17 October

Insulin Scare, Great Old Cars. A Beautiful, Very Real Place

by Jon Katz
Beautiful Old Cards

A topsy-turvy day for us,  my insulin pens were somehow crushed in transit and destroyed, and I had to do some quick scrambling to get them replaced at a pharmacy in nearby Espanola. The pharmacy said it would cost $1,000 to replace the three pens, and I gulped and called the health insurance company.

They were very good about it, they authorized the replacement for a fraction of that, and I am grateful for that, it would have been a very different vacation. I did not like the idea of vacationing with no insulin, and my heart goes out to the many people who cannot afford their medication. The pharmacist said it is rare to see such a happy ending. I think the fates want me to have my vacation.

It is not good for a diabetic to have no insulin. I’m good now.

I love New Mexico, it has beauty and much soul. I see why artists love to come here and live here. I love the landscapes but they are much photographed, feel like a cliche to me, I am looking to see what catches my eye and one thing did right away. Because there is so little moisture here, cars do not rust and almost every yard is filled with beautiful old cards who are spared the junkyard and retire to people’s yards.

They are everywhere, an art form in itself. Tonight, we found a great taco stand in Espanola and had a great dinner – I had chicken Tostados, and I am loving the food we are eating here, my food horizons are already broadened. I just have to watch the spices, Mexicans must have iron stomachs.

Tomorrow, to Abiquiu to spend some time in Georgia O’Keefe’s last home and studio.  I want to get a photo of Maria there. Looking forward to it. The B&B has no working wi-fi in our room and there is no cell phone service (for AT&T customers) in most of Northern New Mexico, so I can only blog late at night in the kitchen here.

It is a transformative experience to be offline for most of the day, and I like it very much. Nobody is talking about tweets here, and I feel I am finding a lost part of myself, I can’t check into the world 50 times a day, and I am not missing it.

New Mexico seems very real to me, immensely stimulative and evocative (and friendly), all kinds of beauty mixed up all kinds of junk and all of it works here, it is a place of great light and beauty in many different forms.

Hope to get up early and wade further into the wonderful book about Henry David Thoreau I am reading.  I’ll sit in the patio when the sun comes up and listen to dogs and coyotoes and watch the sun light up the beautiful trees, to my surprise, there are lots of them. Lots of cactus and scrub too, gorgeous mountains everywhere.

The less cell service, the more reading, I like it, although blogging is not work for me. I have a few more photos to post tonight if I can. All the news from Bedlam Farm is good, the animals are happy and healthy, I think of them but do not miss them, at least not at this point.

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