Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Red Hatters Tour New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum

Saturday, June 9, 2018

Members of the Alamogordo, New Mexico Roadrunner Chapter of the Red Hat Society took a day trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico to tour the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum. They were also hosting a Health and Fitness Fair in the building that day.

The first exhibit was amazing! Women from several states around New Mexico including Texas, Colorado and Arizona created art work depicting seed packets. This was all done under the auspices of Studio Art Quilt Association of New Mexico. The pictures do not truly depict the beauty of these works of art, but do hope you will enjoy them anyway.

The museum really takes one back to the "good ole days". Definitely imbued with nostalgia from the old cars and New Mexico license plate collection to the replica of a General Store and a section on simply washing clothes.

When we finished going through the museum, we were treated to a ride around the farm to see the collection of old farming machines, blacksmith shop and live cattle.

Lunch was enjoyed at Santorini's Authentic Mediterranean Cuisine Restaurant. Not only do they serve Greek food, something I've missed for a long time, but they also prepare dishes of Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus origins. The atmosphere is more college kid oriented, but the food is delicious. They are located at 1001 E. University Avenue, Ste E3 in Las Cruces and they are open Monday through Saturday from 11:00am to 10:00pm, phone 575-521-9270. They do have take-out as well.

This adorable owl greeted us as we entered

"Chuck's Berries" created by Lynn Rogers, Rio Rancho, New Mexico
"Zebra Striped Tomatoes" by Michelle Jackson of Albuquerque, New Mexico,  "Moss Forget Me Not" by Nancy J. Steidle of Albuquerque, New Mexico and "Fiesta Corn" by Denise Seavey of Santa Fe, New Mexico
"Bull's Eye Beet" created by Michelle Jackson of Albuquerque, New Mexico
"Hummingbird Buffet" (Foxglove) created by Brenda Williams from Bernalillo, New Mexico. The photo doesn't show it, but these flowers are three-dimensional, as are most of the other seed packet creations in this exhibit.
"Zebra Lily" created by Betty Busby of Albuquerque, New Mexico
"Moonflower" created by Cynthia Fowler of Santa Fe, New Mexico
"Indian Paintbrush" created by Jean C. R. Grimes of Wolfforth, Texas
Alice Evans and Margie Purcella
Lu Mattson and Trudy Reese
Gail Swineford enjoying "World Peas" by Frances O. Murphy, Surprise, Arizona
Carla Kerr pointing to "Five Alarm Sunflower" by Sue Szajer of Santa Fe, New Mexico and "Tangleweed" behind Carla by Jean C.R. Grimes of Wolfforth, Texas
As you can see, there were just so many of these and I didn't take time to photograph all of them. What a marvelous show of talent!
A lovely wedding dress of days gone by made of wool and silk
A lady's bedroom
This machine is a dowel maker. Dowels were used to put furniture together before nails were invented.
I thought sure this was a Singer, but on closer observation discovered it was a Western Electric sewing machine actually made by the National Sewing Machine Company of Belvedere, Illinois, which put Western Electric decals on one of their models. The electric motor in it was made by Western Electric but the machine disappeared from the market by 1918. Western Electric became the manufacturers and supply unit of the Bell Telephone System.
This was the description shown at the museum
This is an inside shot of an Indian home
Bread Oven
A room in a typical adobe home. Note the baby in the bed hung by ropes.
The wagon building section, quite primitive, but functional
The collection of 100 Years of New Mexico License Plates
A close-up of the some of the very first license plates issued from 1912 on.
We had all scattered through the museum and I ran into Gail and Trudy
This is a Dempster Vaneless Windmill
Click on the photo to make it larger and it will tell you more about this particular windmill.
I am almost 80 years old and this corner of the museum sure brought back memories!
Remember these refrigerators and the toaster on the stove?
A horse-drawn milk wagon
A section of the "General Store" that even had hats, a sewing machine (not a Singer) and dry goods
Another section of the "General Store" to enjoy
The United States Post Office
Remember these little mail boxes?
Occasionally, they hold rodeos here and they bake in that Indian oven (we were told that the inside of it is melted silica and looks just like glass) and the barbecue pit is to the left and they left the adobe brick in it's natural state so people can see what it looks like before it's plastered over. We are now in a nice little cart taking a tour of the outside.
They have a huge collection of antique farm and ranch implements and these are seeders
This all has to do with baling hay, but I didn't quite understand how it all went together!
This is a cow whose horns grew out in a strange way and they just let them grow to see what would happen.
This is a bull that is a crossbreed between a Longhorn and a Brahma. He was NOT friendly when I took his picture and began immediately pawing at the dirt trying to throw it on me!
Our last stop, the Blacksmith Shop. He was a lovely gentleman. All of the people who work here on the property are volunteers and very informative and friendly.
We left there and drove to the restaurant where we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. I had lamb kabobs and they were perfect. I got so into eating that I didn't take another picture, but we all had a grand time.

