Wolves and Aspens

“Even after all this time

the sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look at what happens
with a love like that-
it lights the entire sky.”
— Hafiz

...everything is soft right now. Atalaya is sleeping peacefully beside me. I haven't been feeling up to par the past few days, waking up with a stinging headache (breastfeeding + high elevation + little water = dehydration). Today, Atalaya must know I'm not feeling great because she is being very accommodating...not a single tear shed today, not even when getting her dressed for the day (she does NOT like 'things' going over her head!). The past few weeks have been glorious in Santa Fe. The high desert has committed to fall and it's evidence is in the changing Aspens on the Sangre de Cristo mountains that serve as the backdrop to Santa Fe. We've driven up to the ski basin a few times in the past few weeks to get a glimpse of this most amazing landscape. Santa Fe sits at 7000ft above sea level, the base of the mountain is just over 10,000ft......fall/winter are fast approaching in the high mountains. I started to get a little weak in the knees thinking about the cold cold cold temperatures ahead, but yesterday as Keenan, Atty and I took an early evening stroll to the Plaza I remembered that winter isn't nearly as daunting here as other places I've lived (ahem, Pittsburgh....I love you, but you're winters make me want to grow chest hair!) primarily because the SUN SHINES all winter long. Oh, thank god for sun shine-y winters!

Desert flora

I needed to remember to make soup...that's why I wrote it on my hand...in permanent marker.

Desert flora and bumblebee.

This is the prettiest of the 'stinky' flowers.

In an attempt to be outdoorsy, we took Atalaya to "her" mountain a few weeks ago for the first time. We had hiked in about a mile or so when we were stopped dead in our tracks by some wild creatures. I had Atty in a sling and we were hiking behind Keenan, when all of a sudden he stops and says, "oh my god, did you see that!?! a fox!!!" I was like, "what? no way..." we stood there for a second, watched as another 'creature' approached (oh, about 10yards away!)...it stopped, made eye contact with me and ran on. Well, that creature was a grey wolf. Do you know how insane that is?!?! We thought it was insane, scary and prophetic. At first, we thought it was more scary than anything because Keenan and I aren't really schooled in survivalist skills and we didn't know wolf protocol...like what do you do when wolves attack? Do wolves attack? Well, we thought if we saw a wolf there was probably a good chance we were gonna see a bear next, so we hightailed it out of the wilderness! We ran into this woman who was hiking with her three dogs (we need dogs, or a dog!) and she said she hikes the trails everyday and has never run into anything wild...well, yea, you have three humunkulous (that's a word, I swear) dogs to scare off wild things! Anyways, as soon as we got to the edge of the trail Keenan and I started freaking out with excitement because we realized with all of our new age-y selves that the wolf came to greet Atalaya...it's her spirit animal....a good omen, for sure.

Claire and Jackie

In other news, we had some visitors last week....Claire and Jackie. These lovely creative ladies were traveling from Knoxville/Asheville, respectively, to California and decided to stop in Santa Fe for a two day visit. We were all stoked, especially Atalaya, who loved all the attention. It was nice to have other faces to look at besides her ma and pa! So, even if you don't really care to see Keenan or I, Atalaya would greatly appreciate new faces to look at...so VISIT! For
Atalaya's sake!

Go Stillers!

Atalaya has gotten a lot of nice things from friends and family since she entered this mad mad world. She would like us to cordially thank all of you for showering her in gifts of silver, myrrh, lamb pelts and Egyptian camels... fairy tales, talking bears, and Guatemalan booties.
We will be uploading photos of these and more as time permits.

A few for the road...