Yesterday I went to a yard sale in hopes of finding a chair for my new place. Unfortunately, I didn’t find a chair. I did, however, come home with a truck full of plants and this painting of a super depressed horse.
That’s the problem/amazing thing about looking for furniture in a town like Taos – even simple chores turn into strange encounters with oddballs. The yard-sale lady, who’s hair was dyed the black and white color scheme of a skunk, showed me everything in her house that wasn’t for sale on our little tour, going into great detail and backstories about each, so that I now know more about her past than I do about most of my friends. She never called me Melanie, only nick names fit for a toddler like “sweatheart” and “baby girl.” She was also the kind of person who danced instead of walked around the room and was sooo passionate about everything that she could not seem to keep her eyes open when speaking.
So after a long-ass tour and no chair, yard-sale lady eventually talked me into taking home a bunch of plants, whom she also referred to like they were children. When I asked her how much light and water to give them, she said “You know deep within how to read their needs. No need to worry, baby girl.” Well, I am worried – I barely know how to take care of myself and I’ve killed every single plant I’ve ever owned. Since I still haven’t a clue how much water or light to give these suckers, I’m guessing they’re pretty screwed. As for the horse painting, I have no idea how she talked me into that one.
So yeah, this is what it’s like to live in Taos. You always meet some interesting folks when looking for uninteresting things, you rarely get what you want, but you always get what you need. My place looks beautiful now. I guess I need to learn how to take care of something else for the first time in my life. And clearly I need a painting of a sad horse.
