Author: Katherine

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Kudos to American Airlines

The best laid plans…or so the saying begins, did not figure in to the equation the secret blessings or the grace and fortitude of some American Airlines employees. The day before the flight, I got an email that said, “Katherine, check in now!”. So I did. Then I went about my routine, getting the gallery ready for that night’s 4th Friday reception. When I got home later that night, I busied myself with finishing the packing and laying out instructions for the house sitter/dog sitter. At 4:45 am, the alarm buzzed. Up and out.

When I eventually got the airport I walked up to the self-serve machine and punched in my AAdvantage number. Up came my reservation and I clicked “check baggage only” since I had already checked in. After the spinning “working” came this message,”Katherine, we have a special offer for you today. Upgrade this flight!” What? Is this right? I’m not Gold, Platinum, or anything like that. Hmm. I did the math. Upgrade, plus get bag checked free. GREAT DEAL! so I clicked yes, slid my American Express card and whammo out came my first class boarding pass. Wahoo! Little did I know how thankful I would be for that, not foreseeing the odyssey that would follow.

As I snuggled in the nice seat in 1st Class I was greeted by a smiling face and the flight attendant said, “I’m Cari, what’s your first name?” “Katherine” I smiled back. I watched as she introduced herself to other passengers and hung coats, then brought us each water or juice. Moments later the Captain said, ” let’s get everyone on and seated, we need to get moving to beat a thunderstorm.” (or something to that effect) and we backed out from the gate a few minutes later at 10:40am. Up, up and up and the announcement came that the usual 1 hr 30 minute flight would take 2 hours or so as we were re-routed around the threatening cell. I settled back, glad for the “Special offer”.

Just so this post won’t go on as long as the rest of the story really took, I’ll summarize. Once we approached DFW we were told the airport was closed. We were told that many other flights were re-routed, but we, unlike them, had “plenty” of fuel so we would circle in a holding pattern for a half hour or so. Then an hour. Then more hours. The flight attendants were busy keeping us occupied, watered, and distracted. Pretty soon, we were all wondering just how many times we could go round that storm. Round and round we went. Still they remained focused, friendly and smiling. Stopping to chat and distract. Then, came the news we were heading to Abilene. No longer fuel full, but now the needle dropped to the point that it was time to fill ‘er up. We had barely come to a full stop when the boxes of granola bars came out and a cabin full of folks were still crunching when we were told that pizza was on the way. It was surely an economic boon for Abilene as plane after plane landed at the small airport. And sure enough, when the gate crew carried on boxes and boxes and boxes of Domino’s Pizza the ringing of the register could surely be heard for miles. And we were happy. Sadly for the few vegetarians and restricted diet folks, it was all pepperoni, but hurrah for the crew of flight 1820 for taking decisive action. Most of us had the first bite in our mouths before the piece was fully in our hands! It was, after all, by this time, about 3:00 in the afternoon. Cell traffic had the towers buzzing as we all tried to call reservations to re-secure our next leg reservations…not that any of us made it through the barrage of calls hitting that number. Might as well wait. And here, during all this time, sat I, in first class.

Gives me chills when I think about it now.

At 4:30, we got the word, and hi-tailed it out of there. As we took off, I could see the line of planes below, waiting their turn. We were first in, and first out.

Since the airport had been shut for hours during this mega nasty thunderstorm, everything was delayed or canceled. Having long ago given up on the 800 number, I walked up to a gate for a flight (not mine) that was headed to NY. The agent looked at my boarding pass and said, “you’re in luck. Your flight is still going. Head to gate C35. You’ve got an hour.” I thanked and noticed as I walked away, that the flight she was working had been canceled. I shook my head inside and smiled as I walked toward the skylink.

At about 7:15, the plane that was previously scheduled to depart at 2:55, turned onto the runway to take off. No longer in first class, but immensely thankful that for the entire lengthy experience in the sky, there I was. Thankful for the great crew of flight 1820, and particularly, Cari (don’t know her last name) and the rest of the crew (and the Captain/Co-Captain) who made the experience worth writing about. I thought I was tired. They were the ones doing all the work!

