Mariana T. says Hello From Eureka, Nevada

Greetings folks, friends, family.  Here I am in the Northwestern central area of Nevada.  Eureka.  This little town is the friendliest town on the Lonliest Road in America - Highway 50.  The folks know I am here because they see the flag flying.  My husband walks over and hangs it each morning and takes it down in the evening before the ruby colored Nevada sun sinks behind the sage at Diamond Mountains.  The dogs follow along side of him.  They return and he cooks up a hardy breakfast.  When I smell the coffee, I scuff along in my fuzzy leopard slippers and pour myself a cup with a dash of Kahlua.  My minutes are a celebration.  My holidays are the hour I just spent looking at the birds around all the bird feeders.

So far since we've been here, I was roped into photographing high school kids practicing for the upcoming rodeo.  I received a lovely video camera for my 59th birthday and have been learning to use it.  I have grand ambitions for the summer but that's another story.  Right now, I am learning the basics.  This piece of miraculous technology also takes stills!  I shot a few stills and they'll appear in the rodeo bulletin.  My claim to fame this week!

I am again wrapped in the charms of Isabel.  This wonderful little house was built and occupied for more than 70 years by a woman named Isabel Kitchen.  She planted and grafted fruit trees and planted many native plants around the house.  Flowers are everywhere.  Isabel is the name of this house.  I feel her presence and I do truly believe that she guided us to this house.  We purchased it for a song and it came with everything.  I particularly love old things.  I've kept every single thing that was left behind. I respect her and what she did for so many years.  We work with the house and all its many angles.

Isabel was an artist and though our art is worlds apart, I do cherish that she painted here.  Luckily, some folks at the local bank gave me one of her paintings.  It was done when she was older but I love it anyway.  She only had one eye and so the house is very well-lit.  I am thankful because I love lots of light.  I hung many chrystals so the house is always filled with rainbows.

This isn't a conventional place for anyone in the world to live who wasn't born here, grew up here, work in the mines or owns a ranch.  We chose it simply because the people at the KeyHole Bar were so friendly to us one summer day.  They invited us to a Sunday barbeque and each year we passed through and stayed a few days.  At Christmas, we'd come back and these folks became our extended families.  Serendipity stepped in and we found Isabel.  It is a wonderful haven for an artist like myself.  I paint to be painting and create universes where my various personalities can hide out or become jubilant.  It is a wonderful and freeing feeling to be one with a piece.

I am grateful to have this place to escape to away from California and before Louisiana.  I can collect my thoughts and decorate it exactly as I want to.  Thank you for reading this.  Salud.