In first light of the first day of August I was startled from a third night of not great sleep by a cold wet oval pressed against my forehead – Kiku in an unprecedented visit followed by an equally unusual leap onto the bed.  One can only surmise that K., having been on the porch

the previous night, spread the word among the Dogs about Puppies who in consensus decided that a trip up to Westcliffe was in order for us in order to meet Bear and Hedgehog [not their real names but what they looked like. It turned out there was a Bear there already though

he was not one of the pups] in person.  Accepting the inevitable we made the hour’s drive north to find seven various dogs tumbling around Ariel’s cabin, four of whom were the aforementioned Border Collie/Golden Retrievers although only two remained eligible.

The last time we adopted a dog it was 2008 and very different…freer and smaller [look closely under my knee – Not a Rodent].  For one thing this time for the first time we might actually

have to Pay Money [all previous dogs came free due to various circumstances; Onyx had been a gift to Linda from someone in Brooklyn who’d rescued her but couldn’t keep her; Zolo escaped from a bad home near us in Colorado; Dazzle and Speckle were scooped out from under a shed at Deep Hole, Nevada; Lefty rescued from a coyote trap on the Owyhee Desert while Aggie was from a well-loved litter birthed beneath an immobile motorhome in Aguilar] and anyway in our seventies puppies – much larger puppies, portending long-lived much larger dogs – seemed kind of more of a commitment.  Mortality ‘n’ all, y’know….

We headed South to think about it

and kept going; all the way to Santa Fe to reconnect with friends…

First stop was lunch at our old favorite La Choza [which, now that they offer garlic bread as an alternative to sopaipillas and sopaipillas as doughy as garlic bread [don’t even ask what’s happened to their formerly stellar fish tacos] will be favored no longer] in the excellent company of Nina and Tyson for talk of artworks, communes and the blowing up of both buildings and vehicles until it was time to walk to Site to see her drawings, much-anticipated

and not a disappointment.

This was  followed by a pause at our motel before continuing south on Cerrillos in the

direction of, aha, Cerrillos for a wonderful evening with Jerry West,  Meridel Rubenstein and new friend Ben Shedd talking about sculpture repair, impending projects, Iraq, Marsh Arab carpets, art, food, film and personal histories comprising many curious confluences.

Next morning we wandered through an alarmingly vast array of third world imports next door

at the Jackalope to generate sufficient appetite for breakfast at Tortilla Flats whose cuisine has remained thankfully consistent despite years of expansions and their current proximity to Meow Wolf. Thank God, or Robot.  After considerable agonizing during breakfast L. decided

we really couldn’t live without the smaller of the BCGR pups and so texted Ariel before we

embarked upon further touristic wanderings, these around the Plaza prior to retiring to rest [during which time A. got back saying he was willing to separate the remaining two but for

a rather higher price than previously quoted which, after further agonizing – and feelings of extortion – was agreed to] and prepare for our beloved friend Trixie’s 75th birthday, which was celebrated in her third astounding SF house with color galore [edible and otherwise], an all too brief set of music provided by herself on bass accompanying local legend Zenobia and many

many friends from a long and delightfully idiosyncratic life.*  The house looked ordinary enough

on the outside but, like the friends and the interiors, ever surprising within.

The cake wasn’t bad, either, nor the in-house dogs .

Following the festivities we went downtown for a memorable dinner with John and Roberta [books, memories, Albuquerque lowrider shows and Africa] only to become lost going home in the night.  Monday we were gone, having, after several unsuccessful attempts in the past, resorted to consulting Mr. Boyd, our Albuquerque attorney as to where one might find a viable breakfast

in Las Vegas.  The answer, pro bono, proved to be without a doubt Charlie’s Spic and Span on Douglas Street.  On our way there L. had another text from Ariel revising the Terms of the Puppies to offer/insist we take or at least try the remaining two pups together for the same price.  An extortion of another color. Over lavish servings of Huevos Rancheros [breakfasts not shown] and a consultation with the waitress we Made the Decision, despite considerable

misgivings, to Accept.  After which it was onto the edge of the plains

for the long ride north…past Springer where the chile sauce is almost entirely cornstarch and outrageous machines are regularly sent down to Albuquerque for the lowrider shows

from the middle of nowhere.

A rest stop…

After all that and provisioning in Walsenburg we made it into the mountains and up the nearest

hill with our girl and our misgivings, misgivings persistent unto morning but not sufficient

to stop us from returning to Custer County, the house in the hollow and, after tearful goodbyes

and a stop at the Silvercliff Dollar Store for leashes, home with two easily spooked but very

large** “puppies” who upon arrival immediately slipped their leashes and disappeared

into the woods for over half an hour before they could be lured into their strange new house.  Life-altering this will surely be; hopefully not too much so for little Aggie of Aguilar.

To be cntd…

*A life including but not limited to perpetrating highly original interior design both life-size and miniature as well as being a proficient practitioner of both tennis and the electric bass guitar but sadly [or perhaps appropriately] her most salient representations on the web remain Baron Wolman’s portraits from 1968.  He was at the party, too, but would that I could have found depictions of some of her interiors.  Ah, well.  As for the group picture from the birthday, “Women of the Huerfano” [left to right]; Linda Fleming, Roberta Price [Libre]; Adrienne Berkun, Trixie Merkin, Ellie Linke [AAA].

**[27 and 34 pounds respectively at 14 weeks; we will all have to start living large soon]]