It comes down to this...

• On July 28th I found a lump in my left breast
• On July 30th I had a mammogram and sonogram
• On July 31th I had a biopsy
• On August 4th I found out that I have an Invasive Ductal Carcinoma.
• On August 8th I had an MRI
• On August 12th I met my Radiation Oncologist and discussed treatment options
• On August 13th I met with my surgeon to schedule the surgery
• On August 26th I'll have a lumpectomy.
• Sometime after that, if all goes well, I'll have radiation (MammoSite RTS) twice a day for five days (if there's not enough healthy tissue left I'll have seven weeks of conventional radiation)
  
• Sometime after that, I'll start chemo.

That's my life right now. I'll go for hours and forget all about it and then something reminds me that, oh yeah, I have breast cancer. When it's on my mind I can't concentrate on anything else. Work is getting to be joke right now but I think my boss and coworkers understand. I have a lot of stuff to get done before I leave next week but I just can't muster up enough brain cells to think about them right now. Time is running out though and I must force myself to concentrate on the tasks at hand for a little while.

My boss is okay with me working from home while I'm off. I'm taking my laptop home and there will be a spare one on my desk for those days when I feel like coming to work. I'll officially be on sick leave (because my employer doesn't have a "work from home policy" in place) but at least I won't have to come back to a mountain of work. I'm the only one here who can do my job (webmaster) so except for emergency postings that will be done by one of my coworkers following my written documentation, everything else will sit and wait for me to get to it.

I think I have a good attitude. My friends say I'm taking it very well. I haven't had any breakdowns, though I came close when I found out the the tumor is most likely triple negative. The surgeon said that the biopsy only samples a very small portion of the tumor and the pathology report after the surgery may show that there are some positive hormone receptors in the much larger sample that is examined. If there's even one positive cell in the sample then I'll receive the hormone treatments. Otherwise, I'll just have the radiation and chemo and then wait. I couldn't have regular breast cancer, oh no, I had to have triple negative breast cancer. But I'm not complaining because there are worse kinds of breast cancer and worse kinds to cancer in general. Breast cancer is highly treatable these days.

And by the way, all you ladies out there who are reading this and saying to yourselves that you don't have anything to worry about because there's no history of breast cancer in your family should WAKE UP AND DO YOUR BREAST EXAM RIGHT NOW (unless you're at work, of course) because the only history in my family was a great-aunt on my father's side.

I never thought of getting breast cancer for that very reason although I did do my exams. You see, cancer has cut quite a swath through my family, but not breast cancer. My mother and her mother both died of colon cancer and I have regular colonoscopies because of that. My father died of lung and brain cancer, and my half sister (dad's daughter) has kidney cancer. Everyone who didn't die of cancer died of heart disease. So breast cancer took me by surprise.

Fortunately for me, I have a fantastic husband, great friends and coworkers, a wonderful local breast cancer awareness program and good medical facilities very close by. I'm more curious than scared at this point.

My wonderful sister-in-law from Santa Fe sent me a beautiful Zuni horse fetish that I've been wearing in my bra. According to my research "the horse is an animal of freedom and the horse fetish has the power of healing, strength and safe movement". I'm knitting a pouch for him right now that I can fasten to my bra so I don't have to keep feeling myself to make sure he's still there. I've named him Victor (the Lone Ranger's nephew's horse's name, from A Christmas Story).


He's my constant companion now and probably will be for the rest of my life. Isn't he beautiful? I think he's carved from marble with veins of pyrite. Thank you, Robin, for sending him to me.

He's posing with my latest pair of baby socks. They're Koigu and the pattern is Miriam Felton's Infant to Toddler Sized Socks. We've given away all we had so I've been working on these when I get the chance and hope to complete some more while I'm off from work. So, that's how it stands right now. I'll update the blog again after the surgery but I don't want this to turn into a "breast cancer blog". It's all about the knitting!

Curved Shawl Finished

My friend and co-worker Karen was kind enough to model the shawl for me today so that I could post photos of the finished object. Here are the details and a blow-by-blow description of the knitting.

Pattern: A Curved Shawl with Diamond Edging from Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: Yubina Laceweight 100% Cashmere, approx. 300-400 yds.
Needles: started on a size 2 Addi Turbo Lace then switched to Knitpicks Harmony

6/12/08: This is a pretty easy knit once you get started. It would be easier still if I had Knitpicks Harmony needles in this size. The metal ones are a little too slippery. I’ll have to place an order soon.

