Silver City, New Mexico

The city is mourning the loss of a (relatively) young couple living here. So sad. Maybe my light-hearted witchery for tomorrow.

Silver City, New Mexico

Since it is the Sunday before Halloween I am inspired to start ruminating (my e-editor would have changed that to urinating) about what makes a witch. What makes a witch, I wonder? Not a so-called real witch, evil and powerful, because I mostly do not believe in them (although I have heard some interesting stories!) No, I mean people who get the undeserved reputation for being witches.

What does it take, I wonder? Charles McKay, who over a hundred years ago wrote Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, observed that all it took for a woman to be called  a witch was to be old, poor, and alone. That is all. He made no mention at all of meanness, grouchiness, or introversion.

Now that I am an older woman, I wonder what people might say about (or project onto) my behavior when I am at home alone. If they were disposed to dislike me or attribute evil motives to other people generally, what kind of behavior might make them wonder?

I would like to spend a few days meditating on this during this Halloween/All Saints Day season.

Starting tomorrow!

Silver City,  New Mexico

I like to think I am in pretty good shape, but I do not have the moves for belly dancing at all. Once my mom went to strip club in Las Vegas, Nevada, and came home laughing about seeing a stripper who could make her breasts rotate in opposite directions at the same time - presumably in time to the musical accompaniment. This I could never do, or probably want to.

I wonder if such performers these days have all kinds of options that were not available in the past. After all, they can get surgery these days to enlarge their breasts to dizzying prooortions. Maybe lacking the necessary muscular skills they can, Along with breast implants, have inserted little remote motorized devices that will stimulate their muscles to rotate their breasts in any desired motion.

At Christmas time, this trick could be combined with changing colored lights like the illuminations for Christmas trees and yard ornaments.

I think this would be quite a novel addition to a strip tease and I would not even have to be given credit or royalties for the use of the ideas. After all, Christmas is a time for giving.

Will I be using this idea, come Halloween?

Nah - sadly such a device would prove an imperceptible change in the motion of my chest; nobody would see a thing.

Silver City, New Mexico

I do not know whether it is the approach of Halloween, or the fact that this is a time of year I tend to experience changes (often unwanted) but I am feeling a disinclination to report these days. Last night out of curiosity I read some old work of mine (close to twenty year old work, some of it) and I found it pretty damn funny. I laughed out loud a few times.

Not only had I forgotten how much detail I included, but I did not - most of the time - realize how funny I was. That fact makes me wonder about myself a little, but I, the former Queen of Introspection (self-designated, of course) refuse to look too closely at that fact.

No, I have been inspired to start writing fiction again - of course, this time describing how it is to be my current age, more or less. Life is, after all, very different these days.

As for the past, I am tickled at how easy it was, via the phone to get all the way back to some of my early stories. I invite you to read them and see if you find them as amusing as I did. (What is the chance of that, I wonder?)

All you have to do is click on More... at the bottom of the menu at the left and scroll and scroll and scroll!! until you get down to Murders of a Flower Child. Last night I shocked myself with those stories, actually. How did I become so inhibited now?

I want to feel free to write like that again. I wonder if I can.

We will see. Or rather I will.

I make no promises; it is a strange time of year.

Silver City, New Mexico

Our last morning in Tucson we went to the botanical gardens, which has a butterfly house as well as cacti and succulents from the Tucson area and elsewhere. It has some spectacular exhibits and some very large plants, not to mention plantings. We ate at Ednas - very enjoyable, sitting outside in the shade.

Our first day in Tucson we went to the Crows Nest and other little shops in a compound in downtown Tucson, where we found water bottle holders made from fabric - evidently a-hard-to find item these days. Reasonably priced, too.

Tucson, Arizona

We left for Tucson on Thursday and this is the first time since then I have felt like writing. Busy, busy! I will be telling about our Tucson experiences over the next few weeks, I imagine, when I am back in Silver City. Today we went to the Desert Museum, which I last saw forty-five years ago. Primarily, I remember it for the puma reclining on a ledge above my head level. When my under two-year-old daughter ran by, the puma eyed her narrowly like prey and looked as if she was a very succulent morsel. I snatched her up and got her out of the room, pronto!

Today there was a big cat sleeping on a ledge just a few feet above the level we were standing on. We were outside and the cat had a huge area in which to roam at will. I wonder how many cats have lived there since we were there?

The highlights of the museum visit for us were the mountain lion, the live javelina in a ditch we could see well from the path and a bridge overlooking the ditch - oh yes, and a free, live two-foot rattlesnake that crossed the paved path maybe ten feet in front of us.

Quite startling after visiting its extended family in cages! 

Silver City, New Mexico

Went to Jonathan Beck dentistry today and learned a thing or two I did not know before. If you do not get your teeth cleaned every six months or so, you swallow the plaque on your teeth. It is the same stuff that clogs arteries and is so bad for your vascular system. Who knew?

These folks also have a bird feeder visible from every treatment room. Awesome.

Silver City, NM

The weekend just passed I had so much fun socializing and shopping I could probably get through the winter just fine, but I do not have to. Now that I live closer to family I get to see them more often. Yippee!

The fiber arts festival was full of objects and techniques I had never seen before. The rain definitely put a damper on some events, but it is definitely worth trying to pursue information about last minute changes.

The vendors are delighted to have folks look at their work!

In the lobby of the Murray hotel I met a woman selling baked goods, including chocolate eclairs. I gave her my sob story about not having a real genuine eclair for decades. She sympathized and assured me hers were made with genuine Bavarian cream. At three dollars I figured her generously sized offerings were a bargain. Bev, the baker, assured me they were; she has seen them in the big cities for six or seven dollars apiece.

