SPIRITS OF THE PAST - by Dot

It would be unthinkable to be in New Mexico and not spend some time learning more about the various Native American tribes who have inhabited these lands for thousands of years. We plan to spend more time on that while we are in the Santa Fe area next week. However, yesterday we made the three hundred mile roundtrip to the Gila Cliff Dwellings to enjoy the spectacular scenery enroute, to be more informed about the Mongollon people who lived in these caves high on a cliff, and to connect with their spirits in a place that seems sacred.

Some of the trip was over roads that we had traveled previously. However, the scenic route north of Deming along the Mimbres River was new territory. At San Lorenzo we took the “Trail of the Mountain Spirits” National Scenic Byway. It was slow going at times over mountainous terrain with many hairpin turns as we ascended higher and higher through the Gila National Forest. One obvious change in the landscape was the difference in color --- more green and less brown! Pinion and juniper trees are in abundance. As the road winds higher there are more dramatic rock formations and peaks and tall ponderosa pines and fir trees. As we traveled we crossed the Great Continental Divide, got a glimpse of the beautiful Lake Roberts, saw two deer next to the road, and stopped at numerous lookouts to take pictures and enjoy the views.

Early on in our trip we started a list of amusing or interesting signs and out-of-place sights. The first was a large billboard in the middle of the desert proclaiming “Donate Your Boat”!! We wondered why anyone around there would even have a boat. Of course, if they did they might as well donate it since there would be no place nearby to sail it! Other signs included” “Zero Visibility Possible” (One might make a case that zero visibility is always “possible.”) Then there was “Don’t Stop in Travel Lanes.” (Do drivers really have to be told that this is dangerous?!) “Running Water” was a frequent sign that is not seen back east. Of course, it refers to areas where an arroyo crosses the road and provides the risk of a sudden rush of water if there is rain.
We got used to the numerous cattle guards on the highway which we assume play a role in keeping cattle, deer, elk and other hoofed animals from becoming traffic hazards. We were surprised to pass a lone biker (as in bicycle, NOT motorcycle) laboring hard to ascend the mountain. I wondered how long it would take for him to reach his destination!

For the most part we seldom encountered other cars or people on the trip. Thus it was a shock when a young woman came jogging toward us on the side of the road with one of those three-wheeled jogging strollers! We have no idea where she came from or where she was headed! At another remote area we saw also a woman walking a dog!

We arrived at the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument just in time for the only guided tour of the day. However, it started at the top of the cliff! We did our best to hurry along the path and up the steep incline and got in on most of the guide's remarks. It was good to have the information that he gave but at times I preferred to just stand and try to imagine the people who lived in these caves and to feel their spirit around me.

We had been to the cliff dwellings at Bandelier National Park many years ago but did not climb the many ladders that seemed to be required to visit those caves. Therefore it was good that we were able to access these dwellings in spite of my bad knee and the fact that we were 30 years older.

In the quiet and solitude of the forest we enjoyed a picnic before heading back toward “home”, partially by another route that had been recommended by a friend. The scenery was equally spectacular as the road wound its way through other parts of the Gila National Forest and back to the desert between Truth or Consequences and Hatch.

We had departed from home just after sunrise and returned after sunset, weary but full of the wonderful opportunity to see so much beauty of God’s creation and thankful for George Catlin, Theodore Roosevelt and many others who had the foresight to make sure that these treasures are preserved through our national park system.

LET'S GO FLY A KITE! - by Dot

About two weeks ago we stopped at a nice kite shop with the intention of buying a kite to take with us to White Sands before we left. However, the selection was limited and the prices were too steep for us amateurs. This week we found one elsewhere (in that “W” place I hate to go!) for less than 1/3 the price of the cheapest one at the nice shop and today we had an opportunity to try it out.

We drove over to White Sands after we returned from early worship and brunch. When we arrived the air was the stillest that I can ever recall at White Sands! We tried to get the kite to stay up anyhow but to no avail. So…. we just walked around the dunes a bit and then did some “beach reading” --- i.e. sitting on the sand with a good book or magazine. (Unfortunately we did not have the sound of the waves as background, though.) Eventually we realized that it was getting a bit breezy so we made another attempt with our beautiful butterfly kite. It launched with almost no encouragement and was soon soaring above the white dunes, tails waving. It brought back memories of our days flying kites at Yorktown Battlefield when our children were young. One big difference, however, was that we did not have to worry about trees or telephone poles today!

Reluctantly we pulled the kite back to earth after an extended period of running and frolicking with it. It was time to take in the sunset nature walk which had been cancelled on our last visit to White Sands. Twenty-five or thirty people gathered to join Joan, the park volunteer from Montana, on a guided tour of some of the areas between the dunes where there is vegetation. Joan and her husband, who are retirees, spend their winters volunteering at various national parks in warmer climates. This is her second year at White Sands. Our group included children and adults from Florida, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Texas and a young Chinese couple.
We learned a lot about the formation and continuing movement of these gypsum dunes and the plant an animal adaptations within the park. Roads have to be plowed with snowplows two or three times each week in order to keep them passable --- more frequently during the windy season.

Our tour ended just before sunset and we were left to enjoy the beauty of the gold, andpink reflected on the distant Sacramento Mountains as well as the brilliant red of the setting sun over the San Andres Mountains. It was a lovely ending to a lovely day at White Sands.

On our drive home we were able to listen to the Duke-Wake Forest game.

Since we will be leaving Las Cruces on Saturday we have reached the period of “final times” and “what’s left on our list?” Today was our final time for Sunday worship at St. Paul’s UMC and saying farewell to friends there. It was also our last Sunday brunch at Paisano’s where we had one last order of huevos rancheros, said good-by to Tony, our waiter, and ordered some potato and green chili soup to take home for supper.

Yesterday was our final time at the Mesilla Valley Farmer’s Market. We’ll miss the colorful atmosphere, the man who sells 7-8 different kinds of sprouts, Jan who introduced us to Swiss chard, the little boy who plays the same three chords on the guitar for hours (but is generously appreciated by the patrons!), the Johnny Floris Band playing lively Mexican tunes, running into people who went to school with “Danny” or who had been taught by his mother or aunt, and the many artisans whose wares we admired and thought about buying --- but decided that this year was not the year to do so.

Yesterday we also went to the NMSU Museum where we viewed a very interesting exhibit of Neanderthal skulls and another on the excavation of a Maya temple in the 1920s and 30s. Afterward we took in a movie, "Slumdog Millionaire", which won the Oscar for best picture tonight! Tomorrow we plan to go to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, which has been on our list from the beginning. It will be a long day but the weather is supposed to be nice and we are eager to see this part of the state.

HIKING (AND PICNICKING) IN THE DESERT - by Dot

(Top:Sotol and prickly pear cactus)

(Bottom: Dan checks out guidebook near a Ocotillo plant.)

Dan got the car washed yesterday so he was not pleased that the route to the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park included 5 miles on a dusty dirt road again! We decided that we’d better wait until we finish exploring places off the beaten track before we wash the car again. (maybe just before we leave Las Cruces.) These trips into the desert and on these unpaved roads have made us realize why so many folks have SUVs or pick-ups!

About ten miles north east of Las Cruces, the Chihuahuan Desert Neture Park lies near the base of the Dona Ana Mountain range in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert. We were surprised to discover that the Chihuahuan Desert is the largest desert in North American, stretching from southern New Mexico more than 600 miles south through the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It covers 250,000 square miles and is one of the most biologically diverse deserts in the world.

It was a beautiful sunshiny day and even though the desert plants were dormant we enjoyed the scenery and a picnic at the park before hiking the educational trail up to the top of a large hill (back east we probably would call it a mountain!) I was, however, a little puzzled that the picnic table bench on my side of the table was only about six inches from the ground! It worked OK until I had to get up!