I’m putting in lifelines after every 12 row chart repeat right now. As it gets wider I may do it every six rows.

6/18/08: I’m on the 22nd 4-row repeat and the pattern calls for 42 so I’m over halfway through with the body. Yeah! Still loving the knitting and have a hard time putting it down. I’m knitting much more slowly then I normally would though because the needles are so slick. I think I’ll breakdown and order the KnitPicks Harmonys in size 2.

6/30/08: I have about 35 4-row repeats done now - closing in on 42 very quickly. I did order the Harmony needles and now I’m moving much faster but the rows are getting very long. I can’t wait to start the border because I’ve signed up for another KAL on the Victorian Lace Today group that starts tomorrow.

7/2/08: 11 more rows to go on the center panel.

7/8/08: I have 6 repeats of the border done! It took me several tries to figure out how to attach it to the center panel. It was awkward to knit it onto the big panel and not twist it at the beginning. Then I decided to do it just like the Harebell Fichu and I picked up all the edge loops of the center panel onto my circular needle. This made it very easy to keep the border straight and now I’m sailing along. I think it’ll go quickly if I can just stick with it and not let myself get distracted.

7/21/08: I have about 4 more diamonds to complete and it’s done. I bought 500 extra-long pins yesterday at Joann’s because I knew I didn’t have enough to pin this out.

7/22/08: Finished last night. The pattern miraculously worked out, ending on the last row of the chart just like I had planned it that way. Since I inadvertently skipped a row on at least two repeats this is truly amazing. I’ll wait until Sat. to soak and pin. I have a feeling this process will involve hours of back-breaking work but I know it’ll be worth it in the end.

7/28/08: Blocked it on Saturday. It dried really fast. I put 3 pins in each diamond on the border and ran blocking wires through the picot on the neck edge. I am so happy with how it turned out. I would make this pattern again. It took less than one 500yd ball. I would say between 300 and 400 yards.

Sock Knitting Continues...

I finished another pair of adult socks. These are Pillars of Fire from the Loopy Ewe Sock Club Summer 2008. The yarn is Wollmeise Sockenwolle 100% Superwash and if you haven't experienced this yarn I suggest you run, don't walk, to your computer and try to find a skein. It's not real easy to find though so think of it as big game hunting, big yarn hunting. The Loopy Ewe carries it but it's usually sold out. The lady who dyes the yarn is in Germany and does all the work herself I think, so it's thin on the ground.

If you go to her website you'll see that she shares it with her husband who's in the wrought iron business. I love that combination, iron and wool. It's like a place near here called Rudy's Welding Service and Cold Beer (seriously, go look at the photo, I love the description under it).


But back to the socks. I wound the yarn the night it arrived and started the next day. I don't usually jump right on sock club kits when they arrive. I've got some from last year still in my stash. But I've been trying to get some Wollmeise for a while and when I saw it in the kit I started screaming "Wollmeise, Wollmeise!" (you have to pity my poor husband and cats). I bought a skein last year from the Loopy Ewe but I didn't like the colorway (Drachenblut) and recently traded it to aliseknits (Ravelry ID) for some leftover sock yarn to make baby socks. This yarn, on the other hand, is gorgeous. It's also called Pillars of Fire.


Now that these are done, I can go back to the Green Appletini socks from the spring sock club kit. This is another one that I started right away because the yarn is so pretty. It's by Yarntini and it's 50/50 merino/tencel, one of my favorite combinations. I have one finished and another ready for the gusset.



The gusset worked out very nice and the short row heel is my favorite. It knits up quickly and looks very neat when finished.


Isn't the yarn beautiful? The tencel gives it a little shine. And how about those tight little cables? Aren't they cute? They're only four stitches so they're easy to do without a cable needle. Sheri at the Loopy Ewe really does a great job putting these sock club kits together. She has excellent taste in yarn!

In other news, my friends and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and we had a blast.


The Action photo taken before we left from my house. My poor, long suffering husband took these two photos.

The Normal pose. We are, from left to right, Janis, Me, Marge, Audrey, Terry, and Jane. WE ARE KNITTERS!.

