Cock-a-doodle-do to you, dear reader, from El Prado, NM, which if you’re lazy, is pretty much Taos. Greg, Juniper, and I went with my parents a few weeks ago. We played games, did a little shopping, ate at two of our favorite restaurants, and took in quite a lot of mountain and sky views, as you shall soon see.

Did you ever make the chalk drawings mimicking distant mountains like these? You had a paper for the “drawing” and a second sheet of the same size, which was torn in mountain shapes, rubbed over with colored chalk, then torn again, and moved up the paper and repeated until you were satisfied. Hats off to Ms. Lovato or Ms. Yu who taught me this. It felt very sophisticated for a single digit kid.

No surprise, I got all my “ham it up” instincts from my Dad!

We reveled in some spectacular sunsets!

And a rainbow!

This here is the reason we traveled. Balloons! Red River has a small but mighty festival. It did not disappoint, and was not terribly crowded, huzzah!

Only YOU can prevent forest fires.

My parents are on the left!

The perennially lovely and equally famous San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos de Taos. In the top shot, were you to turn to the right, you’d lay your eyes on one of our very favorite New Mexican restaurants, Ranchos Plaza Grill, and where we ate just prior to snapping these photos. It is absolutely not fancy, in a glorious old adobe building, dotted with local art, including a painting of a gentleman reading the newspaper at the table below.

The light is fabulous and the food and people even better. Please do try it, and save room for the biggest, best sopaipilla in the land. Mmm, YES!

Mountains and sky, and more sky. My heart!

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Spider

There is something about words. In expert hands, manipulated deftly, they take you prisoner. Wind themselves around your limbs like spider silk, and when you are so enthralled you cannot move, they pierce your skin, enter your blood, numb your thoughts. Inside you they work their magic.

Diane Setterfield

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Dirty

I am dirty, Milena, endlessly dirty, that is why I make such a fuss about cleanliness. None sing as purely as those in deepest hell; it is their singing we take for the singing of angels.

Franz Kafka

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After having so much fun making the Great Guitar playlist, I could not help but want to continue, as the Monty Python boys would say, with something completely different. Let’s dance, dear readers!

Harry Nilsson – Jump Into the Fire

Bjork – Big Time Sensuality

The Chemical Brothers – Block Rockin’ Beats

Madonna – Get Into The Groove :: Vogue

St. Vincent – Down

Sly and the Family Stone – Dance to the Music

Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime

LCD Soundsystem Interlude: All My Friends :: Someone Great :: Home: Matt, are you there?

Vampire Weekend – This Life

New Order – Blue Monday

The Pointer Sisters – Jump!

Deee-Lite – Groove is in the Heart

MARRS – Pump Up the Volume

Van Halen – Dance the Night Away

Pulp – Common People

Donna Summer – I Feel Love

The Orb – Fluffy Clouds

The BeeGees – You Should Be Dancing

Blur – Girls and Boys

The Prodigy – Firestarter

Moby – GO

Stone Roses – Fools Gold

Radiohead – Ful Stop

C & C Music Factory – Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

Wet Leg – Angelica

The Cure – A Forest This is also a Great Guitar song.

Of Montreal, for the Finale! It’s Different for Girls :: Wraith Pinned to the Mist

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What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.

Maya Angelou

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