Santa Fe and the Southwest

The Southwest of the United States and New Mexico are new territories for me. There is much to learn about the western style of ranching and riding. The geology, native american culture and hispanic traditions and language provide much to learn and appreciate.
My goal in coming here is to learn new things, listen to the ancient voices of wisdom and the youth of this part of the country. Every day I get a new glimpse of something unfamiliar but fascinating.

I received a phone call from the Santa Fe Public Schools. I did not realize it at the time, but I was about to be interviewed and offered the job I wanted. What happened next was too exciting, an interview team from the largest and most diverse high school in Santa Fe called me in and we had an interview of say 45 minutes. In it I was asked about my teaching style, lesson plans and what I would present to students. Because my forte is in political science, I was able to make a good pitch for high school government, history and economics. However, I did not know that is what they were looking for. I received a call in no time, saying they were very impressed and wanted to call my references right away. Anyway, the rest is history...and I will be starting to teach on August 15th (actually those are in service weeks).

This week I celebrate my 56th birthday with a sense of joy and mission. I just returned from a sight seeing trip to Colorado. We were able to visit my sister and her two children and spouses. My niece, Kate, was in a steel chef competition and won hands down. She is a French Culinary Institute, Jean George Von Richtegen mentee, and co-owns and is executive chef at a restaurant called Cafe Diva.

The other daughter, Sky, was in a 18 hour relay for cancer. She had a picture of her late father and a friend named Meredith around her neck. She and her pals stayed up all night walking and running for an hour at a time at the local high school. I hear they did pretty well raising money. One of the sponsors was Starbucks and that is why they were doing the insomniac thing.


The scenery in Colorado was spell binding such as this at Mesa Verde, the ancient cliff dwellings of the pueblo peoples. One vista after another. My friend, Ellen Chippendale. and I pictured above riding horses drove over 1,000 miles from Telluride to Steamboat to Alamosa and back to Santa Fe. We enjoyed the Southwest and have had our imagination captured by its natural beauty and history