The park has been designed to foster an understanding of the desert among school children and others who visit the park. Interpretative signs on the trail identify various kinds of desert plants and give information about animal and plant adaptation, desertification, and the history of humans in the desert. We learned a lot. For instance, DID YOU KINOW...
1. …that a kangaroo rat can live its entire life without drinking a drop of water?
2. …that the annual average precipitation in this region is less than 9 inches, half of which comes in July and August?
3. …that some creosote bushes live to be several thousand years old and are likely related to the earth’s oldest living organisms?
4. …that Native Americans used barrel cactus pulp to made candy and jelly; their flowers, to create a yellowish pigment, and the hooked central spines, as fishhooks?
5. …that humans have resided in this region for the past 12,000 years?

As we learned to recognize the winter version of various cacti, mariola, mesquite, creosote, tarbush (found only in the Chihuahuan Desert), yucca, sotol, black grama, ocotillo, and crucifixion thorn I could not help but think how beautiful this park must be in the spring when the foliage becomes green and many of these plants have beautiful blossoms. Nevertheless I found beauty in the variety of graceful grasses, barren bushes and other interesting formations. Dan is amused that I find a reason to take a picture of so many different plants.

The hike up the hill and back to the parking lot took us an hour or so since we stopped to read our guidebook at each marker, to take pictures, and to enjoy the vista that lay before us. Across the Jornado Basin and the valley we could see the Organ, San Andres and San Augustin mountain ranges. To the west lay the Dona Ana Mountains. Along a large arroyo we could see thicker foliage and get an understanding of how the land is sculpted by the wind and water. We were reminded, also, that the mountains that surrounded us were formed from volcanic activity 35-45 million years ago.

In addition to the variety of plant life in this desert there are an amazing variety of animals that have adapted to the hot ,dry climate. Although we did not observe them, we read about rodents, toads, snakes (including rattlesnakes!), lizards, jackrabbits, harvester ants, beetles, and other insects. We did see evidence of some of these creatures. For instance, many of the prickly pear cacti had large bite marks in them. Our guidebook indicated that during winter black-tailed jackrabbits and desert cottontail rabbits eat the pads, somehow avoiding the spines or biting the spines from the pads. Prickly pear is an important resource for many animals because of the high water and nutrient content.

For most of the afternoon the desert was deserted except for us! A solitary hiker with an English accent passed us on the trail going rather fast. We never saw him again and his car was gone when we returned to the parking lot. Toward the end of our hike we saw two other men who appeared to be doing research of some sort. One of the most dramatic observances I noted was the quiet. I kept asking Dan to “listen to the silence,” It was so peaceful and relaxing.

We arrived back home just in time for the Duke-St. John’s basketball game, which had a good outcome as far as we were concerned!

Tomorrow we will attempt to do one or two remaining things on our list of places we want to go before leaving Las Cruces in a week.

THE WEEKEND - by Dot

Although we were under no pressure to celebrate Valentine’s Day over the weekend since we had already had our special lunch at Cloudcroft, we did talk ourselves into eating out several times over the weekend. On Friday night we joined one of Dan’s high school friends and his wife at the Aqua Reef, a very good Euro-Asian restaurant that opened while we were here last year. It was a nice change from our almost steady diet of Mexican food. However, by Saturday morning we were ready for the hot stuff again! We had breakfast at Nellie’s Café, which is very popular with the locals. We got there early enough that we did not have to wait for a seat. The food was excellent with a good “kick” to the salsa and sauces. I find that having spicy, hot food for breakfast really wakes me up and energizes me!

On to the Farmer’s Market where I immediately made a beeline for the location of a vendor of local produce. Alas, she was not there! My week’s menus will need some adjusting now. We meandered on to the Branigan Cultural Center to see a new exhibition of local art, including one work by a friend of ours. We had known her for her photography. However, her entry was a work of fractal art, a new medium to us. Quite interesting.

While we were in an artistic mood we made a visit to the Las Cruces Museum of Art where we enjoyed the whimsical paper mache creations of Stephen Hansen. It was really interesting to hear chuckling and bursts of laughter in an art gallery!

Since we were too full from breakfast we decided to skip lunch and go to the gym even though we do not normally make a trip there on Saturdays. It was probably a good decision since we didn’t get much exercise at the movie theater later in the afternoon. We saw Frost-Nixon which was pretty interesting. The acting was good and it appeared that much of the interview segments were true to the original, although we now have a desire to watch the original interview to compare them.

We debated visiting the newest English-speaking United Methodist Church on Sunday but felt drawn to St. Paul’s, Dan’s home church. It is our next to last Sunday in Las Cruces so we wanted to worship in familiar surroundings where we know at least a few people. We did, however, break our Sunday tradition of brunch at Paisano’s and went instead to another Mexican restaurant for breakfast after the early service.

Since we knew that we would not be able to view the Duke-Boston College game in the afternoon we decided that we needed to spend the afternoon outside. We struck out on two places that we thought about going (they are opened only Tue-Sat.) I dug out the book Day Hikes and Nature Walks that I had bought at a local bookstore and we headed out to find Aden Crater between Las Cruces and El Paso. We had noted that this was “an easy 2-mile roundtrip hike” to an ancient shield volcano that produced lava flow over 10,000 years ago. The book suggested that hiking there “evokes a sense of walking in a moonscape.” Here, at the bottom of a volcanic vent 110 ft. deep the mummified remains of a giant sloth were found. These remains are now on exhibit at the Smithsonian.

Unfortunately we did not pay close attention to the details of the directions so we did not realize that the total trip would be 35 miles each way, mostly over unpaved country roads! The Prius did its best to be an SUV but when we got to the final turn, 4.2 miles from our destination, the road just did not seem to be Prius-friendly. Disappointed, we picked up a piece of lava rock at the side of the road and wound our way back toward town in our extremely dusty car.

In spite of the disappointment in not being able to actually walk around and into the volcanic crater, we enjoyed the beautiful drive through large agricultural areas of the Mesilla Valley. We passed acres of pecan orchards, newly plowed cotton fields with tufts of white mixed in with the dirt, and bright green fields of something that we believe was alfalfa. For miles around we could see various mountain ranges and mesas and a vast desert landscape as well.

We were able to hear the first half of the Duke game on the way home. It was good. Unfortunately the second half was apparently not as good and the Blue Devils went down to their third defeat in the last four games. I do hope they regain their winning momentum before the ACC tournament.

Less than two week are left in southern New Mexico so we have to begin scheduling the things we still have on our list of things we want to do. We are also beginning to plan our week in Santa Fe. What a wonderful privilege it is to be able to experience this “Land of Enchantment” over such a long period.

Note: There are still some back east who think that we are out of the country! The rest think we are in Arizona. Now we understand why New Mexico is the only state that feels a need to put USA on its license plates!

ON TOP OF THE WORLD! - by Dot

(Dan prepares his ammunition for a snowball fight at Cloudcroft!)

Yesterday we traveled about an hour and a half away from Las Cruces to Cloudcroft, NM. Cloudcroft is nearly 9,000 feet up in the Sacramento Mountains. We thought it was appropriate to be in the Lincoln National Forest on the 200th birthday of our 16th president!

There is an historic lodge at Cloudcroft where we used to go occasionally for Sunday dinner the first year we were married. Going there enabled me to see some green trees and helped me to feel less homesick for Virginia. It was a pleasant change from the desert landscape which I later learned to appreciate, too. The highway climbing the mountain provides wonderful views of the surrounding area for miles and miles.

Snow had fallen on Tuesday in Cloudcroft so the ground was still covered although the roads were all cleared. It was fun to experience a taste of winter knowing that we would return to the warmth of the valley in a few hours.

