I wasn’t sure what my day would look like this morning, but it became a rich one.

St. Francis looks north.

Following breakfast and an enjoyable time at church (sermon point: give to bless loved ones in your life, not out of obligation), I visited the Gate of Heaven Catholic Cemetery right next to my neighborhood, chiefly to photograph a beautiful yellow tree that I kept seeing the last few days driving by on Wyoming. The clouds were wispy and wonderfully different this afternoon, so that the interplay between tree and sky was interesting to take pictures of.

Following that, I joined my folks to go visit a friend of theirs out in Jemez Pueblo. Michelle M., a Jemez potter and artist, joined others in her community opening their homes for visitors today in celebration of a feast day for the community patron saint, San Diego. My mom and dad met Michelle a few years back when they connected as vendor/clients at a Pueblo event my parents visited, and in a moment, they became friends. Michelle invites them out any time there is a feast day. My parents have spoke warmly of her for some time, and they mentioned they were invited to visit her this weekend for the feast day, but they were on the fence about going. I thought I would help them to go by inviting myself along. I wanted to meet Michelle.

It was a nice excursion. The roads in and out of the Pueblo were full of slow traveling vehicles, and the roads around the Pueblo plaza were clogged for some distance with the parked cars of visitors present for the day. We, fortunately, were simply stopping at Michelle’s house, and despite being near the plaza, her driveway was clear and had space for us to park. When we arrived, she and her niece Amy greeted us outside the front door of the humble square home. After salutations, she invited us in to her house, and immediate set out in her kitchen to load the dining table with food: enchiladas, a broccoli salad, posole, potato salad, homemade bread baked in her orno, beans, ham slices, dinner greens, homemade pies and jellos for dessert.

We began eating while she served us and spoke with us, with young Amy helping her quietly at her side, refilling napkins and plastic utensils, filling cups with juice. In a short time, a friend of Michelle’s arrived, an older woman, accompanied by two of her young daughters, who brought along 4 toddlers of their own. Michelle’s friend was Navajo and lived in the Torreon area now, but she had grown up in Crownpoint when she was younger.

The Gracious Michelle

We shared the table under Michelle’s hospitality for half an hour or so, sharing little tidbits about our foreign lives and pasts, and then it was time to say goodbye. Michelle gave my folks a tall round loaf of bred and a bag of pies to take home with them. Earlier, Amy had shown me some little beads that grew into brilliant colored orbs when placed in water, and as we prepared to leave, she brought me out three clear orbs to take home as a gift with me- accompanied by a little plastic bag of beads I could grow myself. I was grateful for her kindness.

We joined the slow stream of traffic leaving Jemez Pueblo and winding back to San Ysidiro and Route 550, which would take us, along with many of the feast day visitors, back to Bernalillo and Albuquerque.

I had promised my sister’s son Grant that I would come over to play a game with him this evening, so once we arrived home, I went up to their house, where I was happy we could play two rounds of the pirate racing board game, Jamaica. Grant enjoys the game, and it was suiting that he won game 2, since he likes playing it but had never won a round of it.

My “Goggles of Shame” after losing badly in game one. These are victory point reduction cards Grant kindly gave me to add to my pain.

It was a mix of events today, but combined together, they made my day feel full of simple joy. I was able to take some photos of a pretty location; I was able to meet a new friend living out in a Rio Grande pueblo; I was able to spend quality time with my sister’s family.

And I got my laundry done.

It was a valuable day today indeed.