That cold throttled me for about two days. Monday night my fever got up to 102.6 and I had to take a cold bath to bring it down. Boy that was fun! But I stayed around 101 for about 24 hours. Then it broke. Now I sound like Janis Joplin but I feel perfectly fine. My parents are visiting until Sunday but they usually get a hotel room or vacation rental up in Santa Fe and drive down to see me. They like Santa Fe. And staying in hotel rooms or vacation rentals. They really don’t like all the pets and their accompanying hair. Cody likes his privacy and houseguests tend to make him nervous. So it all works out.

Hell, I’d live up there again if we could get jobs and be able to afford getting a decent house. I wonder if Cody would. It’s got a lot of great things like art, food (my GOD the FOOD), a fairly relaxed, liberal population for the most part, and it’s about two thousand feet higher and usually about ten degrees cooler than Albuquerque. Oh and it gets more snow which I consider a bonus in this particular case. But it has some extremely annoying aspects like the real estate property values being just obscene, to the point where people who have had families living there for centuries can’t afford to pay the taxes on their house anymore, are forced to move and can usually only get tourist-dependant jobs so they resent like hell anyone who isn’t from there, and, in some cases, with good reason. One case that comes to mind is the person I like to call the “Hippiecrite” who drives their SUV like a complete asshole, running over people in the local natural foods grocery store parking lot to get to their cruelty-free veal, honestly believing that they are morally superior just because of their groceries.

I used to think folks like that were funny but my tolerance has deteriorated over the years. Don’t get me wrong, I respect one’s right to buy local cruelty / phosphate / preservative / animal-testing / msg / rainforest-destruction-causing / non-recycled, non-recyclable / non-renewable source / bleach / wheat / sodium lauryl sulfate / non-fair trade global conglomerate - free products..but it doesn’t mean you’re excused from behaving like you’re still a member of polite society and stopping at the crosswalk, waiting in line, honoring the general personal space rules just like everyone else is doing. Is it too much fo ask for people to have an equal amount of respect for other humans in the way you do for the poor fuzzy animals you have every right to refuse to eat, wear, or have as a household pet?

Ok this was supposed to be about my day in Santa Fe today. Back on track.

So yesterday my parents and I went to see Fever Pitch at the dollar theater down the mesa from my house. I haven’t been to a movie in a long time and it was something that wouldn’t involve too much moving around since I was still feeling punky yesterday. There weren’t a lot of options since I’m a fully admitted snotty bitch when it comes to movies. But Fever Pitch was a perfect choice considering that my mom and I both like Nick Hornby novels, my dad loves baseball, and I’m a big sucker for romantic comedies. It was cute. In some ways I liked the original with Colin Firth better. It was a little more grown up and introspective, not going for the laughs or quite as much cutesy-poo-romantic moments as the American remake. But we each had a few laughs and, hell, for seventy-five cents a ticket who can complain?

This morning my Dad drove down to pick me up, we stopped at Starbucks, then went back up to Santa Fe to spend the day. On the way up I knitted and we discussed politics and religion. Fun! No, really! I could drink a coffee beverage, talk politics and religion with Dad, and knit a La Boheme scarf on giant addi turbos all day long and be a happy woman. He always has something interesting and thought-provoking to say and, well, it’s a relief to know that he’s just as cynical (moreso!) than I am about organized religion. So I was already a happy woman.

Then we picked my Mom up at the hotel and went to the yarn store! Bliss! I have to say that, while my last few experiences with Albuquerque’s lys were not nearly as unpleasant as my first few..the one in Santa Fe is much, much nicer. And a LOT more organized, the lady there was extremely plesant and helpful, and the stock was CHOCK full of Koigu. I spent a good hour squeezing and petting yarn in the morning then we went back around four where I did more squeezing and petting and picking out my birthday present from my parents. I loved what Karen made with Giotto and finally got to see and feel some in person so I picked out four skeins and a colinette giotto pattern book, a gigantic size 19 / 43 inch pair of addi turbos for the next la boheme shawl, some fiber trends patterns I’ve been eyeing, and, yes, some koigu. I’ve joined the Koigu cult.

After the first trip to the yarn store we ate at a small restaurant called Mucho Gusto that was in the same building. It was small and quaint. And, yeah, I’d say it was mucho gusto. Interesting menu with a combination of Nouvelle Mexican cuisine and authentic Mexican food. I got a Turkey Mole Enchilada. The mole was from scratch and totally amazing.

Then we walked down towards the plaza, stopping in a few stores on the way. And the new Wyeth Hurd Gallery where the gallery worker took one look at us and immediately assumed he would need to explain the Wyeth family to us. Hehe. I informed him that we’re quite familiar with the Wyeth family, that Henriette is my favorite but my Dad’s is Andrew. And pointed out a print from Andrew’s Helga series for Dad. Then I found a lovely signed print (14/350!!!) of a black iris painting by Henriette and joked with my mom about how that’s what I wanted for my birthday.

I showed my dad the public library since he’d never seen it. Then walked across the plaza to a clothing store I really like. When my family comes out here for Christmas we usually buy an outfit or two for my sister. But we didn’t get anything this time. First off, they confused me for a tourist and sent me to the way ugly and overpriced racks in the back (and after they used to call me when they were having a private sale! bastards!). Then the clothes just weren’t as appealing this time. I saw several knit items I thought I could make for myself (including a dropped stitch cardigan that could be made in Giotto). Thirdly, their prices for the summer opera / tourist season are a friggin joke. Or I’ve gotten cheaper. Both are probably the case.

As someone who lived in Santa Fe for six years and graduated from college there it’s quite strange to go back as a tourist. But believe me, I share the fact that I used to live there and now live down in Albuquerque as soon as possible in any store clerk conversation. I may have even sold them sandwiches, made them a latte, poured or glazed their tiles, or booked a relative’s hotel room. I don’t go that far, I just try to slip in the fact that I am a bonafide tax-paying resident of the state as casually as I can. My casualness usually fails. Probably no one really cares they just want me to buy shit for their commission or go away. Although most would start by asking where I got the cool red purse!

After the second trip to the yarn store we drove north on part of the “High Road” to Taos to one of my favorite places in the world where I hadn’t been in a few years: Shidoni. It’s a metal foundry with a huge sculpture garden. There are always interesting sculptures in a variety of styles and materials. I’ve spent a lot of time walking around there and watching castings in the foundry. For a while I thought about interning there after getting my degree in sculpture but changed my mind. This was the first time I’d gone into the glassworks gallery next door as well.

We drove back down to Santa Fe and followed my old sandwich delivery route up Canyon Road.

Then went to dinner at a restaurant my roommate and I used to visit a lot called the Zia Diner and had meatloaf with green chiles and pinons. Yum.