OK, Walmart sucks. We went in there yesterday and immediately turned around and left. It is cheap for some things (a toaster was cheap but the bread was expensive), but not everything--and the place is gross, I am sorry. We went instead to a little market called "Paisanos," where we bought nutmeg in one of those little Fiesta spice bags and a calabeza empanada and a cookie shaped like a pig. This market also sported a wide array of meat cuts. Today we woke up to a white blur. Everything was covered in snow. We couldn't see the mountains. Waited to see if there were closures and delays--and there were, but not Northern New Mexico College. So off I went to teach, and off Kip went to learn. My students seem very nice. I have about 19 students in the Tech Writing class and only about 9 in the Comp class. (I do wish I could teach something interesting...like the stuff I studied! Oh well. It pays half the rent.) They assigned me some hours at the writing center and I am looking forward to tutoring again. This evening we finally returned the rental car (unscathed thank god) and bought provisions in Santa Fe at Target and Trader Joe's. You know what? It felt strangely comforting to walk the aisles of Target again and find all the familiar stuff. Then, the fact that it comforted me made me uncomfortable. In any case, this is rural living I suppose. You crave contact and commerce and vapor lights but then you want to get away and get back to the stars and listen to the coyotes.