SCULPTURES, CHURCHES AND AND CHIMAYO

After breakfast today we decided to go downtown for lunch. There’s a little restaurant called Louie’s Corner Café that is new to us. Whenever we drive downtown from the condo, we pass by there and the array of colored umbrellas always gets our attention.

This place has been many things in the past from Greek food to Italian but now it’s a place that serves sandwiches and brunch and they even cater meals.

Having eaten a late breakfast were not very hungry, but Heaven forbid that we miss a meal! We decided to share a Reuben sandwich. The funny thing was that when it arrived, they had also cut the pickle in half! I think that both of us could have eaten a whole pickle but rather than make a fuss, we ate the half and it was the perfect accompaniment for our corned beef and sliced cucumbers.

After lunch I decided to try and do a little shopping. Lucille’s was right down the street and I always go there to look for something new when we’re in town. Lucille's is a happy, colorful, floor to ceiling menagerie of clothing and accessories. They have a fabulous selection of beautiful broomstick skirts, dresses, pants, tops, jackets and ponchos and they carry sizes from small to X-large and many Plus styles, so I always feel at home there.

As it ended up, I didn’t find anything that I thought I couldn’t live without and Frank was very grateful. I usually come out of the store with so many shopping bags that I need help carrying them. He was sitting on a bench in a little garden nearby patiently waiting for me. Parked at the curb was the cutest little car. The license tag read “Escargot”. I have no idea what kind of a car it was, but it was adorable. Wouldn't that be fun to drive around town in!

We had not been to Canyon Road on this trip, so we decided to drive up there and see what was happening. Normally Santa Fe is buzzing with people this time of year but the town is very quiet. I supposed the economy crunch has hit here like it has all over our beloved country.

One of the galleries had some lovely purple Clematis in full bloom, so I felt that I had to photograph it. There was a small driveway in front, so Frank pulled in there so I could shoot and not have to walk. We do what he now calls “Car Photography”.

Since I have a great deal of difficulty walking, we drive along and when I something interesting to photograph, I ask him to stop so I can get out and shoot rather than having to walk very far. He’s so good to do this for me.

Once I had taken several photos he realized that he was going to have to back out of the place. Our new car does not have a sensor system like the old one did so you can’t tell when you’re getting very close to an object. Our last car would beep when you got within 3 feet of anything. Poor Frank was getting very frustrated since this was a very tight place to maneuver around in, so I said that I would get out and direct him. It was a good thing that I did because we were within inches of hitting what I’m sure was this very pricey sculpture that was in the middle of the pavement.

Thank goodness we didn’t hit it as it would have ruined the art work, not to mention what it would have done to our car. That ended the car photography for the day!
That evening we went to our friends home for a drink before dinner. Walter had bought this visor that had hair attached to it. It was so funny. Of course, Papa had to try it on as well. It really looked better on Walter since it matched his own hair color. Boys will be boys :-)

We then headed out to Gabriel’s for dinner which is a few miles outside of town. We decided to eat there as we loved the outside patio where you could watch the sunset and their guacamole is outstanding. They prepare it for you table-side.

As I’ve mentioned before, all the enchiladas are good in Santa Fe but no two are alike. These are the ones that they serve at Gabriel’s. The sopapillas were also wonderful, especially when they are warm and dripping with honey. YUM!!!

Ann and I almost had the same color on. Hopefully we didn't clash too much. We had a lovely visit. Even though we had seen them at Vanessi’s a few nights before, it’s difficult to visit there since there is music and you don’t want to be rude and chatter away while Doug Montgomery is performing.

Tomorrow will be the day for a history lesson about Northern New Mexico. I hope you're ready for it.

The next morning we met our dear friend Patty at Baglemania who treated us to a delicious breakfast.

She’s such a dear and longtime friend. I’m sorry that we don’t live closer, but at least we have Email. Thank goodness for cyberspace! Once again I had the Eggs Benedict. They are almost as good as the ones they serve at Katy’s in Carmel which are the best in the entire world.

After breakfast we said our goodbyes and went to Chimayo on the High Road to Taos. I wasn’t sure how I would handle the altitude but I was fine. The drive there is beautiful. It’s about 18 miles from SF to Chimayo and the desert is lovely.

You are driving along through the hills that are covered with pinon trees and suddenly you drop down into a lush valley and the village of Chimayo.

There is a church there that's called the Santuario de Chimayo and it is very famous.

El Santuario has been called the "Lourdes of America". No one seems to know exactly how this came about. However, there are testimonies that the extraordinary has occurred. Fr. Sebastian Alvarez in his letter to the Episcopal See of Durango, dated November l6, 1813, expressed his feelings of the people coming from afar to seek cures for their ailments and the spreading of the fame of their cures, induced many more faithful to come in pilgrimage. He did not mention any specific facts, but something was there. El Santuario has been a place of worship from the beginning - a place to pray, to thank, to ask, to meditate and to experience peace of mind as well as of body.
People come from all over the world for healing. The nave is beautiful and behind the nave is a small room which is filled with canes, walkers and crutches which have been left behind by people who have been healed.

