The best part of a wonderful weekend

I just spent a wonderful weekend in New Mexico with my brother James and his wife Jeany.

We visited the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History and saw an exhibit of art displayed in Spanish American homes from 1492 to 1898. Then, we strolled in Old Town and discovered three gray-haired Native Americans, with magnificent turquoise jewelry, sitting at a table with books for sale. They were Navajo code talkers who had helped this country win World War II.

In Santa Fe, we saw paintings that Georgia O’Keefe had made in 1939 for Dole Pineapple advertisements—and cookbooks from the artist’s kitchen.

We also stopped at the Wyeth Hurd Gallery and had a fascinating conversation with Peter de La Fuente, grandson of Peter Hurd and Henrietta Wyeth. He told us how his grandfather had taught his uncle Andrew Wyeth how to use his special recipe for egg tempera.

But the best part of the weekend was a day with James and Jeany and my nephew Willie, who wasn’t really thrilled about spending his Saturday in Santa Fe, but came along so that he could spend some time with me. It also was having dinner with my niece Emma, who had attended an all-day how-to-get-into-medical school seminar and had lots of pre-final papers to write, but took the time to spend a couple of hours with me. And, it was spending the whole weekend with James and Jeany with breakfast burritos made from the eggs from their henhouse, a long Sunday morning walk with them and their three dogs and lots of time for conversation.
–Joy