Moving the groove west

While my good friend Lavenderchick is planning to serve her Thanksgiving feast in her completed dining room and bathroom, due to ongoing construction projects on the farm, we're moving the groove west.

The familia is heading to Marathon, right in the middle of God's country, near Big Bend National Park. We'll be staying in a little house we have been renovating for the last few years. One day, I envision this home as a retreat house both for me, our friends and family, artists looking for sanctuary while exploring the Big Bend, and small groups looking for peace and spiritual reflection under the big sky of the Chihuahuan desert. As one of my favorite people, Art, told me, "this house has a good vibe."

So we're heading west to capture some of that good vibe for ourselves and we may or may not get some renovating done on this trip. Here's a "before"picture of our sanctuary:

Did I mention it was a diamond in the rough? So far, most of the renovation has been done on the inside: boring stuff like plumbing and electrical. Now we're getting to the good stuff, the jobs I like, such as painting and decorating. I'll be sure to show you more photos as it comes along. All the doors in the house are different, because the house was built in stages, starting in the early 1920s, when Marathon was still the wild west.

That's another "before" photo. You can tell by the ashtray.