Living the Dream in Retirement
One afternoon my sister and I headed out to explore this sculpture garden. It exceeded our expectations natural beauty in a peaceful setting – plants, trees, water features, rock formations and of course the sculptures. It was the definition of Zen.
My favorite sculpture “Walks Among the Stars” is worth photographing from several angles.
I’ve rarely seen flamingos so when I had the opportunity I had to capture the moment in photos.
I had a special afternoon enjoying one of our beautiful national parks this week. Staying in Palm Desert, Joshua Tree National Park was about an hour’s drive and such an incredible place to visit. With so much in the news regarding the administration’s disruption to our national parks it felt especially poignant spending time there.
Our national parks are a treasure and should be protected and valued.
I recently returned from Las Vegas and made my visit to Bellagio‘s Conservatory, which never disappoints. This beautiful spring display may be one of my all-time favorites. Here are the best of the best photos:
When traveling I love to enjoy great food, beautifully presented. The Sun Princess was a foodie’s dream and these are photos a few of the many delicious meals I had over my recent two week cruise.
I recently completed another cruise, this time two weeks on the newest ship in the Princess fleet, the Sun Princess. It’s a beautiful ship and is massive in size. Lots of walking onboard and off ship at several new ports plus revisiting St Thomas. Here are some of my favorite photos from sailing out of Ft Lauderdale to Mahogany Bay in Honduras, to Cozumel, Puerto Rico and St Thomas. More posts will follow, stay tuned.
After departing from our Airbnb in Santa Fe, we took the day to explore Albuquerque before our early flight the next day.
When traveling to Santa Fe from Albuquerque, my friend Cindy said “why don’t we take back roads?” as our rental wouldn’t be available until 4 p.m..
This was brilliant and reminiscent of the best road trips I took over many years with Spence. He preferred going off highways, discovering places we would otherwise miss. In taking the back roads we discovered Box Studio. We actually passed it, looked at each other – simultaneously and enthusiastically saying “turn around!” When we did we saw only some of this magical place – they had closed for the day ten minutes before. We took a few photos but noticed they were open Monday-Friday from 9:00-2:00 and done for the season on November 1st. It’s close to Santa Fe so we made a plan to come back.
It was so much more than we could’ve guessed from the roadside. Called Origami in the Garden, this place is a sculpture garden wonderland on private property where the owners live and create. The show travels (in part) to other venues around the country. Each sculpture is first created with paper in origami taking a year to bring it to completion in their studio. It was very zen when walking amongst these artistic and lovely pieces with the brilliant blue sky as a backdrop. I couldn’t stop smiling throughout our hike.
There is a well-received documentary about Box Studio called Origami in the Garden, it’s available on Netflix. Should you find yourself near Santa Fe, make stopping here a priority.
I’ve just returned from a wonderful week in Santa Fe. Spence and I had been here 20+ years ago and I loved it. They say you can’t go back again but this was not one of those times. Santa Fe was every bit as captivating as I remembered and I fell in love with it all over again.
We rented a home in the Baca District which is adjacent to the Railyard District – both are new since my last visit. The location was perfect and we found great coffee shops, galleries, a wine shop and restaurants within steps of our rental. Our rental car allowed us to explore Santa Fe, Taos, Madrid, Abiquiu and Albuquerque.
This post has scenes from the Railyard District and the Plaza. Art is everywhere and I’ve come home inspired to paint – once I’m rested!
Stay tuned for more posts from this trip!
