A Place in the Southwest Shade

Think of the word 'sunny'.  Doesn't it feel cheerful?  Our minds make all sorts of pleasant connections- sunshine, sunlight, sunlit, sunrise, sunflower.

 Now think of the opposite word 'shady".

'Shady' not only reminds us of darker places in life but also is an synonym for 'dishonest', as in 'shady dealings'.

I would like to propose that in the Desert Southwest, with springtime daytime temperatures already in the 90's, 'shady' takes on a whole new positive connotation, as in 'resting in a shady place'.   With the sun beating down relentlessly in our high desert area, any bit of shade in prized.

I saw a field yesterday that had only two small trees, about a 100 feet apart .  Each had a worker's truck parked beneath it in a sliver of shade. Our outside cats have already staked out napping locations beneath plants with the widest leaf spread to give maximum privacy and shade. And as I drive around town in blazing heat and light, the meager shade provided by desert plants, like honey mesquite trees, desert willows, and pecan trees, beckons.

Our yard has finally aged enough that the plants are adults and provide some wonderful shady spots for strolling and relaxing. We can walk under the grape arbor to visit the garden to see if any tomatoes are ripe yet.

We can sit under a pecan tree with a glass of jamaica (hibiscus blossom water).

Two palo verde trees outside the wall have finally grown up enough to provide shade in the vegetable garden.

Grape vines provide an amazing amount of shade for a bench in front of an outside room we call the 'bunkhouse'.

And I'm glad to see that this flower bed gets at least some shade during the day.  (I never believe the plant labels that say 'full sun', at least not for El Paso.)

As our daily summer temperatures climb into the 100's, I know I will be seeking out a wonderfully cool, quiet place in the shade. Go away, sunshine!

New Mexico Weekend Getaway

Last weekend it felt like time to get away from El Paso, my home town, for a few days.  Although El Paso, on the westernmost tip of Texas, seems far away from anywhere, a road trip of a few hours can put you in some pretty amazing places.  We decided to spend a long weekend in Lincoln County, New Mexico.

New Mexico, USA

Several things drew us back to the Lincoln area.  For one, nearby is Ft. Stanton, a beautiful historic site that is the setting of a fictional work that my husband Wayne and I have been trying to finish up (Forts, Farbs and Phantoms). For another, we located a new place to stay in the area that would be quiet and encourage us to get down to the difficult business of putting words on paper. And Lincoln itself is a small, charming community full of Southwest history and some good restaurants with friendly owners.

We left El Paso on a Friday morning, taking a leisurely driving route through Alamogordo, Cloudcroft, and Ruidoso.  (A more direct route is straight to Alamogordo, through Tularosa, and then to Ruidoso).  After a quick drive through Ruidoso to see what was new on main street, we headed east through the Hondo River Valley.  Green, green, green!  A pleasing sight for two desert rats.

Bypassing the turn off to Lincoln, we drove a few more miles east to Tinnie, New Mexico, a small community with a well-known restaurant, Tinnie's Silver Dollar.  They have two rooms for rent.  We splurged and chose the larger room.  It was a great choice.  We had a living room to set up our laptops, good WiFi, a king size bed, and even a jacuzzi, which we never got around to using.  We toured Tinnie's grounds for a stroll after dinner.

Saturday began with breakfast at the historic Wortley Hotel in Lincoln.

Then it was a short drive to Ft. Stanton.  The fort was quiet this weekend, with only a few re-enactors on the shady grounds.  

I loved walking around alone and looking at the buildings, the architectural styles reflecting the many reincarnations of the fort through history.

Being back in Lincoln and Ft. Stanton did exactly what we had hoped.  We could hardly wait to get back to our room and get the plot in our new book moving.  

How fortunate we are to live close to the beautiful state of New Mexico that offers green landscapes, fascinating history, and a relaxing atmosphere.  I would pack my bags quickly for another visit soon.

Let's go, Chihuahuas!

Tuesday morning found my husband Wayne and I headed to downtown El Paso, Texas to attend our first game at the newly completed  Southwest University Park.  It is the home of the El Paso Chihuahuas, a Triple A baseball team affiliated with the San Diego Padres in the Pacific Coast League.  As we gathered up sunglasses, sun hats, cell phones and jackets (it was an unexpectedly cool morning), we felt much excitement to be going to our first C-dogs game.  We also had  a small concern about parking facilities, which had been much discussed in the local news of late.

What a great excuse to have breakfast downtown as well.  We could arrive early, have a leisurely meal, and then stroll over to the ballpark, which is located right in the middle of all the action in central El Paso.

Our restaurant of choice was La Malinche, located on the east side of Pioneer Plaza.  

It was not as busy as usual on a Tuesday morning.  We had plenty of time to observe the vintage architectural touches of the building, which was formerly the elegant Hotel Cortez.  I have great memories of attending ballroom dances there in formal attire during my high school years. The decor is now lively and colorful, and the food is authentically border style Mexican.

Then it was on to the ballpark.  Wayne gave a gasp as we got our first view of the new facility and said how proud he was of El Paso for building it.  Everyone appeared to be in high spirits, from the ticket takers, the backpack checkers, the aisle ushers, to the food vendors.  And the highest spirits of all had to come from the many school groups that were in attendance that day. (It was a special "Education Day").

First we oohed and ahhed over the setting.  In the background you could see several important landmarks, including  the Camino Real Hotel, the Double Tree Hotel, and  the El Paso Museum of History

It looked as if any seat in the house would provide a great view of the action on the field.

