Blog — New Voodou

My Photography Anniversary

Ten years ago this week I began my first photography class, Introduction to Digital Photography at the Santa Fe Workshops.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

While my celebrating won't include a parade, I will do my best to honor my family heritage with a good meal, a drink and likely a song or two.

Portraits of My Father as a Young Man

These last few days I have been thinking about my father as February 25 was his birthday.

Welcome the Year of the Snake

I welcome the Lunar New Year with hopes that the snake will help me shed the things I no longer need or want and grow in new ways.

culture, identityNancy EganFebruary 2, 2025Year of the Snake, 2025, Lunar New Year, Chinese Zodiac, transformation, positive change Comments

Keeping a Journal

Last evening Julia Cameron was signing books at Collected Works, a local favorite bookstore. I didn't go as I have attended her workshops several times before and have been writing the "morning pages" she advocates in her book The Artist's Way for 30 years.

Lighting the way

Christmas stories and iconography are full of bright stars, yet there is comfort in the soft glow of the farolitos that dot the landscape and lead us gently to our destinations.

culture, placeNancy EganDecember 17, 2024Farolitos, Luminarias, Christmas lights, Santa Fe, Canyon Road, Candy Cane Lane, Christmas iconography, Christmas stories, small fires Comments

Good Neighbors

I have been contemplating gratitude. Grateful for my family, for my friends from across my life and across the country, and especially grateful these days for the warm and supportive community of neighbors we have here in Santa Fe.

place, identityNancy EganNovember 25, 2024Santa Fe, Zocalo, Ricardo Legorreta, Contemporary architecture, Neighbors, Neighborhood, Butte MT, Santa Monica. Ocean Park, Brookshare Avenue, Brookshire Avenue, Ventura California Comments

Critique

It was as a graduate student in literature at the University of California San Diego that I came to understand the concept of a critique.

identityNancy EganOctober 12, 2024critiqe, photography, graduate school, University of California, UCSD, Frederic Jameson, literature grad student, Santa Fe Community College, Sage Paisner, Marcel Perez Comments

First Stop New York

Reading about the restaurant's recent revival, I was the one who was both amused and proud of my young self on a long-ago night at Le Veau d'Or in New York.

identity, placeNancy EganSeptember 14, 2024New York City, Egan Family, Le Veau d'Or, Texaco, Chrysler Building, France, French, Bronx, Archbishop Thomas Donnelley, Port Authority, Grand Central Terminal, P.J. Clark's, Longchamps, Perfect Rob Roy, Edmund F. Egan Comments

Abroad in Bordeaux

Bordeaux, with its elegant 18th buildings, open public squares, and bustling shopping streets, could not have been more different than the American West, nor more beguiling.

culture, identity, placeNancy EganAugust 18, 2024UC Education Abroad Program, Bordeaux, Universite de Bordeaux, University of California, Talence, Place de la Victoire, Pays Basque, Ascain, Mai 68, Lalande Wines, Rue Abbe de l'Epee, Rue Sainte Catherine, France Comments

Uncle Florry's Will

This week, trying to winnow down a file box overstuffed with my father's papers, I rediscovered a curious, heartwarming copy of Uncle Florry's will.

Old Friends

Class reunions are few and who knows when we might be together again. So we indulged our nostalgia and laughed.

identity, placeNancy EganJune 26, 2024Memorial, Mission Basilica San Buenaventura, Ventura CA, Solimar Beach, Academy of st. Catherine, Reunions, Catholic Mass, riual, amazing Grace Comments

A White Sports Coat and a Pink Carnation

When my prom date Charlie Holtz arrived at the door in a white sports coat, I was waiting in the living room wearing a pink spaghetti strap formal, the most beautiful dress I had ever owned.

Picture-Perfect Weekend

After all the recent rains, the the Santa Ynez Valley never looked more beautiful.

place, identityNancy EganApril 15, 2024Central Coast California, Santa Ynez Valley, Solvang, Los Olivos, Buellton, Mission Santa Ines, Ventura CA, Santa Barbara, wine country, vineyards, tasting rooms, California poppies, wisteria, Sunday drives Comments

The Girls

My great aunts Marion and Kathryn left their home and family in Butte, Montana to move to Los Angeles in 1928. A radical relocation in those days and yet they remained in the city for more than 40 years

identity, placeNancy EganMarch 20, 2024Nolan Sisters, Butte Montana, Los Angeles California, Red Car System, MacArthur Park, Westlake Avenue, St. Andrew's Place, Helen Pettibone, Della Liss, John Nolan, Mary Nolan, Butte Park Royal, Palos Verdes Comments

Surrounded by Love

I don’t need a valentine to remind me that I am loved.

identity + narrativeNancy EganFebruary 13, 2024Valentine's Day, love, hearts, family, Ojo Caliente, Houston, Chimayo, heart of stone, love locks, Pont des Arts, Paris, milgro Comments

Station Wagons and Me

After I moved back to Southern California from New York City, I took a quiz that said that my ideal car was a station wagon. Ridiculous, I thought—I was driving a racy red BMW sedan

Uncle Eddy and the Gift of Family

Like Santa he would always come at Christmas.

Wonderland

Like Alice falling through the looking glass, we arrive in a mysterious space.

place, cultureNancy EganNovember 24, 2023Ra Paulette, Ojo Caliente, Northern New Mexico, Cave sculptures, sandstone, Nosa Inn Comments

Archie's Anxiety: Summer 2022

We have a guest blogger here at Practical Voodou. Archie Waters is finally ready to share his story of the stressful summer of 2022.

identityNancy EganOctober 14, 2023folk art, cavapoo, summer 2021, pandemic, climate change Comments