I am writing you from sunny Arizona! I am parked just south of Tucson and arrived here in Green Valley about 3 weeks ago! It’s crazy to think I have been here for 3 weeks! In some ways it feels like 3 days and other ways 3 months!
I landed in Ft. Collin’s Colorado on a journey of self-discovery and needing time for clarity. There are events in my life causing cross-roads and I have been so entrenched with my busy life back in Boise that I really needed a change in pace and environment to give me some clarity & perspective.
I loved my time in Ft. Collin’s. I met with good friends and people who became good friends. I got to play in the Wendy Woo band for a few shows and felt a great honor in doing so. I plunked around the town and recognized it has a feeling very much like Boise. Lots of sunshine, music, little boutique stores, night life, majestic Rocky Mtn. scenery. It was truly a wonderful time. I thought I would stay for more like a month but when I got there, I realized…it was more of the same, just in a different place.
My refuge was not in finding the same in a different place, but finding MYSELF where ever I go. You’ve heard tale of this. “Where ever you go, there you are.” It’s true. We take ourselves, our thoughts, ideas, beliefs systems with us. We create from the well spring of what we vibrate, and I needed to go south. So I did.
Despite the amazing shows my friend Dana had lined up for me to join, I politely moved on and traveled with Juno down to Taos, New Mexico. I met my artist friend Uma and her son and grand-daughter. Taos is beautiful. Rugged landscape and cold this time of year! The cold slapped my senses and made me grateful for a still warm beating heart inside my chest.
Uma’s home is made of straw…yes, you read that correct! A straw build home with stucco, mud and grass to cover the bails. I stayed for 4 nights in a room that had the “truth” window. I thought, “how appropriate is this?!” You open the door and can see the bails of straw. It was super cool! All the windows looked like they boated into a marsh mellow puff.
I was surrounded and held in Uma’s beautiful artwork, her loving family and clear loving energy. I’ve learned that I am very adaptable. I don’t require a lot. I don’t need a lot and can blend easily with the “vibe” of others. It takes about a day for me to acclimate, sometimes shorter sometimes longer, but I am pretty resilient and very grateful that I can live quite simply.
We had wonderful conversations, we painted, made art, did yoga, ate healthy home cooked food and played guitar. We dreamed dreams together and tried on possibilities with our lives. It was beautiful. It was pure moments like this that make me feel so blessed for this time.
I knew I was going to make my way down south of Tucson to visit with my dear friend Rhea, yet in the interim, I yearned for solitude with myself. My thoughts, dreams, contemplation and breath I craved, took me to Santa Fe. This creative “art mecca” enriched my senses. I felt ALIVE, whole, free…full of possibility! I was surrounded by all this creative energy and this time that I so enjoyed was perfect.
It was still butt cold but I had managed to get a warm room for Juno and I in close proximity to the main square. Most everything was in walking distance. There was quite a wind and at 8 degrees, it felt like 20 below!
As the wind whipped, I strolled to a Chapel for morning meditation and then over to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. All the shops along the way were enticing. I dipped into a few of them, but what I really wanted to do was go see what the Natives had to sell on their blankets at the square.
I had such nostalgic moments of my mother and I cruising the little huts in Gallup NM back in 1975! It was one place my mother and I “grooved” for lack of better word. I felt like we resonated with turquoise and silver. She and I would bop around the markets and check out the Native’s wears.
I went and got Juno. We walked to the square and I looked at all the pretty shiny things on the native rugs. There were some things that called me, for others and myself. I had a very fun time and spoke with the artists before they rolled up their carpets and called it a day.
I then made my way early next morning to Albuquerque to have coffee with my nephew. He is my sister’s son and one of my favorite people on the planet. He is wise beyond his years and we had only a 40-minute talk because I had to make tracks. Green Valley is where Rhea lives and I wanted to be there before dark, which would be near 5:00 and it was supposed to take 7.5 hrs. I left Santa Fe by 7:45, made it to Tyler’s by 9 and was out a squish before 10 am. I drove with angel wings at my side…averaging 90 mph!!! People were PASSING me! I took it to 95 mph for about an hour! It was crazy! An open highway with everyone going 100 mph! How FUN!!! Ha!
I made it to Rhea’s a bit BEFORE 5pm. It felt like coming home. I have been here before a few times. I knew I would have a chance to spread out, set up my equipment, meditate, contemplate, read, play, practice, study, do nothing, watch the sun, pet Juno, emote, drink tea, contemplate some more, take naps, rest, rest and more rest. It’s been WONDERFUL. I could stay for 3 months easy!
I am fascinated by silence which teaches me so many incredible things about myself. With silence and no distraction, something I’ve never had for any extent of time, I find my mind will “whisper” these belief systems for me to investigate, question, peel back and disperse. What a reckoning and what a gift! It’s been amazing!!!
Having time for myself is a new wonder and I am indeed wanting more of this. I have been writing and have a couple new songs. I haven’t decided which one I will post yet. There is a very cool song I wrote in Santa Fe that is Spiritual in nature and there is a fun little song I wrote while being lost in Dana’s neighborhood. Ha! I will most likely send the funny one first!
I want to thank you all for your patience and grace through this sabbatical of ours too! Your love and support I have felt through the miles. You are so appreciated!
Also, I played my first solo gig on Friday! 1/6/23!!! It’s been exactly 2 months since Mo and I played together. I played a bit in Colorado, but I haven’t played a solo show since I don’t know when! Wow! And it was 3 hours! And they paid me! And the audience stuck around and put money in the jar! Whoop whoop! That felt really fun to do all onmy own! I loved the sun and the back drop of the mountains! I feel like I’m “skipping” winter! Ha ha!!!
I will turn tail here soon. I have a date with Bogus Basin ski mountain back home and much rehearsal to do to get ready for the Sapphire Show March 4th. I look forward to putting my “producer” cap back on, rolling up my sleeves and making some good creative things happen this year.
2023 will be a year of balance for me. I will give myself more time to practice music and silence, do yoga and meditate, be more inward. I know writing will flow this year, I just have this really cool feeling about it and I’m going to hold on to this, no matter what!
Thank you all for your patience, kindness and love through these different days. We will take the helm and steer the “ship” but I’m sailing to calmer, quieter waters, and sun shine, and purple fish!!! We will “walk in Fields of Gold” … love is really all there is. No matter what it’s dressed up as, no matter what label is put on it, and my life will become the very vessel for more of that love to come through!
Cheers my friends! Happy New Year!!!
Nicc & Juno