And I always love the mascots.  Here is Chico, the Chihuahua, entertaining the crowd.

We were seated by a group of sixth graders from a local elementary school.  They kept me well entertained with their bilingual conversations and constant activity.  If only I would have been quick enough to take a video of the kids as they piled on each other trying to retrieve a stray ball that had landed in the stands.. It was a fierce fight. 

I remember the last baseball game I attended many years ago in Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, home of the San Diego Padres.  Who could have predicted that many years later I would be attending a game of one of their Triple A affiliates in my home town of El Paso?  

It was historic!  Go, Chihuahuas!

Five good reasons to live in El Paso, Texas

The recent howling spring winds blowing dust and debris everywhere in my home town of El Paso, Texas prompted me to write this post.  I must think positively, Pollyanna-like.  I've got to remember why I live in El Paso, Texas.  Here are five good reasons that come to mind, in no particular order.

No. 1.  El Paso is located on the border between Texas and Mexico.  Some may use the term 'border city' as a pejorative term, but I prefer to think of El Paso's location as a two-for-one deal. Citizens of El Paso have all of the advantages of  American-style living with the bonus of the opportunity to experience Mexican culture close up.

No. 2.  Great Mexican food.  I do believe that El Paso is the Mexican food capital of the world. Once a person becomes accustomed to the special flavor of our border Mexican food, no other Mexican food can match it. Enchiladas made with thick red sauce, sauces made for dipping with warm tortilla chips, fluffy handmade flour tortillas, need I go on?  And my husband and I find new small restaurants popping up constantly in El Paso where you can imagine that your aunt or grandmother is in the kitchen preparing a special spicy dish just for you.

No. 3.  We have mountains!  Beautiful mountains that change colors and create a backdrop for breathtaking sunsets.  "Sunset alert," we call out in our household to remind each other to take a few minutes from a busy day and walk outside for a view towards the west.

No. 4.  Two languages, English and Spanish, that swirl around, mix, compete, and find that one can't live without the other one.  Two vocabularies, two grammars, two accents.  What richness!

No. 5.  Western heritage and history.  We can sit in the Dome Bar of the historic Camino Real Hotel in downtown El Paso and imagine times long past when revolutionaries and cattlemen met in that very location, making important deals.

Within two hours, we can drive to the small western town of Van Horn,Texas and spend the night at the historic El Capitán Hotel,

or to Marfa, Texas and stay at the Hotel Paisano,

both decorated beautifully with heavy wooden furniture and courtyards and gardens.

 And one of my favorite places in El Paso is the Magoffin Home, a state historical site located near downtown.  It only takes a few minutes after stepping inside for me to be mentally back in the 19th century.  

So, I'm focusing on the positive and forgetting those gale force winds for the time being at least.  Surely they can't last much longer? Surely?

Gorgeous blooms from not so gorgeous plants

I started to call this post "Gorgeous blooms from ugly plants," but I didn't want to speak harshly of the native plants and cacti found in the Desert Southwest.  Just like a mother who thinks all of her children are beautiful, I also love all of my plants.  It's just that some of them are a little hard to appreciate until they burst into bloom.

Last weekend found me at the Florafest Native Plant Sale, a fundraiser for the museum at the University of Texas at El Paso.  Many of the plants sold there were native to our region or at least had a good chance of thriving locally.  No prissy plants were allowed!

I often chuckle when I see colorful annuals displayed by home improvement stores at the first hint of warm weather. An  Arizona writer ( Yard Full of Sun)  compared those kinds of annuals to, shall I say using a more polite term, streetwalkers. The Florafest plants weren't pretty or seductive at first glance, so buyers had to understand their potential or be willing to take a risk.  I  took the bait and filled up my Radio Flyer red wagon with many new, exciting species.

My new plants aren't in bloom yet, but I decided to walk around our property and take pictures of plants that have transformed themselves from ugly ducklings into beautiful swans recently by putting on attractive flowers.

Chocolate flower

My husband asked me recently if there was a weed growing in this pot in the courtyard.. Certainly not..  It is a chocolate flower, so called because the yellow flowers, especially in early morning, have the wonderful scent of chocolate.

  

We have a long flower bed by the swimming pool where my husband sowed two packages of wildflower seeds several years ago.  I don't even bother to weed the bed, because the wildflowers themselves look like weeds until they bloom.

Wildflower

Prickly pear blossom

Prickly pear cacti are scary plants. Beware of the large thorns on this variety. But what unusual colors their flowers come in.  This bloom is a peachy-yellow color.

The color of the blooms on this hedgehog cactus half buried in dried mesquite leaves amazed me one morning as I was bringing in the morning newspaper.

Hedgehog cactus

Ocotillos are sneaky plants.  Just when you are about to pull them up because they look dead, they burst into bloom.  Compare these two ocotillo plants from our front yard.

Ocotillo with no leaves or blossoms.  Is it dead?

Ocotillo with small green leaves and red blooms

This final plant  I (ahem) appropriated from a vacant lot in our neighborhood.  Imagine my delight to find it in bloom with pale yellow flowers several months after installation in a bump out area along the front sidewalk.

Orphan plant

Native plants are relatively easy to care for and can survive a little neglect ( I hate it when plants are described as "thriving on neglect."  What living thing could do that ?).  Native plant owners also don't have to huff and puff hauling the plants in and out of the house for the changing seasons. And oh those wonderful, surprising, brilliant, colorful blooms!  .