#234 PD Notes, a Story, and Photos

 

San Francisco de Asis Church in Ranchoes de Taos in color and BW

About the photos in this post: I found some photos from a trip to Santa Fe and Taos, NM, we took a few years ago. I combined some I haven’t shown before with a photo program called Sketcher, used to enhance the image or create a more painterly (if that’s a word) look. The photos aren’t meant to go with the PD info or the story, only to brighten up the blog. Hope you enjoy parts or all of this post and I always appreciate your comments.

Barns and ruins in southern Colorado.

Continuing to Live with Parkinson’s Disease

You should easily guess which one of us didn't care for the snake pot displayed in a Taos museum.

There are four main symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease: Resting Tremor (as opposed to active tremors that hit when lifting weight), Slowness of Movement, Impairment of Balance, and Rigidity or Stiffness (the only symptom of the four that I haven’t really experienced yet). Then there are more than forty other and often hidden symptoms, many of which are not pleasant to talk about in detail such as constipation, drooling, and rhinorea (look it up).

What I do want to talk about is the way PD makes the simple things of life so difficult. Autonomic activities, those bits of living we do without thinking about them (such as walking, talking, or eating) are suddenly not so automatic because my brain no longer produces enough dopamine to keep doing those things like putting on a seatbelt in a car. I used to get in the car, grab the seatbelt across my body, plug it in and I was ready to go.Now I slowly get in the car seat, reach around slowly feeling for the belt (remember Slowness of Movement is a major symptom), try to get the metal flange in hand, make several attempts to pull the belt across my body, and hope it only takes me two minutes to plug the buckle in. No wonder I keep my driving to only local and easy jaunts! I find I’m still okay brushing my teeth, but I have some real challenges with dressing. I used to throw on a jacket to go out in the cool winter air, but now I’m pleased to get one arm in correctly before I begin battle with the second arm hole. Buttons are a new challenge when they used to be something I didn’t even think about. There are a few (very few) positives—perfecting the perfect 007 martini, shaken not stirred seems more doable now.

PD does change living patterns. I now leave a full half hour to get dressed—make it an hour if I’m going to add beard trim and shower. And tell me when I lost the ability to dry my back after a shower. Come on, dopamines, let me have a dry back back. 

Line of cottonwoods in southern Colorado.

Sangre de Cristo Mtns from Rio Grande Gorge Bridge and from Taos.

Pure Nostalgic Story about Nona, Silver Bells, and Coney Dogs

Museum art, Taos.

Every Christmas season brings with it special memories of my Nona (Italian grandmother, although Nona was probably a mix of Mexican and Apache adopted by an Italian family in Colorado), the song Silver Bells, and Coney Island hot dogs. During my childhood years I would spend a lot of time with Nona, my maternal grandmother. At Christmas time in Sacramento Nona and I would get on a city bus and travel downtown to what was for me a wonderland of decorated streets and shops. On every corner in the downtown area would be large decorated silver bells and stores would have the song playing in the background. Nona was half blind from Diabetes and I learned to help guide her around town—I was maybe seven or eight years old. My reward was always the same, a lunch at The Coney Island, a hot dog store with a few tables and a long counter with bar stools. A staple in the K Street area in the fifties and sixties, The Coney Island (new owners changed its name to Lindy’s in 1957) closed in the early seventies. I remember hot dogs were 15 cents and coneys were 25 cents and the coney sauce was to die for. As I recall there was never much money for shopping, but Nona and I had great times looking and singing Silver Bells.   

Next: More found photos I hope. PS. Thanks, Rumpelstiltskin, for the kind comments.

#209 SW Fall 2023, Part 3

SW Fall 2023, Part 3

Old Pecos Pueblo Church

This final part of the fall 2023 trip covers some of the fine Taos museums we visited and a visit with friends living in the Taos area. What I haven’t ever mentioned is why the SW is such a draw for us. It started in the early 1990s when I was invited to teach at the Championship Debate Enterprise (CDE) workshop with some of the outstanding high school debate students in the country. The first few summers the camp was held at the College of Santa Fe. In off-time Anne and I would play golf and explore the area around Santa Fe. We also explored the area between Canby and Santa Fe as we drove to and from the camp. 

