Fall ici, Travelocity, and Balloonacy

Hi everybody! Daisy Jones-Klein here, settling into Fall. Here in Santa Fe, Fall is a terrific time of year. The summer crowds have thinned out, and days are getting shorter. The temps have cooled at night, with even a couple of dustings of snow further up in the mountains, but are perfect in the daytime. And while the pinions and junipers remain green year-round, the oaks and aspens and cottonwoods are turning, bringing a blaze of yellows and oranges. 

Yep, Fall might just be my favorite season here. But I’ve got a question for you: What do you think is the worst time of year here in Santa Fe? You think you know the answer? Go ahead; take a guess. I'll wait right here ....

Hah!!! Gotcha! That was a trick question. There isn't a worst time; it’s pretty sweet here year-round. Consider this FUN FACT: If you do the Google thing and type in "Best time to be in" together with "Santa Fe", both in quotes, you get 4,260,000 hits. That’s a lot of Best Times! But if you Google "Worst time to be in" together with "Santa Fe", you only get 119,000 hits. So Best Time beats Worst Time by 35 to 1! Take that, Poughkeepsie!

And for you scorekeepers out there, here are updates on two other networthy stats:

• I'm still the Internet's “favorite dogblogger”. (It’s true because the Google says so! Check it out here.) Another Russell Rescue alumni success story!
  
  
• Google hits for "Lovable Jack Russell Terrier" are well over 100,000, more than twice as many as “lovable cat”. True dat! But more importantly, there still hasn’t been a single instance of "Unlovable J--- R---- T----" anywhere across all the Internets. What can I say? We JRTs are good at what we do.

But back to here. We’ve had visitors!! It’s great to have visitors -- twice the hugs, twice the bellyrubs, twice the plates to lick -- what’s not to love? First, Mom’s Dad (Bob Perry) and his new bride Lucille came out here from North Carolina. It’d been a year since I last saw Granddad, and my first time meeting Lucille. They got married in April, back in North Carolina.

It was nice having them around. So many plates to lick! And when they weren't spending time with me, all the Peeps walked around the Plaza, lunched at the Bell Tower on top of the historic La Fonda Hotel, shopped the stores and galleries, and lots more. And at the Farmers’ Market, the air was filled with the smell of yummy freshly roasted chili peppers.

 

Then, my big brother Matt and soon-to-be sister-in-law Suj came in from Virginia. I hadn’t seen either of them in over a year, not since we packed up and left our Forever Home in Virginia to begin our Excellent Adventure here in the Land of Enchantment. 
 

And there was lots of fun stuff to do! I'm thinking that of all the Best Times to be here, Fall just may be the Bestest. Not all of it was Daisy-suitable, but the Peeps recounted enough for your Humble Correspondent to do her job here.

We drove further up into the Sangre de Cristo mountains behind us, up towards the Ski Basin, where the aspens are all turning color in preparation for winter.

 

 

There was a visit to Tesuque Glassworks just up the road, and Matt & Suj got drafted to be glassblowers.

 

 

 

There were lots of funky shops and restaurants and galleries and sculpture gardens. 

 

And then there was the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta!!! It’s the world's largest international hot air ballooning event. It happens that Albuquerque has some great ballooning conditions, especially in October when cool morning and evening temperatures are just right for a balloon launch. Plus, it's got a combination of weather patterns and geography known as the "Albuquerque Box" and this gives the pilots great control over their balloons. And for nine days, hundreds of balloonists from all around the world gather to fill the skies. And the people! Crowds average nearly 100,000 people a day. That’s nearly 200,000 tasty, juicy ankles! mmmm ... ankles! But as I said, a certain Jack Russell Terrier was not invited to this particularly tempting outing. Life ain't always fair.

Because the balloons launch around dawn, you have to get there pretty early.

 

 

But as it begins to get lighter, more and more balloons fill up and take to the skies.

 

Soon there are hundreds of balloons drifting lazily overhead.

With lots and lots of special shape balloons.

And there was even an Elvis sighting! And later, about the time Elvis "left the building", it was time to head back to Santa Fe to catch up on lost sleep. 

And when the Peeps weren't all out and about, we simply chilled, watching the clouds move in and out, enjoying the kick-ass sunsets, admiring the bright moon when it was out, and pondering the dark night skies when it wasn't.

