Pretty much anyone who’s anyone in the Indian art world was in Santa Fe this weekend for the 90th Indian Market, the largest Native American arts festival in the world. Pickup trucks filled with jewelry, sculpture, and pots wrapped in blankets covered with plastic streamed into town from the rez. Big-deal artists like Darren Vigil Gray and Michael Horse held gallery shows, while other prominent painters, sculptors, and jewelers like Mateo Romero, Presley LaFountain, and former U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell could be found in the thick of the Indian Market throngs among more than 1,000 booths surrounding the Plaza.

Heavy thunderstorms let loose, prompting power outages and in a single weekend doubling Santa Fe’s rainfall for the year to date. My Anglo friends said, “What a shame, everyone’s getting wet,” but my Indian friends marveled, “It’s a blessing,” and, “I came here from the Texas drought and this is great.” Driving home late Friday night in the rain, I got capsized by a flash flood when an impromptu foot-deep river thick with tree branches crashed across Rodeo Road creating a makeshift arroyo. I lost control of my SUV, but luckily regained it. The next morning the car was coated with mud, even on top.

Favorite things? Ledger art paintings by California’s Horse, beadwork by Oklahoma’s Les Berryhill and Choctaw artist Elena Pate, and jewelry by the Navajo and Zuni artists. Best conversations? Laughing with painter/jeweler/actor Horse (http://www.michaelhorse.com/) over the casting director who recently told Horse he should play three decades older than he is in a film, and then how that movie shut down, and a more serious moment with jeweler Coreen Cordova (http://www.coreencordova.com/) commenting, “Whether you believe you can do something or you can’t, you’ll be right.”

The green chile roaster is spinning at Santa Fe’s DeVargas Center, the Whitehawk jewelry shows are on, and a bear was just relocated from South Capitol. August is the height of the Santa Fe season, the momentum mounting for Indian Market on August 20th. Creative types will want to consider entering the Tony Hillerman/New Mexico Magazine Mystery Short Story Contest (www.wordharvest.com). The deadline is August 15 and the prize is $1,000. Yes it would be nice to have more time, but consider that the year Craig Johnson won, he wrote his story in a single day!

Want to spiff up your wardrobe this weekend? The Fifth Annual Designers Estate Sale is at 328 Delgado between Canyon Road and Acequia Madre on Saturday morning, August 13th—look for the cow! Expect Southwest jewelry, shoes from Manolos to Donald Pliner and Bruno Magli, rhinestoned denim jackets, even new stuff. Canyon Road is Santa Fe’s quintessential art lane—it’s where Tommy Macaione used to paint and the ‘hood where Los Cinco Pintores settled.

When you’re a Santa Fean, there’s nowhere better to go in summer than Aspen. Three hundred miles and a seven-hour drive north through precipitous Independence Pass--reliably only open Memorial Day through September--and I am in nirvana. The two high-profile, high-altitude Rocky Mountain towns have lots in common: Santa Fe at 7,000 feet; Aspen at 8,000 (with Aspen Mountain climbing to 11,000). Artists like Paul Pletka, Jack Silverman, Lee Lyon, and sculptor Mark Yale Harris, and jewelry dealers like Les Ochs, circulate back and forth. Santa Fe has brainiacs like former “Life” and “People” magazine editors Dick Stolley and Hal Wingo; Aspen attracts VIPs like Ted Turner, Leonard Lauder, and Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan.

Last night at Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery (www.monroegallery.com) with my friend Amy, I heard Stolley and Wingo reminisce about their days at “Life” exposing the shame of the South during the Civil Rights movement, when a photojournalist hid a camera in a pack of Marlboro’s to get the shot he wanted. A few days before, at the Aspen Institute (www.aspeninstitute.org), we heard Kagan, in a gray striped jacket and pearls, confide about her first year on the Supreme Court and how the minute after she was confirmed the first phone call she got was from chief justice John Roberts telling her it was likely they’d be working together for the next 25 years. The quick-witted Kagan recalled, “I said, `Only 25?’”

What I loved most about Aspen this trip was staying in a gorgeous wood-planked house near the Ute Trail which I hiked every morning; crisp high-mountain air that dipped down to a refreshing 50 degrees at night; the riotous profusion of flowers everywhere—daisies, petunias, columbines; Maine lobster rolls and Nantucket sea bass at the new BB’s Kitchen; catching Kevin Costner and Modern West (www.kevincostnermodernwest.com) rock out a heartfelt set at Belly Up where former sheriff Bob Braudis told me about his Hunter Thompson book; and immersing myself in bear break-ins and the upcoming USA Pro Cycling Challenge in the Aspen Times (www.aspentimes.com) and Aspen Daily News (www.aspendailynews.com).

