Santa Fe - Sunday

On Saturday, Pam and I flew from our different parts of the country to meet up in Albuquerque and drive to a bit outside downtown Santa Fe for a week long art retreat. We arrived mid-evening, tired and just wanting to settle in...so that's what we did.

We woke early yesterday morning. Santa Fe time is 1 hour earlier than Pam's time and 2 hours earlier than mine. Belinda, the owner of Radiant Light Art Studio where we are staying, must have thought we were insane - up and moving furniture around in studio at 5 am to create our own workspace.

 sunrise - view out studio window

sunrise - view out studio door

We were working by 6 am and watching this glorious sunrise at 7:30 am.

 Pam unpacking and organizing

Even though Pam and I skype on Fridays as often as possible for a chat and studio show 'n tell, there's still nothing like seeing her work in person. The gentle tones, the movement and texture enchant me

and insure that I take far too many photos

of the details. 

We each came with a purpose - Pam is working on an large installation and the studio has plenty of open space for looking and wondering, working out the details before setting down to stitch.

About mid-day, our tummies began to remind us that food is a good thing so we went in search of Cafe Fina. Marianne over at Over the Rainbow, recommended Cafe Fina and all we can say is Thank you Marianne!!! The food is scrumptious. An instant favorite!

We sat outside to enjoy the warmth, sun and our meal. I was fascinated by the sunscreen over the courtyard. 

The shadows were works of art

as was the sunscreen itself.

There's even a play area for the little ones and a bocci court for the big ones. When was the last time you were encouraged to draw on a brick wall?

As we were waiting for dinner order (yes, it's that good - we even ordered something to go for dinner), I couldn't resist getting a shot of the stained glass behind the counter.

A quick stop at the grocery and we were on our way back to the studio where Mother Nature treated us to the most magnificent parade of rainbows ever. Seriously, the rainbows moved as the rain did - one minute only visible to the left of the mountain range, to the right a few minutes later. 3 minutes later, this lovely one was visible. The parade kept on for another 10 minutes or so, changing in the blink of an eye. Of the many photos I took, this is the best. 

All oohing, aahing, oh my-ing, look at that-ing and just plain old gaping at the rainbows out of our systems and it was time to get back to work.

Pam made lots of progress.

I did too, only not quite on the same scale. 

 sunset in the courtyard 

The land here is open. The sky is enormous, larger than the land itself. Radiant Light Studio sets on a small rise which offers the longest, clearest views I have ever experienced. As we watched the sun descend, quiet surrounded us, broken only by the occasional bird song or sound of bird wings flying past as they flitted and played in the tree behind our seats. Coyotes called a few times, but otherwise, it was silent and peaceful.

Simply exquisite.