Giving Thanks

Our first Thanksgiving on the mesa was a quiet affair--just me, Steve, and a nine-pound turkey. The weather was cloudy and cold, but not too cold for walking along new and improved Mesa Sea. For the first time ever, we stayed at home two days in a row without venturing into town. A kiva fire kept us warm, and two good books kept us from getting restless. Steve's book, The Replacement Child, was a mystery by first-time novelist Christine Barber which centers on a murder at the Taos Gorge Bridge. With that crime in mind, we drove over the bridge the day before Thanksgiving and hiked along the West Rim trail. Thankfully there were no dead bodies, just a few college students and a sweet little dog. Steve kindly posed for a picture on that warm and sunny day:

My book, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, is a wonderful story involving a French concierge, a suicidal twelve-year-old, and a wealthy Japanese gentleman. The author, Muriel Barbery, tackles Art, Beauty, and the Meaning of Life, with a little phenomenology and medieval philosophy thrown in for good measure, but the story is so charming that you're not at all put off by the characters' ruminations on such weighty topics.

After two sunless days, we woke up Saturday morning to find a sparkling blue sky and a dusting of snow:

This looks like the beginning of a new tradition for us, and we hope to spend many more Thanksgivings in Taos.