Santa Fe is said to be a Cancer city according to astro-cartography, and so a place where those born under the sign of Cancer or with significant Cancer influences in their charts feel immediately at home. Take my friend Amy Hoban, who just celebrated her Cancer birthday with a girls’ garden party given by her friend Judy Talbott. We gathered under Judy’s portal for a convivial afternoon and fabulous lunch of champagne, iced tea, chicken salad, cucumber salad, blueberry muffins, and lemon birthday cake – – all homemade by Judy! We welcomed fashionista Jane Smith (looking fabulous) back from Alabama, and helped Sheila Ellis plan a Napa trip. I brought a bunch of books that I’d recently read to pass along, and the most popular ones were Alan Arkin’s memoir and “Pie Town.” As for Amy’s gifts, everyone coveted the Tarte makeup set and Dry Bar certificates. There was also a good bit of oohing over Steven Tyler’s autobiography.

Summer is always Santa Fe’s most social time. The Pink Adobe patio has been filling up for lunch every Friday, what with the Origins fashion shows there and the $16 lobster salad (which costs double that at dinner). There’s Spanish Market in late July, Indian Market in late August, and the Canyon Road art shows every Friday night. It’s been a hot summer so far, and we’re all hoping the monsoons will get cranking soon with those big, booming evening thunderstorms that help fight the forest fires and cool things down.

We got a wonderful five-minute summer shower tonight in Santa Fe that made everything feel fresh again, just at the exact same time as Stevie Nicks and Javier Colon were performing that beautiful rendition of  "Landslide" on "The Voice" telecast. It was such great timing! For a few minutes, everything felt so right in the world. Everybody in Santa Fe is talking about the wildfires. First the Wallow Fire, then Pacheco, and now most dangerously the Las Conchas Fire that is encroaching on Los Alamos National Laboratory and thousands of outdoor drums storing plutonium-contaminated waste. Good article about it in the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/29/los-alamos-nuclear-laboratory-wildfire). Los Alamos is only 30 miles from Santa Fe. Inside Santa Fe city limits, the sky is hazy and we’ve got headaches. And yet summer is Santa Fe’s high tourist season, so restaurants and hotels are valiantly stepping up their game.

Consider Luminaria at the Inn and Spa at Loretto, with a summer menu sporting a Blood Orange Mojito and house-made Sangria, flavorful blue-corn muffins and red chile-pumpkin seed biscotti, a light and tasty Green Goddess Caesar Salad, and a luscious yet not-too-caloric dessert of Seasonal Fresh Berries with Marsala Marscapone Chantilly Cream (http://www.innatloretto.com/new-mexico-dining/santa-fe-dining.php). Shrugging off the calorie issue entirely, I just split a fabulous wood-oven, thin-crust pizza and Caesar salad dinner with a friend at Pizzeria da Lino on Guadalupe (http://www.pizzeriadalino.com/), and it only cost us $15 each including a generous tip!

My plan for the day was to be outside walking early in Santa Fe’s cool morning air, but as soon as I woke up my eyes were tearing from the smoke. Arizona’s massive Wallow Fire is 200 miles away, yet it’s suffocating Santa Fe with gauzy skies of hazy smoke instead of our usual sapphire blue mountain skies. Cars are covered with ash, eyes sting, and we’re being advised to stay indoors. Afternoon highs are hovering around 90 as the drought persists here.

The giant Wallow Fire is said to be bigger than New York City and 0% contained right now. It is likely to spread into New Mexico. Our New Mexico fire fighters are on their way to help out at the inferno. So far, Monday night’s burning smell and smoky skies were the worst I’ve ever experienced in Santa Fe. Tonight my eyes still sting and a severe weather advisory is in effect for most of the state, with visibilities reduced to below three miles in Santa Fe, and less in other western and central swaths of New Mexico. The whole issue of fire control is a complicated one, with environmentalists, government, and communities often at odds about when and how to squelch a wildfire: for more on that, read Philip Connors’ excellent book “Fire Season,” which I wrote about in an April blog.

How lucky are we that chef extraordinaire Joseph Wrede – – who built his reputation at Joseph’s Table in Taos – – is coming to Santa Fe to relaunch the Palace Restaurant. At last night’s fabulous Sara Moulton and The Chefs of Santa Fe Wine Dinner at Luminaria, Wrede’s Crispy Crab and Fresh Spring Herbs course wasn’t the fanciest dish, but it was the most wonderful. Soft-shell crab season began May 1st on the East Coast, and Wrede had his soft-shell crabs flown in from Virginia the day they were caught. They had all the sweetness of a super-fresh ocean fish and were served with dandelion greens and a tangy aioli. Luminaria chef Matt Ostrander made an exotic mozzarella cheese of coconut milk that he served with purple and green asparagus, micro greens, and an 18-year-old balsamic reduction, making for a delectable and delicate salad. There was also a Beet Salad and a Braised Rabbit. To top it off, vivacious chef Johnny Vee whipped up a potent mocha mint tiramisu with rum and vermouth, served with a Yalumba dessert wine.