Door in Taos

The camp then moved to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. After a couple of summers there, we were prompted to move the camp to more modern facilities at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. The final decider for the move was when a large live cockroach fell out of the shower head onto a female camper. Durango, near Mesa Verde and other Native American monuments, was a new place to explore. The final move for the camp was to Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ. By this time I had moved from lecturer to Assistant Director to Lecturer Emeritus (guest lecturer). We had visited many of the jewels of the SW and had watched Bill and Cat’s (the camp’s owners) daughter Jasmine grow from a young child to a college student — more about her later. In the time spent at the debate camp I had also become aware that my maternal grandmother was part Native American, probably Apache, which helped explain the natural affinity I had for the area. Like in Scotland, where we’ve always felt at home, we feel the same way in America’s SW.

Back view of famous adobe church in Rancho de Taos.

La Hacienda de Los Martinez Museum. This late Spanish Colonial period “Great House” was built in 1804 and was the northern terminus of the Camino Real connecting New Mexico to Mexico City. 

The museum, located on the outskirts of Taos, consists of several themed rooms in the hacienda and some outbuildings on the picturesque grounds. The museum makes a very pleasant and interesting visit.  

Taos Art Museum at Fechin House. The building was the home of Russian artist Nichola Fechin, a writer, painter, and craftsman, who promoted Taos as an artist colony. The museum houses the Fechin permanent collection and hosts special exhibits from members of the Taos Society of Artists. 

Fechin's estate donated the house after it was registered as a National Historic Property in 1979. The special exhibits are displayed in the original Fechin studio which also hosts a fine gift shop.

The Harwood Museum, founded by the Harwood Foundation (Bart and Elizabeth Harwood) in 1923 is just a block off the Taos Plaza. The museum houses a permanent collect of 1700 pieces of art and 17,000 photographs [I would count those as works of art, as well]. 

Interesting?

Most of the collection reflects the influence of the Taos artist community. The Harwoods originally opened their private library to the public who didn’t have a town library at the time. Much of that library is still on display.

Ansel Adams' Photo

Found Art -- Reflection off an Ansel Adams' Portfolio.

Georgia O'Keeffe Painting

Taos Friends. When we spend time in either Santa Fe or Taos we always make sure to visit Jasmine,  the daughter of our debate camp friends, Bill and Cat Bennet. Bill, recently passed, was a text book author and coach/director at CDE. Cat was a speech teacher and coach at Taos High School.

L to R: Zea (5), Mays (3), Jas

Zach, photo taken with my camera by Mays

We, particularly Anne, spent a lot of camp time with Jas. There was one strikingly memorable incident when Jas was 6 or 7. The camp was in Durango at Fort Lewis College when Jas spent the best part of a morning nurturing a friendship with a small wild mole until she got it to eat grass out of her hand. Jas grew up to be a pretty and intelligent student who qualified for the National High School Speech Tournament in her senior year. She went on to get her degree at UNM, but instead of becoming a lawyer or academic, she got married and with her husband Zach has built up Wildhood Farm (look up Wildwood Farm on Facebook). The farm is an organic and sustainable farm in Truchas, NM, an hour out of both Santa Fe and Taos.  Zach does some teaching at UNM and both put on workshops at the farm. They sell produce and products at Farmers Markets and to local restaurants. Their two children, Zea and Mays, are bright, outgoing, and charming kids whom we love to visit with. The family currently lives in a yurt with outbuildings while finishing their homemade cobb house at 8500 feet in the New 

Mexico mountains.

Farmhouse Cafe

Big Lunch

We met the family for lunch and play time in the orchard at the Farmhouse Bakery and Cafe in Taos. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND BLOG VISITORS. Bob & Anne

Mountains coming into Salt Lake from Albuquerque.