March, 2020

The Land of Enchantment

In the midst of Coronavirus, New Mexico is still the Land of Enchantment. Diversity is still key to its charm and attraction: Shoshone homage to the land before a hike; homemade Thai egg and spring rolls; Western ballads; tile painting; millions of poppies. Such a plethora of awe!

Kayla's Shoshone homage: Before a hike to Soledad Canyon, Kayla, who is ½ Shoshone, explained that any Shoshone woman going out would wear a skirt—she wore one over her tights. A Shoshone woman would also wear moccasins—she wore hiking boots. After taking out a pouch of tobacco from her backpack she asked each of us to take a pinch of it. Then, she pulled a conch shell out from which she had whittled a hole. As we turned in each of the four compass direction points, she blew the conch. A moment of silent mediation was then offered up by each of us privately, and the tobacco brought down and placed onto the earth.

Wittara's homemade Thai egg and spring rolls: A bundle of energy is Wittara. If not serving at the local soup kitchen or learning painting/woodcarving/knitting, she is cooking. Luckily for us, we are the recipients of her generosity. The egg rolls—all ingredients freshly chopped—were the best we have tasted. The spring rolls were a dish never to be seen in any Thai restaurants we frequented. Served cold each one is mixture of greens, mushrooms, carrots, cooked chopped Thai rice noodles, and meat wrapped in an edible gelatinous, clear covering similar to the texture of saran wrap.

Dan, a neighbor on our street, travels a circuit throughout the USA entertaining 3-4 year-olds with his songs. His band, featured in the day-long Pat Garrett Festival, performed his original ballads and was a huge hit.

Esperanza's tile painting: Common ordinary white ceramic tiles are transformed into ones with amazing designs by layering different-colored mixtures of acrylics, glycerin, and floetrol.

Baylor Canyon--eye candy right now with millions of tiny poppies decorating the mountainsides. A hike there is indescribably delicious!

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