Returning to Taos…

With the appearance of April, we eagerly return to Taos to research the third novel in my Cairo Trilogy.  Warm days, ferocious winds, and cold nights. Snow capped mountains and temperamental clouds.  As always, welcoming and receptive people.

On the way to Taos, we spent a couple of days in Santa Fe to talk with the curator of the archives at the New Mexico History Museum and visit the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts to see the exhibit of Soul Sister: Re-imagining Kateri Tekakwitha—the almost Indian saint (she has yet to be canonized), and the excellent presentation at the St. Francis Cathedral by artist and author Giovanna Paponetti about the life of Kateri. At the Georgia O’Keeffe museum we heard about Gertrude Stein and the Modernists.  On Friday, we sought out Joe Bacon, weaver par excellence, who explained the processes of dying wool and weaving.  Many of these experiences were shared with three Santa Fe friends.

Two major events will take place during this visit  to Taos (March 31-April 20). This Friday, April 8, an evening with DH Lawrence will be held at Mabel Dodge Luhan’s home during which I’ll read from the fictionalized letters from DH Lawrence to his muse Isabella in my second novel, Etruscan Evenings. On April 15, artist friends Jan Mellor and Steve Gootgeld will host a book talk for Cairo Diary and Etruscan Evenings in the DH Lawrence room at the La Fonda Hotel.  Many of Lawrence’s paintings that were confiscated as obscene in London in the late twenties hang dramatically on one wall of this room.  Inspiring.

An this time unfolds, we will be learning from local weavers, archeologists and anthropologists, Pueblo Indians, artists, social workers and educators, members of the DH Lawrence society, journalists, writers… More on Taos soon.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 4th, 2011 at 11:34 am and is filed under Fiction, Leadership, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.