2nd Blogiversary

Two years ago today I wrote my first blog post. Creating this blog opened up a world I didn't know existed. I have friends all over the country that I've never met because of this blog. I feel privileged to be part of the knit-blogging community and always feel more than a little pride when I tell people that I have a blog.

Thanks to the readers (you know who are are) for visiting even though the updates have been thin on the ground lately. I hope to do a post about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival latter this week so stay tuned.

Spring Fever

I've been very busy knitting this spring but just not in the mood to blog. I don't know why I keep up this blog. I don't think that anyone reads it and I don't really know why they would want to. I have nothing witty or interesting to say. Just the same old stuff.

What have I knit?
Well, I knit Miss Dashwood, Katja, and these ribbed soakers all from Kraemer Yarns Little Lehigh Pebbles. Katja and Miss Dashwood are from Knitty. I found the soaker pattern while cruising on Ravelry and don't know where it came from.

These were knitted as a gift for one of our favorite waitresses at the Waffle House who is due in mid-May. They were very quick and easy to knit except for Miss Dashwood (the hat). I found it a bit of a challenge where the brim joins the hat but I think it was mostly due to the non-elasticity of the yarn I was using.

I also knit an alpaca baby jacket (b13-3 Jacket, socks, soft toy and blanket in Alpaca by DROPS design) using Classic Elite Alpaca Sox in the Oatmeal Melange colorway. This is the cutest little thing.
I left the crochet edging off because it was for a little boy and I thought that might make it look a little too feminine. I knit the Baby Bell Bottoms by Alison Hansel out of
Cascade Yarns Cherub Collection DK to go with the jacket. These were made for a friend who had her little boy a couple of weeks ago.

I made numerous pair of baby socks using Miriam Felton Baby to Toddler Sized Socks pattern to give away and I did indeed give them all away and am making more. I didn't keep track but I estimate that I've given away a couple dozen pair by now. Here are photos of just a couple of the
them. I ordered more Moo Cards to attach to them in case the mothers have any questions about care or materials. I love making these socks and always carry them in my purse as my portable knitting. So far no one has turned me down when I ask them if they will accept a pair of socks for their new baby. It was all my husband's idea to start giving them away to strangers as an act of kindness.

I've completed a couple pair of adult socks as well. One pair was made for one of my co-workers, Harold. He's an avid fisherman and when I came across a skien of yarn from Woolly Boully called "Fishing with my Father" I knew they were for Harold.

Socks for Harold
Woolly Boully Softie Sock
100% Merino
Colorway: Fishing With My Father
Purchased From The Loopy Ewe
Pattern: my usual toe-up on #1 circs
I can't remember where the leg pattern came from. K3, YO, K3, SSK then reverse for the other leg, K2tog, K3, YO, K3.

This is Harold modeling the socks. I wanted to get a detail of the heel and the leg portion. I'm making a pair for me out of Claudia Handpaints with this same pattern.

Let's see, what else have I knit and not blogged about? Oh yeah, I just finished "A Better Bucket" by Amy Swenson. Talk about quick... I started Thursday and finished Saturday without even really trying. I've got to get a button or a big pin to put on it for decoration.

I'm buying the yarn to make another one of these for another waitress at the Waffle House who is graduating from college soon and moving out into the working world. I know she rides horses and this is a very warm hat. I wish I had made mine last fall. Now I have to wait months to wear it. The brim is double thick Malabrigo Worsted Weight Merino Wool right over your ears where you need the extra warmth. I may get some wear out of it at the baseball games for the next few weeks until it really warms up once and for all.

That's about it for now. I started "The Woodland Shawl" out of Dream In Color Smooshy in the Flamingo Pie colorway on Sunday but I don't have any pics yet. Enjoy the spring weather because it'll be hotter than Hades out there soon enough.

Quick post to let you know I'm still alive...

I haven't dropped off the edge of the earth or fallen into a big hole. I'm just busy at work and at home and haven't really had anything interesting to talk about (do I ever?). The most exciting thing to happen to me lately is that my hair stylist talked me into changing my hair color and I agreed! I've had dark auburn for over 20 years but she suggested that it's time to lighten up. I started going gray in college and have been coloring my hair since I was 29. I'm almost 51 now so I guess she's got a point. A lighter color will make those glowing silver roots blend in better between colorings. So Friday evening she stripped my hair of most of it's red (no way to get it all out, red is extremely hard to remove) and then dyed it with a complex combination of colors to counteract the remain red. It's now a honey brown or dark honey blonde color.

