Southern Nuggets

New Year's Day I took a mini hike to the Jemez Hot Springs, located about an hour north of Albuquerque. It was a great way to connect with nature. Before we dive into it, I would like to wish everyone a very joyous new year! It's something of a remarkable thing each year when we gather with friends and family, if not alone, to reflect on the year that so quickly came and went. Years, time I suppose, are like wide rivers that approach a restricted passage. Everything moves so slowly, calmly if we are fortunate, then without realizing it the water has sped up and we're sailing at full speed down the same river. Then the water again finds it's opening and everything again slows down as the new year starts. In contrast to new year celebrations of my past, I brought in the new year in meditation. It was something of a last minute decision after a new friend that I made during this visit to New Mexico expressed he was thinking about driving to Santa Fe to spend NYE a...

I'm going to come clean...I haven't been cooking. I know, the shame! As much as I'd like to say that I haven't fell victim to holiday gluttony - that would be a lie. In addition, I knew before arriving into the Land of Enchantment that the battle to cook for myself was an uphill, if not, losing battle. My mom has been known to cook seldom as it is. I forgot that her new condo, as cute as it is, lacks a kitchen. I helped her moved into this new place last year and when I left there was a refrigerator, a sink, and a microwave. Not much as changed upon my return with the exception of a conventional oven. But I suppose that this is part of the journey. This won't be my last time to New Mexico or my final trip anywhere. It's important that I learn to navigate restaurant menus, including recognizing sacrifices when menu options don't satisfy my appetite as it used to. I live in the most gluttonous country in the world, I really should doubt I'll starve. Ho...

My first visit to New Mexico was during my sophomore year of high school. I moved to Albuquerque two days after my high school graduation. I graduated on a Friday. I checked into the dorm Sunday afternoon. I started my first college classes on Monday. It wasn't so much that I was super smart or eagerly wanted to get college going. It was more because that was my one way ticket out of the small, reservation town that I grew up in and I cashed it in the first chance I had. I regretted by decision about two weeks into it. I remember getting so homesick. I literally didn't know ANYONE! What was I thinking?! Even my first day of college was rough. I didn't have the resources that would be available in the fall. It was quite a perfect example of "sink or swim." I didn't even have an idea where the dorms were. I remember the taxi dropped me off in front of the UNM book store and I struggling to drag four heavy suitcases, with wheels, all across campus trying to ...