As we headed for the landing, sweeping across the bright lights of the big city, the gleaming lights of the empire state building, the immense area of the city all aglow, I was struck by how surreal it all was. New York City at midnight, viewed from a few thousand feet and closing, was as beautiful to me as the gazillion stars that twinkle in our own view, in the Moreno Valley of Northern New Mexico. Totally different, but totally beautiful. At 1 am, I rang the bell on the apartment, walked into my husbands arms. The perfect end.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Glorious Colors of Fall

The color here is stunning now. I took some photos, but don’t have my camera with me here at the gallery so can’t upload them just now. Perhaps I’ll add some later. Maybe it’s me, but it seems to me to be more brilliant this year.Either way, it’s beautiful. And though the air is crisp, the bright blue sky is the perfect accent with light spraying the leaves, inviting them to sparkle.

I’d love to be out taking more photos…but not yet. I’m here at the gallery. I don’t know how Sundays will fare as we move into November, but so far it’s been one of my busier days of the week. Here’s to hoping it continues!

I haven’t posted much over the course of the summer. Been too busy with other things, not the least of which was the move in the middle of July. Thank God that’s over! Life has settled back into a familiar rythym, though I’m eager for more studio time. It’s coming! Now the gallery is closed Tues/Wednesdays so I should get more work out in the coming months. To see what I’ve finished of late head to my facebook pages.

In the mean time, I’m headed outside with the phone to see if I can snap more photos while here. cheers!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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The Color is coming…and fast!

I know, it’s been a very long time since I posted. Life has been crazy! And though it’s likely to continue fr a while, I figured I better get back to it or it will pass me by altogether! Yesterday I had to fly to Taos and the changing color in the canyon slowed me down. The scrub oak is turning red, the chamisa is bright yellow, the cottonwoods are taking on their characteristic varied hues of gold and the dark blue-green of the evergreens make a vivid background for all the changes. And it’s only just begun. At the tippy top of the mountains that surround our valley, the aspen have gone from the deep green of summer, to the bright green that makes the mountain sprinkled with varied color. At the very peaks, there are peeks of bright yellow that will morph to gold and then red and gold. The morning air at a scant 27 degrees is the not so gentle warning that the season is changing, though the afternoon temp of 73 (which is what it is right now) is wonderful. I love this season. If I could choose it year round it would be the one I’d pick.

August whizzed by even faster than July. I didn’t think it was possible. One highlight was getting my new Miche bag. I’d been waiting for it for nearly a year, and birthday money from moms and husband brought it to me. Not that it is expensive…just me learning to live in my budget. If you don’t know about it, you really must check it out. There is a link at the top right of this page, and yes, it is an affiliate link. If you click through and buy, I’ll be able to get more skins! Wahoo! The Miche bag is a handbag with multiple varieties of outside “skins”. Change the outside without dumping out the contents and rearranging it into a new bag. It’s a new bag every month, every week or even every day! I got 5 “skins” and I’ve used three of them so far. I love it! 5 skins and two kinds of straps, with the main handbag set me back $112. Look at it this way..5 handbags for $112. That’s a deal I can live with!

What else. Hmm..oh I’m getting a new phone. My poor blackberry is giving up. The scroll bar only goes one direction. Try navigating with that! If the phone rings, I answer, then hear static, then the phone shuts off. Completely shuts off, and won’t turn on again unless I plug it in to power. Ugh. So, my AT&T account says I’m eligible for an upgrade. wahoo! I’m going Droid! I can hardly wait! I should have my new Samsung Captivate in a couple of days. Technowiz I’m not, but watch out, I may be shortly! Thumbs way up to the really helpful guy Julius at AT&T who worked it all out for me!

Let’s see, there’s a bunch of stuff going on, of course. Tonight is the grand opening of the new building at the High School. Awesome!

And real soon it’s the first Angel Fire Peak Challenge. Read more about that here. I know they’re looking for participants and volunteers to help out too. You can find all you need to know about that at that link.