Last Valentine’s Day we had splurged on an overnight stay with all its amenities at The Lodge. This year we decided that was not really wise, so we just had lunch instead. We were not disappointed in our meal. The food is excellent here.

The Lodge is more than 100 years old, dating back to a period before New Mexico became a state. (It IS one of the 50 U.S. states even though some of our friends think we are in Mexico ---- or Arizona!) It has a proud history as a resort, hosting such notables as Pancho Villa, Judy Garland, and Clark Gable.

Another interesting feature of The Lodge is that it has a resident “ghost”, Rebecca, for whom the restaurant is named. Legend has it that Rebecca was a beautiful young chambermaid in the early 1900s with striking blue eyes and shocking red hair. She disappeared from her quarters after her lumberjack lover found her in the arms of another. To this day unexplained odd incidents are attributed to Rebecca’s spirit, though none of them are threatening or frightening, but more fun and playful in nature. There are some who believe that Rebecca is in search of a new lover or friend who might appreciate her flirtatious and mischievous ways! Her portrait hangs in the Lounge.

The crisp mountain air and another trip down memory lane energized and renewed us. It was good to revisit another New Mexico landscape. As we descended nearly a mile in altitude in 15 miles of travel back to Alamogordo and then back to Las Cruces we also went from a temperature of 43 to one of 64 degrees! It was good to be back in the sunshine.

MUSINGS

(Top: Las Cruces Farmer's Market; Botton: Pecan orchards near La Mesa.)

MUSINGS

You would think that we’ve been really busy since we have not written anything on the blog since the end of January, but that is only partially true. We do keep busy and the days go by fast --- sometimes with us wondering what we did with the time that day. We have stuck close to Las Cruces for more than a week now but plan to take a short trip tomorrow.

It’s actually been nice to stay close to “home.” It reminds us of why we are here. There are three main reasons why we like spending this extended period in New Mexico. They are:

1. The Weather: It would be hard to ask for better weather than we have had during our stay. We have yet to need our heavy coats and many days we have not even needed a jacket. Yesterday was the only day out of 40 that was really a problem. The newspaper had a headline that read “SWEATER WEATHER” – but it was referring to the fact that people were putting sweaters on their dogs! A cold front went through and with very high winds the visibility was poor as well. The temperature barely got up to 50. Nevertheless the sun did shine from time to time. Today started out cold but turned into the usual sunny day for most of the day. We have heard talk about rain several days this week as well as last but have not seen any. I was told that the last rain was on Thanksgiving. (That pretty well explains why the farmers depend on large irrigation systems.) So… having sunshine at least 98% of the time keeps us in good spirits and lets us get lots of fresh air and exercise outdoors.
2. The Mountains: The Organ Mountains overlook the city of Las Cruces and can be viewed from quite far away. They are so named because the early Spanish settlers thought the pinnacles resembled the pipes of the great organs in the European cathedrals. They rise to a majestic height of nearly 9000 feet. I especially like to see how different they look at various parts of the day. From our patio I can see them as the sun rises near them in the morning. As the sun brightens the mountains come alive with various shades of brown, grey, and gold. As the afternoon progresses they may be very dark colored, almost black in places. Then they take on a wonderful pink and red as the setting sun reflects on them. It is no wonder that they are a favorite of the many artists and photographers around here. It is very special for us to be able to gaze on these majestic peaks each day and feel the grandeur of their Creator in a very special way.
3. The Mexican Food: Las Cruces has some of the best Mexican food we have ever eaten. Of course there are numerous Mexican restaurants and no one agrees on which one is the best. We have eaten in a dozen or so and have favorites for certain menu items. I have been accessing the huevos rancheros and have two favorite places for that speciality. Dan most often orders red enchiladas, so he has been rating who has the best red chili sauce --- not too mild and not too hot. He is also the tamale tester since I don’t eat tamales. However, I am more likely to order chili rellenos. I’m still trying to decide whose I like best. Almost every restaurant has good fresh salsa that has a good bite to it --- unlike our wimpy Virginia restaurants. Other popular items are green enchiladas, tacos (rolled or folded), sopapillas, empanadas, and guacamole. A soup that I especially like is on the menu at one of our favorite restaurants. It is a chicken soup with chipotle peppers, big chunks of chicken breast, carrots, other seasonings, and avocado. It is wonderful! It’s no wonder that we are having to go to the gym every day in order not to gain too much weight! Of course, we don’t go out to eat every day but it is certainly a temptation. It will be hard to go back to the Mexican restaurants in Richmond where the sauce is made from tomatoes instead of chili. I guess we are just going to have to make our own sauce more often than we had been doing previously.

Of course there are other things that attract us to this place and the lifestyle that we experience here. We enjoy walking down memory lane. Obviously Dan’s lane is much longer than mine since he lived here from the time he was four until after we were married. Although I lived here only a year, I came to love being here and have enjoyed returning through the years. It is good to renew old acquaintances and to make new ones. Last week about a dozen folks from Dan’s high school class got together for lunch at a Mexican restaurant owned by one of them. That was fun.
People are very friendly and there is a small town atmosphere here. It has also been good to explore new places, do more hiking, picnic, learn about New Mexico culture and history, and be a part of the community whenever and wherever possible.

At the same time we miss our family and friends back east very much. It really helped to have Dan’s brother here for a visit and we are looking forward to our week in Santa Fe with our special friends, the Morrisons, soon. Eduardo’s parents may get to come from Hermosillo, Mexico, for a short visit before we leave, too. Others thought they might come but have not been able to so we will really look forward to getting with them when we return home.

Over the past ten days we have enjoyed a trip to La Mesa to go to Chope’s restaurant. The road to La Mesa passed the huge Stahmann pecan orchards which I found beautiful and interesting even this time of year. We’ve made several trips to the Wednesday or Saturday Farmer’s Market and have enjoyed local produce purchased there such as fresh lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach, turnips, five kinds of sprouts and, of course, chilies! We’ve been to the Railroad Museum and a Community Theater production and visited the newest state park, Mesilla Valley Bosque Park. Tomorrow we plan to go up into the Sacramento mountains to Cloudcroft for the day if the weather is good. That should inspire me to write again!

ANCESTORS AND ALIENS - by Dot

(We found this sign at the UFO Museum interesting but did not see any UFOs parked there!)

Yesterday we traveled the 185 miles to Roswell to see if we could locate any descendants of my great Uncle Bruce, my maternal grandmother’s brother. As a small child I remember being with Uncle Bruce on a couple of occasions when he came back to Virginia for visits. He was a very exciting relative in my young mind because he wore cowboy boots and hat and lived in the exotic land of New Mexico! It came as something of a shock to me to learn that he was a dentist!!

I also recalled that my grandmother had made a trip to Roswell to visit her brother. It was a big adventure for her and I still have a couple of souvenirs that she brought back for family members at the time. We were able to locate the house where he lived when that visit took place.

Unfortunately I was not able to locate any descendants of his but I did accumulate additional information about him, visited his grave, and was able to locate the building where his dental office was as well as his residence. Uncle Bruce came to Roswell around 1919 and remained there until his death in 1951. I don't know what the circumstances were that led him so far away from Virginia. One of his sons joined his dental practice and apparently lived most of his life in Roswell as well. The son's widow still lived there until 2002 when she, too, passed away. Another son, who was an artist, must have moved back east because I remember seeing him at extended family gatherings occasionally. Several relatives, including my grandmother, had his paintings hanging in their homes. I found two photos of him in old high school yearbooks as well as one of his younger sister whom I never met to my knowledge.

I feel sure that there are older residents of Roswell who probably knew Uncle Bruce or his son but I did not know how I might find them. Perhaps continued research will lead me to some of his descendants wherever they are.

