Monday, July 23, 2007

Home of Georgia O'Keefe


We left pretty early this morning, with a complicated flight schedule: Husband and I on one flight, and Younger stepson on another flight. For some reason I was miserable during the whole flight: as soon as I got on the plane, my eyes started watering and my nose running, and once up in the air I developed a sinus headache and some feelings of nausea (also, a little claustrophobia). But finally, we all arrived safely in: Albuquerque, New Mexico!. It's not exactly the home of Georgia O'Keefe, but it's close enough. Georgia worked from Abiquiu, which is near Santa Fe, and where we will be headed tomorrow, to spend the day and evening. (By the way, yesterday's picture was of the Acoma Pueblo, near Albuquerque.)

I haven't yet given in to the temptation to call "Dog Days" to see how Scout is doing. I'm not worried; I just miss her. I did bring their phone number and promotional information along. I know; I'm neurotic. I can't help it.

We didn't have so much time left to sight-see once we all got in, got the rental car, and found our hotel (and crashed for about an hour). We decided to spend some time in Albuquerque's Old Town. Once, while on internship in Denver, I spent a little part of an evening in Old Town, and had vague memories, so I wanted to return. My vague memories were of a little chapel we found, hidden among all of the little shops. It was late evening, but I remembered being charmed by the discovery, and wanted to try to find it again.

This time I asked around, trying to describe it. I didn't remember much about it, except that it was tiny, and that on the floor was painted a tree, with the roots starting at the baptismal font, and the branches extending up to the small altar. I loved the floor most of all. The tree reminded me of Psalm 1, and "the tree planted by streams of water."

When we finally found the small alley where the chapel (actually, more like a shrine) was located, I almost thought I had the wrong one. The floor was much more worn than I had remembered, and there were candles and images of Our Lady of Guadalupe everywhere. A man in a wheelchair greeted me warmly as I approached. He gave me one of those "saints" cards for the Virgin Mary and a brochure recommending Ron Paul for President. He then told me how he had had a stroke and almost died several years ago. "It changed my life," he said. "Now I preach." "Oh, you preach sometimes?" I asked "No. twenty-four hours a day," he replied.

I said I thought I had been to this shrine before, but now I wasn't sure. "There was a tree in the floor," I said, pointing down, "and it's not here." "No, it's here, but it's worn out," he said. And sure enough, if I looked carefully, I could see a couple of outlines of leaves. And then suddenly the image of the trunk took shape, out of the baptismal font, just as before. It was worn so that I hadn't noticed it, but it was still there.


"You have a nice smile," the man told me. "I can tell you will go straight to heaven. I have a sixth sense about these things." That was good to hear. And he said, he was planning to repaint the floor, so that the tree would show up better. That was good to hear, too.

I thought about all the feet that had walked on the floor, and worn out the image of the tree, so that I didn't see it. And I thought about God's glory in the world, God's world that has been walked on by so many people passing through: so worn that most of the time we don't notice it. And not just worn, really covered up sometimes, by dust and dirt and sin and sorrow.

Maybe one of our jobs is to repaint it once in awhile.

16 comments:

JanetB said...

Well, I guessed the Acoma Pueble, but I cheated. If you click on the pciture and copy it to your desktop it shows the name of the photo...

Diane M. Roth said...

darn! now I won't be able to offer the prize any more...(well, I'm pretty much out of vacations, too)

Barbara B. said...

Really wonderful reflection, Diane!

And, if only you were in Nebraska, I would have gotten a postcard. Sigh. :)

Katherine E. said...

Oh, I love northern New Mexico, Diane! Have a GREAT time!

JanetB said...

If you still want to do a contest, you can always change the name of the photo before you post it. :-)

Gannet Girl said...

Oh, northern NM is one of my favorite places in the world.

Also southern NM.

NM is the place where as we got off the plane one day into the blue blue sky, I said, "You know, people actually live like this. It's not a sin to live in the sunshine!"

DogBlogger said...

It's been too long since I've been to New Mexico.

When we were last in Albuquerque, it helped me that the B&B where we stayed had a house dog, so I didn't miss Cub quite as much. Less than a month after we got back home, we added an Angus to our family.

Diane M. Roth said...

I noticed that some of the shops in Albuquerque say "Dogs welcome!" That makes me like the place!

zorra said...

Ooh, I love New Mexico. Have a wonderful time.

On the (very) rare ocasions that Amie goes to a kennel, I always have to take their business card and stuff with me too. But I usually manage to keep myself from calling. Well, at least not more than once.

Hot Cup Lutheran said...

mmm... really like Georgia O'Keefe... and the tree gets me thinking... roots; branching out; leaves fluttering in the breeze like hands clapping... good stuff.

David said...

I've only driven through New Mexico, never actually stopped for a stay there. Hope you have a nice trip.

Jan said...

I hope you'll get to Santa Fe to see the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. It's wonderful. Have a wonderful time!

Lindy said...

St. Francis would be so proud of your new friend, the one in the chapel. "Preach all the time, use words if necessary." That's a reasonable paraphrase, if not an exact quote.

Rowan wanted me to write to you and say how impressed he is that Scout got her picture on MadPriest's blog. We both thought that was really cool. Rowan also says, "Woof, woof, woof-woof," and "woof."

Have fun in Albuquerque. I haven't been there in a long time but I remember a relaxing afternoon strolling through the Pueblo Indians Museum. I am sure that is not the exact name but it's close. Check it out if you get a chance.

Georgia O'Keefe is SO sensual. But, I am more drawn to the cityscapes she did while in NY. You can see a little Stieglitz in those too. I think there's a museum in Santa Fe.

Best,

lindy
Rowan's guardian

Diane M. Roth said...

yes, I'm sure we will be seeing the O'Keeffe museum today, among other things.

more cows than people said...

i am catching up on posts today. and this was shimmering. thanks.

Diane M. Roth said...

gannet girl, if you're back, I do love the sunshine. and i know NOTHING about southern NM. tell me about it sometime.