Artists, hiking and SOARing

One of the best things about touring around the country is the people you meet. We met Nicholaas, a local artist born in Holland, and his wife Judy at Unity of Santa Fe. They graciously asked us over for dinner and then to some art galleries' open houses in Santa Fe. In 1983, Nicholaas and Judy built their house (by themselves) on 5 acres in the desert outside Santa Fe.





The ground floor of their house is adobe and the upper floor built of wood and logs. He did not use a crane to get these logs into place; they used a come-along (chain fall) and did all the work themselves (they didn't want any friends injured if a log fell).







Their house is made with thick walls with an air pocket, so it doesn't have air conditioning in the summer. Fans move the air around quite well. Winters can be a challenge, though, with one wood stove and a couple of space heaters able to keep the temp above 60 most days....




                                                                                                                                                                                               

                                                                                 
In an alley off Canyon Street, some colorful mailboxes... 









                                                                         Here is Suzanne preparing for her S.O.A.R! workshop in Santa Fe. Pretty as can be!!!











While Suzanne SOARed, I went solo hiking in the Sangre de Christo Mountains above Santa Fe. These tree roots captured my attention.