holy snow day!

Well, we had us-a here a storm!

Jake the Dog thinks it's tasty.

You might be from Texas if:

Make a wish!

sláinte!

Tomorrow, barring that we are not snowed in(!), we make our exit from this place. I have a hard time with "when things are over"...I only like goodbyes because they are often collated with great hugs, multiple rounds of them if you work it right.

I know two things: that it is time for what is next, and that we will come back.  

I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the time we've spent here: for the opportunity itself, for the dude who traveled thousands of miles back and forth, for the friends and community here and the breaking of bread, for the kid who really took it on and flourished with his new freedoms and responsibilities. For this frontier land that is still so vast and raw. For my parents, who planted the seed by experience what it is to go and see what is out there. 

And to catch us up a bit:

We had a visitor! 

We spent a day at Balmorhea, where one of us was nuts enough to get in:

We gathered together.

And we raised a glass.

And danced in the streets.

And stood at the point of the circle where end meets begin, and said HELL YES.

spirit creatures of the west

1. Marfa sparrow who joined us for lunch
2. vogue Rodeo
3. Tucker, my new bff
4. Pratt the classy cat
5. Tuxedo, resident king of Hotel Limpia
6. monster katydid (grasshopper?)
7. not least, Jake the Dog (who visits periodically, but is still puro oeste)

(not pictured: cat thief who owes me a shoe, and javelinas who made a surprise visit but left only footprints)

javelinas at the door

I keep fighting the urge to apologize...for slacking in updates, for posting too many photos like I'm fixin' to do, for not knowing how to do this from my phone. So, unapologetically:

We've gotten into a rhythm, more or less. On our 'off' days from the raspa, or after the kid's shift, we explore: hikes, strolls, ruins, secrets, museums...there is no shortage of things to do here.

A list:
•Fort Davis, again. And again.
•hunting for agate at Woodward Ranch
•viewing of 'Confluence' film about Rio Grande issues
•CHINATI HOT SPRINGS, the healing waters, the sunset, the stars, oh my!
•River Road (FM 170), watching the sun rise and color the Sierra Madres
•Terlingua (strange to think of visiting here at ages 14 with my dad & sister, 17 with friends on spring break, now with j & kid...)
•visit Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute
•develop and/or further tiny obsessions for field guides and history books, ocotillos and yuccas and cute cactuses (I know it's cacti, but that word doesn't fit with my affection for them), handsome military dudes from the 1800s, sotol tequila, coincidences and serendipities, and the general feeling of self-well-being that happens in these wide open spaces of the west.

I don't even miss tv. Or movies. The kid hasn't watched a movie since we got here; I snuck one in on j's laptop when they went camping, and it left me a little empty. I love movies, so this is interesting. I guess I'm like Andy Dufresne at Shawshank with his Mozart, I have enough in my head and heart to remember. :)

This place hosts a magic I haven't yet found words for. I'll keep looking for them. Until that time, photos.

tiptoe through the tumbleweeds

It has been quite a week out here in the west. My vision of time spent quietly working on projects, reading, and reflecting couldn't have been further from the reality. (As so often happens, no?) 

I spent the first day setting up, getting organized, and cleaning up after our last guests in the Airstream (mice):

The kid has enjoyed his internship immensely, for many reasons, one being he gets paid with these:

We have done some historical exploring:

In my cozy shell of a home, I have been cooking much more than usual, cleaning (it's 27 feet! you'd think it would not take so much), dealing with electrical issues, and learning more about rv toilets and sewage than I ever cared to know. No pictures, thankfully. But I fixed that SOB, I'll have you know.

There is a resident neighborhood cat burglar here, who is, in fact, a CAT. Our gracious host Mattie was telling us the tale: a diminishing sock and undergarment basket, finding larger items of clothing tangled outside in the fence, and the bandit caught on camera slinking off with a garden glove. This fiend had found its way into her pet door, made friends with her cats, and made off with significant parts of her wardrobe while she slept. The day after hearing this, we awoke to find no shoes where we had left them outside the night before. One cannot simply walk out to the patio without shoes here. (see photo below) Borrowing a pair of mine, the kid headed over with Mattie to the known lair of the thief: a backyard one street over strewn with stolen items, now full of burrs, grass, and stickers. A hoarder kitty, pretty hilarious...

An unexpected treat was seeing these ladies rock out with their, um...you know.

Ear ringing like I have not experienced in quite some years. Totally worth it. 

Until the next teardrop falls...