Things to be Thankful for in Santa Fe

For the rest of the country, it's time to heat up the oven, get out the turkey baster, and think about whether to head out early to Black Friday sales. But if you're lucky enough to live in, or visit Santa Fe over the next 5 days, you'll have a lot more choices.
Start with opening day at Ski Santa Fe on the 26th. There's been so much early snow that a scheduled 90% of the mountain will be open. Reports of amazing powder runs have surfaced, but for those you had to skin up the mountain. Ski Santa Fe has some great webcams online if you want to see what you're missing.
On the 27th the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony takes center stage downtown on the Plaza. Music, caroling and hot chocolate, though we have to say we're partial to all the amazing blends available at our friend Tony's Kakawa Chocolate House, just a short walk south of the Plaza on Paseo de Peralta. You can order any of the chocolate blends know as elixirs by mail, as well as many of their amazing custom caramels and chocolates.

But we're probably saddest to be missing the Santa Fe Winter Indian Market. With a preview on the 27th and booths open 28th-29th, we'd be especially interested in seeing what Zoe Marie Urness will have at Booth #123, and whether two of our favorite students from the Institute of American Indian Arts bring new work. We'll have several prints by both Amanda Beardsley and Justus Benally to offer through the Cerro Gordo Collection posting in the next few days. 

Mabel Dodge Luhan. One point in the triumvirate of amazing American women who changed the future of art history in New Mexico in the early 1900's. Tonight was the world premiere of Awakening in Taos, a film about her and the salon of painters and writers she brought to the attention of East Coast critics from her home on the edge Taos pueblo and the shadow of its imposing mountain.
I made my pilgrimage to Mabel's home in the early 80's, where it was now an inn, having transitioned along the way during a notorious ownership by none other than Dennis Hopper. Stayed in the room where a shy D. H. Lawrence had watercolored the second floor bathroom windows during a stay of his own. Wrapped myself in the mystic, cohesive aura that this strong, curious, opinionated woman who moved to the ends of the earth from Buffalo, NY left wandering the adobe halls.
Little did I know that 30+ years later I'd buy a home originally owned by another artful New Yorker, painter Sheldon Parsons, who started out painting portraits of the likes of President McKinley and Susan B. Anthony before moving to Santa Fe for his health. The skeins of yarn in my New Mexico dreamcatcher reaches across a continent and a century.
We wish we'd been at the Lensic tonight for the premiere, and look forward to charting the film as it makes its way into the world.
Here are pictures from my last visit to the Mabel Dodge Luhan house in the winter of 2014.

 Mabel and Tony Luhan (Taos Native American) Adobe Home, now used as a Conference site and Guest Lodgings.

 A portrait of Mabel on the wall leading from the dining hall towards the living room.

 A painting of Tony Luhan on the opposite wall.

Taos Mountain, viewed from directly behind Mabel and Tony's home, sacred ancestral land belonging to Taos Pueblo with some of the oldest apartment buildings found in the United States.

The Art of Up/Recycling in Santa Fe, November 20 - 22nd

Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival

November 20-22nd

In October, we spent a night in Abiquiu to see the stars and take in the annual Abiquiu Studio Tour.  One of our favorite finds was work by an artist named J. Suris who uses recycled materials to make her sculptures, rattles and toys. This is a piece she made about witches and the Pedernal, that flat topped mountain Georgia O'Keeffe loved to paint.

We'd never heard of the Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival before that weekend but are really glad we now have. Held at the Convention Center, it's a great alternative to find unique gifts for the holidays.

J. Suris with two of the gourd rattles we bought.

Welcome!
Just in time for the holidays, we are launching our new travel blog about all things Santa Fe. We have the best place for you to stay if you're looking for a singular retreat in a historic adobe home two blocks from the galleries, shops and amazing restaurants on Canyon Road and recommendations for other accommodations in and around the City Different.
The holidays are one of the best times to experience so much of what we love about our second home: the tree lighting on the Plaza, the Farolito Walk on Canyon Road, the hush of snow falling on the mountain above (the ski basin is just 1/2 hour outside our door).
Sign up for updates, as we'll be adding content daily. Shopping, art, events, spas, great restaurants and things to do. We're looking forward to sharing our Santa Fe with you.