Fenced by the sunrise: quick trip to Santa Fe

 *WARNING: this post is practically (but not entirely) devoid of plants. It's a glimpse of my diurnal life and into my soul! I'll be back to plants again soon, I promise!

 It's so frustrating to be driving to the airport at dawn (Friday the 13 no less!) after a lot of mishaps (locking myself out of the house and the hidden key is frozen in solid ice for instance) and a spectacular sunrise is blazing while you have to keep your hands on the wheel on a freeway: real first world problems!

The day slipped by and I went downtown at sundown this time to join old friends for dinner and a concert. I drove down early to "downtown" Santa Fe: not much like other downtowns--so dang charming! And compact.

The golden light on the adobe buildings is...well..hard to capture. It's infinitely haunting to those of us born and bred near and in the Southwest: Santa Fe is redolent of history, multi-cultural richness and romance, which in my case is more than a little multilayered!

I photographed a lot, I'm a sucker for the golden light of sunrise and sunset--as is almost everyone I suppose...

I swear the Christmas lights were brighter than shown here. But nature does have a way of raising the ante on us...the sunset was enchanting...

Heading back to the restaurant, the colors deepened.

Not sure what I love more, the lacy ornamentation on the Theater, or the glowing clouds behind...

The reason I came to Santa Fe was to join in a wonderful celebration of a significant birthday of the lady on the left: Maia Sampson Michael and I have been friends since the 2nd grade. Her sister Emmy is on the right, and her aptly named daughter, Zoe, is in the middle. Here we are at dinner...

Quite a crowd of us joined a full Auditorium to enjoy Iris Dement's quirky voice and wonderful lyrics.

The immense wooden rafters of the St. Francis' Theatre drew my admiring gaze...

After dinner and the concert some of us strolled through the brigtht Christmas lights...

The lights had good competition from the lavish shop windows of upscale Santa Fe...

I was rather charmed by this flying pig. I don't imagine living with it in my house however.

Shop windows offered more than Southwestern bric-a-brac...

My only shot of the obligatory luminarias on the roof edges of all the luxury hotels...

A perfect breakfast with my friends, Michael and Sonia in their elegant home where I stayed during the trip...

Miochael had never visited Sam Hitt (whom I have featured repeatedly in Prairiebreak. Even in early winter Sam's garden is alluring and beautiful.

And immense cushion of Astragalus angustifolius...

An Acantholimon....not sure which species.

This one is surely Acantholimon venustum

I had a little window of time on Saturday: my colleague Larry Jackel's son had a gallery opening the night before I'd missed, but wanted to see Ben Jackel's sculptures--which were part of an exhibition of six artists at the Gerald Peters' Gallery...

The rather austere helmets did intrigue me...I'm not sure I'd want this one in my house...

But I rather enjoyed the fluid geometry of the Gladiators' helmets. I'm afraid I don't have the pocketbook to afford anything at Gerald Peters' in the near future alas...

I was intrigued to see a rather nice rock garden slope (unplanted, it appears) in the gallery....

"Fight or flight"

I could almost afford Patrick Kingshill's intriguing mixed media piece. Not quite sure what was meant by the title however...

There were numerous artists in the exhibition, and a vast array of styles. Make note to self: visit more galleries henceforward!

And then the birthday party: the birthday cakes all baked by Maia's daughter Zoe...

And a fantastic buffet of Indian food catered by their favorite Indian restaurant...

One by one each of us was able to sit by the birthday lady and convey our wishes...

And the loving couple: few people are as precious to me as Maia and Danny. Friends for life.

Dan joined these two youngsters for some rousing bluegrass--which I shall upload to Youtube when I get a chance--perhaps if you revisit in a few weeks you can hear their renditions of some classic tunes.

And on the way to the airport early Sunday morning, Santa Fe staged a stunning sunrise to frame a precious few days of escape from my daily routine (which I admit ain't so bad either!).