For a full list of all that’s coming up be sure to check the Visitor Center out. Or head to the Resort page to check out the live cams and the daily leaf report! (yes, they change daily).

Fall is in the air and the world is turning at the speed of life here in Angel Fire. Come up, catch your breath and relax. Take a spin on a mountain bike, ride a horse, learn to paint…or all of it!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Streams

I woke up this morning, and realized (startled) that I had slept all night. It’s the first time in months and the number of times in the last 5 years I can count on one hand. Yay.

It’s amazing how much it impacts your outlook, energy and all that. After doing some things that had long been waiting for my attention (laundry, cleaning bathrooms, etc) I realized I didn’t really have time to paint before I had to head to the gallery. Hmm. what to do? I sat down and started sorting through “reference photos” stored on my hard drive. lots of them. I ran across some that made me smile, and some that made me teary. Some that I moved to the desktop to use for reference in the upcoming work I’m planning to start.

As I scrolled through the years I ran across this:

I heard a noise as I came out of the bedroom one morning to make the coffee. I looked out the back door (glass) and saw him. I thought he had a gorgeous tail, and if the door hadn’t been between us, I could have reached out and touched it. That’s the concrete of our back porch under his feet. That close. Stunning. Then Chloe (our dog back then) sauntered out of the bedroom and saw him. Need I say more? We decided to build a fence.

It reminded me of the first days we lived here, specifically building the house and moving in (it’ll take a book to tell that story).

The first morning we lived in our house, as I was sitting at the dining room table, I felt someone looking at me. Looked up and there, peering in that same back door was an elk. Female. Looking in longingly, like she wanted to come in, like we had taken her favorite grazing area. It was not lost on me. When we were building, every morning I’d come back to the construction site to find new prints in the soft dirt that would become our floor. Then I’d clean up the skat from various soon to be rooms. A tinge of guilt clouded my heart, that we were invading.

Now we’ve been here 16 years.

We don’t see the coyote, the bear, the mountain lion (it still prowls our yard, we find the prints in the damp mud beside the garage) or the elk as often as we used to. But we do hear them. We hear the owls hoot, the eagle screech, the coyote’s wail and the elk calling in the fall. It’s where we live, and hope we leave but a tiny footprint when we’re gone.

It’s raining now in Angel Fire while I type this as I wait in the gallery for the next car load of customers. The air smells fresh with wet pine. Remember it, I say to myself. Remember it.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Fall is in the Air

It’s fairly quiet this afternoon at the gallery, so I grabbed my bag of what I’m working on, slid the phone in my pocket and headed for the door. Crystal blue sky looked inviting as I stepped outside, but then, whoosh! the wind hit me. Quite a cool wind mind you. The smell of Fall distinctly in the air. At once refreshing, but still caused a deep sigh. Can it be already? Wow has this summer rocketed by.

I stood there for a few minutes, and then decided good music inside would be more conducive to finishing the scratchboard piece I had in my bag.

So that’s what I did. And it’s done now, at least for the scratching part. I’ll take it home now and paint it, perhaps in the morning (I don’t open the gallery till noon on Wednesdays). I’ll post a pic once it’s finished.

I do have to fiddle with the new Sony A/V receiver first, mind you, to try one last time to see if we can make it work. Not my idea of fun, mind you, but gotta try it before they’ll take it back. Got it from American Express Rewards, along with a new HD TV. Read, great reward, but nightmare. TV is great. Receiver constantly and immediately goes to “muting” once you’ve selected a source. HDMI flickers black on and off and on and off..though we’re not really sure if that is the receiver or the satellite receiver. I thought AMEX rewards would take it back and replace it, but I apparently called three days too late after trying over and over to find a solution. Sigh. Hopefully the “test” Sony asked me to do will go quickly and it will either solve the problem completely or completely not, so that I can head to the studio and paint for a while before I head in to Angel Fire.