That's the old hair on the left and the new hair on the right. I've never had light hair before and I don't know myself when I look in the mirror. I like it though and we may add some highlights come summer.

In knitting news, there's not much to report. I still working on the Harebell Fichu from Victorian Lace Today to give as a gift. I dropped a stitch on Sunday and just put it away for a while. I'll have to rip out several rows to get that stitch back on the needles correctly and I just couldn't face it at the time. I'm also working on a pair of socks for a coworker and more baby socks as my most portable project.

I ordered more Moo MiniCards so I can put them with the baby socks when I give them away. I wish you could divide your order in half and have different text on 50 of the cards. I would have liked to put care instructions on some of the cards and my contact info on the other half. Have you seen the Moo cards? They're wonderful little creations that let you use your own photos. They work with Flickr and you can drag your pics straight into the Moo card window. I didn't have quite enough so I used some of their stock photos to fill out the order. I like having a nice picture on one side and my info on the other.

Doug and I got a Wii a couple weeks ago and have been having a blast playing Wii Play and Wii Sports. Doug pre-ordered Wii Fit. Who ever thought that two 50+ year olds would be buying a video game? Doug is anxious to get Guitar Hero so he can practice and beat the teenage nephews when next we see them. How mature is that?

Many Irons in the Fire

I know it's been a while since I posted. I just haven't been very talkative lately, I guess. So here's an update on what I've been doing.

I made a pair of socks with Trekking XXL Color 100 that I purchased at Y2Knit with Christmas money. It's my usual recipe based on Wendy's Generic Toe-Up Socks. Knitpicks Harmony size 0 circs.

Let me sing the praises of the Harmony needles. They have the smoothest joins - I mean that it's like there isn't a join at all. I didn't have any problem seeing this yarn on the stained wood. All in all, an A++ rating.

I also made a baby jacket using Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton. The pattern is Super Natural Stripes by Fawn Pea. Isn't it cute? I followed the directions without deviation and it turned out great. I still have to add a button and a loop.

The yarn has a tendency to fuzz up while you knit and I don't really like that look but I guess that's how it's supposed to be. If I make this again I may use a different yarn. The colors really speak to me though. I'm an earthy kind of girl and I really like this combination.

I also started a new lace project from Victorian Lace Today. It's the Harebell Fichu and I'm making it for a waitress at our local Waffle House who will be graduating from college in May and starting work for the federal government. She's been waiting on us for years and I wanted to give her something that she can use in her new job. This should ward off drafts quite nicely while staying in place. For a lace project, it's a little understated and therefore perfect for office use. She is a natural redhead and I think the emerald green should suit her perfectly. I'm halfway done and should have plenty of time to finish and block it before she leaves.

I'm still making baby cloths and socks. One recipient is due any day now, one in April, and two in mid summer. Doug has suggested that I carry socks with me at all times so I that I can give them out whenever we see a new born or an expectant mother. He calls them random acts of kindness. Whenever we're out he points out babies that I could give socks to if I had them with me. Do I have a great husband? Yes, indeed I do.

A Friend in the News

Susan Wolcott, the owner of my lys, Y2Knit, was recently contacted by a journalist from U.S. News and World Report about a story. It's a series their doing about people who have left successful careers to start a new career doing something they love. Susan has no idea how they found her but agreed to do the article. They even sent a photographer to Funkstown to take her photo (which doesn't appear in the on-line story).

Here's the link to the Story.

Susan has become a good friend since teaching me how to knit and since the shop is only an easy bike-ride from my house, I spend too much time (and money :^P) there. Here's a photo of Susan and I on the front porch of her shop/home knitting while we watch a street skirmish during the re-enactment of the Battle of Funkstown (Civil War).



And here's a photo of the shop that I took at Christmas two years ago. It's beautiful old home that used to be an antique shop before it was a yarn shop.



Congratulations to Susan for making a success of her new career. I know I'm certainly glad she made the decision to change her life and move to Funkstown. I would have never learned to knit and I wouldn't have all the friends I've made, both online and through the shop. Susan didn't just change her life for the better, she also changed mine.

