Christmas in the Saloon

old adobe interior, Taos, NM

Bulwark, temple, study, dining room, and only place to be

The wood stove is out of sight to the left, across from the chair with the lamp. There’s a leather sofa on the right that you can’t see, either. We usually eat at the bar. On nights like this—it’s snowing now—I run the stove to keep the room at seventy degrees (21°C). It’s not hard, once the adobe walls beside the stove heat up.

It’s supposed to snow through Sunday night. If the forecast holds, it could be epic. I made a food run today, and the ham my wife’s brother sent is thawing in the fridge, so we are set, regardless. We could easily be snowed in for a couple of days. That’s a relative term, of course, depending on how much it hurts to go without a thing you’re used to, like the peanut butter I forgot. It’s always something, though. You never know what’ll push you over the edge until it does, and then you’re digging out and heading down the road.

Sign up for email delivery of JHFARR.COM posts via Substack! Same content sooner with bigger photos! ⬇︎

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 About page. For a complete list of all John’s writing, photography, NFTs, and social media links, please visit JHFARR.ART  

  • judyinboston December 23, 2015, 5:37 PM

    Looks so warm and cozy and Christmas-y, too.
    I have heard that the definitition of eternity is a ham and two people. 🙂 I hope you found the missing Christmas decorations. They sounded very special. Here in the East, we are expecting record-breaking warm temperatures with rain and fog.
    So stay warm and be of good cheer in New Mexico. And if you need any, I have good leftover ham recipes!

    Judy

    • JHF December 23, 2015, 8:30 PM

      It’s cozy, all right. We pretty much live there in the winter!

Browse ARCHIVES

Browse CATEGORIES

Latest Posts

Discover more from JHFARR.COM

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading