The Windy City - the other one

Today is a windy day in Albuquerque.  What this means is you can’t see the mountains with the amount of sand in the air.  Tumble weed is blowing.  And you have to follow some unique rules to not have this ruin your day.

Today I had shopping carts start flying out of the penned up area and jump the metal line that is supposed to keep them in.  There is a Midas touch in putting a shopping cart inside another, too little force and it doesn’t work, too much and you have the “for every action… there is a reaction.”  Today the reaction happened after I was 4 steps away and I had to run back to protect all the surrounding cars from my little faux pas.  Nightmare, but must have been funny to watch.  Actually a lot of things are funny to watch when you are watching a 6 foot tall woman.

One rule is to know the direction of the wind and park facing it so that the wind doesn’t take your door flying when you open the car door.  Granted, you do need to be concerned that it doesn’t slam on your legs as you open, but I think that’s easier to control.

Be prepared for flying debris.  Today I was startled when a big pile of leaves lifted right as I was about to drive through and literally blinded my vision for a second.

One day in Rio Rancho I was driving in an undeveloped area (meaning more sand flying).  When I came upon the largest tumble week I’ve ever seen.  It was – no kidding- the size of a VW Beetle.  The wind, in the corridor where I was, moved the tumble weed back and forth from one lane to another.   I was dancing with it and I know they are light weight, but I’m afraid there will be some thistle that will scratch my paint job, so I don’t feel like driving into it.  It was a funny moment.  Again, I’m sure if someone saw how I handled it, they had to be laughing at me. 

Wearing a dress on a windy day is tricky.  It’s one of those, “good luck with that” experiences. 

When it’s really blowing we will have a little pile of dust on the inside of the exterior doors at our house.  I hope to have a better seal on the doors of the house we are building.  When you see that pile you know that there is dust all over the house and you are just seeing a small portion of it.  I’m a neat freak, but not a clean freak so it doesn’t drive me crazy.  I have heard a few whines about the dusting here.  My thought is that you really need to get over that issue, unless you can afford hired help.  A little dust isn’t that big of a deal.

Cultural Saturday in Albuquerque

 Woke knowing it was going to be a packed day with errand, getting ready for house guest and some area culture.  First stop the Placitas Holiday Art Show.  I had seen info about this in the paper and we had an errand in Placitas already so it fit right into our day.  I was a little confused about the location as I had hear - near the winery, next to the church and something about the elementary school.  Turns out there was actually 4 locations with art for sale and those were three of them.  The paper said 80 booths, and I think that sounds about right.  It was a lot.

Did I buy anything.  I bought food.  I almost bought a Christmas ornament, I collect them.  But in the end, no I did not buy anything.  It did make me want to take an art class.  Sometimes when I see something I like I don't think acquire, I think could I make that.  If I made it I could treasure it so much more.  Not sure why that is.

I saw this sign and thought it could be helpful.  They do this art show annually, and I think one week before Thanksgiving is the annual plan. The newspaper this morning said that the tradition had been doing it in big houses that were for sale, but then one year one of the houses sold a week prior to the event and that really messed up the plan, so that canceled that little tradition.

After looking at one booth today I looked around for the hubby and he was talking to one of the ushers we volunteered with on Wed. (three days ago).   I walk over and they are both listing places that they might know each other...  I say, "Ushering three days ago... Popejoy??"  and they both nod, "oh yes that's it."  We talked to this lady at ton that evening. I have a really good memory for faces, and it's hard for me to understand that some people don't.

 This welcome sign is not part of the art show.  It's outside a company that makes cedar lotions and other natural scented products.  Company name Clear Light - clcedar.com
I almost bought some vanilla scented lotion, but I decide I should wait and see if I broke out in a rash or headache or anything.  So far so good.

I love this welcome sign, if it had been for sale, I would probably bought it.  I think I should take a metal class.

After the sale we went to the lot that we have purchased in Placitas with a color swatch page to decide the natural color for the stucco.  It wasn't an easy decision, I kept changing my mind every couple minutes as we looked at the houses in the neighborhood.  My hubby is pretty much color blind and the tones are all so similar that I'm sure he can't compare one to another with any strong opinion.  I alway preface my telling him about a color by saying things like, "Don't let this name sway you, but it's called Desert Rose" (that's my name... Rose, not Desert)  We picked suede in the end.