Since we were already in Roswell we took time to visit the UFO Museum dedicated to perpetuating the local interpretation of events that occurred on a nearby farm in July 1947. The exhibit contains the “Roswell Incident” Timeline, a day-to-day accounting of the events with newspaper accounts and original photographs and witness statements. Another section is devoted to what they call “the Great Cover-Up” by the military and the U.S. government. I found the museum mildly interesting. I think you have to be really into” aliens, UFOs, etc. to thoroughly enjoy it. They had a good self-guided tour taped narration that I liked because it eliminated the need to read so much. However, I could have done without the gift shop with all the little green men items!

Another bonus to the trip was an opportunity to have a meal with the former pastor at Dan’s home church who was transferred to Roswell in 2008.

It was good to return to Las Cruces and the mountain scenery. I find more beauty here and we have much better Mexican restaurants here as well! Roswell’s landscape is more like parts of Texas. Undoubtedly it makes for good cattle ranching, though.

In all, I think that I enjoyed the ancestor part of our trip more than the alien part even though we did not encounter either in person!

1/23 - 1/26 - DOWN MEMORY LANE

(Top picture - David and Dan at the NMSU campus; bottom - Dan and David in front of boyhood home on Reymond Street.)

Dan’s brother, David, arrived for a visit on Friday. He loves to travel by train so he had left his home in Mishawaka, Indiana on Wednesday and arrived in Albuquerque Thursday afternoon. He drove to Las Cruces on Friday morning, arriving in time to eat a bowl of soup with us.

During the three days that David was here I accompanied the two brothers in a walk down memory lane. This was the first time they had both been in Las Cruces at the same time in nearly fifty years, so it was a special time. It was interesting for me to see how their collective memories recalled so much more than either of them could have alone. Of course, occasionally they did not recall things in exactly the same way! We drove to their old neighborhood, found those school buildings that were still standing, and went past friends’ former houses. I could not help but think how different it is to have lived in one place for a long time as they did. (20 years or so) When I return to any of the five places I lived before going away to school I certainly cannot recall nearly so much.

Naturally we took pictures in front of all of these “historic” buildings, including the one where they had each had piano recitals and a several buildings at the university where one or the other had classes. Since they were both SAEs we, of course, had to drive by the old fraternity house, now converted into apartments. I wondered if the people who live there have any idea about the shenanigans that used to occur there!

David related one interesting story that I had never heard before. As he stood on a corner near their first home (no longer standing) in Las Cruces he pointed in the direction of one of the main thoroughfares. He recalls seeing trucks going by with German prisoners of war in them. He said that some of the Germans expressed great interest in the very blond, curly-haired toodler,“Danny”, whom they thought looked like a German child!

Having lived in Las Cruces myself the first year of our marriage, there were a number of places of interest to me as well. We went to the small apartment, attached to a carport of a big house (I think it had been the servant’s quarters at some point!) that was out first home. The young woman who was living there now was outside, so Dan went over to talk with her and she invited us to come inside. That was a very strange experience since there had been some major changes since we had lived there --- a wall knocked out and a door or two moved. Nevertheless it certainly brought back a lot of memories. I thought it was appropriate that the current resident had a cat since we had one when we lived there, too.

On Sunday we went to the University United Methodist Church because we knew that some of the people in David’s high school class were members there. Sure enough, we saw two or three couples from his class as well as one from Dan’s high school class. In addition there was another couple who had been members of St. Paul’s UMC (Dan’s home church) when I worked there as the Education Director. We hung around after church for a half hour or longer visiting with these old friends and then headed out for brunch at our “usual” Sunday restaurant. I think Tony, the waiter, already knows that I’m going to order huevos rancheros with red and green sauce. At the restaurant David ran into another former classmate that Dan also knew. I had known his father because he was a church leader during the time I lived here.

David left this afternoon but Dan and I have now added these memories to our 2009 New Mexico venture --- walking down memory lane with David, eating lots of Mexican food together while rating the chile sauce, and having some quality time to talk and share with one another. The only thing missing was Marietta, David’s wife, who died in May of 2007. However, there were times when I felt her presence with us and knew that she, Mother Ivey, and Aunt Ruth must be smiling down on us and being so delighted that we were having this time together in a place they all loved so muc

We Made the Front Page - January 23

We were surprised when we bought the Las Cruces Bulletin this week and discovered that our picture was on the front page! This is a small weekly newspaper that we get because it is a good source of information about events going on each week. Their photographer had shown up on Inauguration Day when we had joined some locals to watch the events in Washington. You can access the picture and article at http://www.lascrucesbulletin.com/ and find the January 23 edition.

WED., 1/21 - WHERE'S THE OCEAN? by Dot

Today we traveled about an hour east of Las Cruces to the White Sands National Monument, a place we have visited many times through the years. My first trip there was in the spring of 1961 when I visited Las Cruces before we were married. The first year we were married (1961-62) we would often drive over to White Sands after church and have a picnic with Dan’s mother, aunt, and cousin. It was a lot easier to climb the tall dunes in those days! We visited here, also, on a couple of occasions when our children were small, enjoying with them the marvelous white dunes where we could roll down the hill, try to sand surf or write something in giant letters with our feet. We were back again a year ago with our friends Jack and Sheryl – picnicking and frolicking on the dunes as best we could as seniors!

It is a weird feeling in a way to be at White Sands. It looks almost like snow and, in fact, they keep the roads cleared from the shifting sands with snow plows. At the same time it feels like sand, so one is wondering "Where's the ocean?"

Highway 70 travels east through the Organ pass to the vast area that makes up the White Sands Missile Range. Occasionally the road is closed for an hour or more due to missile testing. Fortunately that was not the case today. We purposely arrived around 1 so that we could have our picnic, enjoy the scenery, climb the dunes, and just “chill out” a bit before the scheduled 4:15 sunset nature hike. We were able to do all of that except the final thing. The nature hike was canceled for today! Hopefully we can return for that another day before we leave.

Instead of hiking we visited the New Mexico Space Museum in Alamogordo a city east of White Sands. The museum presented the history of the development of rockets and their use for good and ill. It was a little too focused on the use of rockets in weaponry for my taste, but nevertheless, reminded me of the ingenuity, bravery, and skill of all those who have played a part in this important science. It was also a reminder of the role that NASA and White Sands Missile Range played in the rapid growth of Las Cruces and Alamorgordo. Certainly this museum cannot compete with the Space Museum at the Smithsonian but it is a tribute to the state and an important part of the historical record.

Near the museum was an IMAX theater where we saw Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the moon, a Tom Hanks project. The film takes the viewer to the surface of the moon with Apollo astronauts, using realistic reenactment as well as NASA footage to allow us to see, hear and feel what these space travelers did. It was well done and made us feel like we had been there – sort of!

The sun was setting as we headed back across the mountain along the barren desert. I thought about the remote Trinity site nearby where in 1945 the first atomic bomb was tested. That force of power and destructiveness contrasts so with my experience of the area today as a place of calm, quiet solitude.

RISK-TAKING AND MURDER - by Dan and Dot

A Soaring Morning - Dot

What a full and fabulous day this has been! We got up with the sun this morning and made our way to a field in the north part of town where some balloonists had gathered for a “fly in.” This was sort of a substitute for the Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally, which was scheduled for this weekend but had been canceled due to economic concerns. Although there were only 12-15 balloons instead of the 50-60 there would have been at the Rally, it was still exciting and beautiful. I had been looking forward to our second year at the Rally, which we had enjoyed so much last year, and I was very disappointed to learn that it had to be canceled. How appreciative I was that these balloonists decided to “do it anyway” and share their sport with those of us who braved the early morning chill.

