It aint easy being green.

Ok. How many times do I have to put our recycling curbside, only for it to be forgotten (or completely ignored) by Santa Fe's Waste Management?!?! Since moving a few houses down (and to the left, dammit!) the city of Santa Fe refuses my refuse. Any why, oh why? For a small family of three we produce a fairly small amount of garbage. Maybe a bag a week. Sometimes two bags. And not those big black hefty duty bags. We're talking "tall kitchen" bags of the recycled sort. Ok, enough about my garbage bags. Let's talk recycling. We're big on it here. Roughly 80% of what we get rid of is recyclables. Glass. Paper. Plastic. The usual suspects. If we're not attempting to turn salsa jars into 'charming' drinkin' glasses, then we're sending it to its next incarnation. So, sort and curb it. Well, week after week our efforts go unnoticed. Finally, it got to the point where we have SO much to recycle we had to take it into our own hands. We take our glass. paper. plastic. on a short road trip to the seemingly 'public' recycling bins at Whole Foods Market. As Keenan starts relocating our glass. paper. plastic. from trunk to bin, the enormous bald bearded scary gun toting security guard walks outside just in time to tell us, "No way, Jose! These thar bins aint for the public to be usin'. Whole Foods gets fined for mis-sorted recycling." Crap. Great. Let's bring the unwanteds back to the house to sit. Talking to our neighbor tonight, we find out that he's been trying to recycle for FOUR years, to no avail. How did moving a few houses down (and to the left) completely change the recycling rules??? Scratching my head, wondering where to send the orphans, all I can say is "this is SO Santa Fe." Since I refuse to send this stuff to a landfill, I will foster the glass. paper. plastic. until a reasonable home is found. Jeez.

Saturday, and the birds are singing... "it ain't all bad."

Sabbath

Today we went to the Farmers Market, our Saturday ritual, then home for a wholesome meal of tempeh scramble with peppers, garlic, onions, spinach, corn, cumin, turmeric, black volcano salt and a side of whole grain spelt biscuits smothered in earth balance.

We followed that with drinking chocolate (Guatemalan bricks brought back by our friend Ashley) made with strong black ohori's coffee, cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon.

Seriously delightful.

So many colors in Santa Fe.

Above: A view of Acequia Madre.

Below: Johnnie's cash store gettin' all festive!

A little about Johnnie's cash store:

"Johnnie’s Cash Store on Camino Don Miguel, a crooked street winding north from San Acacio to Acequia Madre, just east of Camino del Monte Sol. Johnnie’s Cash Store began as a neighborhood store by Johnny and Bertha Armijo in 1946 and it’s been operating continuously ever since.Johnnie’s Cash Store is still a small family operation, less than 1200 square feet in size, just large enough for two aisles and a counter top. Bertha Armijo, in her nineties, still owns it and you’re likely to find one or another of the grandchildren at the cash register. Today, just as in 1949, Johnnie’s Cash Store stills sells bread, milk and Popsicles to its neighbors from behind a worn wooden counter, one of the last locally owned grocery stores in Santa Fe."

Scenery on the walk between our place to Johnnies.

Atalaya was amazing today. She just smiled and hung out with us, barely fussing all day. She is putting her hands in her mouth now, and that seems to keep her more calm. She made so many cute noises today and really just hung out with us, like a friend.

There's really so much to say. Atty makes us laugh and helps us learn so much about ourselves. She can push our buttons and teach us patience, she can coo and melt our hearts. She really is a miracle child. A real child of light. Bright shining hope filled light. Forget Obama, if you're really looking for hope... vote Atty Bom 2012! (she'll be three.) She's running on a platform of universal pediatric care, and full piggy banks for all middle class American babies.

"es ew tan!"

Yaaaaaaay!

...yaaaaay for visitors!!! We are SUPER DUPER excited that in less than 24 hours our lovely friend, Sarah Rose, who just returned to the states from nearly a year in Ireland is making her way to Santa Fe for a quick visit before she heads back to Portland!!!! Sarah Rose is a gentle kind spirit who we love dearly....we can't wait to see her!

In other news, Atalaya has become incredibly fond of her fists.....pacifier be damned, fists are much better for 'sucking.' We've been kinda busy in these parts...when Keenan's not working his regular 'gig' and we're not doing demos we're trying to take advantage of the great weather we've been having in the southwest. We're committed to Saturday morning Farmer's Market adventures...making amazing food with all the local produce...you'd be surprised at what can grow in these parts! This Saturday I'm hoping to let Keenan and Atty Trita have a date while I shake my booty with my friend Jo at an African dance class....ooooh baby baby, I can't wait to shake it! If I survive, I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Well, it's chore time. Here are some photos from the past week or so. For those waiting on pics of Atty in the fantastically sweet outfits her GiGi (great grandma Suttner) made for her, the wait continues. Of course, the pictures I took of her DID NOT turn out at all...in fact, you can barely tell Atalaya's in the photo it's so underexposed. I think we're just gonna have to charge the batteries to the digital camera to make this happen. Soooo, don't give up on me...it just takes me a lot longer to do things than usual and for those of you that know me, that means get your "patience" hats on, it's gonna be awhile.

