An Evening with the Santa Fe Barman

Been following The Santa Fe Barman for a while now and, Wednesday, finally made it to Secreto to meet Chris.

Passed an enjoyable, rainy evening there, letting him choose drinks for us, often using the array of fresh fruits and herbs along the bar. And sometimes the homemade bitters and tinctures, some of which are supposed to be available soon. Learning from vacation, had dinner at the bar, where we could mix and match and get a just the right amount. Good conversation and a fun break in what's been an unremarkable couple weeks.

Last weekend, actually rained pretty much the whole time. Did get out first thing Saturday for the dog's 30,000 mile checkup, and then onto the Farmers Market where the gray skies were welcome and the good vegetables are appearing. The rain came Saturday afternoon, good because I was mostly computer-bound. Productive, but still. Did have a great time with Jon and Susanne over Sunday; for dessert, a tart using our tree's apricots that we weren't supposed to let fruit but never believed would.

And back on the computer for most of today. A brief power outage last week (perhaps unrelated) threw the wireless network into a fit that, fingers crossed, seems to be fixed.

Still Life with Rainbow and Sodden Grilling Equipment

Also: Monica's been adding photos at Chamisa.

Furthermore: a few changes to Enjoying, over there to the left.

The Minnesotans Visit

As mentioned, P+T+A+T have all been in town for the past couple days.



Photo above, all of us at Tsankawi on Friday.

They got into town, via Moab and other western adventure sites, Thursday. A confusing dinner at La Choza as a storm rolled in around us, then some visiting back home.

Pre-hike breakfast at Santa Fe Baking Company. Tsankawi turned out to be just about the perfect activity, enough outdoors and exploring and scrambling and breeze. For lunch, swung by the mall to Dave and Shelby's new gelato shop. A went back to the hotel with grandma, Mon took T shopping for desert plants that would survive The Cities, P and I hung out with the dog. Evening, headed downtown and blew through a couple of the museums (free that night), stopped by the Bell Tower, then on to Blue Corn so they could get their adovada on.

That was the night of the storms. Mon and I were walking the dog before bed and, at around furthest point out, the thunder rolled. Cheyenne could not be persuaded that it was the same distance if we just continued on, and insisted on retracing our steps (which I found pretty impressive, since I still figure she doesn't know the way home). Seemed like three storms, one after the other, keeping us all up.

But we were up for Saturday at the Farmers Market, then downtown for some strolling, dining, and some time at the New Mexico History Museum. In the year since it opened, I hadn't been yet — and will have to go back. We started at the Seton show, and then to the permanent exhibit. Big, too big to take in in one afternoon, I had to skip ahead to the Manhattan Project section. A beautiful museum, enough to keep us occupied with more for a return visit.



Went our separate ways, I went to the NMFF board meeting (where I was voted treasurer), then we all met up here and fired up the grill. Passed the evening outside. Lit the fire pit and, as promised, enjoyed some mezcal.

Met them at the Baking Company again at 7:30 to see them off this morning. Too short a visit. But the early start gave us a jump on the day's chores. Though now I'm totally beat. Hopefully, so's the dog, enough so she won't be bothered by the fireworks …

Thunder is Not the Awesome

Taken a few days ago; last night, though, we had rough night of two-plus-hours of heavy rain, heavy winds, lighting, and thunder. Crazy.

P+T+A+T are in town for a couple days. Out to Tsankawi with them yesterday, meeting them at the Farmers Market in a few minutes. More later.

Update: Still sucks, even when one of your monkeys builds you a cave.