The Life and Times of the Plume

Last summer, when I was tired and lonely, I told Robbie I wanted to take the horses, dogs, and shotguns to Arizona for the entire month of February to camp, eat wild, and soak up some sun. There is no better place on the planet Earth to be in the month of February than Arizona. As it happens, our trip trickled into New Mexico and then into Texas where we found ourselves stranded for a week during the great blizzard of 2021 (we were alright but Texas was very not alright). As a result, I had one of the worst birthdays in the history of my life which we made up for a week later when we celebrated with wonderful friends in Santa Fe before driving the rest of the way home to Idaho.

We had some disasters that we managed to overcome with some luck and the help of good people who chose to be generous neighbors to absolute strangers. We rode our horses almost every single day in wild, beautiful country. We dry camped on public land the entire trip, in wild undeveloped spaces, alongside dry creek beds, under live oaks, beside windmills and sand dunes.

When the sun was shining it was warm and delicious and my arms and face and shoulders turned brown as my body soaked up all that vitamin D. I relaxed for the first time in a couple of years. I read books. I worked on some projects with my bead loom. I ran on soft two track through cactus and boulders alongside granitic monoliths. I watched the sunrise and sunset. I did what I wanted to do every single day.

Tater did a great job hunting up quail for us which we proceeded to roast over campfires and eat fresh for almost four straight weeks. Son of a Gun turned into a teenager and had his first lessons on quail as he simultaneously learned about cactus. I shampooed my hair with water from a BLM guzzler a couple of times and let it dry in the sun as I rode my horses in the warm desert breezes. For the most part we were dirty, suntanned, well fed and covered in horse grime most of our trip. What a dream!

We met up with a friend. He had been big game hunting in New Mexico and joined us to bird hunt for five days. We had a blast chasing quail together, laughing our heads off, carefree and happy. I felt like I was with a band of brothers. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Naturally, I stone shopped along the way and managed to procure and transport home a lovely load of American turquoises. I’m thankful I had a stone budget at the time because handpicking in person is always the best way to choose gems.

On a side note, I think since we bought the farm I have been unable to recover from these fire seasons that come year after year. Over all the years Robbie has been fighting fire I’ve had a fatigue take root deep in the marrow of my bones, and in my soul, a fatigue I’ve been unable to shake for some time. This trip to the sunshine with our horses and dogs and each other was so restful for me. It wasn’t really a vacation for me, it was bigger than that, it was a time of recovery for me. I’m grateful we were able to go.

I’m looking forward to getting my studio up and running again this week! We are unpacked, the house is in order, all the critters have settled back into this wonderful Idaho life we’re built for ourselves and I’m dreaming of moon bright silver paired with stone.

The roads less traveled are the best roads to travel and after they wind and climb and descend and straighten out again it’s sweet as heck to find ourselves back where we started. The horizon line is a beautiful mystery and the curve of the earth is a generous smile.

I hope you are all well and finding the silver lining in every cloud.