So last time, I had us on the way to Old Town, Albuquerque, once again. We were off to visit our friend Connie.
Connie runs Old Town Antiques, and I’ve talked about both her and her store several times.(1) You’ll recall that she did the estate sale when my parents passed. And we’ve had a lot of adventures together over the years. (You’ll recall the tale of the mysterious man and his huge and fortress-like adobe house in the town of Placitas...also home of hippie communes in the 1960s, and later, one fairly dramatic murder.)
Anyway, we were headed over to visit her again. We found her at her desk at the shop and then headed out for ice cream. She gave us an update on the shop and what business was like at the moment. We also talked politics...it’s what you do in New Mexico. That, and talk about the weather.
Then we drifted back to her shop and looked around. I wasn’t able to find anything else for Martha. And I wasn’t able to find anything I wanted for myself. Though, usually, we do pretty well at her place. On the wall behind my head, at the moment (in my brand new Casita/Office) are two prints which I bought at her shop. Both are, I think, eighteenth century -- one is of the skeleton of a horse, and very mysterious. The other is a complicated astrological image. In the house, meanwhile, is a gorgeous Native American fetish that I bought for Martha on one of her birthdays -- a badger in white stone with a turquoise dot on its back.
I was once told that our clan animal would be the badger...assuming that we had a clan rather than a small family. But, what the heck to pretend if you are.
About the photos: Three today. The first two are of Native American pottery we’ve collected over the years. These are both New Mexico purchases. Second, here’s a shot of the two of us at La Quiche Parisienne Bistro when we still lived in New Mexico. You’ll recall I discussed La Quiche last time. I’d forgotten I had this shot. I do miss the days when we could just walk over for a quick croissant.
After a while, we wished each other well and headed back to the Casita. We had our leftovers for dinner, watched a little TV, and were off to bed.
The next morning we were up early because, alas, we had to vacate the premises. We always stay at the Casita when we visit Albuquerque...if we can. But, someone else had rented the place for several days. So, we were headed out to yet another AirB&B, not too far away.
This proved to be a pleasant spot -- half a house, in fact, not far from Central Avenue. It was much larger than the Casita and had a full kitchen. We were able to prepare meals there far more easily than when we’d been in the smaller place.
It was also intriguingly furnished and decorated. Whoever owned it (one never knows) had a thing about telephones -- antique telephones. There were several on display (no longer working, of course) on shelves along the main hallway. And there was an old-fashioned dial phone in a phone niche (remember those?) near the front door.
Martha thought it was very funny. “It’s decorated just like my first apartment in Boston,” she told me. Of course, in those days, the phone was actually connected to something. So much has changed since the coming of cellphones. I remembered then my parents. When they bought their new house in the Northeast Heights...this would have been about 1963...they’d gotten a baby blue “Princess Phone” to go in their bedroom. It had seemed so modern and sleek.(2)
Wish they’d kept it. I could have sold it in Connie’s shop as an antique.
Anyway, we unpacked. Then it was off again for quick coffee and a visit with another old friend, Katie. She is truly cool. She met my Dad when he was looking after my Mom at a certain facility that I will not name.(3) She was a professional caretaker, and she was helping an older woman in the same facility. So, she and Dad found themselves doing the same thing at the same place, and struck up a friendship.
Then, after my Mom passed on, my Dad fell ill. And so we hired her to look after him in his final weeks. She’d come over during the days and I’d sit with him in the evenings and the nights. If you’ve followed me here on social media long enough, you may recall when he passed on. I posted a notice to those of my friends who had met him shortly after he was gone.
Anyway, Katie has retired from caretaking now, and is spending time with her husband traveling and camping. We met her at a Flying Star coffee shop, and she was exactly as she had been...exuberant, cheerful, delighted to see us... full of stories about her travels... showing us photos of her “hon,” that is, her husband.
We spent a couple of hours with her. And then, she was was off. It had been great to see her, and we felt a little bit exhausted at the same time.
After that, it was a quick dash to Smith’s grocery, where we got supplies. Then it was back to the AirB&B, where we spent the evening eating cheese and Rosemary crackers, and watching Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love.
And that was our day.
But the bigger news was coming.
For on the following day...Saturday, August 10...we would be off to what might have been the real highpoint of the trip...
The Turquoise Museum...
In all its blue-green grandeur.
More to come.
Footnotes:
1. Connie’s shop, Old Town Antiques, has its website here: https://oldtownantiquesabq.com/. It’s surface address, meanwhile, is 416 Romero St NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104. If you’re in Old Town, drop by and say hi. If Connie’s there, tell her that the Tuckers sent you.
2. The Princess Phone also has a wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_telephone
3. I’ll not name it because it proved to be a terrible place. It was supposed to be one of the best nursing homes in town. But, it was sold to a corporation whose only interest was in cutting costs and reducing staff, and soon it became the sort of human warehouse that are the disgrace of the elder care industry. We’ve moved my mother to a more humane location in a great hurry.
Copyright©2025 Michael Jay Tucker
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