This isn’t even the half of it. Holy god. Those clouds are moving, you know. And I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t gotten out of the house today to walk again at Taos Valley Overlook. It’s the only place I ever seem to go, but I’m not bored yet. Marking my progress on the same trail is helpful, too. By noting how I feel at different points along the way, I can monitor my fitness, such as it is. The old “use it or lose it” advice is totally true. What with the weather, the plumber, and other obligations—I’m formatting a book for someone, actual paid work—I only managed to exercise twice in the last two weeks. That’s not enough. All the little bones and ligaments start floating apart. (Scary business!) I’m glad I went, though. I told my wife I want to be in shape so I can live as long as she does, so she’ll always have someone around around to put a hand on her cute little butt. These things are important.
Here’s something else that happened. I read an article online about a restaurant opening in Washington, D.C. that serves “artisanal ice” with your drinks for a dollar per cube. This isn’t just any ice. According to the manager, it’s made from “purified water” with none of that “mineral-y taste.” They don’t even make the ice in-house, they buy it from a supplier! There’s a company that pushes fancy ice to idiots. (Man, some people need to have their taxes raised.) My wife could hardly believe it. She glared silently a very long moment and then softened a bit—whether from incredulity or gratitude I couldn’t say, and said, “We are so far from caring about anything like that,” which I took to mean both culturally and geographically. Certainly financially, but that’s not the point.
I may be dead tomorrow, but I saw that sky today.
John Hamilton Farr lives at 7,000 feet in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. As New York Times best-selling author James C. Moore tells it, John is “a man attuned to the world who sees it differently than you and I and writes about it with a language and a vision of life that is impossible to ignore.” This JHFARR.COM site is the master writing archive. To email John, please see CONTACT INFO on .png)
You’re spot on about the “use it or lose it” business. Sad, but true. Big Sky Country is awesome. Here in New England we had to drive around for 30 minutes to find a place to watch a moonrise. Too many trees! And the ice cubes? That’s just plain silly.
I know about the trees. When I went up to Maine last year to deal with my late aunt’s belongings, it felt so dark and claustrophobic. I was in the “mountains,” but couldn’t see a thing. I’d have to build a tower if I lived there.
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