The changing scene

They say that Coyote is "The Trickster." Today, he was up to his tricks, hunting ground squirrels in the deep hay just in front of the house.

He has been playing a few good tricks this summer. For example, he brought on a very heavy band of rainfall that has left the hay as deep as it has ever been. He brought some Hawaiian-kine rainbows to the hills of Colorado. Incidentally, the "pot of gold" is just about where the coyote was standing when I took his picture.

And the worst trick of all, he made me grow another year older while I was spending the summer in Colorado. But then, it's all in how you look at it. I'll always be a "child." We even played "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" for my birthday!

Cheers, everyone. Hope you're staying as young as I am!

Oh, yeah. One more picture. I should have posted this one down below when I was blogging about Taos, but forgot. The trickster, and the picture of Ken, reminded me of shamanism. This fellow is shaman from Taos Pueblo. His eagle-feather fans start at $10,000 ... a matter of supply and demand, since only native-americans are allowed to collect eagle feathers, and he has to provide documentation so that the feathers can be traced back to their point of origin.

Peace, Don

A Different Routine

I'm on a different routine now, since Wyn left for England to get a bit of British culture, and son Tristan is firmly ensconsed in Japan, teaching English in the public schools of Shirahama, in Wakayama Prefecture.

I put Wyn on the train in Glenwood Springs and she suffered all the way to NYC on the slow, cold, uncomfortable train (whatever happened to the old days of wonderful train rides???). She then packed all her toiletries into her suitcase, thanks to the British terrorist plot, and flew off to England. By the time of her first phone call, she had already been to see the Boshoi Ballet doing Don Quixote, and then was off to France with a friend to spend a few days in Le Touquet. She'll stay in England long enough to see the premieres of the Henry plays in Stratford, then she'll join me back in Hawaii. Boy, some people will do anything to avoid hot ... and cold ... weather! (wink wink).

So what am I doing? Working. Watching my brother build a house. Watching the wildlife. Going on side trips (to Denver for a golf school ... can you believe, my brother actually WON Phil Michelson's putter?). And starting to pack, since I'll be leaving Colorado sometime shortly after Labor Day. Sigh. And read the post above this one, if you haven't already. The animals, the scenery ... wow.

Enchantment

Made a weekend jouney down the hill to Taos, New Mexico, which is only 7000 feet above sea level, a welcome relief from the 8000 feet in Snowmass (just kidding). Stopped on the way into town at the Earthship Visitor Center, which has a community of 50 earthships, all off the grid, just north of Taos. Now I want to build an earthship. If you ever get a chance to visit, do. It is absolutely amazing!

The other amazing thing about Taos is that it is the home of my IONS wizzard friend, Ken Ebert. No, we'd never met except in cyberspace, but it took all of five minutes to track him down, based solely on his job description. After Ken got off work, we met for dinner at the Guadalajara Grill, a short walk from our motel room and a short drive from Ken's house. Had a wonderful visit, and given Ken's predilection for the word, I've labeled the picture below the "Dos Compadres."


Today, Ken is heading up the hill on his day-off bike ride, and Wyn and I will visit Taos Pueblo, a Tewa Indian village that has been continuously inhabited since something like 1350. I also plan to visit an exhibit of DH Lawrence paintings in the Taos Hotel. Lawrence spent time here, among other notable authors.

And tomorrow morning, before we set off for the return run to Snowmass, we may look at some local real estate. Saw some very enticing foreclosures advertised in one of the free real estate mags. If we could pick up something and rent it out for awhile, it would give us just one more excuse to visit Taos again. Maybe Ken and I could start a new writer's colony down here in the land of enchantment.

By the way, since Ken is always writing about his shamanistic encounters with wildlife, I found it highly significant that we saw a wild bobcat just as we were leaving the ranch for the drive down south, and then came across a herd of mountain goats.