This is Rose’s new collar. Isn’t it pretty?

Rose was due for a new collar, and it seemed fitting that she have something a bit more cowdog, to go with her new hiking-in-the-mountains/Santa Fe lifestyle.

It’s a good thing I found myself in Taos a few weeks back with my friend Catherine, and as always, I insisted we stop at World Cup Taos for a triple latte before the drive back to Santa Fe. While sitting outside on one of the blue benches, drinking our very strong coffees, we both noticed a rack of t-shirts in front of the little bodega a couple of stores down. So we grabbed our coffees and Rosedog and started thumbing through the racks.

Three shirts later, while standing inside at the counter to pay, we both noticed these great leather bracelets and cuffs for sale. She and I both got one and we started talking to Noel, who was ringing us up, and who, as it turned out, was the artist who’d made them.

I don’t remember who suggested the collar for Rose first, but I thought it was a great idea and I couldn’t imagine a better color than a dusty rose, Rose being so girly and all.

Noel hand-delivered the collar to me in Santa Fe a couple of days ago and brought a whole bunch more leather bracelets, too.

What’s interesting is not that they’re hand stamped, but how they’re stamped — if you look closely, you’ll see that some have a leafy-looking pattern while others have tiny squares or soft arches or delicate swirls. The colors, too, are unusual and subtle, looking almost vegetable dyed — I bought a faded khaki green one and another in a blue that’s somewhere between denim and inky.

The more slender ones look wonderful in twos and threes, mixed with other bracelets, and the bigger cuffs — reminiscent of the 70s– are striking on their own. What’s so great about these is they fit — my wrists are pretty small so most bracelets are far too large–it’s nice to feel these against my skin.

Noel ships her handmade bracelets and cuffs within the U.S. and is happy to take special orders for people and their animals. Don’t bother searching online; she doesn’t have a website. She’ll dye and stamp bracelets, cuffs and collars however you like — for your size and color preferences. She and I talked at length about the particular color of pink that I wanted, and I was going to have Rose’s name stamped on the collar, but in the end, decided to go with the simple, elegant stamped design.

If you’d like to place an order — Christmas is just around the corner, people– give her a call. 575/758-8573.

Now that we’ve finally gotten the last freeze behind us, it’s time to garden…and I couldn’t be happier about getting my hands dirty again.

This year, I’m focusing on planting only what I can eat, which means tomatoes, herbs, yellow squash, jalapeño peppers, and a variety of lettuces. I’d like to get some cucumbers in, too, but every time I’ve gone to the nursery, they’ve been out.

Cukes, you will be mine. I’m not giving up yet.

I’m particularly excited about the tomatoes, all heirloom varieties and all grown here in New Mexico. I’ve put in a black cherry along with a red and a yellow cherry tomato plant, and two different medium-size tomatoes, both of which are beefsteaky, but not too grande, apparently.

My basil is already bushy and needs to be propped up. Dill and oregano are doing fine. Sage, rosemary and lemon verbena — which I still remember Daniel Rose of Spring put in his ceviche one summer — all need to find a home. And soon.

I’m planning on planting some lavender, too, something that grows easily here and always reminds me of Provence and Paris, too, because my upstairs neighbor  always grew lavender, and bits were always blowing off of her plants and landing in our garden below, perfuming the air. It’s funny how when it comes down to it, it’s the little things that connect you to a place. In my case, I keep finding similarities between the two places, as different as they may seem. My front yard is filled with pebbles, which reminds me of so many jardins in France. It also happens to  be a smart landscaping choice for this climate.

Now that we’ve just turned the page into June, we’re looking at highs in the low and mid-80s. Hot, people. But with cool, windows-open nights and sweatshirt mornings with my coffee. Love that.

Last night I made an herby salsa with mint, cilantro, and flat-leaf parsley, and put it on top of some roasted yellow squash. Testing new recipes for some upcoming cooking classes…right here, in my little adobe. Coming soon.