The parking lot to visit the sanctuario is at the foot of a long sidewalk which is uphill and I wasn’t sure if I could make it. Frank brought along a stool for me to use if I needed a break. Believe it or not … I didn’t have to use it! We've turned our car into a traveling hospital just in case. This time I had my wheelchair in the trunk along with an oxygen tank and this folding stool. It's a wonder we had any room left for our clothes!

We have been coming here for years and it’s a lovely setting. Outside of the church itself is a little store where you can buy candles and religious artifacts as well as a lot of local art.

There is a grotto on the way up the hill where people have put candles and rosaries and said prayers for themselves and their loved ones.

There is a poem inside the church itself which reads,
"If you are a stranger, if you are weary from the struggles in life, whether you have a handicap, whether you have a broken heart, follow the long mountain road, find a home in Chimayó."

There is a small room at the back of the chapel which is is called El Pocito. It is also known as the "Room of Miracles." There is a round hole in the floor, through which people scoop out some of the sand. Some kneel and kiss the earth; some rub it on their bodies or onto photographs of family members too ill to travel. Most people carry home a small bagful. Some even eat a little of the sand. It is said that the hole mysteriously fills up each night no matter how much of the dirt is removed by the pilgrims and no one knows how this happens.
The Church takes no position on whether miracles have occurred at the Santuario. However, each year some 30,000 people from all over the world make pilgrimages to the Santuario de Chimayó during Holy Week, especially on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, some seeking blessings and some in fulfillment of a vow. Walking is traditional; some pilgrims walk from as far away as Albuquerque, about 90 miles. On the walls of the medicinal sand room are hundreds of letters and photographs from visitors thankful for the healing they say they received here.
There is also a statue of Santo Niño in this small room. The story of the Santo Niño begins in Spain during the time of the Moors, Spain's Muslim conquerors. In Atocha, outside Madrid, many Christian men had been imprisoned. The jail did not feed the prisoners, and the caliph ordered that only children could visit and bring food to them. The women prayed to Our Lady for help. Soon word spread that a small boy was visiting and feeding the prisoners. His basket was never empty of bread, and his water gourd was always full. He was considered a manifestation of Jesus as the Holy Child, the Santo Niño. In 1492 Catholics drove the Muslims out of Spain. In the succeeding years, Spanish colonists brought worship of Our Lady of Atocha and her Holy Child to the village of Plateros, Mexico. As in Spain, there was a statue of the Virgin with the Holy Child in her arms. The child was often removed and brought to help with difficult births. Over time, the Santo Niño's reputation for miracles grew. It was said that he wandered the countryside at night spreading miracles, especially among the imprisoned, the poor, and the ill.
In images of the Santo Niño de Atocha, he wears the garb of a pilgrim and carries a bread basket and a pilgrim's staff to which is tied a water gourd. It is said that the Santo Niño roams the valleys of Chimayó at night, wearing out his little shoes. They have to be frequently replaced. How this happens is also a mystery.

Pilgrims bring him baby shoes, which line his niche and a shelf along the wall, along with photos of children and prayers for his intervention on their behalf. There is even a a special chapel that they have built on the property called the Santo Nino Chapel.

I have included a photograph that I took of the Santuario a long time ago. Below it is a watercolor that I painted. It's my version of the church taking a lot of so called artistic license ;-) Probably everyone who paints and has visited here has done the same as I have since it’s such a wonderful subject.

As we were resting in the shade after our climb up the hill we noticed this woman and her husband who must have been on a pilgrimage of their own. It’s a perfect example of how NOT to dress when visiting a church!

The grounds around the church are lovely and there are many religious artifacts. Here is a shrine of St. Francis with the familiar pose with his birds

and then inside a shaded area under a portal he is showing the stigmata with the Death Cart.

Death carts, with their terrifying figures of La Muerte, are a peculiarly New Mexican art form, appearing in the Holy Week processions of the Brotherhood. In their secret rites, Penitentes dragged the heavy, cumbersome death carts to calvarios, where they commemorated the Crucifixion. The carts represent the power of Death during the period between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, and the ritual foretells the miracle of Christ’s ultimate triumph over death. Such carts had their origin in Spanish religious drama.
As we came slowly down the hill, we stopped and bought some chili from a local vendor. The chili that's grown in the Chimayo Valley is the best in all of New Mexico so I had to get more to stock my freezer. I couldn't possibly go any length of time without a NM red chili enchilada fix! I loved the car that he was driving ... it was so New Mexican.

