A dear friend passed, years ago now, and still I find myself hoping against hope the news was is error and we’ll surely run into each other again.

As blurry as are many of my memories, thankfully there are times which I can still recall with the unique painful gladness of such things: we were in the same group which barely made it to the prom – seriously we got there with maybe 20 minutes left; we had a knockout time at Great America together as part of a physics class field trip; every day we’d walk home from school together, taking our time and happy for the opportunity; we met while on light crew and, along with Jeff, who I hope is terrific, had the best times ever – not kidding guys, even more fun than mountain biking – in the booth; Dire Straits was introduced and continues to be one of the lifelong associations I am grateful to have; and we just always seemed to have fun.

We are outside Taos with our new host, M B. Her casa is out in the country and I bet the stars will again be stunning. We had a wonderful supper with elders from the Taos Pueblo, a place Mme Awesome and I stopped at en route to the Chicago area where the tour started.

En route we stopped at the confluence of the Red River and the Rio Grande. We walked down about halfway at which point the mamos performed pagamento. They said the actual site of the confluence is already charged as it is there where people tend to focus upon.

The confluence itself. The Red River is to the left. All the way down is about 800′.

May all of you and your loved ones be happy and safe.