 I want to take pictures of the wild horses that roam around Placitas, but today I made do with someones horses inside their fence.  I was having fun watching these two work together to pick up this tire.  Teamwork in horses, is this common and I just didn't know?  They would get on either side of it and with their mouths lift it in air.  Why, other than to play, I'm not sure.  It was great.  Wish I had got the picture when they lifted it high... but I didn't know they were going to do it.

Tonight we did a volunteer stint at the Popejoy Theater and got to see the production of Blast.  I never know what I'm getting to see unless I research it, and all I knew on this one is that it is a lot of brass instruments.  Turned out to be more of a mix of marching band, color guard, flag twirlers, and a bit of dance team.  So when you look at the kids in band and wonder what they will do with that talent, there is a venue to move up into and make a career doing it.  The drummers were fun.  Drum line, or something like that, that's a whole different group that compete at the high school and probably college level.  Anyway, they were fun and that was probably my favorite part.  Great day!

Friendlier in the South

Some people cannot speak with any authority to the stereotypes of people.  But I've lived a few places - so I think I get to!  Here is my list of where I've lived... don't try to do the math, but I turned 50 this year.  I'll start north and head south; Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Utah, California (northern and southern), Tennessee, Georgia, and now New Mexico.  This is my lived list, not my traveled list.  So I've got the 4 corners of the continental US pretty well covered.

People are friendlier in New Mexico - not the south in general.  People in New Mexico love to help a stranger with advice.  We were looking at some hardware at Costco and a couple was walking by and they stopped and told us their experience with the item and were super friendly.  The waiters will tell you the best place to eat in other cities or where to hike or the best scenic route.  The neighbors stopped and chatted while we were moving in.  If I sit on my porch, the neighbors come up and chat.  This doesn't happen elsewhere.

Okay when we moved into Georgia I did have some interesting encounters with grocery store cashier and a neighbor, but when I declined their invitation to join their church family, that was the end of the friendliness.  In fact I had a play group come to a crashing halt when my kids friends mom found out my religion and pulled a "sorry we have to go" after a two minute visit.  Never heard from them again.... and that was Tennessee.

I love walking around the neighborhood here.  People do the head nod or actually say "Hello."  People smile at each other in the grocery store.  Walmart is still annoying, but that's what minimum wage does to people.

Part of it is surely the sunshine and lack of humidity.  I do think there is just less depression here as people are getting their needed D. When there is a cloudy day, just one, I can see that it affects people.

Balloon Festiva 2011

New Mexican's do like to complain about the wind, which when it is mixed with sand, is a little intimidating.  When you first get here they look into your eyes and ask how you are liking New Mexico.  Then they ask you how you are handling the wind.  Then they ask when you got here to see if you have actually experienced the wind.  Then they determine whether or not you will last by your response.  Some will wait to really friend you until after you have been in town a couple years.  But generally - New Mexicans are super friendly!

Why New Mexico?

How did we end up here?  It's a story that might seem odd, but it's true and it's destiny pure and simple.  I had been to most the states in the US and New Mexico has not hit the "been there done that" list.   I had been at a lunch on a cruise ship a few years back and the couple we talked to came from here and raved about how they moved to New Mexico and just loved it.  They raved about how sunny it was. I told them I couldn't handle the heat, and they told me that it wasn't that hot.  Not like Arizona or Texas - think high desert they told me. They told me about the art and the beautiful sunsets.  I put everything they said on a back burner and after many rain filled years in Portland Oregon, I was filling out some survey on facebook that asked where is a place you think you will live that you haven't and I wrote New Mexico without even pondering about it. 

That was just the beginning of New Mexico everything.  The guy that worked on my homes woodwork started to tell me all about his former business in Taos, NM.  So I asked him about his experiences and what he liked and didn't like about living in New Mexico.  Then the HGTV channel made their dream home just outside Albuquerque over the East Hills.  I was pretty convinced that I should win and entered regularly.  Since then I've gone and toured the development and I wouldn't have wanted to live that far out.... tooo far.

Then I was in Vegas at a work party for my husband and I ended up talking to one guy and of course, turned out, he was from Albuquerque and we talked New Mexico for a long time.  After that I started noticing cars parked next to me in Portland with  New Mexico plates.  It started to be sort of a crazy thing that everything was about New Mexico - that synergy thing.  We rented a moving truck to help my son and a huge New Mexico scene is plastered across the truck.  Then I was trying to call my brother-in-laws girlfriend and couldn't reach her and of course she and he had been in.... New Mexico.  So we talked about their trip and they told me it's one of their favorite places to visit.  Then I call my sister and she is headed to.... New Mexico.  So I hear all about her trip and she tells me that she thinks she will move there...and I tell her - wait, I'm moving there.  During a trip with my sister - we were in Vienna Austria and we were talking about the whole New Mexico idea and suddenly we look down the street and there is a restaurant named Sante Fe... and I say, "Another sign," and we laugh, but it was sort of weird.

