Memorial Day in New Mexico

Before I start this post, let me briefly encourage you to do something useful for Memorial Day today, such as take a specific action that in some small way could reduce the likelihood that future young men and women will have to go off to war. There is no point in remembering, if we do not use that knowledge to improve the future.

It’s hard, isn’t it, to even think of something to do?

One thing we could do is encourage each other to not get stuck into bipartisan, us/them, righteous vs. evil dichotomies, by (wait for it…) saying something nice about the OTHER political side or the OTHER president (or recent ex-president) or the people who elected them.

If that doesn’t sound like it is enough to create world peace, that’s because it isn’t. But how many of us even do that much? When is the last time we said something nice about the other side? How are we going to learn that we aren’t always right and justified in our beliefs if we can’t even do that? And how are we going to avoid war if we don’t understand that we aren’t always right?

Another thing you can do is send some money to a less fortunate part of the globe. Or another part of your town. Suffering is always destabilizing. So is inequality.

Ok, now I hope you’ll enjoy our pictures from our really pleasant Memorial Day weekend. Originally we were going to spend Memorial Day Weekend camping in the Chiricahua in Arizona. But John unexpectedly needed to be in New Mexico immediately before and immediately after Memorial Day for work. We didn’t want to miss our camping trip, so we drove our camper van to New Mexico and went camping at Mesa de Cuba instead.

This is the same spot where we spent last Memorial Day Weekend. I was on chemo then and couldn’t hike. I was excited to go back and do the hikes I missed last year. This time I felt better and hiked some, but I still couldn’t hike very far because of a migraine. Ah well, who needs to hike when you have a reclining camp chair? 🙂

The migraine started the morning before our drive out to New Mexico last Tuesday, and I continued to have it for most of the week. I can’t really blame the New Mexico elevation because the migraine started in Tucson.

We did have unhealthy air one day, shortly before leaving Tucson. I don’t know if that’s what triggered the migraine or not. I couldn’t smell any smoke so I assume it was a dust storm. It didn’t seem very bad; I’ve definitely seen worse in Albuquerque. I wouldn’t even have even noticed the poor air except now I have a fancy new phone that tells me everything I didn’t know I wanted to know!

I usually get migraines whenever there is a storm. It might be due to the drop in barometric pressure. Regardless of what initially triggered the migraine, I suppose the traveling didn’t help. I continued to have the migraine through the week and into about half of the holiday weekend.

However, we still really enjoyed our camping trip. It was warm and relaxing.

I felt better the next day, and we did get out hiking.

Hahaha, lol, yes, I usually hike with shirt on! (Because backpacks aren’t very comfortable against bare skin.) In fact, I often hike in long sleeves for protection from the sun. We had just stopped to cool off. It was hot!

We were originally going to spend the entire weekend camping, but we left on Sunday afternoon due to an impending storm. The roads out there are a fine silt/sand which can turn into impassible mud in a thunderstorm. We had a very nice trip and didn’t mind going home a little early.

Now we’re having a quiet Memorial Day at home. This morning went to Jackalope, which is my favorite store in Albuquerque. https://jackalope.com/

There are probably similar stores in Tucson but we haven’t discovered them yet because we had been avoiding stores during the pandemic.

At Jackalope we bought a wooden bench, a mirror with a Mexican tile and tin frame, and some textiles for the house in Tucson.

It’s a good thing both houses are about the same style, otherwise it would be an amusing mess when we consolidate again someday. Can you imagine if we had bought a place near the Puget Sound in Washington and filled it with woodsy bears and salmon fishing decor? That would not go well with our desert southwest items from Albuquerque, lol.

These appliqués were hand sewn and very cute.

I would enjoy making something like that myself someday, but it would take a ton of time.

They were huge! Big enough to use as a bedspread, although I was thinking of folding them to display on the wall. In New Mexico people often display quilts folded and draped over short wooden ladders called pueblo ladders or kiva ladders, so I might do that.

We did get some pictures hung in Tucson just before we left. We’ve discovered it’s easier to tape cardboard to the wall to help decide where to put the pictures, than it is to realize it’s wrong after all the nails are in. We didn’t bother every time, but this large wall has been a challenge.

Doesn’t the cardboard look wonderful? It’s the newest style! Lol.

My mom painted this picture:

It used to be in a dark frame and I rarely had anywhere light & bright enough for a dark picture. But I reframed it and the white frame highlights the white flowers in the center. I’m much happier with it now.

We’ve also bought a few houseplants so it’s starting to feel like a home. It was pretty bare there for awhile. (Not to mention the blue walls! Omg! We’re so glad the walls aren’t blue anymore!)

This, by the way, is John’s office, which is located between the kitchen and the garage, with a sliding door to the back porch. Where else would a man want to be? (Other than camping?)

After we got back from Jackalope we sat on our covered porch and listened to the thunderstorm.

I love covered back porches in warm desert areas that don’t have a lot of bugs. It’s so fun to be out in the rain without getting cold and wet! I’m super lucky we have a covered porch at both houses. It’s pretty much where I spend most of my time during the day – whichever house we’re at!

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