Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico with the title “Bienvenidos” from The New Mexican newspaper. http://www.santafenewmexican.com

There is no COMING NEXT. I’ve had a long fun run here but I’m off to do other things.
Thanks for dropping by from time to time.

TONGUE IN CHEEK

I thought of something this morning while drinking my new healthy tea and eating my more healthy chocolate chip cookie. So? you may think. She always says she thinks about something while enjoying her morning beverage and sweet. Well, the thing this morning is that I wondered if everyone “gets” what I write since so much of it is tongue in cheek and may require that you see me wink or put an elbow in your ribs.

I grew up in a family that teased and told jokes a lot. My mom was funny without really meaning to be. My godmother was a huge tease (not mean). My dad brought home jokes all the time from the place where he worked. Many were X-rated. My grandpa lived with us and he loved a good joke, too.

I’ve carried out the joking tradition to the point that when my son was in nursery school, the teacher told me that he got along very well with the other children except that his sense of humor was so sophisticated, the other kids often didn’t get it.

Humor is a really general term. All kinds of activities and moods fall under that word, but to me it is when something is funny or at least amusing. Getting to that place can involve something that might seem mean–like a person falling. See how complicated it is? It’s one thing to see someone fall when they intend to amuse and quite another when someone falls by accident. If she gets up and winks, you can feel free to laugh.

Humor usually involves exaggeration. Think about things that amuse you. Aren’t they usually over the top? My grandpa used to drop out his false teeth in front of my boyfriends. It was very embarrassing to me, but also “cracked us up.”

Humor can make you hysterical or you may just smile. The great thing about humor is that it makes us feel better. It’s not only fun to laugh; it is a healthy activity. (I’ve already done a blog about laughter being the best medicine.)

I try to use humor a lot when working with the young children in my reading program. Early on, I realized that children need to be exposed to humor as much as to any other subject that helps them live happily in this world. They do understand their own kind of humor, which sometimes baffles me. Farting, of course, is a sure hysterical moment. Someone wrote a children’s book about a farting dog. I think it made the New York Times bestseller list once. Anyway, I love hearing laughter in my classroom.

Okay, so I got a little serious today about being funny. Then how’s this for a sign off–remember the one about the three old guys in a bar who…..

COMING NEXT: On Becoming Cranky