New Mexcio–Estás en mi corazón: Chapter 7

Ah, we’re sitting in Cafe Marion with the heat on. Just returned from a shower at the Silver City RV Park in Silver City NM. We like Site 4C for its proximity to the restrooms. It’s a sweet place, though a bit noisy with sirens and loud motor engines. By tomorrow night we’ll be in Arizona, so it’s poignant here under the evening cottonwood with a near half moon in the sky.

So, let’s travel back to last Saturday, Oct. 25th. We stayed two nights with friend Diana Kelleher, a woman we respect for her independent nature, love of wild places, art and her canine family members Colin the Border Collie, and Peanut a mixed breed little dog.

The Corrales Growers Market is not to be missed in October with its booths selling fresh tomato, chiles, lettuce and yum yum, Hand to Mouth Foods. Jeffrey Lee and Elaine DiFederico, owners of Hand to Mouth Foods, host the booth, which also features garlic and excellent bakery. Bill bought a seeded turmeric loaf, whose yellow interior compliments his morning omelet. Diana had to introduce us to Monette, a lovely woman whose chiles are just the right amount of heat for Diana’s palate–hotter than we  travelers from the Northwest can bear!

Having lived in Corrales about three decades, Diana knows many of the locals. She introduced us to artist Juan Wijngaard, a remarkable painter whose work reflects the Old Masters Style. Diana brought us by the Corrales Bosque Gallery, where we appreciated Juan’s talent. We also spoke about a photo taken by another friend, Dennis Chamberlain. He published Eighteen Years in the Village, an homage to the creative, independent, rural village of 8000 or so, whose guardian is Sandia Mountain, a powerful force rising over Corrales, framing its skyline. Diana has a copy of his book, and I read every page.

Diana’s friend Barb Clarke has her own gallery, Barb Clarke Fine Art. Bill and I had seen her work at the Abiquiu Inn/Rustic Hotel earlier this month. We like Barb’s style. Diana is lucky to have a couple of original pieces painted by Barb when she was starting out as a painter.

At her home, we enjoyed Diana’s art, as well as works by others she appreciates and is friends with.

The following day we left to visit our friend Juanita Busot, who lives part time at The Neighborhood retirement community in nearby Rio Rancho. She and her husband Michael live there, and visit Whidbey Island each summer, renting a home. Juanita is a wonderfully creative, spiritual friend, who coached our son Raymond in Spanish in 2009 before his junior year in Argentina. We’ve remained friends ever since.

Later we drove up to the base of Sandia Mountain–a community called Sandia Heights–where we enjoyed the afternoon and evening at the home of our friends and former neighbors, artists Claudia Mitchell and Gerard Del Monte. They wax on about the Albuquerque climate, their neighborhood, and the natural world. Claudia’s happiest when outside or painting New Mexico’s natural beauty. She has a number of upcoming venues where her work will be shown. Gerard said his whimsical crafted wood boxes with bird feet “sell like hotcakes” at the Taos Blue Gallery.

The couple’s dog Archie is quite a character and Gerard regaled us with Archie’s bravery that night when out for a walk. Gerard told us Archie started growling, “a manly bark.” Shining his flashlight, Gerard saw a pair of coyotes. One crouched down in a hunting pose. Gerard shouted for them to leave. It was then, Gerard told us, that the coyotes realized a human was with Archie, and the wild canines skadoodled. For his part, Archie, appeared proud of his brave behavior, lifting his chin at Gerard’s compliment, after returning home.

The following day we said our goodbyes to Claudia and Gerard. We swam at the West Mesa Aquatic Center for $1.50 each. Great resource! We spent a couple of hours at the Westgate Library with Bill engaged in Whidbey water systems, and me promoting a Festival of the Elements held during the month of November at the South Whidbey Community Resource Center.

That evening we drove to Bosque Farms where Bill’s childhood friend lives. Tom Kane has lived on an acre since 1991. Bill grew up with the Kane family, both families attending Catholic school. While Tom is 7 years younger than Bill, he was a part of his older siblings’ social world. While we visited, Bill and Tom recalled earlier days. We met Tom’s most excellent lady friend Janise. She’s a retired engineer from Sandia Labs, a master gardener, and inspiration behind Tom’s home and garden remodel. Before dinner we stood outside admiring the skeins of Sandhill Cranes flying overhead toward nearby Bosque del Apache for the evening. The sound of their soft calls is something to experience. We slept out in Marion on the driveway, as we did at Diana’s and Claudia and Gerard’s. She makes a great personal casita.

Leaving Tom’s at 7:30 AM since his bathroom contractor was due to begin work early, we drove out to National Radio Astronomy’s Very Large Array. It is sited on the Plain of San Agustin, an ancient, now dry lakebed. Nearly 30 active radio telescope dishes scan the skies 24/7 recording radio waves and compiling them into images of black holes, distant galaxies, supernovas and the birth of new galaxies. While I believed up until we arrived at VLA, that the dishes searched the universe for signs of extraterrestrial life, I learned instead about the spectrum of rays, how every object in space emits radio waves, and was humbled by how small we humans are when compared to the estimated 2 trillion galaxies of the universe.

Does the VLA search for extraterrestrial intelligence? Yes. But still no provable signs. “Despite the power of the COSMIC system, the immense scope of the search means that scientists have only “scratched the surface” of the available data. The VLA remains a key instrument in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, but definitive proof of intelligent life has yet to be found,” according to an AI summary.  COSMIC stands for Commensal Open-Source Multimode Interferometer Cluster (COSMIC), and was installed at the VLA in 2020.

After this inspiring visit, we drove all day through scenic open space with views of mountains and forests. We stopped to picnic at Aldo Leopold’s viewpoint and picnic area. The early environmentalist found his calling while working in the Gila Wilderness with the US Forest Service, and was influential in creating the nation’s first federally recognized wildnerness area in 1924. In his work shooting wolves back in the early 1900s, he had an awakening as he watched an old wolf’s eyes lose their ‘green fire’ as it died. From then on, he worked to preserve wild areas. One of his famous quotes: “To those devoid of imagination a blank place on the map is a useless waste; to others, the most valuable part.”

This morning we breakfasted at Tranquilbuzz Coffee House, the best coffee gathering site we’ve ever visited. Creative, eclectic, friendly. While sitting at a hand-carved counter with hearts we talked with a couple of locals and learned about hiking Little Cherry Creek. That story, and the other adventures of Silver City will wait until the next edition of our story. It’s true we love it here in Silver City.

And now, it’s good night and thank you, New Mexico, for giving us inspiration, friendly people, landscapes and wildlife close to God, and down home delicious food.