The Gifts Keep Coming

I had a very good knitterly Christmas thanks mainly to my moms, my brother-in-law and his wife and my Hubby. My mother-in-law gave me a gift certificate to KnitPicks and I was able to get the set of Harmony needles that I had been craving for so long. I had enough to also buy the nickel plated tips in sizes 4-8US and a set of 40" cables. I also splurged and got two pair of size #0US 24" circs in the Harmony wood. I'll see how long they last.

My step-mother gave enough to get a swift. It's ordered and I am saving my skeins until it arrives.

I haven't used the KnitPicks yet, only petted them and shown them off to anyone who would stop long enough to look. They're so beautiful. I'm dying to put some lace on them but I have other things that need to be finished first.

The case is great too. I think I'll like this pouch much better than the binder. It holds both types of needles and all the parts with ease.

I'll gather additional sizes as I need them. I find I rarely ever use larger needles anymore. I prefer knitting more delicate things now. But it's certainly good to have them if you need them.

Not that I should ever need more needles. I counted the needles that I have inventoried on Ravelry yesterday and I had about 96 pair. I did count each of the tips pairs as a set of circs because that's what they are even though I don't have enough cables to use them all at once.

Aren't they pretty? I know I'm probably the last knitter to get some of these and you all are no doubt immune to their charms by now but let me enjoy my infatuation for a little while.

Those are the #4's and the #11's. Sigh...

The way I figure it, I've got enough left to buy the swift and Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters from Susan at Y2Knit. Life is Good.

Santa Fe

While we were in Santa Fe we took in a few galleries. I loved these sculptures but I can't remember the artist's name. I picked up a brochure but I haven't been able to locate it. It was quite cold that day but the sun was warm and it was calm. The temperature was only in the mid twenties but it felt quite nice. Maybe too nice, because we were tempted to dress lightly and I don't think that did my cold any good.

This sculpture was amazing in the sun. A big slab of rock with the glass set in to a rectangular slit cut in the slab. I'm a sucker for glass so this one really appealed to me. There was a glass blower across the street but the shop was closed.

Robin took us to one of the yarn shops in Santa Fe, Needle's Eye. They have a very nice selection of yarns, though not a big color selection in each brand. I'm sure space limitations were the cause and no doubt they could order the colors you need if you ask. The two ladies who were there that day were both very nice.

They had Koigu on sale for $9.00 a skein and since I'm on this baby sock binge right now and have used up all my sock yarn scraps, I bought four skein specifically for baby socks. I've already used up two of the four. I can get three pair of socks out of a skein.

I also bought a skein of Lane Borgosesia Baruffa Cashwool which is new to me. It's so soft. I was little disappointed that they only had three colors the day I was there but I've been wanting to make a shawl in off-white. Here's a photo of all the yarn I bought along with a crocheted bag I bought from a Mexican girl in the lobby of a restaurant. I couldn't resist the colors and it makes a great knitting bag. The clear object in the foreground is a Yarn Clam. Here's a better photo of it. It's made out of the same plastic they make take-out containers from. I'm sure it won't last very long but it was cheap and it works great for yarn cakes. The hole in the top has a metal grommet to protect the yarn. It comes in different sizes too.

When we left the yarn shop Robin took us by the Really, Really Big Cows and Geese. There are sculptures everywhere in Santa Fe especially of Elk.

We also went to the Silver Sun which is where Robin works. I didn't get any photo though because I was still pretty sick then. Please check out the website. They have a fabulous selection of Native American jewelry using American Turquoise from a variety of mines. She gave Joyce and I gift certificates for Christmas so we went there the day after and picked out our treasures. I selected a Zuni piece but I haven't photographed it yet.

We left Santa Fe on Friday, Dec. 28th around 11am and arrived home in Maryland on Sunday, Dec. 30th at 10pm. It was a quick trip back with good weather most of the way. We all had a great time but it's always good to get home to your own bed.