Here are some photos of the Farmer's Market

Me and my babe.

Lisette and friend busking. You've never heard gypsy music so enchanting.

Cloud Cliff Bread....I love you!

Roasting Hatch Green Chiles...quintessential New Mexican food.

Shots from around the 'hood:

Atalaya and mama:

This is the weird bear I started to make for baby Silas, but thought he was 'too ugly' to give as a gift, so I gave him to Atalaya (she's my daughter, she understands). As it turns out, Atalaya loves this odd creature...I put him on her belly and his long arms 'hug' her and she hugs him back. So sweet.

...one for the road...

...here are some rather poor quality PhotoBooth pics for all the family members who can't get enough...more pics to come this weekend, but until then...

Wolves and Aspens

“Even after all this time

the sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look at what happens
with a love like that-
it lights the entire sky.”
— Hafiz

...everything is soft right now. Atalaya is sleeping peacefully beside me. I haven't been feeling up to par the past few days, waking up with a stinging headache (breastfeeding + high elevation + little water = dehydration). Today, Atalaya must know I'm not feeling great because she is being very accommodating...not a single tear shed today, not even when getting her dressed for the day (she does NOT like 'things' going over her head!). The past few weeks have been glorious in Santa Fe. The high desert has committed to fall and it's evidence is in the changing Aspens on the Sangre de Cristo mountains that serve as the backdrop to Santa Fe. We've driven up to the ski basin a few times in the past few weeks to get a glimpse of this most amazing landscape. Santa Fe sits at 7000ft above sea level, the base of the mountain is just over 10,000ft......fall/winter are fast approaching in the high mountains. I started to get a little weak in the knees thinking about the cold cold cold temperatures ahead, but yesterday as Keenan, Atty and I took an early evening stroll to the Plaza I remembered that winter isn't nearly as daunting here as other places I've lived (ahem, Pittsburgh....I love you, but you're winters make me want to grow chest hair!) primarily because the SUN SHINES all winter long. Oh, thank god for sun shine-y winters!

Desert flora

I needed to remember to make soup...that's why I wrote it on my hand...in permanent marker.

Desert flora and bumblebee.

This is the prettiest of the 'stinky' flowers.

In an attempt to be outdoorsy, we took Atalaya to "her" mountain a few weeks ago for the first time. We had hiked in about a mile or so when we were stopped dead in our tracks by some wild creatures. I had Atty in a sling and we were hiking behind Keenan, when all of a sudden he stops and says, "oh my god, did you see that!?! a fox!!!" I was like, "what? no way..." we stood there for a second, watched as another 'creature' approached (oh, about 10yards away!)...it stopped, made eye contact with me and ran on. Well, that creature was a grey wolf. Do you know how insane that is?!?! We thought it was insane, scary and prophetic. At first, we thought it was more scary than anything because Keenan and I aren't really schooled in survivalist skills and we didn't know wolf protocol...like what do you do when wolves attack? Do wolves attack? Well, we thought if we saw a wolf there was probably a good chance we were gonna see a bear next, so we hightailed it out of the wilderness! We ran into this woman who was hiking with her three dogs (we need dogs, or a dog!) and she said she hikes the trails everyday and has never run into anything wild...well, yea, you have three humunkulous (that's a word, I swear) dogs to scare off wild things! Anyways, as soon as we got to the edge of the trail Keenan and I started freaking out with excitement because we realized with all of our new age-y selves that the wolf came to greet Atalaya...it's her spirit animal....a good omen, for sure.

Claire and Jackie

In other news, we had some visitors last week....Claire and Jackie. These lovely creative ladies were traveling from Knoxville/Asheville, respectively, to California and decided to stop in Santa Fe for a two day visit. We were all stoked, especially Atalaya, who loved all the attention. It was nice to have other faces to look at besides her ma and pa! So, even if you don't really care to see Keenan or I, Atalaya would greatly appreciate new faces to look at...so VISIT! For
Atalaya's sake!

Go Stillers!

Atalaya has gotten a lot of nice things from friends and family since she entered this mad mad world. She would like us to cordially thank all of you for showering her in gifts of silver, myrrh, lamb pelts and Egyptian camels... fairy tales, talking bears, and Guatemalan booties.
We will be uploading photos of these and more as time permits.

A few for the road...