June 19, 2012
Had a stress test this morning (my third). They basically inject radioactive isotopes into your bloodstream and then make you run on a treadmill 'til you drop, with an MRI at either end of the procedure. Takes about three hours ($250 co pay, which means you can pay for the procedure because the insurance you allegedly have ain't payin' for it. That's what the "co" part means).
A few highlights from the BLT tour. Stayed at the Mabel Dodge Luhan house in Taos on my way back from Iowa. Found it by accident after visiting the Kit Carson home in downtown Taos. Went up the street, started to turn around, saw an alley with a dead end sign and took it. A narrow one-car lane eventually opened up on a big rambling adobe which, it turns out had been owned at one time by Dennis Hopper. According to the administer (it's run as a non-profit) when Dennis knew he was dying, he brought his family back to see it. He is also buried in Taos which says something about his attachment to the place. Anyway, I stayed in one of the casitas next to the big house ($105 vs. $135) and this is what those bad boys look like:
You can certainly see where Blumenshein got his color and forms from. And speaking of visual sights I'll never forget, at the WWA conference in Albuquerque i was interviewing a young history major about writing for True West when the actor L.Q. Jones walked by with his wife. The young student lept up and asked me to take a photo of her with her arms around him. So I obliged.
it was also a bonus to see someone else besides me is still wearing white socks.
And speaking of model behavior in a striking setting, this is my son, T. Charles taking a photo of his new wife in Canyon de Chelly. Sweet.
And this is Newberry Mesa, northeast of Flagstaff. These kinds of spectacular buttes and mesas are endlessly enchanting to me. I could look at them all day long. Very serene to me. We encountered these the second day out, on the way to Hopi land.
"We rewrite the past to serve the needs of the present."
—Stephen Marche
