Skip to main content

Au revoir Santa Fe

This is my last full day in Santa Fe, for the summer at least. I woke up this morning and it was pouring rain. I mean POURING. So unusual here!! I still wanted to hike of course because at the very least I thought it would be good preparation for UK hiking weather. So I phoned Dave and asked him if he was still on and he said definitely. Turned out we were the only hardy souls but it was soooo worth it! Here are two photos--it's hard to believe this is desert, isn't it? 

Dave admiring the silvery raindrops on the pine branches. 
 

Me beside the Big Tesuque River at full flow 
 

We hiked for two hours, only stopping now and again. My pedometer registered 12000 steps by the time we returned to the car. I've written so much in the past months about how much I loved hiking so I won't repeat myself. But I realized this morning that a lot of why I loved to hike so much here were the people in this group. They are so friendly, so welcoming that I looked forward to each week's hike not merely just to get exercise but to catch up with my friends again. I contrast that to so many groups that I tried to belong to in the many other cities/towns I've lived in these past 11 years. Oh, they were pleasant enough but they didn't satisfy my soul the way that this did. Even SparkPeople isn't as soul nourishing. Meaning no disrespect but there really IS something special when you find a group of people "real time" who are physically "there" for you. 

Of course, the next best thing IS a cyber group because, of course, when you're a nomad as I am, cyber groups are usually there--at least some members are.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

January 2024 and blogging

  I haven't posted on my blog for a long time. Partly that was due to not knowing what to write about and partly it was wondering if I wanted to put myself "out there" anymore. And in what way. I subscribe to a few blogs on Substack, which is a subscription-based blog. You can pay to have your own blog, you can pay for someone else's blog, and that means you get to write and post and get comments back from a whole lot of people. You can comment on other people's blogs--if you pay--or else you can just read the blog and not pay. Of course you might miss some of the "pay only" content--much like modern news media has teaser stuff but to read the whole article, you have to pay for a subscription. The Substack blogs cover all kinds of topics and there are a few "professional" writers--meaning they're journalists and writers who have published and been paid larger bucks than the $5 a month they get per subscription on Substack--but I think most
12 comments
Read more

It’s just another day

  Yesterday was the final day of my 8-day assignment in a 4th grade class; I’ve written something about that assignment in a previous post, “Revolt of the Guinea Pig,” It’s been a challenging 8 days which, as Dickens might have said, brought out the best in me and probably the worst in me as well. But yesterday morning I had that experience that every teacher dreads—shelter in place, also known as possible shooter situation. I had arrived at the school at 7:20 thinking how wonderful it was that our heat had broken a bit. The skies were overcast, we’d had rain the day before, there was a cool breeze. As I walked to my classroom (photos below of what the buildings look like), I waved to the students already gathered on the other side of the gate, who were waiting to rush in, some to the cafeteria for their breakfast, some to the playground to run and hopefully get some of that energy out before the bell rang at 7:55. I unlocked the outside door to our building, walked down the corridor t
2 comments
Read more

And now for something a little different from the substitute teaching lens

  I subbed for my daughter yesterday. I wasn’t sure how I’d cope as I am still somewhat jet lagged but she has a very well behaved fifth grade class: they’re respectful, good humored (most of the time) and willing to learn (most of the time). She warned me the night before that there had been some “issues” this week—kids fighting on the playground, some backtalk in class from a boy who’s normally a very hard worker. With that in mind, I started off my day in the classroom addressing this up front. “I hear it’s been a tough week,” I said and then waited for a response. Some shifting in the chair, some rolling of the eyes, a couple of “Yeah, it really has” emanated from the kiddos. I then sat on the corner of my desk and talked about how I remembered being their age, the emotions, how things seem so very important, so very “raw” in the moment. I shared with them how my own teachers reacted to misbehaviors, after-school detention (Wow, Mrs A, AFTER school? They could DO that?) But then I
1 comment
Read more