My Dinner with Lewie

Torn Affections
Originally uploaded by Tokyorosa

First: This is a photo of Lewie with his new best friend Naomi--though clearly his affections are torn (not between me and Naomi, but between being pet and whatever tasty tidbit he thinks he might be able to snatch from the table).

Second: Naomi and Katsu are leaving in the morning, and I'll tell you what: It's been a whirlwind three days. They arrived Thursday and we did Albuquerque's usual touristy things. Friday we drove to White Sands, then, after a four hour stay there among the dunes, headed to Carlsbad. The next morning, Saturday, we went from Carlsbad to Carlsbad Caverns where we took a two-hour tour of the Left-Handed Tunnel by candlelight (!), then exited the caves and doubled back to re-enter via the natural tunnel entrance. After re-entering, we toured the Big Room (another three hours). Leaving Carlsbad Caverns, we grabbed a fast-food lunch and ate on the drive to Roswell, arriving just in time to tour the UFO Museum and, more importantly, the UFO Museum gift shop. From Roswell, we headed back to Albuquerque.

Sunday we went to Chimayo to see the santuario. After Chimayo, we went to Santa Fe, toured the O'Keefe museum, had lunch in the O'Keefe Cafe (which is excellent by the way), walked the plaza, then went to the Folk Art Museum. We made it back to Albuquerque about six p.m., then had dinner at the Standard Diner, lingering over coffee and conversation.

I have to say that I'm absolutely knackered--and I sure hope that Naomi and Katsu are too. All in all, we drove more than one thousand miles in two days, and saw some of the best of what New Mexico has to offer.

Finally: I haven't forgotten my promise to write a novel in November, and I did start one on the barest shred of a plot. I have a total of about 1,600 words so far, which means that I"m only about ten thousand words behind schedule.

Whew.