You know you are a true southwesterner when...

The Desert Southwest has a culture all its own.  You know you are a true southwesterner when ...

You order Eggs Benedict prepared with a special southwestern sauce;

You get your camera ready for a snow shot, because you know the snow will melt soon;

You celebrate the Christmas season with a breakfast cookout in the desert;

You never tire of listening to a mariachi band play traditional Mexican music;

You celebrate every cactus bloom in early spring;

You earmark recipes containing the words "Texas"and "beer";

You brag about your skill in making homemade flour tortillas;

You  prepare migas instead of plain old scrambled eggs for breakfast;

You get excited when a desert plant blooms;

You are always on the lookout for new landscaping ideas.

Can you add your own favorite experiences of living in the Desert Southwest?

Mixing it up for morning coffee

Morning coffee

A friend once told me that if it weren't for the prospect of preparing and drinking her morning coffee, she might never make it out of bed.  I understand that. Drinking a steaming cup of gourmet coffee as the sun is coming up is high on my list of life's pleasures. Add stimulating company and comfortable surroundings to the morning coffee ritual, and it becomes even more enjoyable.

My husband Wayne and I have identified several locations on our property that qualify as prime coffee drinking spots.  I asked him to take photos of a few of his favorite places.

A pecan tree in the barbecue courtyard has grown to a height that provides shade for the coffee drinking table at most hours of the day.

Barbecue courtyard coffee

Another smaller pecan tree is doing its best to provide shade in what we call our "horno (oven) yard." The retro style chairs are from Johnson City, Texas.

Horno yard coffee

If the weather is a bit chilly or windy, we can pop into the bunkhouse and pretend we are having morning coffee in the Old West.

Bunkhouse coffee

Coffee in the vegetable garden gives us a chance to fret over the tomato plants.  Will we be lucky enough to have a tomato crop this year?

Vegetable garden coffee

And finally, coffee in our newest yard that we have dubbed Sunset Heights (great sunset viewing) provides the opportunity to inspect recent plantings.  Will the fragrant chaparral sage live in this location (this is my third try), and will the Mexican Yellow Bird survive its recent transplanting?

Sunset Heights coffee

My home town of El Paso Texas, located in the Desert Southwest, is known as the "Sun City" because of our approximately 300 days of sunshine a year. That's 300 potential days of choosing a spot to savor morning coffee and commune with nature before the rush of  living begins each day.