Ballooning has its own culture. Before dawn there are “groupies” out with the balloonists and their teams to help lay out the large balloons and prepare them for flight. It is fun to see people greet old friends that they have not seen since the last balloon festival. There are also usually a few males in some sort of formal attire – tuxedos or similar clothing. I have not researched what that’s all about. We only saw one person dressed up today but last year there were a number of them.

I took dozens of pictures of the beautiful balloons and wondered what it would be like to soar into the sky in one of those wicker baskets. What a thrill that must be! However, they are braver than I am and I likely will never have that experience.

We hurried from the balloons to make a quick stop at the Farmer’s Market where I was able to find some locally grown winter lettuce. Since we were going on to a morning movie at the old Fountain Theater in old Mesilla at 10 we did not linger today to look at the arts and crafts, which make up most of the farmer’s market this time of year. It was a good thing we got to the theater early, too. There was already a line at 9:15 and by 9:30 they had started turning people away because the small theater was full.

JIMMinY CRICKET! - Dan

This morning we went to a small theater in Mesilla that shows documentaries, AND off beat and “artsy” films. Today’s was a documentary on the 1949 still-unsolved murder of eighteen-year-old Ovida “CRICKET” Coogler near my hometown of Las Cruces, a city of about 13,000 at that time. The murder had caught my attention, even though I was only nine at the time, because a) there were not many murders in our town, even though illegal gambling and prostitution flourished and very rowdy bars lined both sides of Main Street; b) suspects were the sheriff of Dona Ana County, the head of the New Mexico State Police, a sheriff’s deputy and a Pittsburg Steeler; and c) the first two of these suspects had tried to get a confession out of an African American with very brutal torture. (Fortunately the man recovered and was never indicted.). The Las Cruces Sun News, The El Paso Times and radio KTSM treated this like CNN does “breaking news,” only not just for five days but for months and months. Moreover, the above-mentioned deputy died two years later of a bullet wound to the BACK of the head. The death was officially ruled a suicide! Did I ment..no I didn’t mention that the deputy’s stepson was one of my best friends at the time. Hence little Danny’s vivid memories.

Filmed in the documentary were newsmen and women, lawmen, lawyers and jury members recounting their memories and their theories about the murder. Their main message was that corruption in law enforcement and the courts in my hometown and county was so bad that the seemingly impossible happened: the grand jury called to hear the case took over the entire enterprise. This after weeks of witnesses clamming up and the judge failing to rule on anything. (The judge, incidentally, was the father of another good friend of mine.) With great effort and sacrifice of job time and money, somehow they got a judge with some integrity and backbone from out of the area, and were able to proceed. They at least were able to get the convictions and one-year sentences for the sheriff and the state police chief for violating the civil rights of the African American. They served out the sentences!

What was brand new to me today was the identity of those grand jurors. It turns out, although I didn’t know much of what was going on at the time, I did know three of the seven: George Hay, merchant and husband of Edith Hay, secretary of our church, St. Paul’s (with whom Dot worked as Director of Education in the early 1960’s), Parker Davenport, electric utility employee and our next-door neighbor, and JIMMY Vermillion, barber shop owner, who cut my hair at that time and for years afterward.

I bought the book on the case, which was for sale at the theater and talked with the author for a few minutes after the film ended.

The rest of the story - Dot

We missed the first half of the Duke-Georgetown game because of the movie and the discussion afterward. (That 1:30 game started at 11:20 here!) We did enjoy the second half while we ate lunch. It was good to be able to celebrate another Duke win, too.

Now it was time for our own exercise. Our hour at the gym felt good and we enjoyed the relative quiet that a Saturday afternoon produced.

In the evening we were saddened to get news of the unexpected death of my sister Jean’s stepson, Guy, who first came into our family as a 12-year old. His death at 57 was too early and very shocking. It is not clear at this point what the cause of death was. Arrangements are up in the air at this time but my brother-in-law hopes that they can have a memorial service in the spring at their farm near Charlottesville and that Dan will be able to participate.

A full day of joy tempered with sorrow.

DEFINITELY OFF THE BEATEN TRACK! - by Dan and Dot

In Columbus, New Mexico 3/9/1916 is noted as the only time until 9/11/2001 that the US was attacked by people from outside our borders. On that day Pancho Villa’s 600 bandits raided Columbus and the army encampment located there. Eight soldiers, ten civilians and 200 of Pancho Villa’s men, the Villistas, lost their lives. The raid began in the early morning hours and thus caught the US soldiers off guard. Once they were mobilized they were able to prevent further civilian deaths and to chase the Villistas back across the border into Mexico. A week later Gen. John J. Pershing entered Mexico with several thousand troops in an attempt to capture Pancho Villa. His attempt was unsuccessful.

We traveled the 1 ½ hours from Las Cruces to Columbus today to visit this historic spot. It is a town that could definitely be described as a “God-forsaken place.” (Although I know that God has not forsaken it.) There is not a lot there except the Pancho Villa State Park, a small museum in the old train depot, and a few ruins from the 1916 raid. A hotel where some survivors had sought refuge and protection by the army is still standing. Some residences and a few businesses compose the rest of the town. Columbus and the surrounding area reminded us of why we made the decision not to stay in the New Mexico Conference. We were likely to have been appointed to one of the many small towns in the middle of the desert, miles from any city, similar to this spot!

We were told that the town is not much bigger now than it was after the army left. During the first half of the last century trains made regular stops in Columbus. However, the last train passed through in 1961 and the tracks were removed in 1965. As you walk around the streets it is hard to believe that in 1916, including the army personnel, Columbus had the largest population of any city in the State of New Mexico.

Since the weather was warm we had a picnic at the Pancho Villa State Park surrounded by many varieties of cacti and a few camping trailers. Then we drove the 8 miles to the Mexican border, parked at a Family Dollar Store (to avoid the $2 fee at the “official” parking lot!) and walked two blocks to the crossing point. As is often the case, one can walk right into Mexico without encountering any immigration official or being checked in any way. Palomas, the sister town on the Mexican side, seemed more alive than Columbus. This was mainly because of The Pink House, a large store/restaurant/bar combination that was only another two blocks into Mexico. It was surrounded by a number of dental, optical, and pharmaceutical businesses. People from the U.S. (even from Las Cruces) travel to Palomas for dental work and medicines, both of which are considerably cheaper than in the U.S.

We enjoyed free drinks, some guacamole ,and flan at the restaurant and looked around the gift shop. Dot took a picture of Dan with large statues of Pancho Villa and General Pershing.
Coming back into the US we had to enter the immigration building, show our passports, and declare any purchases we had made. It was pretty easy for us since we had not bought anything!

On our way back to the car we noticed a large cross which had been erected near the road. Beside it was what appeared to be a tombstone with some artificial flowers beside it. The stone read in Spanish “2003 In memory of the immigrants who died in the desert pursuing a dream.” It was a sobering reminder of the human factor in the complex immigration debate.
It was good to learn more about New Mexico and US history and to have a brief visit with our neighbors to the south. We returned to Las Cruces just in time to watch the sunset and to see Duke beat Georgia Tech 70-56!

You know you are in New Mexico when... (Part 2) - by Dot

You know you are in New Mexico when...

... sunglasses are a MUST in January
..."low visibility" means the winds are high (sand storm)
... you see as many cowboy hats as baseball caps
... it's sometimes hard to find the Duke game on TV
... the special music at church is provided by the Green Chile Quartet (all two of them!)
... all the store signs for various departments at Target are in Spanish and English
... fitness centers have "snow bird" rates
... pick-up trucks and SUVs are as prevalent as sedans --- maybe more so!
... no one is commenting on Carolina's losses
... the pecan harvest is still going on in January (New Mexico is 2nd only to Georgia in pecan production according to my sources. There are large orchards in the Las Cruces area.)

