The Furious Spinner

Hello darlin’s. I am at one of my favorite places on the planet, the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos. If you’ve read Mercy, Unbound, you know that part of the story takes place here. (Spoiler ahead if you haven’t read it, although it’s not really that kind of book, so it won’t matter.) After Mercy disappears from the eating disorder clinic, she shows up behind the Mabel Dodge Luhan house.

I take details from my experiences and put them in my novels. Here’s a couple of the things in Mercy, Unbound which I took from my life. I’ve probably told you this before but nearly every dream I’ve ever put in a book, I’ve dreamed myself. So you know the dream in Mercy, Unbound where the Earth comes up through her fingers and says, “This is home?” My dream.

And when Mercy was at Mabel Dodge Luhan House, she discovered a hand print in the cement under the portico with the name Mercy scribbled next to it. There is an actual hand print in cement under the portico, only it has “KIM” scratched in the cement, and the hand print fits my left hand absolutely perfectly.

When I first came to this place many years ago, I thought I’d come home. I wanted to live here the rest of my life. I was so in love. I even wrote to the owner and told him of my experience. I wanted to manage the place, or be rich and buy it. I don’t think it’s owned by a person any more, so my chance for actually owning it are long gone, but I love it even though my name won’t ever be on a deed to it. I love it because people came (and come) to it to write, talk, make art, create.

The sun was going down as we arrived today, so we haven’t seen much of it in the daytime yet. I’ll go to bed soon so I can wake up early. I’ll try to take pics (but my batteries keep dying, so who knows).

The workshop/gathering was fabulous. Sandra Ingerman is a good teacher, very down to Earth, all about doing the work. I’ll write more about it later. (Or else I won’t.)

I will say that on Wednesday, the woman sitting next to me at the workshop fell and broke her arm. That morning we had mentioned to one another that we were there for each other. At these kinds of things, I’m often quiet. And especially after this summer, I felt rather bruised, so I wanted to listen and learn and be quiet. The woman next to me—I’ll call her Patty since I forgot to ask her if I could write about her—befriended me, urged me to participate, sat with me at meals and prevented me from isolating myself too much. So when she fell, I wasn’t going to leave her alone.

First I gave her rescue remedy which just “happened” to be in my hand. Then I gave her some arnica. I followed the ambulance in my car and got mightily lost. But I eventually found the huge hospital and went into the emergency. The waiting room was filled with people, and I could only get back to see Patty after talking to someone through a plexiglas wall using a phone. It reminded me of a prison. Emergency itself was filled with people. Even the corridors had people on gurneys. But Patty and I brought what we had learned into the place with us. That’s always the challenge, isn’t it? It’s easy to be in a beautiful world figuring out how you’re going to be a divine human being, but it’s when you go out into the real world that what we’ve learned can be put into practice. We were kind and focused and determined. I advocated for her, and she advocated for herself, with absolute kindness. She talked the doctor into setting her arm. (It’s a long and involved story, but they were going to splint it and just wait for her orthopedic surgeon to see it.) I watched the doc palpitate her arm until the bone was in place again. I held her Hoku point (for pain) while he worked on it. She was absolutely amazing. She never whined or felt sorry for herself, and she didn’t appear to be afraid. It was an honor to be by her side.

By the time we got out of there, we knew everyone. Joe, the guy who took the gurney back and forth to x-ray. Pam, who took the x-ray. Sandra, the nurse. Dr. Paul, the doc. Dustin, the tech. Who else? Anyway, they all performed in less-than perfect conditions with grace.

I’m suddenly out of steam. Later I will tell you about the Old Mermaids in the desert I found today. It is amazing and wonderful.

Ta!

May You Swim in Beauty!


A cottonwood I fell in love with in Santa Fe


Where we stayed, the last morning as I was doing flower essences.


Just a Santa Fe pic from at the Davey Randall Audubon Center.


One of the many blue ladders at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe where we stayed.


Here's an example of the huge litter problem in Santa Fe. Huge. Naw. I kid the Santa Fe. This is part of sculpture at Ghost Ranch Santa Fe.


One of many of Santa Fe's glorious murals.
1 comments

1 Comments:

Astonishing, what colour, what shadows, what skies, oh what a vibrant place it is. Just breathing in and out in such a place would be balm for the spirit. BB, Cate

By kerrdelune, at 6:06 AM  

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All photographs and written material copyright © 2003-2007 by Kim Antieau unless otherwise indicated. May not be used without permission.