August 29, 2026 Breakfast - Men on an Island. Lunch - Plants of the Southwest Garden Center Dinner - Leftover Lentil Stew with Bologna and rice

August 29, 2026 Breakfast - Men on an Island. Lunch - Plants of the Southwest Garden Center  Dinner - Leftover Lentil Stew with Bologna and rice

I woke up at 7:30 because we were going to Santa Fe for the day.

I fixed two men on Islands for breakfast, one for each of us (an egg fried onto a skillet toasted slice of whole wheat bread). We left at 9:00 and gassed up at Costco and then drove to Santa Fe. 

We first went to Charlotte Jackson’s Gallery to pick up my Ron Davis work. Suzette became infatuated with the glittering polycarbonate spheres by a local artist and I decided on the spot to buy the one Suzette like for her birthday present.

We decided to return and pick the two pieces up after lunch.

We then drove to the Turner Carrol Gallery on Canyon Rd. to see its Christo exhibit. The exhibit was lithographs all priced from $15,00 to $20,000 each. I told Jeffrey, the attendant I had a real Christo and got huffy and said, “These are all real Christos.” 

I replied, “But my Christo was made handmade by Christo with a collage of the site photo and plastic foam used to surround the islands in Biscayne Bay in 1983.”

I got his attention when I said I might let them sell my Christo and he gave me his card.

When I returned home after 4:00 I sent him the information and provenance on the work.

The result is that the owner will come Monday to inspect the work and discuss consignment.

It was just after noon when we drove to the Plants of the Southwest garden center for a birthday lunch. We met Amy whose birthday was the 28th, Vahl whose birthday is the 30th, and Suzette’s is August 25th.

Willy drove up in his newly repaired car to join us. Lunch is served Thursday through Saturday and it is 2 course table d’ hotel at a fixe prix of $28.00 with drinks and dessert extra.

Everyone except me ordered hibiscus iced tea. The first course was 2 okaters of summer vegetables dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. There must have been five or six different tomatoes that are at the height of their ripeness plus cucumber, cooked eggplant, red onion, and local feta cheese. It reminded me of the amazing tomato salads we ate in Cantabria.

After we finished most of the salad we were each served a pasta bowl filled with a vegetable and dark bread stew that included baby zucchini, carrots, and several other vegetables topped with a thick slice of the local feta cheese. The tomatoes had cooked into the vegetable broth.

I had trouble finishing because there was so much.

We decided against dessert.

We said goodbye to everyone and drove to the pie Project near Santa Fe Auction to see the Larry Bell works. We were disappointed. The quality was low and the prices were high, but there were several early Florence Pierce white resin pieces made before she added color.

We the returned to Charlotte Jackson’s and picked up our two works. Charlotte was ecstatic because she had sold out the exhibit.

We loaded the pieces and drove home, arriving around 4:00.

I rested until 5:00 and at 6:00 we watched Bill Maher. At 7:00 we started cooking dinner.

Dinner - we had a small container of lentil stew from Friday’s lunch at Bobcat Bites. Suzette diced the slices of Bologna added that and some leftover rice to the stew. It was a simple meal of leftovers that exemplify how we combine and covert PPIs into new dishes.

We watched Father Brown and Death in Paradise with a dessert of the last of Suzette’s birthday cake, a lime and lavender flavored cookie with cordial glasses of Vara Late Harvest Albariño and went to bed at 10:00 after a very pleasant day of art and a wonderful vegetarian lunch with family.

Bon Appetit