After our visit, we went to Rancho de Chimayo for a wonderful lunch. It’s a lovely place in a beautiful setting and we have been coming here here for over 40 years.

We ate outside and it was a little warm, but we were under a big umbrella and we were more than comfortable in the shade. What I wouldn't give to have this kind of weather in Texas!

We had yet another enchilada (we can’t seem to ever get enough of these) and it, too was very different from the one last night. All the goodies were hidden under the cheese. I might add that it was delicious.

Our drive home was uneventful. Not much traffic and I was able to get a good shot of Camel Rock, one of the landmarks along the way.

We arrived home in the late afternoon, full of good thoughts, good food and very tired. There was a wonderful calico kitty who must live nearby who came to visit us. He performed for us for about 10 minutes but when he realized that there was no reward in store for him, he went on his merry way.

Frank has a golf date early tomorrow so we decided to stay home tonight and take it easy.
XOXO, Pcasso

BUBBLE BUBBLE, WI-FI TROUBLE!

As soon as we got up this morning Frank went to the Sage Bakery to get some breakfast for us. They have such a huge selection that it is hard to make a decision.

Fortunately I had sent him there with my order already figured out, so I had the pleasure of once again enjoying an almond croissant. In fact, I even heated it and put butter on it! It was absolute heaven!

Today was a fairly slow day, so we watched a little TV in the morning (we both love game shows) and then decided to go to our favorite spot for lunch, Tia Sophia's. In years past we ate there at least 4 times a week, but there are so many good restaurants in Santa Fe that we haven't visited Tia's as often as we used to. In my humble opinion they have the very best enchilada in town.

It never changes. The chili is always exceptional and the atmosphere is very friendly. Not too many tourists eat there as it is literally a little hole in the wall so tourists are a little leery about going inside, but the food by far surpasses the ambiance of the place.
We were unaware that while we were gone to lunch there had been a power outage at the condo and when we got home I had no Internet service! Horror of all horrors ... how can one live without the Internet!

There was my BFF sitting all alone with no way to connect to the world and all my friends. I immediately called the office and after much haggling with Comcast, I found that they could be there in 3 days to fix it. I felt that this was totally unacceptable. At least we still had TV! They did tell us that if we would come by the Comcast office they would give me a new modem to replace the one that had fried. So, early the next morning Frank headed for Comcast which is on the other side of town. He's such a dear to fight that Cerrillos Road traffic just so I could be up and running again. When he got back home, the new modem wouldn't work either so I called Comcast again. It seems that it had to be activated and since I was not the one who opened the account they would not activate it for me. I was HOT! I spent over an hour on hold and finally got hold of someone who said that they would send a technician out the next day to see what we could work out. This is the very reason the we no longer use Comcast. I found that they are not accommodating either at home or in New Mexico! Thank goodness for U-verse!
But wait ... I'm getting way ahead of myself!
After spending a great deal of the afternoon on the phone, we decided that we needed an Asian food fix so we went to Jinja. We had to pass through town on the way to the restaurant, so we took our regular detour and drove around the Plaza and by the Cathedral to see what was going on. There's always lots of activity in downtown Santa Fe ... especially in the summer.

This is a wonderful little Pan Asian bistro is partially owned by Gene Hackman (he's a part time resident in SF)

They seated us in a corner booth and we had a wonderful waitress who took very good care of us. We found out later that this was her first day and she was delightful.

Hackman is also an artist and below is one of his paintings that hangs in the restaurant. The light was very low and all I had with me was my iPhone, so forgive the quality of the shot. I know now that I should NEVER leave the house without my camera!

The food was delicious and we decided to have an assortment of appetizers rather than an entree. We have eaten here several times before so we knew that the portions were more than ample.

We had the Yin Yang Shrimp which was crispy black tiger shrimp dusted in salt and pepper and served with the perfect yin and yang of a sweet, plum ginger sauce and a spicy Vietnamese sauce.

We then chose the tempura which is a classic from Japan, lightly-battered shrimp, broccoli, red pepper, carrot, sweet potato and onion.

Pot Stickers are always a favorite. They are Asian comfort food. They were four pan-seared pork and vegetable dumplings with a tangy Shanghai dipping sauce, and of course, Fried Rice. She brought us 6 at no extra charge since we were sharing. I make these at home when I feel very energetic.

Our good friend, Young Woo, taught me how to make these. He most always cooks for us when we are in Santa Fe. I met him when I was in Egypt 25 years ago and was have been good friends and "chef mates" ever since.

On the way home, we were blessed to be able to witness the most beautiful sunset. The skies in New Mexico are so clean and clear. That's due to the fact that there is no large industry there so there's very little pollution. Also, the residents are very "green" conscious, so that helps as well.

I will hopefully have Internet service in a day or two, so all will be well again :-)
XOXO, Pcasso