Darlings,

It's June, and the time has come for me that every mother thinks will never come, that moment when her child hops to the edge of the nest and without a moment's hesitation spreads her wings and flies away. It seems like only yesterday that I was wondering if a "host parent" to a foreign-exchange student would experience the same separation anxieties as a real parent to her natural child. And to tell you the truth, Possums, I'll never know, because I've never been a real parent. But I will miss Gulnara. So much so that I'm thinking of moving to Ashgabat (the capital of Turkmenistan) and opening a McDonald's in order to see her at least five times a week.

If Ashgabat is anything like Santa Fe, however, it will take me about three years to get all the permits in order, so I'd best not pack just yet. Cupcakes, that reminds me of a story about Mike Hall (a Santa Fe Realtor since around 1976). Last January, Mike and his wife, Marty, left Santa Fe altogether and moved to Alva, Oklahoma, where he is a Realtor with Sweeney & Associates (580-272-9006, if you have a referral for him).

Mike went down to City Hall to apply for a building permit in order to build another structure on his property, which already had a 3,000-square-foot house and a detached guesthouse on it ($178,000 on the Camino del Monte Sol street of Alva). He was told he needed both a variance and a building permit. He groaned, remembering how the wheels of progress move in Santa Fe - would he be in a power chair before his workshop was even approved, let alone completed? Darlings, what a surprise. The whole process took less than two weeks, and his blood pressure never elevated even once.

Tori Shepard (City Different Realty) had a slightly elevated BP the other day when she got a call from the New Mexico Women in Film Association, requesting her presence at an awards ceremony on May 17. Ah, yes, it must be about that screenplay she submitted. So she put on an award-winning outfit - of course, my Little Kumquats, would she ever do less? — and gracously accepted her semi-finalist Athena Award. Tori's a screenwriter, novelist, gardener, hostess with the mostess, and, oh yes, Realtor Extraordinaire.

Big changes have been occurring at Southwestern Title & Escrow lately. Starting at the top, Linda Marquette is still the president, but is now a minority owner. The new majority owner is John Fox, owner of Valley Abstract & Title in Española and Ten Thirty-One Exchange Corp. in Santa Fe. (To us older, more seasoned Realtors, he is best known for being Cindy Demo's husband).

Okay, Pumpkins, that's one big change. Next, the whole LandAmerica Capitol City Title group that had, for many years, been housed in a building on Don Gaspar moved, en masse, to ST&E. Those new additions are Liz Layden, Diana Pollard, James Lucero, Lynnea Ortiz, Fred Barela, and Marco Ortiz.

Now you have lots of choices when deciding on an escrow officer: (appearing alphabetically) Alan Ball, Kay Jones, Liz Layden, James Lucero, Cindi MacDonald, Lynnea Ortiz, Carla Pogemiller, Diana Pollard, and Maria Salazar. So many choices, so few closings. But only for now, Cupcakes. The market is improving. (I'm not making this up!)

Diana Pollard is enjoying the current pace of the market. Having been with LandAmerica long before it was that — she started out in the early '70s when it was Capital Title and was owned by Greg Salinas, then became Capitol City Title which was owned by LaMerle Boyd — she is using this opportunity to sift through years of memorabilia from the title and abstract business. Kittens, I'm urging her to pen her memoirs: "Abstract Ramblings From The Closer With The Unforgettable Voice: The Diana Pollard Story."

Actually, when you total the experience of all the employees now at ST&E, you get 430 years of title business expertise. Goodness, Gumdrops, that's older than Santa Fe dirt.

I sadly said goodbye to a fallen colleague recently. Roy Bickley (owner of the one and only Bickley Realty from 1972 until around 2000) died on May 1. He was 89. A retired lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps and a decorated war hero (he received at least 19 medals of honor), Roy proudly served in World War ll and the Korean War. He was an unforgettable character who was an outspoken critic of whatever he disagreed with at the time (he didn't usually think too much about being politically correct), a staunch and loyal supporter of whatever he did agree with at the time, and an old-fashioned gentleman to the ladies.

He had a tough exterior and a soft heart. Here's one of my favorite Roy stories as told by John Hancock (Barker Realty). Several years ago, at a Board of Directors meeting, John and Roy had this conversation:

"Roy, were you at Iwo Jima during the war?"

"You're damn right I was," Roy replied.

"Were you there when those boys raised the flag," John queried.

"You bet I was."

"So, what'd you think about that?"

"I'll tell you what I thought," Roy said, looking John straight in the eye. "I looked up and wondered why the hell are you s.o.b.'s up there messing around with that flag when you should be down here helping us fight the war?"

When Roy retired from real estate, the Santa Fe Association of Realtors, to show our appreciation for him, presented him with a silver plaque that was engraved, "Roy Bickley, You're One in a Million." That's for sure. Semper Fi, Roy, from all of us.

So long, Sweetpeas. Until next time... Oakley

(Editor's note: Oakley Talbott moonlights as Realtor Merrily Pierson.)