Thoughts on Santa Fe

Joyce said that Robin once said to her that we in Maryland don't know what blue sky is. I think she may be on to something. The sky in Santa Fe is definitely a different kind of blue. I think it may be because of all the light on the ground. It was snowy and a lot of the trees have light or white bark. All of that contributes to the blue of the sky.
Orion gently explained to Doug that he is Alpha Dog by putting his paw on Doug's arm. If you pushed it off and put your hand on his shoulder you would end up in an arm wrestling match to see who could end up with their paw/hand on whom. He (Orion, not Doug) was very persistent. All in all, Orion is a very good dog. He goes to his kennel when told, isn't terribly destructive, and doesn't bark much. But he really has a hangup about this Alpha Dog stuff.

Here's a photo of him on reclining on Robin after a hard day. I like the way his right leg is sticking straight out. He thinks he's Alpha Dog because he's laying on Robin and that's made him very contented. He kept us all entertained while we were visiting.
Here's the gift that we hauled all the way to Santa Fe for Robin. It's a dress that Robin's grandmother (Joyce's mother) crocheted for Joyce when she was a little girl. Joyce had it framed along with a photo of herself in the dress when she was 5 or 6 years old.

Here's a photo of daughter and mother with the dress made by grandmother. The dress was stored in a trunk wrapped in paper and was in excellent condition. It looks like it was made from cotton crochet thread in a peach color. The framer put matching matting inside the dress so that the back didn't show and carefully arranged each row of stitches.
Here's a slightly better angle. Click on the photo to see a larger version.

The kids have a Wii so Doug and I got to try it out. I've been telling Doug we need one of these and he's been resistant. Now he sees how much fun they are and we're trying to find one. They're still very thin on the ground.

Here's a photo of Joe and Doug bowling on the Wii. They also have an XBox 360 and maybe a PS3 (I'm not sure about that one). We played Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution. I totally suck at those games because I have ZERO hand/eye coordination but it was fun to try.

We ate authentic New Mexican food while we were there and we both thought it was great. I learned that "chili" in New Mexico isn't a soup with beans and hamburger. I learned to order green chili ( not quite as hot as the red) and have them put it one the side. We ate posole
(yum!) and sopapilla with honey. More about the Santa Fe later

The Journey Ends - Day Four

If you read the last post you'll recall that we were in Amarillo, TX and it was 60 degrees but they were calling for bad weather. When we awoke the next morning it was 24 degrees, the wind was blowing 40 MPH and it was snowing hard.

All I had taken into the motel was a hoodie. I took the first load of bags out to the car so I could get my coat, scarf, hat and gloves. I couldn't feel my fingers by the time I got back inside. We loaded the car and Doug went to check us out while I warmed the car up. That's when we realized that we had forgotten the ice scraper. The car was completely coated with about an 1/8th inch of ice. The defroster was slow to make any headway against the wind but finally it melted enough that I could get out and scrap the windows and clean off the wiper with my gloved hands.

I drove us to a gas station where we bought a scraper and filled up the tank. The wind was blowing so hard and the road was so icy that the car was being pushed sideways across the road. We went back to the Cracker Barrel beside the motel and ate a good hot breakfast and waited for it to let up some. It was supposed to end at noon. We left the restaurant and Doug drove a few miles up I40 where we decided to get off and reevaluate just how badly we wanted to get to Santa Fe that day. While we were setting in the parking lot of a Barnes and Nobel it stopped snowing. We decided try it again.
The roads were icy and the bridges were treacherous but we crept along at 40MPH. Gradually conditions improved and by the time we got to NM we were back up to 70MPH.
We passed another wind farm before we left Texas and this one went on for miles. It was well off the road and I couldn't get a good photo but I could tell that the blades were turning - fast in the 40 mph winds. If you click on the photo at right and view the larger size you can make out the turbines against the cloudy sky.

Gradually the sun came out and the icy roads melted and dried. We headed into New Mexico in the bright sunshine.

We saw several wrecks including a few that had obviously rolled at least once. Most were trucks including this one. I just hope no one was injured in these accidents. One was an SUV loaded down with stuff just like we were. You can't see something like that and not think how lucky you are. We stopped in Tucumcari at McDonald's to get drinks and use the facilities because all the New Mexico rest areas were closed.

That's Tucumcari Mountain on the left. It was smooth sailing into Santa Fe and we pulled into Robin's at about 2:30 local (mountain) time. We were certainly glad to arrive safely after seeing so much carnage on the highway and now we can rest and enjoy our stay in this beautiful city. More about Santa Fe later.