LA CUEVA 1/11/09 - by Dan

We went to the 8:30 service at St. Paul’s today. For the first time we heard the new senior pastor, James Large. It was about baptism. I related to his grabber (intro) which starred a young man who was part of a couple whom James had married, obviously as “walk-ins.” The man said that they now had a six-month-old and he thought it was about time to have him “done.” I will not bore and/or dismay you with the ensuing conversation, but Pastor James valiantly tried to convince him, and now us, of the centrality of baptism to life-long discipleship.

After worship a woman named Julie spirited us off to the Here It Is class. We spirited willingly since Here.. is one of the two we had considered visiting today. It was as laid back and off subject as last week’s, but by the end Dot and I agreed that the discussion did need to take place. Jerry the leader sparked it by mentioning Bishop Schnase's book, Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations -- the chapter on “radical hospitality,” only to depart from Schnase for the remainder of our time. But we did share some ideas and frustrations and successes about the process of getting and keeping new members. We were glad to see Grady and Roberta who were at St. Paul’s in the early 1960s.

We brunched at Paisano near Mesilla, went home and changed clothes.

The afternoon was fun. We journeyed to Dripping Springs, about fifteen miles southeast of Las Cruces. I had never been there, probably because in my youth we did not own a road grader-- or even a backhoe. In recent years the road mostly has been paved—except for a few miles of dusty washboard, which did not thrill the Prius or me. We ate dust as we met numerous SUVs.

However, all was forgiven when we got to Dripping Springs Park. We could even use our nifty life-time Golden national park pass. And even better, the views were gorgeous. We opted to take the shorter of the two trails—the one to the hermit’s cave. On the way Dot took a picture of every cactus and wildflower. My eyes, however (except for looking out for the leavings of unknown species on the trail), were focused upward and outward-- on the small mountain where the cave is to the east, the Organ mountain range behind it and stretching north to the Rockies, the foothills around Las Cruces to the north, Picacho Peak to the northwest that we can see from our house, and the tall rock formations to our west and south. The sky was as blue and cloudless as the sky I bragged to Dot about in letters written in 1959 shortly after I met her in Indiana. We looked up and around and gave thanks to God the Creator.

After a half hour or so of climbing, we reached “La Cueva” – the cave. We went in through the four or five foot high entrance and went about thirty feet into the cave, where they had set up a barrier. We came out and took a few pictures.

La Cueva has yielded many artifacts, indicating it was occupied as long ago as 5000 B. C. by people of the Jornada branch of the Mogollon culture. During the 18th and 19th centuries the rock shelter was probably known to roving bands of Apaches who frequented the area. In the 1860s, it was home to one of the more eccentric figures in New Mexico history—Giovanni Maria Agostini—known to the locals as “El Ermitano”- the Hermit. Giovanni came to the Mesilla Valley in 1867. His reputation as one with healing powers had preceded him from his former home in Las Vegas, NM. He kept an abundant supply of herbs. People brought the sick to him when he lived in Mesilla as well as La Cueva. He lived in Mesilla for a short time when he announced to his host that he was going to the cave. When warned of the dangers of doing so, he supposedly replied, “I shall make a fire in front of my cave every Friday evening while I shall be alive. If the fire fails to appear, it will be because I have been killed.” On a Friday evening in the spring of 1869 there was no fire at La Cueva. An Antonio Garcia led a group up the mountain to find the Hermit lying face down with a knife in his back. The murder was never solved. He is buried in the Mesilla Cemetery.

Dot and I returned to the visitor center by the same trail we ascended the mountain. We left for another time the climb toward the other present attraction, the Dripping Springs Resort.

In the parking lot we made the acquaintance of a young Japanese couple and their two sons. They had been living in El Paso for the past year. He was working for a Japanese company with a factory in Ciudad Juarez (just across the Mexican border from El Pas0.) The company supplies power window components to GM and Chrysler. Unfortunately the company is closing this factory so the couple will be returning to Japan on Friday. Signs of the current economic downturn --- even hitting Japanese companies working in Mexico to supply US manufacturing!

We went home and watched the Sunday morning commentary shows that we had recorded, ate a tasty home cooked meal, did some reading, watched Desperate Housewives, read some more, and retired for the night. What a great day!

NATURE AND HISTORY

One of our intentions while we are here is to get to know more about the history and culture of the area as well as to visit some parts of the state that are not so familiar to us. Today we started on this goal by seeing some parts of the southwestern corner of the state. We arose fairly early and went to a Mexican restaurant (of course) called Delicias for breakfast. It is named for a town in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, which, coincidentally, is the state where the family of our Mexican “son”, Eduardo, comes from. I’m sure that not everyone wants chips and salsa with their breakfast, but I enjoyed it! The huevos rancheros were good, too. Even Dan left the comfort of pancakes and waffles for a Mexican cuisine.

After breakfast we headed about 15 miles north of Las Cruces to the ruins of Fort Selden. Mogollon farmers were among the earliest inhabitants of this area. In the mid-1800s territorial expansion encroached on what was homeland to Apaches. The U.S. government established Fort Selden in 1865 to protect settlers from the Apaches whom they considered hostile. The troops stationed there often escorted wagon trains as they headed westward. One of its claims to fame was that the presence of African American soldiers, known as “Buffalo Soldiers”, at the fort. However, I was disappointed that they did not have more information on these troops. I had seen a newspaper article on them a year or two ago and found it rather fascinating. Fort Selden is also known for the fact that General Douglas MacArthur spent two years there as a young boy when his father was the post commander there.

Interestingly enough we learned that more soldiers were killed by other soldiers or by disgruntled locals than by any Apaches! The fort was abandoned in 1891 after it was determined that there was not really a need for it.

Dan recalls going there when he was about 10 or 12. He claims that the walls of the ruins “were higher then!” That IS possible, since there has been a lot of erosion. However, it is also possible that he was a bit shorter then, too!

Leaving Fort Selden we continued about 20-25 miles further north to Hatch, NM, “Chile Capital of the World” We hoped to see whether we could buy a case of Hatch Red Enchilada Sauce but discovered that it is not processed there AND that it, too, is now made primarily with tomatoes, like so much of what’s available back east. Instead we bought some authentic Hatch dried chile which can be used to make the sauce. I also succumbed to the chile ristras, chile pepper strung together for drying but also used for decoration. They are along the same lines as the garlic braids that we see in our area that are both decorative and edible. We are looking forward to hanging our ristra in our Richmond kitchen as a reminder of New Mexico.

Hopefully before we leave I’m going to purchase a large back of dried New Mexico chile peppers especially for making enchilada sauce. One of the older women here in town is going to help me perfect the technique for making good sauce and teach me to make chile rellenos.

Enough about chile! From Hatch we headed west to Deming and the Rockhound State Park where we picnicked before hiking on one of the trails. The park is located on the western slope of the Little Florida Mountains and is popular among hikers and rock enthusiasts. People who visit can find a variety of rocks and minerals including agate, jasper, quartz crystals, thundereggs, and geodes. We did not know what many of these were but we did enjoy walking on the Jasper Trail and picking up a few rocks that appealed to us. You are able to take 15 pounds of rock per person. We came nowhere near our share! We may have collected 1-2 pounds at the most since we did not know what was what. Also, we did not go into some of the areas that the real rock enthusiasts frequent and where there are some of the more unique rocks and minerals. Mostly we enjoyed being out in nature, feeling the sun and the wind, and seeing the various desert plants, many of which were still beautiful to me even in January.

Before returning home we made a quick trip to Canyon Park, which is near Rockhound Park. We had been told that we might see some ibex there and that there had been about ten babies born within the last month or so. We were not fortunate enough to see any ibex, but that may be because we did not have time to go back along the trails there. We did take a self-portrait of the two of us in front of the Lover’s Leap sign (see new profile photo) and then headed back down the mountain.

