Monkeys on the Road to Raton

Road to Raton in May

The last time I was out this way was May. Things looked dire for the high plains. I wrote a photographic blog at the time - Satori on the Road to Raton. I mention it because we have since gotten rain. And the only thing which saved me from my monkeys was the incredible green around me.

Returning from Raton in July
Neither picture is a photoshop trick. And in some places it was greener and the grass higher. What a difference a month or two can make. But I digress. The subject of this blog was to be my monkeys. I am never totally safe from my monkeys. They like to attack in the early hours of the morning when I cannot get back to sleep or the moment I walk into a crowded room or alone in a car with too many miles of windshield time.

They can lead to that awful hamster wheel thinking about things you forgot, shouldn't have said, bills I didn't pay, people I must have pissed off or those just putting up with me, and my all time favorite - what made you think you were good enough to do that? Not good enough is a constant theme. It runs along with close the studio and get a job at MacDonalds or sell the house and move to a retirement home.

I eat for relief from the monkeys so in Raton I went to Sonic and had the Super Sonic Cheeseburger with the tater tots no less. I promised myself a smoothie for dinner as a mea culpa for my moment of weakness but instead had a chicken wrap. Course another monkey theme is that I am a pig and too fat. Some of my monkeys get their lines from my mother. I was too fat even when I weighed just 103. She also said I would never be happy as an artist (look at Van Gogh who cut off his ear).

But cannot blame Mom for it all. I give my monkeys freedom to hack my main frame and insert malware. Am I suffering from a mental disorder or taking one too many kelp pills? Or just tired?

Data opposing the monkeys yesterday is abundant. I got all five pieces in the "Give us your best" show at the Old Pass Gallery in Raton. I received an invitation to enter work in the International show. I asked when the jury process would begin and was told because I was a professional there wasn't. I am being considered for a one woman show next summer at another gallery. And I just sold three of my photographs.

So shut up monkeys and go away. The rains came and made the plains green again.


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