OMG. What a day. Last day with cousin Susie and husband Larry. It was non-stop action and that was a good thing.
We lollygagged around until 10:30 and then we took off for Ghost Ranch, one of the homes of Georgia O’Keefe. We had signed up for tour of her home in Abiqiui, NM. It exceeded our expectations. 5,000 square feet, with a bomb shelter, fabulous views and sparsely furnished. It sat on 4+ acres and it had a full garden with every fruit tree imaginable. Truly a special place. But I can’t show you because they didn’t allow pictures. What a bummer. The house was amazing in it’s simplicity and the respect she showed the land, the views.
She had two properties. One in Abiqiui (Abacue is how it’s pronounced) and the other at ghost ranch. Unfortunately, we didn’t see the Ghost Ranch house but we did drive as far as allowed. More pictures of the scenery. No wonder she lived and worked there later in life. She lived until age 98!! Something about the simple life, I think.
Ray at the river, up close and personal to the rocks, see the airplane?, cousin Susie taking a picture of the Ghost Ranch sign.
After the tour, we stopped at a little roadside deli called Bodie’s and had lunch. See below.
Best BLT with avocado on sourdough we’ve had since Pensacola, FL at the Coffee Cup diner!!!
After returning from the Aliqiui, we lounged until our 7 p.m. dinner at a local Italian restaurant (we were tiring of SW food). That’s where we were seated by Shirley MacClaine. How fun was that? Let me explain.
We sat down. Sue’s daughter called so she left our table to talk outside. While she was gone, I looked at the table across from us. And there she was. OMG. Such a fabulous actress and interesting person. Right there. I pointed her out to Ray. He was nonplused. Susie returned to the table. In order to be cool and inconspicuous, I became conspicuous. I kept jestering to Sue to look that direction by cocking my head to the left. Sue kept looking at me and later described my antics as looking as if I was suffering from Turrets Disease. Finally, I said “Shirley MacClaine” really, really quietly. Then Sue took a look. OMG. It was Shirley MacClaine. So, we tried to act normal. We carried on as though she wasn’t there. Except when I got the bright idea to take her picture, discreetly as I could. All this transpired, and after she left, it became clear to us that Larry (the rocket scientist) did not realize that Shirley MacClaine was at the next table. This is after all that went down and that includes Sue, making eye contact with her and saying hello. What a hoot. You can’t make this stuff up!!!
So, the rest of the conversation at our table revolved around Larry not knowing that he was a stone’s throw away from Shirley MacClaine and Ray being unimpressed by her presence. Sue and I wondered aloud where we got these guys.
All this after the waiter came over and verified her presence. Larry was still in the dark. Then the waiter told us that the most wonderful celebrity he had ever served was Goldie Hawn. Seems he spent a long evening with her and her friend when they were forced to land in Santa Fe in bad weather (on their way to Colorado). He loved the time he spent with her because, “she was so down to earth”.
So that was our day. What a wonderful day indeed.
Leave Comment