Whew! That was a lot to do! I know I sure could use a nap, and I know just the sunny spot for it. But my nap may have to wait, since Halloween’s just around the corner, and both tricks and treats are two of my favorite activities. 

I’m still trying to decide what to wear for my Halloween costume, but I’m thinking about going as Joe Camel. So what do you think? Would you recognize me if I backed up to your door?

Daisy Jones-Klein

Santa Fe, NM

October 2013

Woe, no mo’. Zozobra!

Hi everybody! Daisy Jones-Klein here again. And to start off, I’ve got a short quiz for you, Now, answer these questions truthfully:

• Do you ever feel anxious for more than a day?
• Ever have trouble sleeping?
• Ever get so busy thinking about what you gotta do next that you forget what you're supposed to be doing now?
• Got money woes?
• Ever feel stressed from trying to do too much, too fast?

Well, if you answered “yes” to two or more of these questions, then I’ve got some bad news to break to ya’: You’re probably a Peep. Sorry, Dude. It happens.

Us dogs and other quadruped critters generally don’t fret about the sorts of things you Peeps seem to obsess over. Sure, we’ve got stuff to keep us wary, like not getting eaten by a coyote, or going to the vet, or getting tricked into taking a bath. But that’s just street-smart living, and certainly no reason to forgo a good bellyrub, or the insouciance of a warm nap in the sunshine, or the simple joie de vivre of chasing a favorite squeaky toy. But you Peeps … you really do seem to have trouble letting go of your woes and living in the moment. Not every song has to be the Blues.

I’m not trying to blame you Peeps for these shortcomings. I understand that you probably can’t help yourselves. After all, being a Peep is a hereditary condition, something you’re born with. If your birth parents were Peeps, chances are you’re one, too. It’s a chronic condition, likely to last a lifetime. And there’s no known cure; the best you can hope for is accommodation and adaptation. Again, I’m really so sorry, Dude.

But here in Santa Fe, The City Different as it’s often called, Peeps have developed a tradition to help them cope with their troubles. It’s called Zozobra, and it started all the way back in 1924. It’s a part of the Fiesta de Santa Fe, a New Mexico tradition that goes even further back, all the way to 1712. In dog-years, that’s like two millennia!

So what, or who, is Zozobra? He’s Old Man Gloom, a 50-foot marionette that flails, moans, and groans. Over the years he’s gotten bigger, as have the crowds that come to see him. 

In the weeks leading up to Zozobra’s big day, Peeps can bring him their woes. All kinds of symbols of bad luck make their way to him – overdue bills, Dear John letters, sad poems, pink slips, and even the occasional wedding dress no longer memorable. These are all shredded and stuffed inside Zozobra as Old Man Gloom takes form.

On the Big Day, Zozobra is brought out to Fort Marcy Park and stood up to his full height of despair and gloominess:

Tens of thousands of Peeps come out to the park to picnic, to listen to the music, and to watch Zozobra standing tall and evil, flailing his arms, moving his head, and letting rip the occasional gloomy moan.

And when the sun’s finally set and the music has stopped, it’s just Zozobra, still standing tall and flailing against an ever-darkening sky. The crowd is getting restless, and begins to chant “Burn him! Burn him! Burn him!” This goes on and on, while Zozobra gets ever more agitated and flailing and moaning. 

But his protestations are to no avail, and the crowd keeps on chanting “Burn him! Burn him! Burn him!”

And so they do:

The flames climb up and up, burning Old Man Gloom and all the troubles stuffed inside. And as his head bursts into flames and Zozobra collapses into his own ash heap, fireworks light up the sky. Old Man Gloom is gone, lost in his fiery demise, taking with him all our troubles for another whole year.

It’s quite a fine tradition for Santa Feans. It's sorta like having a karmic cleansing, Yom Kippur atonement, Dorothy and Toto stepping into Oz after the twister, having your very own Ghostbusters Proton Pack, an Airing of Grievances at Festivus, a city-wide exorcism, rainbows after a thunderstorm, a Monopoly get-out-of-jail-free card, a tune-up for your chakras, and a pardon from the Governor, all rolled into one. How cool is that! 

Or, you could try being a bit more like us dogs. That usually works, too.

Daisy Jones-Klein

Santa Fe, NM

September 2013