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On a hot afternoon day a business man driving a brand new Lincoln Continental had a blowout on a frontage road just west of Gallup, New Mexico. A younger Navajo man, hearing the trouble, jumped over the barbed wire fence that separated the two. He quickly helped replace the tire and sent the man on about his business. The man in the Lincoln Continental was my Grandfather Armand Ortega Sr, the other, the now renowned Navajo Jewelry Artist, Ira Custer. Neither knew that years later they would be meeting consistently at the Historic El Rancho Hotel to discuss business.  On...

  Mitch had been undecided about wearing his enormous Bolo, of a traditional Native Man carved from Walrus Ivory and adorned with vibrant Turquoise, to the Santa Fe Flea Market that hot summer day. It created its own atmosphere that invited people to approach. Mitch liked people. He liked talking to them and showing them one of his prized possessions but sometimes, it would be nice to be himself without explanation. Once again, however, showing the world who he was won out over the exhaustion it required. Soon a cowboy-hatted man with the white mustache and untucked denim shirt approached...

Della closed the door quietly behind them and stepped into the clear cold night. Flanked by her husband and son with her apron bulging, she walked quickly. Even with the wool wrapped around her hair and face she could see her breath rising from her like the smoke from a fireplace with a closed flue.  This frigid winter made it easier to avoid scandal.  The sun had set long ago. No one would see her exchange with Wallace. No one would hear him recognize and praise her art and skill. She, a woman! They walked down hill and away from...

Quartz and Cardboard. I had a handful of quartz in my hand. I had gathered them from my yard, mostly half buried in hard desert clay. I scrubbed them so clean with my toothbrush and toothpaste that I could see shades of pink in the crystal. I had a brilliant idea, the kind that only a child’s imagination could concoct. In our carport using the couple cardboard boxes I could see I would construct a Valentine’s Day Tunnel! A hundred feet long!!! The walls would be lined with red and white heart dollies and paper chains. Hanging from the ceiling...