A Friday in a Small Town

We didn't see any deer that morning, but we saw plenty of birds. Mom, Glenna and I got ready to go to Mom's Bible study at 10:00. I was so looking forward to it! First, Glenna took some photos around Mom's house.

Her nearest neighbor, Pete, built this mini greenhouse out of sliding windows. It was great!

We had plenty of spinach, Romaine, chard, and cilantro for our green smoothies. (I mostly drank them. I think it will take Mom some getting used to.)

The pasture, and the blue New Mexico sky.

After Bible study, our hostess invited us to her garden to see her climbing roses and various irises.

These are agave plants! They grow, get a spike, flower, and then die (over a 3 year process or so). 

 They also sprout up everywhere. In the foreground of this photo you can see two of them. Donnah says they're easy to transplant to more desired places.

It's hard to tell from this photo, but the center mountain has been blown away by a volcano on its left side. This is the view from Donnah's back yard and according to her, they're the only ones with this exact view.

Some of her beautiful irises:

I love these ladies so much. Mom's lifetime friend, Joanne, casually remarked that her irises were also blooming. I jumped at the chance to go to Joanne's place! It's so peaceful there and I usually see birds like Orioles and woodpeckers. Once we even saw javalinas in her garden!

I was so envious of the beds and beds of irises. It doesn't get cold enough in Florida for them to do well. Usually, one has to dig them up and put them in the freezer for the winter.

The purple was so deep on these that they looked black from a distance.

(Shockingly enough, I had not been home a week when we received the sad news that Joanne's son, Mark, had passed away from a heart attack. It's so surreal. He was near Boyd's age, too. My heart is just hurting for Joanne.)

As I said previously, we did everything together while we were there. Mom needed some hay, so we drove out to her connection to pick up six bales for the horse and the goat.

I come by my title of Captain Obvious honestly. Before Mark started tossing it in the truck, here was Mom:

Is the truck close enough?

Do you need me to get the truck closer?

 My brother worked on a dairy farm from the time he was 15 to age 21. He grew up around horses and currently owns 17 of them. He gets hay every. Single. Week. He feeds horses every. Single. Day.

Mom, I think he's got it. 

I opted to take a short nap while Mom, Mark, and Glenna headed out to the ranch for some auto items (the ranch is where Mom and my step-dad lived until he passed). Oh, and JP went with them.

 JP's the most wonderful dog and perfect for Mom. He wandered onto the ranch one day, starving, and of course Dad fed him. He started calling him "Jack Pot" because that's what he hit when he wandered onto their ranch. He was given food, shelter, and the job of protecting Mom. He's really, really good at it, too!

The Ranch

The Ranch House, formerly a Stage Coach Stop

 That night, we agreed to attend a program that the children of the village were putting on at the Community Center.

Feels good to laugh!

 Cathy M wanted to send photos of us back to her kids, so she organized us in front of the pine before the children's program.

I love finding photos from Glenna. Wonder what she was thinking here?

 Cathy helped her husband, John, take my wedding photos. For years, Himself would only remember her as the lady saying, "Look up here! Look up here!"

 The entire community comes out to support the children's program. I love small towns!

The kids singing about the "Nifty Fifty States." 

 See the little girl on the right in the blue dress with the daisies printed on it? She reminded me so much of my Kelly. She was waving that flag like it was the most important role in the play.

I love her!

Ok, here's the side story. My Mom told Glenna that there was a 15 year old boy who played the fiddle and she should really get to know him. She said he is also home schooled and he's all cowboy.

Mom was so disappointed to see that he was wearing a cap instead of a cowboy hat.

She kept reassuring Glenna that he was a real, actual cowboy and that she should meet him. She said she would talk to his grandmother and arrange marriage.

Here's what Glenna thought of that:

 The kids are singing, "Smokey, The Bear"

Gasp! It's Smokey Bear live and in person!

 The little girl in the brown dress was not too sure about him.

This little fella wasn't too sure about him, either! 

 Afterwards, I heard him say, "I did it. There." Was it a dare? ;)

This sweet gal, Sally,  goes to Mom's Bible study. Her daughter's name is Jubilee! She didn't want anything to do with Smokey Bear.

Favorite!

This little cowboy came in with one pant leg tucked into his boot. I knew I must have a photo.

 Aren't these beautiful cookies? No telling how many I ate.

 Really. I'm not telling.

When we had brought Boyd's things home, we found his change jar. We decided to use his money to show Glenna one of her Uncle's favorite poker games.

 (My brother's nickname was "Hoot the Paiute," dubbed by my step-dad, Jeff.)

Glenna's laughing because my brother is giving my mother a "face lift" by grabbing the back of her neck.

 Something rare and wonderful began to happen and I insisted Glenna document it:

I was winning!

Can you see Mom's pennies? That's all she had left. She dipped into Hoot's Bank again.

At the end of the night, I was the big winner! There's my pile with Mark's winnings - he got the pocket lint, washers, screws, and bits of metal.

Glenna's pile.

The next day, we would have to make the long trek back to Albuquerque. We went to bed at a decent hour in order to get a good start. More to come!