Saturday, November 17, 2007

I'm Dreaming of a White Thanksgiving

Today's the lull before the buying storm. The weekend before Thanksgiving is traditionally slow for tourism in Santa Fe. The days are tedious. The sidewalk in front of the gallery is as lonely as anything Edward Hopper ever painted. Available parking places, a solitary pedestrian, a local merchant hurrying back to his lonely store after a green chile fix.


Witness the difference a few days can make. The weekend after Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. Icy sidewalks and yet people are finding their snow feet, negotiating the treacherous ice, headed to my door with the kind of determination that retailers dream of. Pinch me. Is that a super-sized art shopping list under that one customer's arm?

16 comments:

Patty said...

Thanks for stopping by. I couldn't believe it, I went to visit my Mother so we could go get a sandwich for lunch time and they are playing Christmas music on several radio stations. Usually that doesn't start until around the day after Thanksgiving. Hope you have a great business selling this year.

Anonymous said...

Somehow that don't look like much fun. I guess I am too old. Too old for ice and snow.

My wife told me about your blog. She said you had visited Melissa's blog (who is our daughter).

I like art galleries. I used to be an artist and sold a lot of things.

Now I just mess with cameras and photography.

oldmanlincoln

San said...

Hi, Patty. I heard Christmas music on the radio driving to work today too. Put me in the mood to sell something. Truth be told, we don't do a lot of Christmas business in downtown Santa Fe. But we get a boomlet of tourism the weekend after Thanksgiving and always enjoy it. Thanks for your well-wishing.

San said...

Oh, so your Patty's husband, OldManLincoln. Messing with cameras and photography, that does sound like more fun than ice and snow.

murat11 said...

Only a bloody socialist would find beauty in that empty street. Call me a bloody socialist. Michael Harrington democratic socialist, mind.

San said...

Bloody socialist.

p said...

I didn't realize you got snow there, and I lived in az for 20 years...
great to see some reality shots, hope you rest up and have lots of business barging through the doors.

San said...

I know, Paula. Sometimes when people hear that Santa Fe is in the high desert, they think "hot." The functional word is "high." We're better than 6500 feet up and so we get the snow, some winters more than others. Some day I will post a picture of one of last winter's storms. We had snow that DID NOT go away. Good for the aquifers.

Thank you for sending those good wishes...back at ya.

DILLY said...

Hewo San!
Dilly find fwom Meanie's blog!
San hav sno?
Hnarr!
Dilly not keen sno.
Too cold for wagons!

¬"

San said...

Hewo, Dilly. Me dont have sno yet. Me yike sno tho.

Hewo to the dwagon too.

Lee said...

Ah San, there you go educating me again. :) Thank you. I'd seen Nighthawks but never knew who did it. Now I do. And thanks to Paschal I now have a connection for an old SNL punchline. Doh, how could I forget? Of course I'm getting educated, it's Sunday morning. LOL

The nearly empty street reminds me of Hopper's painting Sunday. Nice contrast between the two photos. Does snow last long in NM?

Peace! Hope! & Joy!

Anonymous said...

Hi San,
Thanks for all your positive and humorous comments. I found a gallery in my immediate area which I plan to join as an Artist Member, includes a submission to a group show. Went to an opening there yesterday to get a feel for the place and to mingle with the artists. It was so stimulating talking about art. (smile)

San said...

Lee, in general snow doesn't last that long here. We get so much sunshine, it melts in a day or two. Last winter was quite different, however--snow on top of snow on top of snow. It was great. Just what the drought needed. That snowpack is critical.

San said...

Chewy, glad to hear you're making those contacts. Way to go!

Nabeel said...

well hope you had a nice thanks giving and glad to see that your wish came true. Sad for the people on the road though .. driving in snow :(

San said...

Hey Nabeel--

Thanks for visiting. Yes, we had a lovely Thankgiving with snow. But yesterday's (Dec. 8) forecasted snow didn't really happen--a few flakes here and there. No icy roads after all.