It's now October, which means I've recently returned from the Taos Wool Festival. It was, as usual, fantastic.
I did something this year that I've never done before. Sunday morning, instead of running right down to the festival as soon as it opened and looking again at the same stuff I saw the previous day, I went for a hike on the Devisadero Trail. This was just a few miles out of town, and let me see Taos from above.
I also heard the announcer from the Wool Fest. Sound carries a long way in the mountains.
I wasn't alone on the trail. But my company was not other hikers.
The other thing I did that I've never done before in Taos was laundry. No pictures, it wasn't any more interesting than laundry ever is. Although, there was the man in the laundromat folding his wet clothes who told me he was taking them home to hang on the clothesline-his clothing had never seen the inside of a dryer. Good for him!
I did laundry because I was headed for another week at Christ in the Desert Monastery. Last year I spent a few days. The peace I felt after just a few days was so great, I worked this year to get an entire week. Sunday is different than every other day at the monastery. And with an entire week I'd get a feel for both ordinary as well as special days.
I also wanted a longer visit as I'll be in Chicago next year at wool festival time, and won't get to go on my retreat.
Tuesday, October 4th, is the Feast of St. Francis. On this day, or on the Sunday closest to this day, many churches hold a blessing ceremony for our companion animals. There was nothing planned at the monastery. But they managed to pull together an informal blessing in the lobby of the main building. There were 5 resident dogs present. The monastery cats were off doing cat things. And I added the names of my cats, Rusty and Pip Squeak to be blessed in absentia.
One of the dogs was so moved at being sprinkled that he walked up to the priest after the formal ceremony and returned the favor.
This statue of St. Francis is in the courtyard of the guesthouse. I believe this is the one the monks say had its arms pecked off by woodpeckers.
The biggest difference between last year and this year was the weather. Last year it was sunny and warm. This year it rained. It rained a lot. It rained so much that by Saturday morning, I muttered out loud, 'God, please let it stop raining'.
Within half an hour it started snowing.
It didn't snow very long, got sunny and warm, and stayed fair the rest of my visit.
The road to the monastery is a dirt road. The Forest Service gravels and grades it regularly. But the continuation of the road on monastery property is just dirt. After 4 days of rain it was mud. A guest arriving Friday evening got his car stuck, and it sat at the side of the road until Sunday afternoon. Another person trying to leave Sunday morning before mass got stuck and had to stay until after noon when they could get the tractor out to free his car.
On leaving the monastery and turning onto the first paved road toward home, I had the same reaction as last year. I thought there must be something wrong with my car because it was so noisy. It took about half an hour of driving to recognize it was just the usual noise of my tires on the road. I just hadn't heard anything that loud and mechanical in a week. (I left Christ in the Desert almost 3 weeks ago, and have yet to turn on the radio in my car.)
I admit, the first few hours were spent stopping at various locations indulging myself with things I hadn't had for a week. I bought a big chocolate chip cookie at the general store in Abiquiu. I stopped in Santa Fe and had a big burrito. And that evening in Gallup I went out for ice cream. It seemed odd to have food left on my plate after I was full, and to watch leftovers taken away to be discarded. I was used to serving myself only what I would eat, and finishing everything I served myself.
My time on retreat helped me to see some things in new persepctive. And that's what I'll be posting about in the next days.
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