I thought about hanging out here for a while this evening, to watch the celebrated burning down of the “Central Reservations” building across the street. Guess I won’t be using that as a landmark any more! If you’re in town, head to Centro Plaza and enjoy some bbq on the Fire Department while you watch the show. I wonder how long it will take? Likely not long as it is wood and wood and old, so old. I don’t think I’ll hang out though. Been here all day and am more than ready to head home.

Anyhoo…cheers to the Fire Department and may the wind die down!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Unexpected Visitor

here I was sitting at my desk, laptop on my lap, chair twisted so I could see out the doorway and window, up popped a prairie dog not 5 feet from me. I lept up and shouted “get out!” (like it speaks english!) and whoosh it ran between two jewelry displays and curled up in a ball.

Good grief. I ran to close the other gallery door, and whispered “thanks” to God that there was that hidden pocket door between the “office” part of the gallery and the front part of the gallery. Then I bravely placed the ladder next to the display where he lay terrified. I climbed up the ladder and began swishing at him with the broom, trying unsuccessfully to dislodge him from his hiding place.

Brother. Now what. I went outside to see if there was another soul in the building. Yes! Don’s vehicle was there at the end in it’s usual place. And so down to the end of the building I marched, watching backward to see if it ran out on it’s own. I returned with Don and Brinn in tow. We carefully blocked off access to any other potential hiding places and then Don went at it with the broom, it ran out, and tried to head to another spot, Don caught him swept him across the floor and it ran right behind the door.

Time for plan C. Brinn went to get the fireplace gloves while Don stood guard, the poor traumatized rodent now huddled behind the door. Gloves on, Don picked him and took him outside where it ran away, glad for it’s life. Behind it left wet spots from the release of his terrified bladder and yes other stuff too. ugh. So much for leaving the out side doors wide open. At least when I ‘m the only one in this part of the building. I’m sure it looked like a good safe place to wander and look for scraps of food. I’m afraid he didn’t get the best of the Art Gallery, and I hope he learned his lesson. The lady at the Art Gallery has a big broom and lots of Friends. Be warned prairie dogs, squirrels, chipmonks and all…enter the Art Gallery at risk of terror.

Enough excitement for me. Anyone have some wine?

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Quiet Saturday but for Loud thunder

Thunder is booming outside. O dear! On the other hand maybe it will send some Summerfest revelers toward this gallery! That would be a good thing. We’ll see.

In the meantime I’m doing some catching up. Bookkeeping, (ugh) up-cleaning, touch up here and there. Still need to stain one side of the front door, and stain the door between the two rooms, but it’s not to pressing. If it’s this quiet tomorrow maybe I’ll tackle that then. It’s kind of weird to be the only open business in the Centro Plaza on a Saturday afternoon. Hopefully as people get familiar with my new location and new hours they will come find me!

In the meantime I’ll keep my hands busy getting things ready for Arts About Town and the next trail event (Labor Day weekend) Can you believe it’s less than a month away? Stunning how fast this summer has flown. Before that, there will be my 7th Annual MFAF Gallery Reception. It’s a bit later in the month this year. Mark the calendar for the 31st (it’s a Tuesday) and plan to come to the festivities. It’s always one of the biggest receptions of the year.

Speaking of which, I need to get to work on the invitations. Later, friends.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Tons of Fun Stuff Coming Right UP!

The Calendar is PACKED with fun entertainment. Theatre (Tonight, tomorrow night and Sunday Afternoon), Classical Spanish Guitar concert on Wednesday (6pm, August 4th in the Rotunda at the Community Center) and SummerFest 2010 begins on Friday. Balloons, great Music and it’s FREE!

Here’s the scoop:

Theatre: The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard. Friday/Saturday July 30 & 31, 8 pm Curtain at the Frog Jelly Art Studio in The Cove Arts Center. Sunday Matinee at 2pm. Tickets are $12 and available at the Gallery, or at the Visitor Center.

