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.