Santa Fe Colors

Santa Fe is a place for color. Even among the bare trees, the red chilies and the blue sky belies the winter season.

Santa Fe in the Sunlight

Sometimes even the mundane around us has a symmetry and design that catches the eye.

A Visit to Santa Fe

On a clear and a little cold day, we visited Santa Fe. Next to the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is a small park and there are some interesting statues found there.

Christmas Memories: Santa Fe

For some people, the holiday season is just another cold time of a cold season.

A Bit of More Recent History

The central plaza in Santa Fe seems to stay decorate for Christmas permanently. In this part of the country, part of this is the large strings of dried chillies.

Oldest Places in Santa Fe

Out for a walk along the Old Santa Fe trail. It takes me away from the central plaza toward a couple very old buildings. The first we come to is San Miguel Archángel, a Catholic church built in 1610.

Fairview Cemetery

Out along Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe lies the Fairview Cemetery. There are two main features of this place that really reminds me of cemeteries in Australia. First, we are in the high desert of New Mexico making it a grassless and dusty place to walk about. Secondly, there are plenty of children and young people buried here.

Loretto Chapel

There are three important churches in central Santa Fe. Loretto Chapel is the second of these after the Cathedral. The third one, San Miguel Archángel dating from 1610, is billed as the oldest church in America although I'm sure little of the original structure remains (We'll see a tiny bit of this later). Today we visit the Loretto Chapel.

On the Streets of Santa Fe

After my visit to St. Francis, I wandered the streets a bit to see what I could see. In the downtown area there are lots of interesting doors and windows.

More of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

The wooden flooring and that of the altar piece really complement the design and colors of the cathedral.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

One of the main attractions in Santa Fe is this church. I was confused by the double name of "cathedral basilica". Perhaps the most cogent answer is on the St. Francis web site along with a concise history of the chuch.

Santa Fe at Christmas Time

Back in 2009, we headed off to Santa Fe, NM for Christmas. This was well before we began housesitting, so this was a stay in a hotel for about a week.