Monday, March 30, 2009

Winter is here again

Last week was unusual weather for Taos. Cold, snowy and cloudy. We haven't had the combo since Xmas... My daughter Jenn was visiting from Colorado to take her Level II ski instructor's certification exam at Taos Ski Valley. The conditions were blustery and icey. Her exam was all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and she passed! There were 30 people signed up for the exam and only 4 people passed all three days. For part of the celebration we went out to dinner at Graham's Grille (the home of the best key lime pie anywhere)and spent an afternoon at Ojo Caliente Hot Springs on Saturday.

Today it was 28 degrees when I left the house for my writing day, a bit of New England in the air. Beginning the first week of April I have signed up for an 8 week class by Natalie Goldberg on "Writing Memoir" in Santa Fe. That will mean late nights on Tuesday - the class is from 5:30 - 7:30 so I probably won't be home until at least 9 pm as it's an hour and half drive each way. Natalie has written at least 10 books (most famous for "Writing down the Bones")and I am eager to meet her and be one of her students.... I found out a few weeks ago that I didn't win a scholarship to the Women's Writing Conference at Ghost Ranch in August but am applying for one to the Taos Summer Writer's conference, which I need to work on soon because the deadline is April 15th.

Here's a bit of bright news. This is the first year in a long time that I will be getting a tax refund (a whopping $54.00!) due to the shortfall on my stocks/bonds. So yeah I don't have to pay the government any more money. Of course that does't quite make up for the amount I lost in the stock market before I took my money out in October but we won't go there. It also means I qualify for a reduction in my New Mexico health insurance because I earned below the median salary. So that's a blessing, too.

No comments: