still counting down the days...

I have ten days left here! Spring break has just ended, so this place is back to being eerily quiet. During Spring Break (or Little Texas Time), I was counting down the days until I was able to experience some peace and quiet. Now that I have the peace and quiet I am in possession of some abandonment-like feelings. In Forestville, a man who lived there year round described something similar happening to him. I didn't quite understand it until now. 

This particular rush brought in tons of pretty wonderful people. Lots of great conversation and a few nights where my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. 

About a week ago I drove the two hours to Abiquiu, NM and took a hike at Ghost Ranch (where Georgia O'Keefe used to live and paint). It was amazing, almost in a sort of transformative way. At the end of the steep hike, I was happy to be alone up there at the top of the world, and I sat and wrote and sketched a little. 

I read a book about Georgia O' Keefe recently.  After she first moved to New Mexico from upstate New York, she talked about how happy and inspired she was by the browns of the New Mexican desert. She said something along the lines of "there is nothing but green in New York, and who wants to look at that all the time, let alone paint it?" Though I appreciate the browns of NM a little more now, I feel exactly the opposite. I crave greenery. I can't wait to get back to it. 

I am just now getting over a two day hangover from the ridiculous amount of good beer that I drank at Brew Fest. After all the free beer and delicious goulash that we could handle, Sarah and I stumbled over a few snow covered hills (falling more times than I care to (or can) remember- cowboy boots are horrible in the snow, commandeered some tubes from the shed and did some illegal tubing down Strawberry Hill.

 Later on that night we watched fireworks and torchlight skiers. I didn't have my camera, but here is a picture that Seth took of the events last year. This whole thing was in commemoration of the ski valley's creator, the deceased Ernie Blake. During this beautiful display we were wooed by yet another one of the ski valley's finest, a snowboarder bum yelling up at the sky "DO IT UP ERNIE BLAKE, YEAH DUDE, RED HOT, RED HOT!" 

Also, I finally finished my quilt. I think its pretty awesome.

and a close up!

Ghost Ranch

This is where I was sitting until a bee chased me away

 on the way home I found this lake

I sat on this bench and wrote some more (there were no bees here)

Here is a picture of part of the ski valley, (my beginner mountain is not pictured)

Jay, me and Bobby (the Austing Haus owners) the morning after Brew Fest

Oh yeah, I made this banana bread, it was the best banana bread i have had in my entire life.

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 I cooked a beautiful vegetarian lasagna for my favorite people here

and here we are the next morning, our little family portrait

This is what most sundays were like for me, sitting on the couch with Maria. And look there is Christopher in the reflection!

So, I haven't talked about Maria much in this blog. She is a wonderful lady from Germany whom I grew very close with while I was here. We spent a lot of time together talking about food, Europe, relationships, and our completely disparate pasts. She also made me some really beautiful jewelry. 

I had to say goodbye to her today. It was really difficult. I am not sure what I would have done without her here. Her weekly chats on this couch while we beaded and sewed kept me feeling sane and less alone. I also don't know what I would do without her because she is going to find me a husband in Germany! (that last part is mostly a joke)