Classical Spanish Guitar: 3 Fabulous Guitarists, Live in Concert. In the Rotunda at the Angel Fire Community Center, 6pm on Wednesday August 4th. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door and Students are $10. Also available at the Gallery and the Visitor Center.

Then, get some rest on Thursday, so you are ready to party on Friday, Saturday and Sunday! It’s SummerFest 2010!

Check out http://www.angelfiresummerfest.com/ for great information and the full Schedule!


Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Settling In and Ready to Roll!

Sorry for the lack of posts sincethe last. It would be fair to say I was working like my life (livelihood) depended on it, and finally got the gallery officially opened with the Grand Opening Reception on July 23rd.

Had a nice turn out for guest artist Sandra Wasko-Flood and she was happy with the chance to explain Labyrinths and her work to the gallery friends that turned out to celebrate with us. I still have some touch up to do here and there, but am finally getting back to a relatively normal routine. Yay!

Time did not wait for me though, and on it marched. Which brings me to the Theatre tonight. The Moreno Valley Arts Council once again has partnered with The Space Theatre of Taos in tonight’s performance of The Real Inspector Hound by Tom Stoppard. Curtain is at 8pm at the Frog Jelly Art Studio in the Cove Art Center. It’s kind of funny for me, as that space was the gallery for a couple of years! Anyhoo….tickets are still only $12. Lap sitters free, but seats are limited.

The show runs tonight, tomorrow night (8pm curtain) and a 2pm Matinee on Sunday. Get tickets at the gallery, or at the Visitor Center.

See you at the Theatre!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Big News, ArtsFest and Feeling Like a Limp Rag

Did you see the whirlwind? Wow. It’s all a blur. It began a few weeks ago when in the midst of preparing for ArtsFest it became clear that I needed to move the gallery. Yes, move. Yes, again. And smack in the middle of July.

I had anticipated a move due to the ongoing saga of the building the gallery was in. (yes, was.) But I really figured it would be like October or November. Alas it was not to be and an immediate move loomed before me like Denali during a storm.

Good friends and (and all ladies) lugged, carried, cradled and transported the entire contents of the gallery to the new location yesterday. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Two weeks ago, or maybe three? I settled on a new spot. But there was tons to be done. Walls to be painted, lights to be installed, a hole through a wall to make two units into one. Tons (literally) of boxes to be removed from one unit that had previously been used for storage. Then there was the nasty carpet that had to be removed, the concrete beneath it cleaned and the tile laid. I only am bummed I didn’t take “before” photos!

So, paint walls I did (and thanks to new friend Jo Lynne for helping!). Thanks to BJ and his helper Kent (I think…my head is fuzzy) for knocking the hole through the wall, finding a great deal on a nice door, and putting it in!

Thanks Lin for help moving the boxes and stuff so that Ryan and friend could man-handle the carpet and pad and get it outa there! Thanks to Leslie (L&J Interiors) for finding me nice tile and getting it here FAST!

My knees are black and blue (the kneepads wouldn’t stay on) and my fingers very sore, but the tile is down. Then came ArtsFest!

From the view of the Arts Council, it was a great success. The premier saw literally 3 times as many purchased tickets (over last year). Saturday was virtually even, and Sunday was down a bit (but likely due to the world cup!) Many artists did very well, most did good and only a couple had little or no sales. Personally, I did okay. Not great, mind you, but it is the first time in years that I have actually done the show, and that does play into it. So does the fact that I have the gallery here. People say, “I’ll come see you at the gallery” instead of “I’ll take that one”. I’m not sure how to deal with that.

So, now back to the big move. Sunday we closed ArtsFest. Monday, we moved the gallery. It is now a disaster. The next task (after cleaning the spot I just left) is to sort it all out and make it beautiful. I hope to have that done by Friday, but we’ll see. Going from 4 units to 2 will make it challenging, but I think I’m up to it. I’ll keep you posted! Oh, and Where? did I move? Next door to the Chamber of Commerce. I think it will be good.

And, THANK YOU to Linda, Sylvia, Jacqui, Sandy and especially, Diana! You Ladies ROCK!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM