Simple Gifts from Taos

Simple Gifts from Taos chronicles the life and times of an author who escapes the confines of a structured existence, while seeking to retain a daughter's affections and grow in spirit.

After becoming aware that his second-wife "thought she no longer loved him," a man no-longer-young, began to sort-out what to do, and where to go... He'd previously visited Taos, New Mexico, with an artist-friend, and was enthralled with the small town, full of artists and writers; it becomes "settled" in his mind that Taos is where he intends to move, with all his worldly goods packed into an ancient truck, bearing the logo: STARVING-STUDENTS, INC. He and his wife manage to work-out an amicable divorce, and he manages (with difficulty) to tell his ten-year-old girl that he and his wife are divorcing, and that he will be moving six-hundred miles away, assuring her that she'll be able to visit, talk to him on the phone, and that he'll come back and see her, as well as exchanging letters, and her school-papers.

After he has settled into a remodeled 1906, adobe house, with corral and tack-shed intact, he suffers through "learning to buy groceries," solve the furnishing problems (plumbing and a frozen-well) with the house, itself. Then he launches himself into the artistic-life of the unique New Mexican town, adjusting himself to the three-cultures of the town: Native-American, Spanish, and Anglo...

He suffers from culture-shock immediately, meets Taos women in a "singles" group, joins a Flamenco Dance Group, has a three-act play, "Winter-Sun" accepted for a staged reading, reads his poems in "Slam-style," and puts his paintings in the Taos Gallery... Meanwhile, he acquires a dog and a cat, just as his daughter comes to visit... The story gathers a number of Taos "characters," on its way, and seven puppies, as he shows his daughter "Indian," Spanish, and Anglo friends, her age, and as he ponders whether his future will be in this complex and fascinating place, or elsewhere... There are many "spiritual" twists and turns, along the way, which he manages to endure...