All in all it was a great day. Good weather, interesting things to learn, lots of fresh air and exercise, and time to be together. I think this is why we came!

We’ve ended the day with dinner with one of Dan’s high school friends and his wife. We had spent some time with them last year so it was a renewal of old acquaintances for me in a way, too. I think we will sleep well tonight. Tomorrow it is supposed to get a little cooler so I’m glad that we had this full day outdoors today.

NORMALCY

We are realizing that some degree of “normalcy” is setting in and that is good. We’ve made our second trip to the grocery store, gotten our prescriptions switched to the pharmacy here, put out the trash, done laundry and a little house cleaning. I’ve been cooking more than I did last year since we are trying to cut back on eating out. Nevertheless those good Mexican restaurants and the New Mexico chili do beckon! Yesterday at noon we finally made it to La Posta (see previous posts) in old Mesilla. I always enjoy going there since it was the first Mexican restaurant that I ate in when I came for a visit in 1961. That was also the night that Dan and I became engaged. It’s nice to see that both the restaurant and the relationship are still going strong!

We have started reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, together. Since we are reading it aloud it may take awhile, though. Already I feel guilty about coming to the barren west when she is writing about leaving it! Anyhow, we hope that it will lead us to make some additional changes in our eating and buying.

So far we both seem to be tempted to have an afternoon siesta each day! (Maybe that is caused by being so close to Mexico?) I have tried to avoid it since I am still waking up early and want to try to overcome that tendency. Dan does well with a short nap but I always feel groggy and don’t like having to wake up more than once a day!

Today we are going to his home church for a luncheon with other “primetimers” and a program on physical fitness. Maybe we’ll get a few pointers and meet some new people. Our physical fitness regime has been limited to walking and stretching exercises so far since we are awaiting the re-opening of Club 50, our little circuit training fitness center. It was sold to a new owner over the holidays and they are waiting for all the paperwork to be completed. Hopefully it will open tomorrow. The new owner has assured me that it will be “no later than Friday.”

Tomorrow we plan to travel to the southwestern part of the state and visit the Gila cliff dwellings and several other sites of interest. Maybe we will be able to post some pictures from that trip. Our plan is to take a side trip each week when we can. We look forward to sharing some of those trips with family and friends when they come to visit. It looks like our first visitor will be Dan’s brother, David, who is traveling by train from Indiana in about two weeks. We are both looking forward to his visit. It will be fun to hear the two brothers both wallow in nostalgia as they re-visit their boyhood home, schools, and other “haunts.” Last year I joined Dan in walking from the house where he lived to the school --- along the path that he went. He was able to tell me who lived in all of the houses on the way! Of course, they probably don’t live there now! In fact many are not living anywhere on this earth.

SUNDAY 1/4/09

Awoke early today. Guess my system is still somewhat on EST. We decided to go to the 8:15 service at St. Paul’s It was good to be back and to be warmly greeted by several friends. One of Dan’s h.s. classmates was the first person we saw when we got to church. I had know her, too, when I lived here the year after we were married. The church was still decorated beautifully for Christmas with two trees, Advent wreath, etc. They were having an undecorating event this afternoon. The associate pastor preached on “Look at the Shape We’re In” and used soap bubbles to illustrate “getting in shape” --- i.e how bubbles form into a perfect round shape in order to be more stable, etc.

Two things happened during the communion service that were memorable. First, as we were going up for communion a homeless man was returning. He had his blanket over his head and wrapped around him. I was reminded of the meeting in 1962 on the spot where we were worshipping. The meeting was to decide whether the church would remain downtown or move out to a larger parcel of land away from the center of town. Dan and I were for moving to the new area but the vote went the other way. In later years we saw that the decision had probably been a wise one. Seeing this man in the beautiful new (since that time) sanctuary made me realize anew that it was the right decision for the church had remained in the center of town near where this homeless man was. Also, as Joe (the pastor) was placing the bread into my hand he said not only “the body……” but “welcome back” That was special.

After the service we visited with a few people and then went to a SS class that someone had invited us to attend. It was a lively class finishing up a series on Proverbs. They got off subject quite a bit of the time but we enjoyed the interaction. We’ll probably visit around a bit to see what other classes are doing. There appear to be 8 or 10 adults classes. One, the Double 20s was in existence when I was here in 1961-62. At that time it was made up of young couples in their 20s – hence “double 20s” Later they kept the name because most of them were in their 40s (2x20). Now I think the name has no significance except that it has been called that for so many years!
Brunch was at a newer Mexican restaurant, Paisano, that we had been to several times last year. They have a good Sunday brunch selection. I had been looking forward to their huevos rancheros and I was not disappointed! “Green or red or CHRISTMAS?” Not being able to decide between green or red, I went for Christmas, which meant that I got some of each.
The El Paso Times is not a good substitute for the Washington Post. Although I hate to admit it, I think I would have preferred the Richmond Times-Dispatch! Anyhow it was good to read about some of the local news and happenings.

We napped a bit and then watched Agnes of God, which we had gotten out on Friday when we got our library cards. This was an academy award winner some years ago starring Ann Bancroft and Jane Fonda. It was well acted but I did not really like the movie too much. It had too many loose ends and a not-entirely-satisfying ending.

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN NEW MEXICO? 1/3/09

YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN NEW MEXICO WHEN....

You know you are in New Mexico when the skies are not cloudy all day
....when the waitress in the Mexican restaurant asks "green or red?"
.... when you can buy tortillas at the Walgreens drug store!
... when a Prius is a rare sight
... when yard work involves occasionally raking the gravel
... when 50% of cars have dark tinted windows
... when winter coats are seldom worn
... when a it's a status symbol if your house has vigas
...when you discover that you like being surrounded by dozens of shades of brown
... when another restaurant choice is "corn or flour?"

Today we went to the farmer’s market. There are more vendors on Saturday than there are on Wednesdays. It is a mixture of artists of various sorts and food vendors. I’d say about 1/3 of the food products contain some type of chili. We bought a dried chili stew…. Add chicken and water. We’ll see if it is any good. The man who made it said it was a “guy stew” (even a guy can make it!) I have my doubts that Dan will try but I can always hope. Dan had a little conversation with the man who makes it. He had lived here when Dan did but he was several years younger so they were not in school together. I had a longer conversation with an artist who made beautiful picture frames containing various stones and minerals. I’d really like one but am not sure I want to invest that much in a frame. I’ve got 10 weeks to decide on whether I want one or not. He also works with silver and does large sculptures and other things. Nice work.

We did see two Priuses today! --- within five minutes of one another. The first was from the Toyota dealer here in LC, The second was parked in the UMC parking lot. Things are looking up!

Tomorrow we’ll go to St. Paul’s to worship. That’s Dan’s home church and the church where I worked as the Director of Christian Education right after we got married. There are not too many people left who were there when we were here but we have gotten to know some other people from our visit last year. We are looking forward to seeing the associate minister and his wife. He is preaching tomorrow at all services. The senior pastor is new since we were here so we have yet to meet him.

WELCOME BACK TO LAS CRUCES 1/2/2009

We were pretty lazy today but did run a few errands such as checking out other gyms and getting a few household things we needed. Made that dreaded trip to Wal-mart. I hope I don’t have to go back before we leave. There are not a lot of other options in a two-Wal-mart small town! We did drive by our old Club 50 where we exercised last year and found out that it has been sold and is scheduled to open “after the holidays” I guess we’ll check on Monday to see if it is opened before we make arrangements somewhere else.

How disappointing it was to discover that the balloon festival scheduled for later this month has been cancelled. We enjoyed it so much last year and were really looking forward to it again. Apparently the economy was a big factor. It is expensive to put it on and I guess many of the balloonists are not willing to travel around as much as they were previously. Hopefully it can be held another year. It’s well worth experiencing. Of course there are other hot air balloon events in NM but most of them are held in the fall. I’d love to go to the big one in Albuquerque some day.