I took my prize home and had it for dessert.

Fabulous, it was. If you want to try one, she sells at four shows per year, all in the Fall. She sad she was at the convention center during the gem and mineral show, but either I missed her or for some reason was not tempted.

If you see her and buy something, I doubt you will be disappointed!

Silver City, NM

The show was fabulous, really. So much cool and original and inventive stuff! The retrospective of Henrietta Hovarter has unbelievable deals and you can bargain. The art guild and annex are still open today, and they are serving refreshments.

I am getting hungry just thinking about it.

No time to write more. There is a fiber art exhibit at the Murray Hotel ballroom and a sculpture exhibit at the Blue Dome gallery of hat have been highly recommended to me. I have to see those.

Silver City, New Mexico

All weekend is supposed to be chilly and rainy. How sad for all the exhibitors of the big art weekend! The makers market printers are set up in the Power and Light press building, though, so stop by there if you can. I am going by the art guild building on my way home; hopefully those folks can update me on what is where today.

The Visitors Center informs me that the wine festival is still on at Gough Park, for those interested in that kind of New Mexican culture. Open from 9 to 6:00. Have fun!

Silver City, New Mexico

Fall is definitely here in Silver City. Cool temperatures, rain (is it usually this rainy here in the Fall? I would not have thought so!). Come to think of it, though, it is threatening more than actually raining.

Of course, as soon as I say such a thing the weather will make a liar out of me. I cannot complain about this, though, because I have a bad habit of making a liar out of myself,

Does anyone else do that? I used to be perfectly comfortable giving opinions, describing my feelings or habits in a certain way, and speaking out.

Now I have trouble doing that without thinking twice. Not that I am being intentionally deceitful; I am just so dang changeable.

Keeping silent, though, is difficult for me.

At least - until tomorrow.

Silver City, New Mexico

Today I walked by a wall I must have passed by at least a dozen times before. It is composed of rocks with molded egg carton topping as a deterrent to climbers. Today, though, I noticed something I had failed to observe before: some of the rocks seemed to have really concave surfaces. I approached for a closer view.

Good grief! Multiple rocks in this wall are geodes! Most of them seem to be forms of calcite, I think, although quartz crystals rested in at least one rock. It looked as if someone wanted to display his or her geode collection outside for everyone to enjoy. Upon looking closer I saw many other interesting rocks mounted in their outdoor setting. Not all of them are geodes.

What a treat! I wonder how long I have been walking past this wall with its items of special interest? It is definitely worthy of further exploration.

Silver City, New Mexico

Besides having trouble respecting people’s religious beliefs, I have trouble respecting their property. Do not get me wrong - I respect (or at least try to observe) their right to own stuff, and I do not believe it is okay to steal it from them. When it comes to trespassing on the land of others, though, I am a little looser. I walk on and across golf courses. I hang along rivers on occasion without too much concern about who owns the land.

After all, I do no harm. I abstain from harming plants and wildlife if I can help it. So what is the big deal?

Except for fear. I am afraid of people possibly guarding their precious ground with weapons or a propensity to prosecute offenders. If people are uptight about their property as far as I am concerned they need to give some indication of that - either verbal or nonverbal. Otherwise how can I possibly know?

As far as that goes, how can anyone have the right to own thousands of acres?

Silver City, New Mexico

Because of all the rain this summer, much of the pampas grass is as spectacular as what I wrote about last year. It is so gorgeous, with its huge fluffy white plumes!

They are not native to New Mexico, but as some other species, they are such a feast for the eyes that I cannot disapprove.

Seeing so much cosmos along the Continental Divide Trail made my daughter and I a little bit nervous this year. Was it native, we wondered?

Well, the answer is yes! It is native to Mexico and seems to be native to all four (five?) of these Southwestern border states, which all used to be part of Mexico. Happily, because cosmos is refreshingly lovely.

I just realized that the subsequent settling of my husband and I in Santa Fe (where all my children were born) was prefigured by the fresh cosmos my mother put on our wedding cake. 

Silver City, New Mexico 

After a long hiatus I finally took a hike on Boston Hill. Between the rain and the heat I had not done that for a long time. Today I ended up hiking an H Loop from the Cheyenne trail head. This  is an interesting hike through a lot of interesting mines and rock formations. It also has a little hint of danger because there has been a bobcat sighting there.

Today I encountered two mountain bikers and what seemed like a grandpa grandson duo who were on horses. Everyone was enjoying the day. Strangely enough, I did not pass any other pedestrians, although I saw some from afar, and no dogs at all.

The H loop even took strolling me only an hour to navigate, which is a good thing because the trail head is at least a thirty minute hike from my home. I try to walk faster, but get distracted and slow down. Someone who walks fast could probably make the loop in half the time, but everyone needs to watch their step there.

Another hour of heaven! Next time maybe I will try to reach the summit, which I have only done once. Right now I am here at the Visitor Center, where I have been given a much better map of the trails on the open than I have had in the past. Maybe now I will only get lost half as much.

Silver City, New Mexico

Next weekend is the big Festival: art tour and printing festivals and who knows what else. Tonight there will be a steel drum band at Adobe Springs. If this gorgeous weather holds it should be a wonderful weekend.

There is supposed to be rain between now and then, but who knows? The percentages of likelihood are not all that high. So far I think October is my favorite month here as well as most other places I have lived. Having the weather break from the summer’s high temperatures (relatively low as they were when compared to Las Cruces and Tucson) I am still delighted and thankful for the cool.

This last Thursday the film club was supposed to show a movie which did not happen because that day the roof was repaired and the place stank of epoxy, we were told. The man who told us was amazed at everyone’s good nature.

What did he expect?

This is Silver City!