OutandAbout
More (belated) Valentine’s couples, and news about two single Realtors
Chris and Patti Webster at home in Hawaii
Paula (pretty in orange) and Tim (great in black) Galvin
Dave and Bonnie Sorenson at the office
DorLisa and Warren Berg (at Warren’s favorite event, Santa Fe Concorso) 18
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Roger and Melissa Carson, still fresh and pretty after a day’s worth of closings
David and Clara Dougherty, glammed up for a night at THE opera house in Italy
Linda Bissonnette with her best friend, Mickey
Chris Harris, better known as, simply, The Commander. Sounds more ominous than he looks, don’t you agree?
Darlings, In my Valentine Special last month, I was able to include only a few photographs of Santa Fe’s real-estate couples (Who knew there would be so many?) and that kind of made me feel bad. Well, I didn’t exactly lose sleep over it, but I was afraid that you, my darling readers, might have, and then that thought started causing me to lose sleep. Sometimes, Buttercups, I just hate myself for being such a people pleaser. At any rate, I’m slipping in a few more photos, and I bet I still won’t be able to include all of them. How long must this go on, you ask. Quien sabe, muchachos (as well as muchachas). If you study the photos long enough, you’ll notice a couple of single Realtors thrown in (to see if you’re paying attention, which I am not today, so I can’t blame you if your thoughts are turning to the spring equinox coming up). Yes, Virginia, single Realtors still dominate the real-estate market, and new ones appear on a regular basis. Just recently, Linda Bissonnette joined Keller Williams Realty Santa Fe. Lemon Drops, you may think of Linda as the innkeeper at Lavender Sunsets, those sweet little vacation rentals on Gomez Road. However, as Paul Harvey would’ve hinted, that’s only part of the story. Linda was a Realtor with the Prudential Santa Fe office back in the Mike Hall Prudential days, but she dropped that to take what seemed at the time to be a more exciting offer: hairdresser on a movie set for a film scheduled to be made in Austin. She relocated to Austin, and after settling in, she learned one of those harsh Hollywood lessons: the movie never made it off the drawing board. Scissors in hand, Linda moved back to Santa Fe and began cutting and styling hair here, which turned out to be a lucky break for me (finally, Butter Beans, we get back to ME). Twenty years ago, while at a party at someone’s house somewhere on the northside, I ran into this woman in the hallway who said
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to me, “That’s a terrible hairstyle for you. You need help, and let’s start with a new cut. I’m Linda, call me.” I did, and she was right, of course. Pobrecita, she got stuck with cutting my hair from then on, no matter what other career she was pursuing at the time. Now that she’s a Realtor once again, I suppose I’ll be forced to make other arrangements. Boohoo. Another new face on the real-estate scene is Chris Harris at Barker Realty. Officially retired from the U.S. Navy this month, Commander Harris (or, just simply Commander, as he is affectionately known around the Barker office) was on the USS Porter, a guided missile destroyer, and spent seven months off the coast of Somalia scaring the pants off those Somali pirates. Of course, Kittens, in a 25-year career, Chris did much more than that, but it’s a useful reference point to strike up a conversation when you run into him at an MLS meeting. When David Barker welcomed Chris into the Barker fold, it was a nostalgic moment for David, because he couldn’t help but think how Chris’ life reminded him of his own father’s life. In 1964, Commander Laughlin Barker retired from the Navy and returned to his hometown of Santa Fe to begin his next career, with his family of six children in tow. Commander Harris, at the time of his retirement from the Navy and his move to Santa Fe to begin his new career, has a family of eight children. Oh, those Navy boys. I wonder, Cream Puffs, was it something in the water? More pictures and fewer words, that’s my goal this month, which leads me to say, So long, Sweetpeas. Until next time… Oakley Oakley can be reached at merrilypierson@ me.com