Missing New Mexico

It's the end of summer in New Mexico - beginning to be my favorite time of the year there. Labor Day (the traditional end of summer) is approaching. There's always lots of interesting stuff to do on Labor Day weekend - the Socorro County Fair and the Hillsboro Apple Festival being a couple of favorites. Actually now I think about it, that's two events in about 10,000 square miles but it is New Mexico after all.

The Hatch Chile Festival is an experience, though we've only been once. It seemed a cross between New Mexico and Old Mexico (about 100 miles away). Dust, pickups, loud music, lots of spicy food, strange religious items, hot sun...

Here's a picture of Judi and me at Lake Valley on a trip with our friends Sanjay and Urvashi:



Lake Valley is a ghost town near Hillsboro. In the early eighties I used to go dancing there with some friends. Once a month on a Saturday night, the local ranch families used to gather in the old school house for an old fashioned dance - guitar, fiddle, western two-step, pies and coffee at midnight. I can still hear the strains of "Faded Love".

Later in the fall, the smoke from the wood fires greets you in the morning, roasting green chile scents the air, and the nights are cold and crisp. Then at the end of October, the cottonwood leaves turn color. Here's an old photo from the Bosque del Apache
widelife refuge.





Tim