It’s that time of year again when nighttime temperatures plummet and my household minions mutiny. Both the hot water heater and the heat pump on the HVAC unit have decided to stop working. In unison. One might even suspect them of collaboration. While I wait for service people to respond to my distress flares, I abandon the cold interior of a stone and adobe structure to head out into thin winter sun to tell my troubles to the Two Mile Turtle and other random trail markers.
The West Lakeshore Trail in Elephant Butte State Park is always a good place to wander in winter. I very seldom encounter any other people on the trail which surprises me as it offers a beautiful eleven miles of unspoiled desert, water and mountain range rimmed vistas. A multiplicity of trailheads make sections very accessible.
I’ve spent the past two months chasing autumn foliage around the state, only to find, just five miles from home, mesquite still hanging onto some last few golden leaves.
Then too it’s been that time of year when the handprinted cloth is exhibited at the annual Cancer Care Association craft market fundraiser in nearby village of Elephant Butte.
This is the third year that I have participated in this art market. The weather this time around couldn’t have been better: sunny, warm (for late November) and windless. It is always a gamble to commit to an outdoor market in late November around here. Could be heaven and a balmy 70 degrees. Could be hell with a side of snow, sleet or wind.
Bigfoot Restaurant hosts some vendors and live music in their courtyard for this fundraiser event. This year we were treated to what seemed like bottomless free cups of heavenly wassail - hot, spiced cider. It certainly did ensure a good harvest for the 6th Avenue Khadi Wala. Or maybe it was the Two Mile Turtle‘s intervention that ensured I have the funds to pay the plumber. Should they deign to turn up.
Talking to a painted rock in the middle of the desert is an infinitely more satisfying thing to do with a life than calling plumbers. Repeatedly.
While I await the plumber and the winter solstice, there’s no shortage of other things to do in the warm midday sun outside. Fleeing the frigid shala interior, I become that noise making neighbour from hell using power tools to sand cedar fencing slats and to saw lucky fish from salvage wood. I’ve had this fish project parked for a while, inspired by an article I read about a Lamu (Kenya) artist who recycles beach harvested wood and flotsam flip flops into fish.
The fence refinishing project moves slowly forward.
Recommended Reading:
In Praise of Paths: Walking Through Time and Nature in which Norwegian author Torbjørn Ekelund explores walking one’s way to meaning. Surprisingly easy to read and often funny in an inimitably Nordic way, this slim book was published in 2020.
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