August 23, 2025 Breakfast - Granola, mango yogurt, peach, and milk. Lunch - Lamb Sausage burrito with farmer’s cheese, and sautéed onion and cabbage, iFAM house tour, Dinner - Zucchini and Tomato stew, rice, salad, and chicken.

August 23, 2025 Breakfast - Granola, mango yogurt, peach, and milk. Lunch - Lamb Sausage burrito with farmer’s cheese, and sautéed onion and cabbage, iFAM house tour,  Dinner - Zucchini and Tomato stew, rice, salad, and chicken.

Another fun day. I woke up at 6:30 and showered and dressed. At 7:30 I ate a bowl of granola, milk, a sliced peach from our garden, and 3 T. of mango yogurt.

At 8:30 we packed up the Highlander with the two framed Chinese posters, a cooler filled with two bottles of bread and butter pickles and one bottle of dill pickles.

We filled the Highlander with gas at Costco at $2.55 per gallon and then drove to the Railyard area in Santa Fe which is where Blue Rain Gallery is located, where we were going to pick up the Erin Currier Painting of Maria Gosetti, one of the youngest persons to ever be canonized. Here are Erin’s gallery notes. When we arrived at 10:30 we became caught in the snarl of cars and people going to the Farmers Market in Santa Fe but were lucky to find a parking spot on the other side of Guadalupe immediately across from Blue Rain.  

We had hoped to pick up the painting and grab a bite at a local restaurant and arrive at the PERA parking lot by 11:30 but the multiple food concessions forced us to change our strategy. Suzette was hungry and suggested we eat at the Farmers Market first. We decided on a burrito filled with a Sautéed lamb sausage, onion, and cabbage, with a few bits of farmer’s cheese for $10.00 each.

We carried the burritos to Nuckels Brewery that had just opened at 11:00 and Suzette ordered an Ex Novo Mexican Lager and I was served samples of two apple ciders. We ate our burritos and shared the beer and I enjoyed the ciders 

Then at 11:15 we walked to Blue Rain and picked up the painting and returned to the car and drove the six blocks to the PERA parking lot and checked in at 11:40 for the International Folk Art Museum sponsored home tour of three homes of art collectors.

The check-in location was next to Kakawa Chocolate so Suzette went to Kakawa and bought a bag of chocolate powder for us and a 3 oz. cup of prepared Jeffersonian cocoa for us to share.

We found Megan on bus #2 and sat down and drank our chocolate and shortly after 12:00 the buses left for one of the three houses. 

The first home was of Bill and Anne Frey, who had worked for USAID in seven or eight countries and who were amateur but published photographers. Their collection of paintings, photographs, and folk art objects most closely matched our collecting interest.  Their house had been built by William Lumpkins, a member of the Transcendental Painting Group and there were several Lumpkins. They were also friends with Frederick Hammersly and there were several nice Hammerslys.  They even had a Ron Davis, but the bulk of their collection was folk art collected in their many different postings, including as best I could tell, Poland, Hungary, Thailand, Khyrgestan, Afghanistan, and the Philippines. They also had vast collections of Kachinas, Latin American photography, antique Afghan hats and head coverings. A real treasure chest of collectibles.

There was also food. Suzette and I shared a chicken satay on a stick and I ate several raspberries and a slice of brie and several cookies and there were two volunteers pouring beverages. I had an Arnold Palmer, a chilled mixture of tea and lemonade.

Each visit was timed precisely to one hour, so at 1:00 we got back on the bus and traveled to another smaller house owned by a female couple who had  moved from Dallas whose collecting centered on Retablos, religious subjects painted on tin and wood mostly. We had little interest in their collection but liked some of the ancillary objects such as the Eames Herman Miller storage cabinet and desk and I liked the Texas Centennial plate from 1936 dominated by an image of the Alamo.

There was only a platter of cookies and a large container of cucumber water, so we sat on the small patio by the gate to the street and drank water and met a couple named Good with whom I shared stories of our darkened traumatized thin skin with.  The lady was funny and pleasant to talk to.

Also Linda was a volunteer at this house, so we talked to her a bit as attendees admired a collection of children’s cowboy boots in her room of the house.

At 2:00 we drove to the final house at the end of Delgado street a block east of Acequia Madre owned by a lady who mainly collected textiles plus art by illustrators, specifically NC Wyatt and Frank Schoonover. There were also seven or eight lovely Fechin. It was a lovely large house with a casita surrounded by  beautiful gardens, as close to a perfect near east side Adobe as one could find.

I talked to Suzanne, the owner a lot. She was from a ranching family from San Angelo who had been educated and sent her daughter East to Deerfield Academy to be educated. She and her husband bought a condo in Connecticut to be near her daughter that was close to Brimfield Outdoor flea market, the largest in the world. Suzanne said that on Mondays there is a textile market that she attended. Her collection in textiles was extensive with lots of beautiful cotton embroidered coverlets backed by Uzbekistan silk ikat.

We went through every room and the casita and the gardens surrounding the house. I was really impressed with house and collection and realized this is what some people do who have good taste and money.

At 3:00 when we returned to the PERA parking lot we returned to Kakawa and bought 10 truffles, and two bags of cocoa mix, one for Amy and one Luke and drove to Amy and Vahl’s house in Eldorado.

Amy was doing extremely well for one who had just open heart surgery. Luke made us a cup of chai and we sat and talked. At 5:30 Deanne, Vahl’s sister, brought two roasted chickens and a carton of chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup for dessert. Soon thereafter Lee, the mother of Vahl’s son’s wife brought a casserole of stewed zucchini and tomatoes from the farmer’s market, a green salad, and a pot of rice. At 6:00 we ate  a lovely dinner with a glass of Tribute, a California Sauvignon Blanc and then we passed the box of truffles and Deanne spooned  bowls of chocolate ice cream.

We left around 6:30 happy to have visited everyone and seen how well Amy was recuperating and drove to TR and Linda’s house.

After the big meal at Amy and Vahl’s we drank only water although Linda heated a pizza in the oven and we were offered drinks and TR was drinking beer.

We talked until 9:30 when Suzette retired to the casita and Linda to bed in the big house and TR and I talked until 10:30.

Both TR and Linda were tired. TR had old Textiles at the Eldorado flea market and Linda had volunteered at them house tour. 

But it was great to see them and talk about all the things we had been doing.

A long and happy day visiting family and old friends and buying art.

Bon Appetit