This is all I have to say for now.

Saturday, June 2, 2018

Red Hatters Day Trip to Iris Farm in Hondo

Saturday, May 26, 2018

Members of New Mexico Roadrunner Chapter of Alamogordo, New Mexico and LOCO Red Hatters of New Mexico Chapter from Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico took a day trip to the Iris Farm in Hondo, New Mexico. It was a wee bit late for the Irises but other flowers were blooming and they've added an absolutely delightful "Fairy Garden" which we all enjoyed immensely. There is also a lovely shop owned by Alice Seely (a fabulous artisan) on the grounds and it seems I can never visit there without buying something. The clothes and jewelry are not to be found anywhere else!


These beautiful flowers shall go unidentified
A colorful area for photographing wedding parties
Some of the fairy homes made from logs
Another look at the wedding area
A lovely bench to take a rest on
Fairies riding unusual creatures
An old creel basket made into a little home
I thought it was important to note this
AND, this is the Fairy Ring
An interesting grouping
These fairies have created a space above the crowd
This is the fairies golf club "The 19th Hole"
This an Indian themed fairy encampment
A gathering of fairies
A couple of fairy homes built into the tree
Another charming fairy home being inspected by a bird
Just beautiful in miniature doses
This is the fairy Feed and Grain Store
A fairy artsy park
The home of an artistic fairy
Fairies and butterflies
Fairy Flying School
Fairy Ballerinas
Another individualistic fairy's home
Yet another fairy art park
The fairy Feed and Grain Store #2
A fairy rocket ship titled "Fly Me to the Moon"
I believe this is a fairy potter's house
This little fairy is out for a swing
An interesting fairy garden character
Another fairy home built into the tree
Fairy Dew Drop Oil
This is one of trolls on the troll bridge crossing the creek from the fairy garden
These lovely flowers are some type of lily
The last beautiful purple Iris of summer
Red Hatter Martha Chavez from the LOCO RH Chapter (Their members are from Alto, Nogal, Alamogordo and Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas. The Chapter Name LOCO refers to Lincoln and Otero Counties in New Mexico.)
Trudy Reese with Queen Jean Walthall (LOCO RH Chapter)
Margaret with Lu Mattson of the New Mexico Roadrunner Chapter
Gail Swineford, Royal Scribble of NM Roadrunner Chapter
I hope you weren't bored with all of the fairy photos, but I wanted you to get the full flavor of our visit. It was like being kids again just immersing ourselves in the moment and ever so much FUN. We left the Iris Farm and drove further up the highway to the Silver Dollar Saloon for lunch.

Lu and Martha
Gail and Trudy
Martha and Queen Jean
Carla (Queen Ladybird) and Lu (our birthday girl)
Lu with her gift and card
We sang "Happy Birthday" with our Kazoos and Lu appeared quite pleased with her 20th Anniversary Red Hat Society coffee mug and her card.

On another note: We will not be returning to this restaurant. They have new owners and the food was very disappointing. Two of us ordered cheeseburgers "done" and they came out charcoaled. I ordered a 6 oz glass of red wine. The waitress said "We only have "Lohrs" and it is our house wine." To which I replied, "Fine." When I got my bill, that 6 oz glass of wine cost $18.00. I complained, but they just looked at me like I was a bother. Between the burnt cheeseburger and the $18.00 glass of wine, I was not a happy camper!

This is all I have to say for now.