Travels with Sweetpea

  In front of the Mancos harvest mural with Paul, Monroe, Mary, Donna, Don Organic farming in the Rockies My siblings and I shared the same parents, but we grew up different from one another and each followed our own path. My baby sister, Mary, became an organic farmer in a breathtaking valley between Mesa Verde and the southern Rockies that she named Confluence Farm. Confluence Farm - where the mighty Mancos River meets Mud Creek Mary and her partner Paul grow organic crops and trade goods and services with other locals. They are lucky to have land on the river and rights to water their crops. Water is even more precious during droughts, like the one happening now, which is exacerbated by climate change that has severely impacted the winter snow and spring melt cycles.  Mary is an excellent cook and she dished up fabulous meals from her country kitchen. We feasted on  omelets made with local eggs and homegrown spinach, grass fed beef, wild caught salmon, and fr...

My sister the potter sculptor  Everyone in the Vozar family knows that in the early 1970s, my mother spent a year in Italy on a teaching Fulbright scholarship with my two sisters and younger brother. But not everyone realizes the impact of that transformative year. Bobby played soccer, Mary studied pattern making, and Linda learned pottery.  Fifty years later, clay still holds magic for Linda's imagination. But don't call her a potter. Decades of throwing plates, cups, platters, and bowls left her bored with repetitious utilitarian forms. She is a sculptor now. Here are some snaps of Linda in her element - the Jemez Springs studio adjacent to her home. Linda in her bright new studio (built by Roger and Adam) with one of her goddess sculptures My sister began her transition from potter to sculptor about 10 years ago. Her studio inventory is slowing transitioning to reflect that change. Most of the family owns Linda's dark blue Italian style pottery, but to keep thing...

Three Days in Casa Blanca In an age when everybody seems to be converting extra real estate to Air B&B, my sister is not. Her casita Casa Blanca fills up through word of mouth. It's tucked away in the tiny village of Jemez Springs, NM, where her husband, Roger, is the volunteer mayor and she is the resident artist. We spent three magical days on the property, enjoying the river that irrigates the gardens, wandering the stone paths, and soaking in the natural hot springs next door. Day 1: The Casita Behind a blue door and down a  stone corridor lies a private oasis for travelers. It was created by Roger and Linda Sweet. Linda is my sister. Roger is her spouse. Roger was raised by a nature lover, with a deep appreciation for music, art, and the Indians of the southwest.  Roger inherited his dad's love of land and penchant for collecting beautiful objects, which grace the rooms of Casa Blanca like intimate displays in a private museum. Roger inherited more than...

Don and Sondra, our sister-in-law Traveling means crossing time zones and we adjusted from Eastern to Central to Mountain time. As we approached Tucson, my watch unexpectedly dropped back another hour. Tucson is on Pacific Time. It's a puzzler but we didn't mind because it meant that it stayed light longer in the evenings.  We came to visit Don's side of the family, our first visit since Bill died suddenly in October 2020. Family These smiling faces belong to our cousins, Will, Jenny, and Barbara. In the 1970s Don and Bill were business partners and both families had three children--two girls and a boy. The cousins spent every holiday and many weekends together exploring the subdivisions their dads developed in Shelby Township. The cousins still fool around. Will's daughter is a sweet six year old who loves to dress up her dolls. I styled the outfits.  See that big fella in the baseball cap? He is a certified sommelier. Will knows wine. Mother and daughter or be...

People in Michigan don't think much about the battle of the Alamo anymore. But a visit to that old Spanish mission where Texans held off the Mexican army for almost two weeks reminded me of the present day war in Ukraine.  I enjoyed thinking about the similarities and that prompted me to write this analysis. The Alamo Heroes of the Alamo plaque In 1836,  Mexican soldiers under the command of General Santa Anna stormed the Alamo after holding the fort hostage for almost two weeks.  The Texans defending the fort--including Davey Crockett, Jim Bowie, James Bonham, and William Travis--had vowed to fight to the death rather than surrender. 189 soldiers died that day. The old wall General Santa Anna thought that the defeat would demoralize the Texans and lead to an easy victory for Mexico.  The outcome had the opposite effect: it galvanized the cause and resulted in Texas fighting for sovereignty from Mexico and ultimately becoming part of the United States....