I had been talking and by that point researching everything about New Mexico so much by this point that my hubby says, maybe we should plan a trip before you get too set on this, afterall you have never been there.  So I start planning a trip for right after our sons wedding.  Then hubby tells me that he would really rather look at Arizona to retire cause thier tax situation is better than New Mexico and why don't we plan a trip to look at Arizona first.  So reluctantly I decide that would be good and I start to work on a trip to AZ, but nothing feels right.  I can't even focus on this task and everything thing I try to do seems wrong with this AZ trip.  Finnally I call the hubby and say, can't do it, I don't want to live in Arizona.  Let's visit New Mexico first.  So the trip gets planned and some friends even decide to join us on our trip.  Meanwhile the hubby looks at his works job postings and there is this job that has NOTHING to do with what my husband does, but does interest him.  He makes a call and plans to have a chat with the department while we are in New Mexico.  He had told me that there was NO chance he could find a job with the same company as there are NO marketing people at the New Mexico location.

So we go, I fall in love with New Mexico the second we arrive and I feel great and everything just looks perfect for a great retirement spot.  Hubby interviews for the job over the next few weeks after we are back home and outcome is that he doesn't get the job and I try to get over it and put the whole thing on a back burner again and say, well, when retirement really comes, that's where we will go.  That was the beginning of December.

About this time I remembered a crazy moment that happens two years prior.  I got this call from my Navajo Indian roommate from college a bazillion years ago.  She must have gotten my number from the school cause I haven't heard from her in many many moons/phone numbers.  I can't remember her last name and this call was so weird - I forgot to ask.  She calls and it takes me a while to figure out who is calling.  Then she says, "How are you?" I say fine.  Then she says, "You are in my dreams, and I would like you to get out, are you sure everything is okay?"  She's always be a woman of few words so I didn't expect this to be a long call.  I said I would do my best to get out of her dreams, and asked how she was?  To which she barely answered and then the call was over.  I thought about it for awhile, and decided it was a signal for me to discuss roommates with my daughter who was starting college right then.  Now I think it's part of the New Mexico thing starting, cause my roommate was born and raised and still lives in Gallup, NM.

January I have a heart procedure that I hadn't really even thought anyone would do for me back in November, but here I am having it in January.  Come middle of February I'm in a hospital for a week trying heart meds cause the procedure made things worse rather than better... bummer, but it is what it is.  I'm trying to get well enough for a cruise that weekend and about Wednesday the doc comes in and says... I know you are trying to go on a cruise, but we don't think that would be wise, so we want you to cancel.  grrrrrrr   So it's done we are not cruising that winter.  Then on Thursday hubby calls me at the hospital and says - guess what?  The job in New Mexico says the guy they picked didn't work out, they don't want to interview again, they just want hubby to come out and start as soon as possible.  And they want decision pronto. So we end up doing a ton of thinking and hubby wants to go for it.   We start the process to sell the house, and after some cleaning and repairs and staging the house sells in three days for full price.  We get our check before leaving the state and head down.

A couple weeks before moving I go to the Apple store to buy a laptop while I still have no sales tax...(that's been hard giving that up) and I work with a salesman who I tell that we are moving and ask if there is a store in ABQ for training purposes, and ta da... he was born and raised in ABQ, and loves it there.

Then I tell my Holistic doc we are moving and she gets all giddy and tells me how much she loves NM.
We had a going away party and people come out of the woodwork - that have ties or were raised in NM and tell us how much we are going to love it.

Back up - we do go down in March for a house hunt trip.  We were about to rent this rather sad looking small house that had this crazy thing with a see through fireplace that joined the great room to the master bedroom, so weird.  When I was about to head out to sign the lease, I ran back and checked craigslist one more time and a newer townhouse had come up in a neighborhood that we had heard we would probably like and I got an appointment to look at that the same morning.  When I walked in the door and saw a print on the living room wall that looked almost exactly like a painting I had painted a few weeks earlier, same colors and everything - I knew that was a sign for sure!

So boom, we are here!