Fall..something else new

There are really no seasons in Hawaii. Unless you count "hot and humid with no wind", "hot and humid with tradewinds" , or "raining".

This is the first time in many years that I will be able to see the change of seasons and it has already started. I dont know what I expected...I guess to just wake up one morning and find all the trees wearing their golden amber leaves but its not like that. One small branch went gold.....then another higher up and another lower down. There doesnt seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, at least not that I can figure out.

The game in the area is on the move too. Bikki just alerted me to a mule deer at the bottom of the stairs on the back deck. She is the "hunter" out of the four dogs and decided a deer chase would be fun. She is still whining about me not letting her out but honestly "pom vs deer" sounds like a losing game for the dog. To be fair Lady smells all the same things Bikki does but she has absolutely no interest in the hunt part. She comes right back in the house and watches through the glass door. Smart dog.

This has been a very wet year for Angel Fire and there is no shortage of fodder for the critters to eat ( and I supplement their diet with tomato cores, lettuce, bread and whatever else vegetarian that is ready to go in the trash). Since I get to do the garbage run now ( no mail delivery, no trash pick-up here) the less that goes in the can, the less frequently I need to do it.

What is amazing here is how quickly the temp drops when clouds roll in. You can watch storms coming in over the mountains and as soon as the sun goes under cover, its chilly. Thunderheads on the move.....and the dogs are definately not crazy about thunder. Personally, I love it.

Doing something I've never done

For the first time in my life I shopped in a grocery isle I've no experience with. FROZEN FOOD, already cooked. All I have to do is heat it. May not sound like much to you but to me it is HUGE. WOW. Even here in Angel Fire there is amazing varitety. Classic American, Italian, Mexican ...even Indian ( India Indian ) and Chinese. While some of those things are available at some of the local restaurants ( we do have an amazing Chinese restaurant....go figure!) these sit awaiting the pleasure of my choosing, right in my freezer. I am sure I will get tired of "nuking" instead of cooking at some point, but at this moment, I am thrilled. While I do love to cook, for the most part, what a blessing not to have to if I dont feel like it. Besides, when I do cook, its always for an army....it will be a real trial to try and just cook for 1. Lovely to have another option ( and what took me so long to try some of this stuff????)

Doesnt take much to get me all fired up, does it?

Gardening in the Rock(ies)...the root ball won

I figured that transplanting two itty-bitty pine trees would be a snap. Ha. The only thing that snapped was my temper. I thought wetting the ground to prep it would help the root ball release its hold. John did warn to to wet, wait, dig and repeat. Which I did three times. Did I mention that New Mexico grows rocks? Around which the roots had emeshed themselves, to the point that even these small trees are loath to let go, period. I think I did manage to expose both root balls, even though the trees never budged, so I probably killed both of them. At this point I have decided that if I want a baby pine trees, I will go buy them. I did google this ( unfortunately AFTER this little exercise in futility) and found out that for every 1 inch in diameter the tree is, there is 9 -12 inches in width for the root ball and 18-24 inches in depth. Oh well. Live and learn.

I am so disgusted that I am going to go iron. I figure if I do a few pieces a day I should be caught up sometime in 2020.

Wednesday morning, 3am...it isnt just a song

John has gone back to Hawaii. The drive home from Albuquerque I was numb. I would say brain dead but I managed to make it back to the house. No workers were here, for which I was grateful, and the dogs were very glad to see me. I worried about whether the key would give me problems - it can be stubborn at times - but it turns out the front door was unlocked so the key wasnt an issue. I didnt know whether to be afraid or simply relieved.

I reached out a foot at 3am and my brain snapped awake with the knowledge that he has gone and was not there in the bed. That for the first time in our married life we have chosen to live separate lives...at least some of the time. While I do love this new house and the beauty that surrounds me, it is so much change at one time that I am not mentally "here". I dont know where I am.....

If this is the new normal, its a very quiet normal ( the dogs are great company and while they are not great conversationalists, they listen attentively : )

Fortunately, there is much to keep me busy.....a few boxes left to unpack, cleaning to be done, some digging, planting and potting ...and the ever present ironing. How I manage to be behind in ironing, always and everywhere, baffles me since we rarely wear clothes in this neck of the woods that require that sort of attention. It is one of the definate banes of my existence. I guess I should pray that the wrinkled look becomes fashionable....on clothes that is.

We mourn them still

There is sobbing of the strong
And a pall upon the land
But the people, in their weeping
Bare the iron hand
Beware the people weeping
When they bare the iron hand


This was written, not after 9-11, but after Lincoln was shot.
It was true then.
It is true now.

Do you remember?

Tomorrow marks 9 years since we were attacked, 9 years since our lives here in America fundamentally changed forever. Like the murder of President Kennedy, most of us remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard about the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania.

In Hawaii, we were still sleeping. The phone rang and it was Tessa....and I remember thinking that phone calls in the middle of the night ( it was actually morning but still dark out) usually mean someone has died or something else horrid has happened. And it had. She said "mom, turn on the tv" which we did. By then the first plane had hit the first tower and the second was hit shortly thereafter. We thought, as did much of the country, that perhaps the first plane was an accident. After the second, we all knew we were under attack.

Not that bin laden was a newbie to the scene of the "hate America" gang. He had been in on so many attacks prior to 9-11. The USS Cole, Kobar Towers, the first World Trade Center bombing....his fingerprints had long been on many attacks but on 9-11 we were attacked in our own country.

It opened the eyes of many of the touchy /feely liberals who had remained blind to the hatred of America by much of the Islamic world. Remember the celebrations, those dancing in the streets even as we searched for body parts? Remember those who said we had brought this on ourselves, that what we wrought in the world had "come home to roost"? The American hate mongers like Jeremiah Wright who said "God damn America"?

Now in the White House we have someone who swallowed this vile brew for over 20 years and sends his greetings to the muslim world while bowing low to them. A man whose wife , for the FIRST TIME in her life, is proud of America. Who are these people??

Remember that day, those lives lost or broken....and unlike our new Marie Antionette, be proud of America. Never forget. Never.

Change of seasons....change of moods

I realize that fall doesn't officially start till later this month but my mood has changed already. The slow dying of things....me included? I dont know if this is what its about but I know I feel different. Sad and though I am not alone yet, lonely. I know when the leaves start their slow decay I will mourn their vibrant presence. They used to be called "quaking aspens" and I now know why. Every passing breath of wind makes them quiver.....they are alive and beautiful and I remember how bare and dead they seem in winter. I still have the beauty of their dying....the orange, amber, yellow, reds. How is it that even as they die, they are at their most gorgeous?

Is that too , how God sees us? How , when we are giving up the " goat " or ghost, we see what He has always had to offer and are blessed , finally, and at the last call we see His glory and grace. Finally.

I am not happy but I am blessed...by what I have been given, in family, in treasure, in time and yes, even I , by my talents. I dont see what they are most of the time...certainly not my talents. But like the gift everyday is, I must be sure to untie the ribbons and LOOK at the gift. And certainly, at His grace.

Thank you Lord....for all of it.