The dinner, which cost $95 for six courses paired with wines, sold out in 24 hours, said Inn at Loretto’s sociable marketing/sales director Dana Ortega. It was a night to remember, with 70 of Santa Fe’s gourmands at the gathering, including press like Zane Fischer, film folks like Steve Perry of Masque Entertainment Group, politicos, and of course Sara Moulton herself, promoting her new cookbook. Driving home afterwards, a sliver of a hangnail moon hung overhead in a jet-black night sky.

The aspens just began budding in Santa Fe, along with all the fruit trees. The wind is blowing relentlessly like it does every spring, whipping branches around. Wind can spur thought and action. There are some countries where judges are more understanding if crimes are committed during strong winds because positive ion conditions like dry winds can exacerbate violence. In Greek mythology, Zephyrus was the god of the west wind and of springtime, who mated with the goddess of greenery. Wind feels like an instigator of change.

Change is certainly afoot here in Santa Fe. In the art world, The Edge has closed and Altermann Galleries shut down its longtime Canyon Road location, concentrating its presence up on Camino del Monte Sol for its art auctions. Affable gallery director Kent Whipple is gone from Meyer East Gallery. The vigorous new Canyon Road Merchants Association has swelled to 86 members, and is mobilizing to mount a billboard on I-25 North.

In city news, CVB director Keith Toler resigned. And on the restaurant scene, Ristra is reportedly opening up a second restaurant in the old A La Mesa location, and there’s talk that super-talented Taos chef Joseph Wrede (late of the famed Joseph’s Table) may be coming to Santa Fe. I just had an excellent Cobb Salad for lunch at Inn at Loretto’s Luminaria, which will be opening its patio with a new spring menu shortly—when the winds let up.

We’re having a warmer than usual spring in Santa Fe. Temps have already hit 80. The forsythia, crocuses, and daffodils are in full bloom, trees are freshly greening, and now the fruit trees are blossoming pink and white all over town. Today, I saw the first lilacs emerging from a small tree on Botulph Road. Lilacs don’t usually bloom in Santa Fe until early May!

We are low on rain though, and have already had a fire just south of town. I’m hooked on the just-released “Fire Season” by Philip Connors, about being a wilderness lookout in the Gila. Connors writes in the great tradition of such other outstanding lit writer/wilderness lookouts as Jack Kerouac, Norman Maclean, Gary Snyder, and Edward Abbey.

Spring is when Santa Fe gets geared up for its busy summer season. Currently at the Santa Fe Playhouse is a show I intend to catch--“Callback,” a two-person dramedy about the aging relationship between an actress and director who she auditions for repeatedly over the decades, hoping for a break. I get the “hoping for a break” part. Also sounding promising is Brian Knox’s soon-to-launch Shake Foundation at 631 Cerrillos Road. Knox is the chef/owner of the pricey and delicious Aqua Santa, and with Shake Foundation (www.shakefoundation.com) he’s got plans for affordable gourmet green-chile cheeseburgers made from grass-fed beef, Portobello burgers, shakes, sundaes, and Velarde peach custard. When Knox and I used to board our horses at the same barn, I remember once seeing him on horseback conducting a cell-phone conversation with one hand, while using his other hand to steer his horse around the ring at a canter! He can ride!

The Left Coast Crime convention (www.leftcoastcrime.org) for mystery writers just took place in Santa Fe at La Fonda on the Plaza, drawing a hefty crowd of 450. I saw a lot of nametags from California, plus ones from Minnesota, Wyoming, and Colorado. Some of my favorite mystery writers were there, like Sandi Ault (www.sandiault.com), sporting some sumptuous Southwest jewelry; Craig Johnson (www.craigallenjohnson.com), having a beer in the lobby in his cowboy hat with his always-cool-looking wife Judy; and the elegant Margaret Coel (www.margaretcoel.com). You had to love Parnell Hall for dredging up Abbie Hoffman’s name in reference to an act of rebellion, and Bill Fitzhugh for asking the other authors to sum up their life philosophy in 20 words or less, to which Ault cleverly responded, “Love life. Be free. Go wild.”

Not much business gets discussed at LCC—it’s more about the convivial schmoozing—but one author did reveal on a panel that she makes almost $4 dollars for each hardcover book that’s sold at an independent bookstore, while she profits just 11 cents per each e-book sold. At the gala awards dinner, toastmaster Steve Brewer confided he’s writing a mystery set in Santa Fe. Craig Johnson nabbed The Watson award for mystery novel with best sidekick and Margaret Coel took the Hillerman Sky Award for mystery that best captures the Southwest landscape. “Beat” writer Stephen Jay Schwartz lent a Hollywood aura to our table.

For a writers’ conference that’s focused on the craft and business of writing, I’m looking forward to the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference (www.wordharvest.com), upcoming Nov. 10-12 in Santa Fe. That one includes cash prizes for best unpublished mystery novel and short story!