I lived in Santa Fe for three years. Most of the houses are pueblo style - stucco and flat roof type things. It harkens back to the time when the white people were not there. Santa Fe, with a population of less than 50K (when I was there in the 1990s) is one of the smallest state capitols in the USA. There are still many active pueblos (not reservations) there and those folks co-mingled with the Spanish conquistadors many years ago. The northern New Mexico cuisine is not the Tex-Mex that many associate with the southwest. it is less spicy (unless you want it to be). When we lived there, there was a large increase in the population and the housing market was unusual. There are many folks who live in the area whose names you would recognize easily. That made the median value of a house quite high. In 1998, we purchased 'affordable' housing at $200K. 1998 folks! At 7000' we had to learn how to cook many things differently. At that altitude, we got snow during the winter, but it never melted, it evaporated. It was extremely dry. Moisturizer and lip balm were in the car, at my desk, at home, everywhere. It was a great three years, and we have returned to visit. But I don't want to live there again - it is just too expensive! If you are ever in the Santa Fe area (skiing, SF opera or for art walks) you gotta stop at the Bobcat Bite. You'll rave about it to everyone for many years. Jim

I love this time of year. That cottage is so neat and so many beautiful flowers in everyone's yards!! Thanks for sharing the wonderful pictures. This is a little building in the middle of a small local park's forest.

Congratultions to "Donna" for the new award! :) susan, the yellow daylily is lovely. Took me a second to realize that the reason it looked so full was that it has four petals and sepals! Do you know the cultivar name? Years ago, I went through a huge daylily phase, but haven't kept up with introductions ones for quite a while now. joanmn, does that water level happen often? Wish SoCal could siphon a bit of that. A lot of pretty photos today!

yummm me too Glenda! Unfortunately they closed the one about a mile from my house and it was always busy as are all of them. Now we rarely go. The seafood fondeaux in the appetizers is my favorite thing it is served with garlic bread points to sop up that amazing creamy cheezy sauce. I sure miss that. Other restaurants try to copy it but fail. Fred is just precious with the gator as his pillow lol.