Looking for Place

"This was about looking for an emotional place

where your heart and your soul come together.

There was a lot to be inspired by."

Georgia O'Keeffe

Blessings

Yaya

Dirt Roads of Abiquiu

 Make a left at Bode's General Store...

Drive passed the post office...

Drive on up the hill and around the curve...

The old road becomes a dirt lane...

Follow it to the top...

This is Abiquiu, New Mexico...

Home to Georgia O'Keeffe...

At one time

this was home to someone...

Someone who would have been a close neighbor to the great artist...

And here...

Another old home...

Standing still in time...

Neighbors to Georgia O'Keeffe...

 Leaving the deserted dirt road,

we turn left on another dirt road of Abiquiu,

and there to the left is the wall

enclosing her home...

The place she loved.

An unassuming adobe dwelling sitting on the edge of a mountain...

Over-looking New Mexico,

the land of enchantment.

 Of course,

she has been gone from this world,

this place,

her home,

for many years,

but as I stood looking through her simple gate,

gazing at her house and driveway,

I felt her spirit.

 "She spoke of feeling free and finding her place in Abiquiu.

To her, 'place' was the most important thing."

Margaret Wood

Through high adobe walls...

"After a walk and supper,

we often listened to music in her studio as night approached.

Some of her music selections were

Pablo Casals's Bach cello suites,

early music of Gesualdo and Monteverdi,

and classical works by 

Mozart, Schumann, and Beethoven."

Margaret Wood

A close-up of the drive-way and its view...

"Before supper we often walked the large circular driveway,

gazing at the Chama River below, 

the long mesa to the east,

and distant mountains in several directions."

Margaret Wood

I was very moved to stand in this place,

and look upon her view,

and reflect upon her remarkable life.

Blessings

Yaya

The Cliffs

Near Abiquiu...

"Tonight, I am sitting on the ground near a pinon tree, 

beside the trail to the cliffs,

leaning on a walking stick

facing her seated on a wooden folding chair,

as a pupil at the foot of a sage.

We watched the sun set.....

She gestured to different parts of the cliffs as her favorite places."

Quote from "Weekends with O'Keeffe"

C.S. Merrill

I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to see and feel

the land that so inspired Georgia O'Keeffe.

Blessings

Yaya

Crosses of Abiquiu

Inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe

and her 'Cross Series'...

I have been blessed to walk the dirt roads of Abiquiu,

and see what she saw.

I believe the spirit of O'Keeffe is still there...

In the wind...

In the air...

It's different up there.

Blessings

Yaya

"Days In A Life"

"Days In A Life"...

by C. S. Merrill...

The 'feel' of this old casita is amazing...

Reading "Days In A Life" while here seems perfect...

"Breakfast with O'Keeffe

fresh sliced fruit, fresh orange juice

Jasmine tea or fresh coffee

hot chili with oil

marinated with garlic

in the fridge overnight;

maybe eggs soft-boiled

or scrambled, to your taste,

the bread a meal itself

whole wheat flour and soy flour,

wheat germ, ground flax seed,

sunflower seeds, and butter

mixed with safflower,

then savory jam maybe

ginger and green tomato

or sweet raspberry.

One day she said

what do you write about me?

Are you going to tell

what I eat for breakfast?"

April, 1974

C.S. Merrill on O'Keeffe

Blessings

Yaya

Playing With Light

With camera in hand,

I wanted to capture the early morning light

as it came through the kitchen window,

and the open iron window in the center courtyard...

There was such  quiet...

No noise.

Just birdsong.

I found myself lost in thought as I walked through the old casita...

Thinking of those who have spent time here...

Another time, but the same place.

I found a photograph in the casita of an artist that lived and worked here.

Oh so many  years ago he stood at the gate,

his gate,

but for this weekend,

our gate...

Ghostly images as I play with the camera...

And then the day passed,

and the late afternoon light fell on the mountains, and the old morada

behind the house...

I became enchanted with the light just as Georgia O'Keeffe did...

Blessings

Yaya

Enchanted

I feel at home in O'Keeffe country...

It is quaint...

It is old...

It is enchanting.

And so tonight we are in Taos, New Mexico,

sitting by the fire, (39 degrees)

sipping wine,

in a studio of a famous artist...

Casita Morada,

I think I love you...

Blessings

Yaya

Casita Morada

It is time to slow down,

if only for a weekend...

The last few months have been filled with over-flowing business...

I am about to pack,

and embark upon a journey that is equal to a dream...

A dream of staying where Georgia O'Keeffe stayed and worked...

A place where she was enchanted by the light

playing upon the old morado behind the house.

A house which is surrounded by sacred Taos Pueblo land...

A house where Ansel Adams stayed...

A house that was originally Saint Teresa's Mission...

A house that was part of  Mabel Dodge Luhan's estate...

A house where Georgia O'Keeffe was inspired to paint her "cross series"...

A house that will be mine,

if only for two nights...

Two glorious nights...

I, too, will be enchanted by the light

that plays upon the old morado behind the house...

Blessings

Yaya