Went out to dinner tonight but there were too many people at La Posta so we’ll postpone that special meal again. Maybe we will try it mid-week when there should not be as many diners. Enjoyed the Mexican food at another restaurant we had been to last year, however.
Since we left Kentucky we have not seen another Prius! That is very unusual around Richmond and other parts of Virginia. I guess it just takes a little longer for folks out west to catch on to new fangled things!!!

Another beautiful sunset tonight. That is one of the things that I enjoy most. The sunrises are good, too, especially over the Organ mountains, but the sunsets are spectacular. Barbara Kinsolver calls them “five-alarm sunsets.” I really must try to capture some in photos soon. Being here I feel so much closer to nature. We can watch the sunrise over the mountains from our bedroom window and step out onto the patio and get a pretty decent view of the sunset. I love the night views, too. Although you feel like the landscape is flat, it is not. At night you realize that you are up on a plateau looking down on the lights of the city.I’ve even gotten use to the various shades of brown everywhere. All of the houses in our neighborhood are various shades of tan or brown stucco, landscaped with various colors of gravel and a few desert plants. This time of the year there are only a few green things --- those tall skinny evergreen trees that you see a lot of and a few other hardy plants.

WE'VE ARRIVED 1/1/2009

The last leg of the trip was not bad at all. We were hyped up about getting to NM today so that made things more interesting! As we left our hotel in Midland, TX (yes.... boyhood home of G.W.) I noticed that we had been surrounded all night by oil wells! I had forgotten how many of them you see from I-10 in west Texas. At times it smells like you are driving around a service station!!

It was good to get further west and begin to see mountains after so many hours of flat, desert landscape. Driving along across TX I tried to imagine how it would have been to do it by covered wagon. It would definitely have taken much longer than zipping along in the Prius at 70-75! (The speed limit is 80 in much of west Texas.) Don't think I would have made a very good pioneer. But it did make me admire their courage and fortitude even more.

Our departure was earlier than we had planned because we had the good fortune of getting a call from our Mozambican son early this morning. So we just got up and got going earlier, after going first to the exercise room.

Yesterday we ended our trip just as the Duke/Loyola game finished. I almost felt sorry for Loyola but was glad that the Blue Devils ended 2008 with such a decisive win. Today there were no games that interested us so we enjoyed listening to several presidential historians on POTUS and C-Span as well as a rerun of a Brookings presentation with three current and former press secretaries. It made the time go by fast. We are enjoying our Christmas present to one another – satellite radio. It’s nice not to have to constantly find a good station that will come in…. especially around this area where there is mostly twangy western music (which I like in small doses) and televangelists (which I don’t like even in small doses!)

Since we gained another hour this morning we ended up getting to El Paso sooner than we had planned. We tried to go to a restaurant on the airport road that we knew about but it was closed for the holiday. Across from it was a small, local Mexican restaurant so we decided to take a chance on it. That turned out to be a very good decision. It was friendly and the food was great. The waiter had gone to the same high school as Dan and they had fun talking about Las Cruces. We also had some interesting conversation with the owner about the economy, politics (of course) and other topics of mutual interest.

I was reminded of how often these types of conversations happen out here. We are always running into someone we know or someone who just wants to chat. It's definitely a small town atmosphere. It was wonderful to have enchiladas made with real chili sauce, too --- not that tomato stuff we get back east. Although I'm usually not much on buffets, this one was good --- wonderful homemade soup with big chunks of veggies, chicken in mole sauce, tacos, enchiladas, taquitoes, veggies, beans, rice, etc. Dan even hit the dessert section.

We arrived at our house around 2, unloaded, put things away and took a nap! We decided that we were really too tired and too full to go out for dinner tonight so we went to the grocery store instead. Now I have no excuse for not cooking. Nevertheless we will probably make our trip out to Mesilla tomorrow to have that special dinner.

Tried to call "our" fitness center from last year but the phone has been disconnected. We fear that they have gone out of business. We liked it because it was small and intimate without too much fancy equipment. Guess we'll check tomorrow to see what's happened and where else we may be able to get "snow bird" rates.I'm sure we'll sleep well tonight. It will be nice not to have hundreds of miles of travel in front of us tomorrow, too.

TEXAS 12/31/2008

We spent most of today in Texas -- from Little Rock to Midland. (Actually there was quite a bit of time in Arkansas, too!) From a little east of Dallas to west of Odessa is my least favorite part of the trip scenery-wise. Nevertheless there were a number of interesting sights such as the hundreds of windmills generating electricity near Roscoe TX and the oil wells/pumps in various places. I was reminded of my first trip across country the July after we were married and how excited I was to see my first oil well. Now I was much more excited seeing energy generated by the wind!

Another beautiful, sunshiny day although it was not quite as warm --- in the mid 50s most of the day. I guess we traveled about 650 or so today so we should arrive in Las Cruces by mid-afternoon tomorrow. It is nice that we will gain an hour as we near El Paso.

Fortunately we passed through the Dallas-Ft. Worth area at a good time traffic- wise. We have had the misfortune of hitting that metropolis at rush hour before and it is not fun!

Our New Year's celebration was pizza and wine in our hotel room but it was just what we needed. We will go out tomorrow night for a special Mexican meal at the restaurant where we ate after we were engaged -- La Posta in Mesilla, NM. Can't wait! I'm also going to postpone grocery shopping until after a Mexican breakfast at Delicias on Friday. Mmmmm. Don't know whether I will make it to see the New Year in or not. Dan and I agreed that we would pretend we are on the east coast and greet the New Year with all those Times Square folks rather than stay up an extra hour until it is midnight here in Midland! We'll see if that happens.

So glad we were able to talk to our family members this afternoon and evening -- children and siblings -- to wish them Happy New Year. We'll try to reach some of the international children tomorrow. Wonder if Yun (Jessica) and her friends made it to Times Square tonight? Can't wait to hear about their experience.

TRAVELING ACROSS THE COUNTRY 12/30/2008

Today we crossed the Mississippi at Memphis. I was surprised to discover how much I still enjoy the drive from Va. to NM. Even in January it is lovely --- and so varied. Tomorrow we'll have to cross the wide expanse of TX, not all of which is so beautiful. However, there IS beauty in the western landscape, too.We've already been treated to two beautiful sunsets and look forward to many more once we arrive in Las Cruces.

Already I'm missing home and friends, though. Is it possible to be two places you like at the same time? Thank goodness some of our friends will be coming to see us so that will be a special treat. Family, too!

We are so grateful that the weather has been superb. January travel can be "iffy" but so far it has been gorgeous for the entire 1100 miles we've traveled. Hope our good fortune will last another two days.Our New Year's celebration will be a little different this year but we do plan to find a way to have a little celebration tomorrow night. The real celebration will be our arrival at our temporary home on New Year's Day. We plan to go to La Posta for a Mexican meal that night. Mmmmm!

DEPARTURE 12/29/2008

Leaving to the strains of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” we head off to I-64. We’ll be on this highway all the way to Kentucky where we’ll stay overnight with our good friends Jack and Sheryl. It is hard to believe that we are actually on our way and that we completed the daunting task of putting away all the Christmas stuff and getting the house ready to leave and actually departed almost on time!

The Prius is having its first encounter with mountainous driving but it is performing well in spite of being fully packed. We brought our lunch with us in order to finish up the food in the fridge. Unfortunately we did not find a nice rest stop to picnic and ended up eating in a parking lot at one of those awful turnpike stops. Oh well, the food was good anyhow!Ten hours and nearly 600 miles later we pulled into the driveway in Elizabethtown. Had a nice dinner and good visit with Jack and Sheryl before crashing for the night